truth from the Word of God tonight, and we won't be able to preach everything in this
massive chapter, obviously, but God, I just pray that you would please just use what is
preached and speak to our hearts and help us to be changed as a result of the service,
dear God, and help us to walk out of this service not the same as we were when we walked
in, but closer to you, love you more, more excited, more fired up, more solid in what
we believe, and in Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Now Matthew chapter 12, of course, is a very long chapter in the book of Matthew. Some
of the chapters are shorter than others, and when they're shorter chapters, we can really
just preach through every verse, but at the same time, even though this chapter has 50
verses in it, I don't want to stretch out these chapters over more than one week. We're
preaching through the Bible just chapter by chapter, and we do one chapter a week, whether
it's short, whether it's long, that's what we do. We've already gone through the book
of Hebrews, Philippians, and now, of course, Matthew, and so I want to preach to you some
of the major truths from this chapter. If you start out at the beginning there in chapter
one, I'm sorry, verse number one, it says, At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day
through the corn, and his disciples one hungered and began to pluck the ears of corn and to
eat. Now, let me explain to you what's going on there. Jesus and his disciples are walking
through a corn field. Now, does the corn field belong to them? No, it doesn't. The corn field
does not belong to them. It's just a corn field. They're walking through it on the Sabbath
day. Now, in the Old Testament, of course, there's a law that God had which says, Remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. And then he also
says, Thou shalt do no servile work there. And he said, It's a day of rest unto you.
Don't work on the Sabbath day, which is Saturday, the seventh day. Now, God had a special law,
and I want to explain to you the rationale why Jesus is right here and why the Pharisees
are wrong. The Bible has a law in the Old Testament that said that when a man owns a
field, he's not supposed to go over it a second time. When he reaps it, he's supposed to reap
through that field, gather all the fruits into his barn, all the corn or the wheat or
the fruits or whatever it is, but he's not supposed to go over it a second time and pick
up everything that fell on the ground and things that he missed the first time. He's
supposed to leave a little bit there on the ground and on the stalk because he said, Leave
it there for the fatherless. Leave it there for the widow. Leave it there for the poor,
the needy that doesn't have anything. You can gather in the bulk of it, but he says,
Don't pick up every last piece. Leave some of it there, and other people that are poor
and that are handicapped and everything like that could come and glean it. That was the
word that's used. They could glean the field, and there are people that even do this today.
You'll see in the book of Ruth an entire story where Ruth comes out of the land of Moab,
and a man named Boaz allows her to glean his field. Then there are several other ladies
doing it, and they're just walking around picking up the handfuls that are spilled and
the pieces that they leave behind and miss. That was just a way for them to survive, and
so God allowed that. Now, here's the interesting thing. In the Old Testament, not only was
there a Sabbath day, but there was a Sabbath year. Not only did they work for six days
and then take one day off on Saturday, but they were only supposed to till and reap their
field six years, and then the seventh year was a Sabbath year where they were supposed
to let the land rest. They weren't supposed to work the land, and God said, I'll give
you triple in the sixth year, enough for the sixth year, the seventh year, and when you
get into that ninth year when you're using it again, you'll still have a whole year's
profits left over. So he says, If you'll obey me and have faith that I will take care of
you even if you don't work on that seventh year, if you don't work the ground, he says,
I'll give you triple in the sixth year so that you'll have enough. Well, here's the
interesting thing. When God says that in the seventh year they should not reap the land,
when they should not work the land, he says to leave it for the fatherless and the widow.
Again, he implies that during that seventh year, the fatherless and the widow and people
that need it can come and glean their field like they can. Now, these were the rules.
The gleaners could not use an instrument. They could not come into the field. They can't
roll in their equipment and say, Hey, I'm here to glean your field. No, it says whatever
they could carry, and they couldn't carry like a wheelbarrow and fill it up and leave.
They could only just take what they could put in their hand. That was the rule. And
so they could come in and pick the corn. That's what his disciples are doing. They're walking
around. They're not really working jobs because they're preaching full time. And so they're
walking through the field on the Sabbath day and they grab ears of corn and just start
eating it because they're hungry. Now, look, was it right for them to do that? Were they
violating the Sabbath? Well, God told us in the Old Testament that during the Sabbath
year, it was fine to be gleaning. See, it's not wrong to pick up a piece of corn and eat
it on the Sabbath day. I mean, that's ridiculous to say that eating, oh, that's servile work.
Look, servile work is when you're working for someone else, when you're laboring, when
I go to my job, that's servile work. You know, picking up a piece of corn and eating
it is not work. That's ridiculous. Picking it off the stock, putting it in your mouth
and eating it, that's why God allowed them to do it during that seventh year. Well, the
Jews had another book. Here's the problem. They had another book besides the Bible. Today
you'll know that book as the Talmud. They have it today. It's about this big. It's more
like an encyclopedia. And it's all their rules and all their interpretations that they have
added to the Bible. Jesus later on in this book is going to say, you hold for doctrines
that, he says, you hope for commandments of God, the doctrines of men. He says, you're
going by manmade books, manmade religious teachings, and not by what God said in his
word. He said, your traditions have made God's word void. You have seen your traditions more
than God's word. And so God is saying, Jesus is saying to them, look, you don't even understand
the Bible. He uses the example of David in the Old Testament when he is fleeing from
the wrath of Saul. And he stops in and Abiathar, the priest, gives him the showbread out of
the temple, which was not supposed to be eaten except by the priests. But because he had
no food to eat, because he was on the run and he was serving God, and so God allowed
him to eat the showbread out of the temple at the hand of Abiathar, the priest. Jesus
is showing this example to them. He's saying, look, you don't understand the Bible. And
that's why I look at, if you would, at verse number seven. But if he had known what this
meaneth, see, they don't understand the Bible. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. You would
not have condemned, look at that word, the guiltless. See, they weren't doing anything
wrong. And then he says, for the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. He says,
look, I'm the one who invented the Sabbath. I think I know what the Sabbath is for and
what it's not for. Don't tell me that my disciples are disobeying God because they
violated your stupid little tradition book, which is not of God. It has nothing to do
with God. He says, don't condemn the guiltless. You don't even understand the Bible. Then,
of course, the next example. He goes from there. He walks into the temple. I'm sorry,
let's see. I'm sorry, he walks into the synagogue at this point, the temples later on. He walks
into the synagogue and there's a man there who has a withered hand. So, I mean, this
man's hand is just withered and destroyed. I'm not sure exactly what he's talking about,
but he has a withered hand. And here's what the Pharisees say. Is it lawful to heal on
the Sabbath days? I mean, they're asking him, is it okay to heal somebody on the Sabbath
day? And they're trying to accuse him because he'd violate their little laws again, their
little rules that they made up that are not founded on the word of God. And he says to
them in verse number 11, he says, what man shall there be among you that shall have one
sheep and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on and lift it out?
How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath
days. Now, the reason I'm going through this, I don't want you to misinterpret the Bible
because I've been in churches before. They actually preach this kind of stuff and they
try to say, see, Jesus was just, you know, and you'll see pictures of Jesus like this
long haired hippie. And the only thing that's missing, and forgive me, but the only thing
that's missing in the typical picture of Jesus that you see on a greeting card or on somebody's
wall, the only thing that's missing is the blunt hanging out of his mouth because he
looks like he's just some kind of a long haired, dope smoking hippie. Okay, I don't care whether
you like that or not, that's the truth. The Bible says it's a shame for a man to have
long hair. And in several places, God says it's a sin for a man to have long hair. Yet
Jesus pictured, effeminate, when the Bible pictures a very manly, masculine man. He's
pictured with long hair when the Bible very clearly says that it's a sin for a man to
have long hair. And he's pictured just very sissified and literally he looks like a hippie.
He looks like he's straight out of the 1960s and 70s. And maybe that's why a lot of men
are turned off from Christianity because they see this hippie, peace-loving, beatnik, you
know, this is what you picture. And that's not Jesus Christ. And this is what they'll
try to teach. They'll say, see, the Old Testament, it's all these laws and it's strict and it's
rules, but in the New Testament, see, Jesus was constantly just saying, the laws don't
matter. It's just the heart that matters. But see, that's not what's happening at all.
He's showing them that they're misinterpreting the laws. He's not saying, don't obey the
law. I'll tell you something. I'll guarantee you that Jesus obeyed the Sabbath every single
day while he was on this earth. Now, of course, when Jesus died on the cross and rose from
the dead, that was the end of the Sabbath. That's why we have church on Sundays and that's
a whole other lesson that I preached when we were in Hebrews chapter 4. But I'll tell
you something, I'll guarantee you that while Jesus was on this earth, he obeyed every law
in this book. I'll tell you that right now. Because it says that he was without sin. Sin
is the transgression of the law, the Bible says. So if Jesus would have violated the
Sabbath, he transgressed the law, he's a sinner. But see, he didn't transgress the Sabbath,
they didn't understand the Sabbath. And he's trying to expose to them their problem is
that they're believing the doctrines of men and they're not just believing the word of
God for what it says. No, they have to add some book to it. Watch out for these commentary.
Don't give commentaries. You don't need a commentary. You don't need a Bible encyclopedia.
You don't need a Bible dictionary. This is what you need. The Bible and the Holy Spirit
living inside of you and that's it. That's it. The Bible says that God hath in due times
manifested his word through preaching. See, if you have the Holy Spirit, you can read
the Bible and understand it. And then if you want more than that, come to church and the
preaching will manifest a word. But don't get into these books because pretty soon you're
going to end up like the Pharisees with your big old encyclopedia of what's right and wrong
about the Bible. Now after this example, and here's what happened. Just imagine. You
have to picture yourself in the story. Here's this man who has a withered hand, right? They're
fussing about, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? Because they want to accuse him
because their book says you can't heal people on the Sabbath day. Jesus says, look, if your
sheep fell in the ditch, you take it out of there. You know, he's saying you love money
more than you love a human being. And he says to the man, stretch forth thine hand.
And here's the man just across the room from him. He didn't even touch him or anything.
He just stretches out his hand and boom, his hand was miraculously cured. Can you imagine
being there and seeing that? And then look at the next verse and I want to show you something.
Look at this, in verse number 13. Then saith he to the man, stretch forth thine hand and
he stretched it forth and it was restored whole like as the other. Then the Pharisees
went out and held a council against him how they might destroy him. Can you imagine that?
Can you imagine being there in the synagogue and watching Jesus heal a man miraculously?
I mean, the withered hand is just restored perfectly, a miracle that nobody can deny.
And then the next thing you know, they're walking out trying to destroy Jesus who healed
this man because he did it on the Sabbath day. Look, here's what I want to point that
out and what I want to make about this. If you think that in this world everybody is
just, has their heart in the right place and you know, man is just basically good and people
are good and if we could just, you know, it's just the environment that's bad and it's just
the structure and if you could just shield somebody from all the bad influences, I mean,
everybody would be pretty much a good person. I mean, those pedophiles that they lock away
in jail, they're not really bad. They just had a rough upbringing. And, you know, Adolph
Hitler probably, you know, his mom probably tied his shoes too tight when he was a kid
and so it cut off the circulation and it just, I mean, that's stupid. That's ridiculous.
Let me tell you something. There are people in this world who are just wicked as hell,
period. And they don't care whether they see the power of God. They don't care whether
they hear God's word preached. They wouldn't care if God appeared to them and said, I'm
God. I'm the son of God. Watch me heal somebody. They say, let's find a way to destroy them.
Let's find a way to destroy the son of God. They don't care. Look, I hate to break it
to you, but there are a lot of people out there who do not care what's right and wrong.
And they do not care what God thinks. And they are not good. They're bad people. Nobody's
bad. People aren't bad. They're just broken. We just need to fix them. Now, look, there
are people out there that are bad. And if you don't believe that, you need to read the
Bible because the Bible says there's none that do with good, no, not one. And then it
goes through a list there in Romans 3, 11 through 20, they're just listing the wickedness
of man. We preached about it on Sunday night. Preached about this evil, perverted, reprobate
Sodomites that their whole goal is to victimize people. You know, we saw it straight out of
the Bible. I mean, it was a very biblical sermon. Just Bible upon Bible. And I'm going
to tell you something. Boy, I was out last night, and this scares the fire out of me.
I was out last night. I went to Fry's Electronics. I was doing errands. Fry's Electronics. I
went to IKEA and ate macaroni and cheese there. I love IKEA. They have great food there. They
have great macaroni and cheese, believe it or not. And then I went to Sam's Club. At
Fry's Electronics, I saw a full-blown homosexual cross-dressed in women's clothing. Then I
went to IKEA and I saw about eight gay people, probably, between men and women. I mean, it
was just obvious that they're Sodomites. Then I went to Sam's Club, and there's a man at
Sam's Club wearing women's jeans, a tank top, makeup, full makeup on his face, a little
bandanna tied around his head, like that picture. What's that picture from the 19th
Port? Like, yes we can, or something. It's like a woman flexing her muscle. You know
what I'm talking about? See that little bandanna on her head? That's what he's wearing. Okay.
And he's like, hi, how you doing? And he's just this flaming faggot. Yes, I said he's
a flaming faggot. And here he is in Sam's Club. I mean, good night. I'm not in a gay
bar. I'm in Sam's Club, and I have to look at some pervert and some pervert around my
kids. Look, that's the day we're living in. We're living in a wicked and sinful society.
And look, yes, there are people that are out there to get you. Yes, there are bad people
in this world. Yes, there are people who, if Jesus Christ appeared in the flesh to them
and performed a miracle in front of them, the next thing they want to do is go out in
this trunk because they hate God. It's the truth. And it's terrible to think that, but
we have to understand that, yes, man is a sinner. Yes, man is sinful. And without Jesus
Christ, a man can become as base as an animal, the Bible says. A man totally apart from Jesus
Christ, rejecting Jesus Christ will go to the level of being an animal. That's what
the Bible teaches. But again, back to Matthew chapter 12. Then the Pharisees went out and
held a council against him how they might destroy him. So Jesus leaves, and great multitudes
follow him when he leaves. And notice it says at the end of the verse there, and he
healed them all. See, you'll notice this throughout the book of Matthew and throughout other books
of the Bible. Whenever Jesus heals people, he heals everybody. Now, the faith healer,
when Benny Hinn comes to town, he doesn't heal everybody. He only heals the paid actors
that come on stage, and he slaps them on the forehead, and they fall over and do this kind
of stuff. But see, if Benny Hinn is such a healer, why doesn't he show up at the hospital
here, and just start healing everybody, and just go bam, bah, haka la gondola, and say
like bah, speak in tongues, and bam, and people will be falling out and everything. Look,
and this is what they say, if you bring like a real person and say like, I want to be healed
with my infirmity, then they'll say, you didn't have enough faith. You know, if you don't
get healed, it's like, you didn't have enough faith. Look, that's not what Jesus said. It
says he healed them all. And every time, I mean, you'll see this many times, you saw
it in chapter 4, we saw it here in chapter number 12, we'll see it again in subsequent
chapters, it says he always heals everybody. Nobody comes to him. Nobody comes to Jesus,
and he says no. And they never walk away unhealed. You will not find one time in the Bible somebody
walking to Jesus with a problem that goes away unhealed. Show it to me. It never happens.
Every time somebody comes to him, they're healed. Now what's the spiritual application?
Anyone who comes to Jesus Christ will be saved, if they'll come to Jesus Christ. Jesus
said, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. That's why he said, whosoever
believeth. Anybody can be saved by Jesus Christ if they'll come to Jesus Christ. And yes,
he will heal them all. And physically, in this case, and spiritually. And it says in
verse 16, and charged them that they should not make him known. See, he wasn't trying
to use his healing as a popularity. He's always emphasizing his preaching. Throughout the
book of Matthew, you'll see this. He doesn't emphasize the miracles he does, he emphasizes
the preaching. In the book of Luke, he heals a whole bunch of people, and it says they
all marvel, and he says, let these sayings sink down into your ears. Because the sayings
are more important. What's the most important thing that Jesus did while he was on this
earth? Aside from, of course, the purpose why he was here, to die for our sins. Is it
that he healed somebody, or is it that he preached us the words by which we have life?
Or is it John 5.24? Verily I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on
him that sent me, hath everlasting life. The verse that gives me assurance of my salvation.
The verse that was showed to me as a six year old boy, that tells me I'm going to heaven
when I die, because I believe on Jesus Christ. That's the glory. That's the most important
thing. See, these works that he did, as we saw in chapter 9, were just to show that the
Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. He says, but that you may know that
the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Then saith he to the sick of the palsy,
Arise, take thy bed, and go into thy house. He says, the purpose of me healing people,
is so that you'll know that I'm the Son of God, so that you could be saved. That's the
whole purpose. The purpose is that Jesus said, I've come to seek and to save that which was
lost. That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Zias the prophet, and it gives a
quote from Isaiah just to that effect, talking about that. And then look if you would at
verse number 22, it says, then was brought unto him one possessed with the devil, blind
and dumb. Dumb meaning that he could not speak. And he healed him in so much that the blind
and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, is not this the son
of David? When they saw the works, they said, this must be the Messiah. This must be God
in the flesh. This must be Christ. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow
did not cast out devils, but by the Beelzebub, the prince of the devil's sea. No matter what
they see, they're not going to be convinced. They're not going to be convinced. And see,
here's the thing. If a person does not have faith in Jesus Christ through God's word,
nothing will give them faith in Jesus Christ. See, did you know it says when they heard
it? See, when they heard the word of God, they didn't believe it. So it doesn't matter
if what they see doesn't matter if they see it, that it's true. It doesn't matter because
faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And the Pharisees were so hung
up on their tradition that that's why they couldn't accept the clear preaching of Jesus
Christ straight out of God's word, because he was God's word. Now look, if you would,
it goes, I'm skipping a lot of this because I want to get to certain things that I want
to preach on in such a big chapter. But look, if you would, at verse number 30. Jesus explains
to them why it's ridiculous for them to say that he's casting out devils by Beelzebub
and that he's not filled with Satan. And he explains that. But in verse number 30, he
says, he that is not with me is against me. And he that gathereth not with me scattereth
abroad. You see, boy, that's a pretty powerful verse right there. He that is not with me
is against me. You see, a lot of people think that they can just be neutral in the fight.
A lot of people think that, well, I'm just going to be out of church for a little while
or I'm not going to win anybody the Lord. I'm not going to preach the gospel to my friends
and co-workers. I'm not, I'm just going to kind of just do my own thing. Okay. And hey,
I'm not hurting anybody, right? Well, look, Jesus says you are hurting somebody because
he says, if you're not with me, you're against me. And listen to this, if you don't gather
with me, I'm not getting people saved. I'm not getting people into the kingdom, into
the family of God. He says, if you don't gather with me, you're scattering abroad. You say,
what? That means that if you are not in the process of getting people saved, gathering
with Jesus, trying to get people saved, soul-winning, winning people to Christ. He says, if you're
not doing that, you're actually hurting the cause of Jesus Christ. You're actually scattering
abroad. If you're not gathering with Jesus, you're scattering abroad. Remember Jesus said,
if you follow me, I will make you fishers of men. And so if you're with him, you'll
be a fisher of men. If you're following him, you're fishing for men. You're getting people
saved. But he says, if you're not with me, you're against me. And if you're not gathering
with me, you're scattering abroad. You see, when you don't go soul-winning, and when you
don't show up at soul-winning time, or when you don't open the Bible and win somebody
the Lord on the job, and when you don't gather for Jesus Christ, you're actually hurting
the kingdom of God. You see, you can't be neutral. You're either with him or you're
against him. You're either gathering with him or you're scattering abroad. Winston Churchill
said this, and I think he probably read it in the Bible, I guess. But he said, if you're
not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem. That's what I want to say
to churches in this country. That's what I want to say to pastors and preachers and also
just church members in this country who are not actively fighting for what's right in
this country. They just want to sit around and relax and they've got their nice car and
they've got their nice house, and everything's fine for them, and everything's just fine
and dandy. And they've got their church or they've got their comfortable zone that they're
in, and so they say, we're just not going to fight. We're not going to make people mad.
You know, preachers who won't get up and preach something that might make somebody mad. Well,
that's fine. You know, great. And I'm sure that they can have some people stick around
that might have left if they would have preached hard or whatever. But let me tell you something.
If they're not with Jesus, if they're not part of the solution, then they're part of
the problem. Look, if they're not preaching against the homosexuals who are taking over
this country, they're part of the problem. They are part to blame for the moral decline
in this country if they won't get up and preach on sin and preach against the homosexuals
and preach against the perverted, filthy things that go on, preach against Hollywood and preach
against the television and preach against all the filthy stuff on the rock music. If
they won't preach against it, then they're part of the problem. They're part of the problem
because they're not stopping the problem. And Jesus says, if you're not working to fight
for what's right, if you're not working to get people saved, you're part of the problem.
And he says, you're against me. I'm against you. I'm in opposition to you. You see, if
a pastor won't get up and preach against sin and preach on the queers and preach on the
television and preach on all the moral decay and preach on what's right and wrong, who's
going to do it? Good night. I mean, good night. If you don't hear it in church, you're not
going to hear it anywhere. You're not going to hear it in public school. You're not going
to hear it at the workplace or on the water cooler. If you don't hear it in this church
or if you don't hear it in another church, you're not going to hear it. That's why Jesus
said, and I think we could say this to America today, if the light which is in you be darkness,
how great is that darkness? He says, if the light that's in you, I mean the church that's
preaching the Bible, the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness?
He says, if you're in a church, that's supposed to be the light. I mean, that should be the
light bulb. You know, if you looked at the country, picture if you would a map of America
and it says darkness because that's the way it's starting to go. It's just starting to
go just evil. And this country is becoming a very heathen nation. And you see the darkness,
and just picture if you would, every time there's a good gospel preaching church, every
time there's a good church that stands on the King James Bible, loves God and wins souls
and preaches right, picture it as a little light bulb, right? Just a shining light of
the hope that we could preach the truth and get people saved and preach righteous living
and get Christians to be right with God. And picture all those little light bulbs across
there. Now what if those light bulbs are darkness? How great is that darkness? How
great is the darkness that we're living in in this country? Where even in the house of
God, you can't hear the word of God preached. Why? Because it's all about money. It's all
about how many people can we get in here? How much offering can we get? We don't want
to offend Mr. Moneybags in the back row. He puts in a big tithe check and his Aunt Plutie's
a queer. And so we don't want to make him upset and we don't want to make her upset,
the lady who comes in and she's wearing a mini skirt and she's strutting her stuff and
her high heels. And we better not preach on clothing standards. We better not preach that
a woman shouldn't dress like a hooker and a hoochie mama. We better not preach that
because she's going to leave and then we won't get our money. And then we won't have another
body in our pew. Boy, that is darkness. And if the light that is in this country be darkness,
how great is that darkness? See, the only hope for this country is that the salt of
this country would get its savor once again. I'm talking about Christianity that tastes
like Christianity. I'm talking about light that's light and not darkness. I mean, what
is light? Well, let's define light. Whatsoever maketh manifest is light. You know what light
is? It's something that exposes the truth. When I get up here and speak plainly and you
don't have to wonder what I'm saying and I say, look, this is what the Bible says. Let
me plainly explain to you what this book says. That's light. I'm trying to shed light on
the things of God. I'm trying to shed light on the truth. Darkness is when I get up and
just preach some vague message and everybody's like, well, I wonder what he was talking about.
I mean, he said something about how we need to be faithful. He said something about how
we need to just love God. But I mean, I didn't really know what he meant by that. But when
I get up and say, hey, look, this book says if you don't win people to Christ, then you're
actually responsible for people being turned away from Christ. That's pretty clear, isn't
it? When I get up and say, if you're not winning souls, you're actually responsible for the
fact that this nation's going to hell because you're not doing anything to stop it. And
so you're against Jesus Christ. That's pretty clear. That's light. Light is when I get up
and say, look, I don't care whether it's popular or not. This book has the death penalty for
the homos. You say, you're insane. Then I'm insane. But you know what? When I get to heaven
means Jesus Christ will both be insane because that's what he, cause he wrote a book that
says that and on and on and on. We could go with that, but that's verse number 30 verse
number 31. Jesus says here, wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost should 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, neither in the world to come. Now what this is talking about here is the
unpardonable sin here of blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Now you say, so can somebody blaspheme
the Holy Ghost and lose their salvation? Look, nobody can lose their salvation. Oh, God's
going to have to stop being God because Jesus said, him that cometh to me, I will in no
wise cast out. Jesus said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Jesus said, I give
unto them eternal life and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. Jesus said, he that believeth
on the son of God, half everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but has passed
from death to life. See, on and on. The Bible says, but as many as received him to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And you
could go on and on down the list that no person can't be unsaved once they've been
saved. The Bible says they've been passed from death to life. It says they shall not
come into condemnation. Now on and on the list goes, we could go through the Bible and
see that. So what are we talking about here? Well, flip if you would over to Revelation
chapter 22, last book in the Bible, last chapter of the Bible. And this is just, I guess it's
just a, what's the word I'm looking for? A reinforcement of the doctrine that was taught
on Sunday night. And this is just a reinforcement of what we learned on Sunday night. A few
more scriptures. I showed about eight or nine, I think different examples of this on Sunday
night. And so here's about two more. First of all, there's blasphemy of the Holy Ghost.
Look at this in Revelation 22. It says, and if any man shall take away the words of the
book of this prophecy, I mean tampering with God's word, like changing it. Like let's say
I put out a Bible version and it left out like 15 verses that I handpicked and took
out like the NIV, like the new American standard, like the living Bible does. And there's 15
missing verses. It says right here, and if any man shall take away from the words of
the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and
out of the Holy city, talking about going to heaven and from the things which are written
in this book. It's talking about the pure river of life. It's talking about the tree
of life, the heavenly golden streets that are described. He said he will never see it.
He will never set foot on the golden streets. You say, well, can somebody lose their salvation?
No, nobody can lose their salvation. This is talking about a person who before they
get saved, so this is talking about somebody who's not saved. Let's say an unsaved person
decides, you know what I'm going to do? And this is not very far fetched since it's happened.
But let's say they say, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to make my own version
of the Bible, where I take out 15 verses that I don't like and I take out a word here
and I add a word here and I take out a word here. You know what God says to that person?
He says, hey, here's your part in the book of life. Here's your part where you could
have gotten saved and gone to heaven. Here's your part where you could have been in the
heavenly city. It's over because I don't put up with people changing my word. You'll never
be saved. You're damned to hell. You're condemned to hell. These Pharisees who blasphemed the
Holy Ghost and said, you're casting out devils by the Prince of devils. We've seen you heal.
We've seen you cast out devils. We've heard you preach and we think that you're filled
with Satan, Jesus. We ought to find a way to destroy you. Jesus says, you've crossed
the line. You've gone too far with me. And he says, you'll never be forgiven in this
world. You won't be forgiven in the world to come. You're going to hell. See, there
is a line where people can cross with God. There's a deadline where God deals with us
where they've heard the gospel and they've heard the gospel and they've heard the gospel
and they rejected Christ and they rejected Christ and they rejected Christ. And then
in this case, they even sought to change God's word and try to change the Bible and
try to deceive other people to take them to hell with them by changing the Bible and putting
out fake Bibles, you know, taking away God's word, you know, putting something to add it
to God's word. And they do that to try to damn as many people with them. And God says,
no, you've crossed the line. You're not going to do that. That's a warning. Don't mess with
my word or it's over for you. Now, somebody who's saved is not going to tamper with God's
word. Somebody who's saved is not going to say, I hate God so much I'm going to change
the Bible and put out fake Bibles. I hate God. I hate Jesus so much I'm going to tell
him he's filled with Satan. Okay. That's not somebody who's saved. These are the people
that are unsaved, losing their opportunity to become saved in the future. And if you
don't believe that, you need to read the Bible because there are many people in the Bible
who pushed it too far with God and the Bible says God gave them up to a reprobate mind
to do those things which are not convenient. And it goes on and on. If you weren't here
on Sunday night and you need to hear that, hit the tape and you'll see that proof from
the Bible for about 40 minutes. But anyway, back to Matthew chapter 12, that's all that
is. So don't, you know, don't get hung up on verses like that and stuff. You know, just
be sure that believing on Jesus Christ, what saves you, and it's eternal life. Don't get
hung up on Jesus chewing out some guy who's saying that he's filled with Satan. That's
a big, that's a totally different story. Look if you would at verse, let me find my place
here. Okay. Verse number 33, either make the tree good and his fruit good or else make
the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt. For the tree is known by his fruit. He's saying,
look at the fruit of my preaching and you'll see that I'm telling you the truth. Look at
the righteous acts. I mean, look how I'm healing people. He's saying, that's how you can identify
that I'm of God. Let's say you can identify I'm a good tree because look at my followers
are the good fruit. And he says, let's see here. Oh generation of vipers, how can you
be evil? Speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh
a good man out of the good treasure of the heart. Bring it forth good things and an evil
man out of the evil treasure of bringing forth evil things. But I stand to you that every
idle word that men shall speak, they should give a counter of in the day of judgment.
Now look at this verse, for by thy words thou shall be justified and by thy words thou
shall be condemned. Now justification is talking about salvation. Justified, I've heard people
say just as if I'd never sinned. It's how they remember what I mean. Justified, just
as if I'd never sinned. Justified is like if I went to court, let's say I stole a car
or somebody said I stole a car, but I didn't steal a car and they took me to court and
they tried me for stealing this car and they said, you know what? You did not steal this
car. You were framed. And they said you are justified. I mean you are off the hook. You
are innocent. See, that's what happens when you get saved. God just declares you innocent
of all your sins. The Bible says that your sins will not be imputed unto you. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, it says in Romans chapter 4. And so it's
like your sins never even happened. Jesus said their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. And so when you get saved, you're justified. Now, how do you get justified?
By doing good works, by living a good life, by getting baptized, by putting money in an
offering plate, by going to church, by joining the church. No, look what it says. For by
thy words thou shall be justified and by thy words thou shall be condemned. Keep your finger
there and turn to Romans chapter 10. And I'm going to show you this doctrinally. Romans
chapter 10. And you'll see this Romans chapter 10 verse number 9. Romans 10, there's a few
books forward in your Bible there, about four books forward there. Romans chapter 10 verse
number 9, the Bible says that if thou shalt, actually look at verse number 8. But what
saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word
of faith. See that word faith? The word of faith which we preach. See, salvation's by
faith. Faith means belief, believing. That is the word of faith which we preach. That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. See, salvation is
through one thing and one thing alone. It's all wrapped up in one word. One word, believe.
He says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever believeth,
everyone that believeth is justified by Jesus Christ. The Bible says in the book of Romans,
everyone that believeth. And so here's what he says, if you confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. But listen to this, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.
That's where you would get the righteousness that takes you to heaven. The righteousness
of Jesus Christ being put onto your account as if you had done it, even though you didn't
do any righteousness. The righteousness that is by faith, which is in Jesus Christ, okay,
is put on your account. It says, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. See, when you then confess that
with your mouth and pray and say, I believe Jesus saved me, you know, I'm trusting you
Jesus alone, 100%. Please say it. See, that confession is just a result of the fact that
you believe. The Bible says I believed, therefore have I spoken. And so the prayer is not what
saves you. That's why you'll notice throughout the Bible, and I believe in praying for salvation
because it says with the heart man believeth unto righteousness with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. Jesus said to the woman at the well, if thou knewest who it
was and said unto thee, give me the drink, thou wouldest have asked of him and he would
have given to thee living water. And so God says, ask and ye shall receive. He says, ask
for salvation and I'll give it to you. Believe on me. It's all through me. But, but see,
you'll find about, I could probably think of right now about 10 instances, the Bible
of someone praying for salvation. But you know what I can show you literally over 500
times and I've gone through it. I mean, I've studied it and I've highlighted over 500 verses
that say that salvation is by faith, that it's by what you believe, that what you believe
is what saves you over 500 times. And so God emphasizes believe. That's what he emphasizes
for salvation because it's all about what you believe. Whether you go to heaven or not
is not based on how you live. It's based on what you believe. Now look, if I asked somebody,
let's say I won somebody to the Lord. Okay. And I said, you know, I went through the whole
plan of salvation with them and then they prayed and asked Jesus to save. And I said,
why are you going to it? Do you know for sure you're going to heaven now? And they say,
yeah, I know I'm going to heaven. Why? Now, if I asked somebody that, you know what they
say? Cause I've asked many people that, that I've wanted the Lord. I say, why are you going
to heaven? This is what they say inevitably because I believe that's what they say because
that's what I emphasized in my gospel presentation. Believing it. Why? Because I believe because
I believe on Jesus because it's all Jesus. Okay. I've been out so wanting with a lot
of people that are just kind of like one, two, three, repeat after me. You know what
I mean? They're just like, okay, look, Jesus died for you. Now pray this prayer. And then
you'll ask him and I've seen people ask him, why are you going to heaven? And they'll say
this because I prayed. Now people that say, because I prayed, okay, I'm not saying they're
not saved, but if everybody that you asked says because I prayed, a lot of times you'll
find people that just ask Jesus into their heart, so to speak, say, well, I asked Jesus
into my heart. And you'll run into people that you know are not saved at all because
they're going to some Catholic church or they're going to some charismatic church and they
don't believe anything that we believe out of the Bible. They don't believe that it's
eternal life through Jesus Christ, but they'll say, well, I'm going to heaven cause I asked
Jesus into my heart cause I prayed. Look, salvation is not cause you prayed. Salvation
is because you believe on Jesus Christ in your heart. And so when you believe on Jesus
Christ, that's salvation. It's not repeat these magic words. The prayer is just evidence
of what you believe and believing is what saves you. You see, and Jesus, one day the
Bible says is people's, what comes out of their mouth is going to justify you or what
comes out of your mouth is going to damn you to hell. And so one day Jesus said the
judgment, and this is not talking about saved people, this is talking about unsaved people,
when the dead are judged before God, he says they're going to give an account for every
word they said, every time they said that it was not through Jesus, every time they
said that it was by works or every time they said something blaspheming Jesus or cussed
Jesus, that'll all be recounted to them. And they're going to be condemned by what came
out of their mouth. The Catholic who says, I'm going to go to heaven because I live a
good life, they're going to have that replayed to them at the judgment seat and say no, you
did not believe, you will go to hell. In the courtroom of God's justice in the white throne
of judgment in Revelation chapter 20. But back to the chapter here, look if you would
at verse number, and I have to skip a lot of this because we're already pretty much
out of time, but I wanted to show you one thing. Look at verse number 43. Verse number
43 says, when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he, now what do you notice there
right away, he? An unclean spirit is not a thing, it's a person, right? Because it says,
it doesn't say it. It doesn't say when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, it says,
when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking
rest and finding none, finding none. See, devils and demons, yes they are real. Yes
they are. And so it's saying here that a man can be possessed with a devil, he can have
a devil living inside of him, an unclean spirit, as a personality. When the unclean spirit
is gone out of man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest and finding none. Then
he say, if I will return into my house from whence I came out, he's talking about going
back, basically it's talking about a man who has a devil inside of him, he's possessed,
and the devil goes out of him somehow. And then it says that the devil goes around and
can't really find anywhere else to go, so he comes back to his house, that's the person
that he was living in, and it says, and when he's come he finds it that empty, swept, and
garnished, it's all been cleaned up. You see what that's saying? And then it says, then
goeth he, and he says, wait a minute, this isn't the way I left my house. He goes back
and says, then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself,
and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. Here's what he's talking about.
He's talking about a person that thinks that salvation is found in cleaning up their life.
You know, think about this, some guy who's a drunk, or a, he's just totally into sin,
I mean he's into drugs, he's into the devil, I mean he's listening to this gothic music,
you know people that are demonic, you know what they do, they cut themselves, and I've
known many people who cut themselves, and I know some people right now that cut themselves,
and they cut themselves, and they're into the devil, they're listening to Nine Inch
Nails, they're listening to Ramstein, and they're listening to all these different groups,
I don't really know all the groups, Marilyn Manson, and they say, you know what, I'm going
to turn from this, and I'm going to turn over a new leaf, and I'm going to do right, and
so what do they do? They say get the devil out, you know, I don't want the devil anymore,
and they say, you know, I'm going to clean up this house, I'm going to clean things up,
maybe they get a haircut, maybe they clean out the music library, maybe they clean things
up, but they don't have salvation, okay, that's what he's talking about, they didn't
get saved, they didn't believe on Jesus Christ, they're turning over a new leaf, they're saying
I'm going to repent of my sins, and turn away from this wicked lifestyle, but did they put
their faith and trust in Jesus Christ to save them, no, this is like alcoholics anonymous,
you know, this is the world's reformation programs, this is a guy who says, you know
what, I'm going to clean up my life, I'm going to live right, I'm done living the sinful
life, and I'm going to clean it up, and it says, man, he gets it cleaned up, swept and
garnished, but what happens to that man? The Bible says that that devil that's gone out
of him, when he comes back and finds the house clean and garnished, all the sins out of there,
he says, you know what, I can't handle this guy alone, because this guy's cleaned up and
everything, he says I'm going to go get seven of the most wicked as hell demons that I can,
seven of the most wicked, ungodly, vile spirits, and we're going to come and just take hold
of this guy, and we're going to take him back for us, and we're going to take him back for
the kingdom of Satan, and that's what they do, and these seven spirits come in, and the
Bible says that this guy ends up way worse than he was before he tried to clean himself
up, what's the moral of the story? The moral of the story is that you don't get saved and
you don't get cleaned up permanently by getting rid of the sin, what happens is you get saved,
and then that salvation says that then the Holy Spirit lives inside you as soon as the
moment you get saved. The Bible says that Christ is in you, since you trusted Christ,
the Bible says that the Holy Spirit's in you, and the Bible says greater is he that is in
you than he that is in the world. It says that that Holy Spirit inside you is more powerful
than the devil, so the devil cannot possess a Christian, a Christian cannot be demon possessed
because he's got the Holy Spirit living inside of him, and so he doesn't have that unclean
spirit that can't come in there. Now look, salvation is the key, but here's what I want
to teach you, and this is what I'm going to close with. Salvation is by believing on Jesus
Christ. Is it by works? No. Is it faith plus works? Is it believe and do good works? No.
Now look, let me explain this to you. A lot of people teach this false doctrine, and this
is what they teach, and they're teaching it in independent Baptist churches, they're teaching
it in fundamental Baptist churches, and they're trying to depart from the faith like we know
it, like I grew up with, like whosoever believeth in him, and that's salvation. What they're
trying to do is they're trying to depart from that and pull us back to work salvation, back
to the false doctrines of the worldly churches and everything. Here's what it is. This is
what they teach. They teach, works are not necessary for salvation, but if you get saved,
there will be works or else you're not saved. Like they say, if you look at yourself and
you don't have the good works, you're not saved, because faith always produces works.
This is what they say, and it's just not true, and I want to show you this one verse, and
I'm going to explain to you how it relates to this passage. This is the last verse we're
going to turn to. Look at Romans 4-5. Five chapters forward again, five books forward.
Five books forward again where we were a minute ago in the book of Romans. Look at Romans
4-5, and we'll see the truth here. It says in Romans 4-5, now to him that worketh not.
Now this guy that we're talking about, whoever this sorry rascal is that we're talking about,
does he do any work at all? It says, I mean, my Bible says to him that worketh not. Now
does not mean he does a little bit of work. I mean, this guy does nothing. Does this guy
go to church? No. Did this guy put money in an offering plate? No. Did this guy get baptized?
No. Did this guy ever go to church? He's done no good works. Has he ever helped an old lady
cross the street? No. Okay, this guy's a lazy rascal, and he doesn't do any good works before
or after he got saved. But look, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, that he believes on Jesus Christ, it says, his faith is counted
for righteousness. So the faith that he has in Jesus Christ is counted as if he did works,
as if he were righteous, and he goes to heaven because he believed on Jesus, and his faith
is counted for righteousness. Now look, people teach that everybody that gets saved will
do all kinds of good. I mean, look, if they don't go to church, they must not get saved.
Because where's the fruit? You know, that's what they say in life. Where's the works,
huh? Yeah. Yeah. Look at that guy that you won to the Lord. He doesn't go to church.
He's still drinking. He must not be saved. Now look, if you believe that, you're wrong,
my friend, because the Bible says, him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. See, there are people that the Bible talks
about in 1 Corinthians 3 who are saved, yet so is by fire. The Bible says, it says that
all their good works, all their works that they did were burnt up because they were all
garbage. But it says he himself shall be saved. That's in 1 Corinthians 3 if you want to read
that another time. And so the point is, salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, to
God alone be the glory. Don't try to take glory for salvation. And see, this doctrine
is creeping into independent Baptist churches. It will not creep into this Baptist church.
Hell will freeze over before it creeps into this Baptist church. I'm going to tell you
that right now. There have been people in the past that, there are people that call
me up on the phone about this. There are people who send me letters in the mail about this.
There are people who sent me two emails today and two emails yesterday about this, a church
in town, telling me, and this guy, okay, I'll give you his name right now. His name is Pastor
Schwer, and he's a Gospelite Baptist church in Mesa, independent fundamental Baptist church
in Mesa. He sends me an email that lists out quotes from all these preachers from the past,
like all these great men from the past, like hundreds of years ago, and how they believed
that like, you have to turn from your, you know, there has to be turning from your sins
to be saved. I mean, you've got to just, he said, you have to be so sorry for your sins
when you get saved that you will quit sinning. I mean, you will like, like you have to be
so sorry that you drink that you will quit drinking. You know, that's repentance, he
says. And of course, the Bible says repent and believe the Gospel. The only, the repentance
for salvation is where you turn from trusting in your good works to save you, and you turn
to Jesus Christ for salvation. You repent and believe the Gospel. Repent means to change,
and so you change from not believing, and you change to where now you believe on Jesus.
Now you're saved. Now you're going to heaven. And so, he's saying, you know, you've got
to, I mean, you've got to do this and that and that, and you've got, I mean, if you're
a thief, it's like, you've got to say, I'm going to stop being a thief. You know, if
you're a drunk, you've got to say, I'm going to, I need to quit drinking. That's what they
say for salvation. That's work salvation. That's Roman Catholicism. And I get, I get
emails about this, I get letters, because I make no bones about it. I make no bones
about it. It's only by grace through faith, plus nothing minus nothing. I don't care what
anybody says. And listen, I don't, it's never going to creep into this church. If it, if
it creeps into this church, you know what I'll do? I'll just preach about it Sunday
morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night until it creeps out. Because I'm telling you
something, it's not, it ain't going to happen. And I will fight it. And I know churches all
over America, churches that I love dearly and churches who I've sat in the pew of this
church and heard them preach against it, just like I'm preaching against it right now and
say like, it is wrong. It's by believing on Jesus Christ. You don't have to clean up your
life. It's not where you're willing to change and you're willing to change all your ways
and you're willing to have a new life in Jesus. They said it's only by faith and not by works
and then you know what they started teaching? Then they started teaching, well, it's all
by faith, but there will be, there has to be some results, some works. I mean, if you
win somebody the Lord, then they never come to church. They must not have been saved.
Okay. And then now they get to the point where they're saying, you have to be willing to
turn away from your sins in order to be saved. You have to be willing to give up alcohol.
You have to be willing to start coming to church. And it's not going to happen because
I'm going to tell you something. It's all by faith. It's all by grace. It's all to God
be the glory. Great things He had done. And so we must earnestly contend for the faith,
which was once delivered unto the saints. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
God, I thank you so much for this church and I thank you for the Bible and I thank you
for those that would come out on a Wednesday night in the middle of the week. You know,
a lot of people, a lot of people in the middle of the week are just thinking about getting
through the week, thinking about work, thinking about school. But God, I love a Christianity
that's not a once a week Christianity, it's not Sunday Christianity.