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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Good morning everyone. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church, Manila. Let's start our first service and let's get our hymns and turn to hymn number 9. Let's sing the song Room at the Cross for you. Let's sing the song Room at the Cross for you. For those of you who know the song, please live up your voices. I'm going to pick up the tempo on the verse. The cross upon which Jesus died is a shelter in which we can hide. And it's grace will bring its sufficient for me. And if it's its mountain as wide as the sea, there's room at the cross for you. There's room at the cross for you. Though millions have come, there's still room at the cross for you. Yes, there's room at the cross for you. Everybody on the second. Though millions have found him a friend and have turned from the sins they have seen. The singer still waits to open the gates and welcome the sinner before it's too late. There's room at the cross for you. There's room at the cross for you. Though millions have come, there's still room for one. Yes, there's room at the cross for you. The hand of my Savior is strong. And the love of my Savior is long. Through sunshine or rain, through loss or in gain, the blood flows from God, we to cleanse every stain. There's room at the cross for you. There's room at the cross for you. Though millions have come, there's still room for one. Yes, there's room at the cross for you. It's great. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank the Lord for this morning. We ask, Lord, that you bless our first service and that you would help us to be attentive and be active with the servant, Lord. I pray that you would help our pastor as he preaches the sermon to us, Lord. I pray that you would fill him with your Holy Spirit, O God, and that he will preach with all boldness, Lord, and clarity. I pray that you would also bless the members who are still coming here and that you protect them, Lord, and keep them safe as they go here, Lord. And I pray that you would also bless the weather this afternoon so that we can go out and do so. We're asking all these things. We love you. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. All right. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Verdi Baptist Church. Take out your bulletin and go through some announcements here today. Our verse of the week is Exodus 32, verse 4. The Bible reads, And he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf. And they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And that's a verse that will tie into our second sermon. We are a family-integrated church, meaning children and infants are welcome during the services. We do have a mother-baby room back there for your convenience, and then the men's restroom, the ladies' restroom. The basic rules in the mother-baby room are down there below. On the next page, we have our service times listed. First service is at 10 a.m. Second service, 11-15. Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. Soul winning time is listed on Wednesday's meeting here at the building at 4 p.m. Saturday soul winning schedule to be announced each week. And then, of course, we have soul winning this afternoon. The anthem and tip starts at 1-30, and then we will have our soul winning time at 1-45. Our salvation and baptisms are listed there for the year, as well as the month for all of our churches and our monthly church services. On the next page, our Bible memorization challenge. And the book of Ecclesiastes is our book of the year. So if you're able to memorize the entire book, each of the 12 chapters during the year, then you'll win a nice prize. We also have our normal weekly memorization down there below as well. Of course, we are in January, so this is New Testament Bible reading challenge, so try to just stay up to date on it. Sometimes on church days it's very easy to miss your morning Bible readings, so try to make sure you catch up tonight as you get back and just slowly mark off the chart. Upcoming activities. Today is our monthly church service in Laguna, so we have a lot of our church family there in Laguna here today. Next week we do have our monthly prayer meeting, and so we're going to be bringing that back now that we're past the rosaries and past the holidays. We also have the Bekal missions trip meeting, and so for next week after soul winning we'll have our monthly prayer meeting, and then we'll have the Bekal missions trip meeting, you know, if you're able to be a part of that if you're interested. If not, we can kind of send you the notes in the meeting, so we want to try to figure out how many people are coming, if people figure out a place to stay, and try to get as organized as possible. There are a lot of parks in Legaspi to go soul winning, but there's not like Lunetta Park where you can send like 50 people, so we're going to be kind of like organizing into kind of groups to try to be as efficient as possible. So we'll have a meeting next week for that. Then we do have a soul winning marathon coming up on Wednesday, January 29th. It is Chinese New Year. We'll have a soul winning marathon on that day. Current upcoming series we are in the book of Matthew. Birthdays and anniversaries. So Christabel didn't come today. It is her birthday, but Ezra has chicken pox, and so he's getting better now, but you know that's why the whole family is not here today. But also the Urbanic family, their anniversary is the 23rd. It's not here in the bulletin. I'll add it to next week's bulletin. But we have a lot of birthdays and anniversaries for the month of January. On the back we have the basic rules of conduct on our church, and you should have an insert in your bulletin for both of the sermons here today. The second sermon is going to be for the documentary on idolatry, which is why we have the extra cameras and everything set up. That's going to be for the second sermon, but just keep in mind during that to try not to photobomb or video bomb while I'm preaching or whatever. Take note of that. But anyways, that'll be it for announcements. We'll have Brother Marlon lead us in another song. Alright, for the next song, let's sing the song, He Died for Me, hymn number 11. Hymn number 11. Let's sing the song, He Died for Me. Hymn number 11. Everybody on the first. The Savior died for me. My soul is filled, my heart is filled. To think He died for me. I want to sing it. Should never tell my latest rep. Can I forget that look? It seemed to charge me with His death. Though not a word He spoke. Oh, can it be upon a dream the Savior died for me? My soul is filled, my heart is filled. To think He died for me. On the third. My conscience felt and owned the guilt. And lodged me in despair. Now my trembling soul's me in our eye. The Lord has me. Oh, can it be upon a dream the Savior died for me? My soul is filled, my heart is filled. To think He died for me. At last I knew not what I did. But now my tears are beamed. Where shall my trembling soul be hit? For I, the Lord, have sinned. Oh, can it be upon a dream the Savior died for me? My soul is filled, my heart is filled. To think He died for me. On the last. A second look He gave. It said, I really all forgive. His God is for thy ransom paid. I die that thou may sleep. Oh, can it be upon a dream the Savior died for me? My soul is filled, my heart is filled. To think He died for me. Let us repeat the verse number three. I'm sorry we skipped the verse, but verse number three is a good verse because it says, I saw my sins is blood that spilt. And so let's repeat verse number three. Everybody, verse number three, sing. My conscience felt and owned the guilt and plunged me in despair. I saw my sins His blood had spilt and helped to deal Him there. Oh, can it be upon a dream the Savior died for me? My soul is filled, my heart is filled. To think He died for me. This time let's take our dicen offering. Oh, can it be upon a dream the Savior died for me? My conscience felt and owned the guilt and plunged me in despair. I saw my sins His blood had spilt and helped to deal Him there. For this time let's take our Bibles and open it to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. We'll read verses 22 to 37. Please follow along silently with me as I read Matthew 12 verses 22 to 37. Matthew 12 verse 22, the Bible reads, Then was brought unto him one possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and 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? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And 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. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? And if I, Beelzebub, cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods? Except he first bind a strong man, then he will spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me is scattered abroad. Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blaspheming shall be forgiven unto men, but the blaspheming against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him, but the whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. 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 its fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good pressure of his heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil pressure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, that every idle word that man shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment, for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day, Lord, that you've given us, that we were able to go to your house and listen to your word. Preach, Lord God. We pray that you would help us, Lord, to pay attention to the sermon, help us, Lord, to learn from it, and bless the preacher there. God bless him with your Holy Spirit and all these things we ask in Christ's most precious name. We pray. Amen. All right. We're here in Matthew chapter 12. As I mentioned, the second sermon is going to tie into our documentary on idolatry, but this first sermon's on a pretty famous section of scripture that there's a lot of different opinions and questions, and it's about blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. And I've had plenty of times where I go out soul winning, and I'm explaining eternal security, and it's making sense to someone, but then they'll say, but what about blasphemy of the Holy Ghost? I've heard that that's unforgivable. And I would say that when you're in ministry, you actually get a lot of emails and people I've personally talked to that they say, Well, I'm saved, but I'm worried that 20 years ago I blasphemed the Holy Ghost. And then people say things like, I used to listen to music that used the Lord's name in vain. I used to watch movies that were really sinful. I'm worried at some point I blasphemed the Holy Ghost. And the reality is that if we just look at what the Bible says, you're going to see that blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is something very specific. It's not just, Well, I listened to something blasphemous or I committed certain sins in the past. The Bible's very specific on what this actually is. Let's just look at the verses, and then we'll get into the sermon. Matthew 12, 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, neither in the world to come. Now, we're going to look at the entire context here, so we're going to explain these verses later. Turn to Mark 3. Let's look at the parallel section in Mark chapter 3 of this story. Mark 3. And, you know, obviously one very important thing to consider when you're starting this passage is that it's not saved people that are doing this. Right? When you're reading about Matthew 12 and Mark 3, you're not seeing saved people that blaspheme the Holy Ghost. This is not something that applies to saved people. I mean, if you're saved, you have eternal life. Nothing can ever change that. You can never lose your salvation. This is not an application to people that are saved because when you're saved, you've already got forgiveness. So the Bible's not going to say you'll never get forgiveness because the moment you got saved, you got complete forgiveness. All of your sins were washed away. The Bible says you're justified from all things, meaning things in the past, present, future, big and small. Mark chapter 3, verse 28. Verily I say unto you, All sin shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewithsoever they shall blaspheme. But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation, because they said he hath an unclean spirit. You know, the Bible says here in verse 29 that if people blaspheme the Holy Ghost, they have never forgiveness. They will never be forgiven. They will not be forgiven in this world or the world to come, meaning the afterlife. You know, I've heard people say that, Well, you know what? This is saying that you don't have forgiveness now, but you can get it in the future. No, it says never forgiveness. So if you do what the Bible is saying, you will never be forgiven. The Bible is very clear. But the Bible's also very clear this is not saved people. This is unsaved people that are doing this. Obviously, we have eternal security. Once saved, always saved. Nothing will ever change that, okay? Now go to John chapter 12. John 12. If you were to ask people what is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, you're going to hear a lot of different opinions. And a large part of the problem of why people are confused is because they do not understand the reprobate doctrine. You know, most people will say that until your dying breath, you have a hope to believe on Christ and get saved no matter how bad of a person you are until your dying day. And if that's what you believe, you run into problems with this passage because the Bible speaks about people that will never get forgiveness. This is not referring to saved people. It's referring to unsaved people. So if somebody blasphemes the Holy Ghost, and in the future they get saved, well, then that contradicts what the Bible says against blaspheming the Holy Ghost where you never have forgiveness, right? Notice what it says in John 12, verse 36. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus and departed and did hide himself from them, 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 at the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore, notice this, they could not believe. Does that say they did not believe, or does it say they could not believe? It says they could not believe. It doesn't say they did not believe. I mean, there's a lot of people that don't believe, but it says they could not believe. This is referring to people that can't believe. They cannot get saved. They cannot put their faith on Jesus Christ. It says, therefore, they could not believe because as Isaiah said again, The Bible also speaks about, go back to Matthew 12, but the Bible speaks about people that are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. It doesn't say they never do come. It says they're never able to come. And what the Bible teaches is though Jesus died for every single person and for every single sin, and he's offering salvation to anyone by grace through faith, whosoever believeth, there are certain people in this world that are basically walking dead men. You say, Pastor, do you believe in zombies? You know, yeah, kind of, because there's people that are kind of alive, but it's like they're kind of dead because they're going to be spending forever in the lake of fire because they cannot believe. They're not able to come to the knowledge of the truth. I mean, look, there were literally people that knew Jesus rose again. They saw him with their own eyes, and they didn't believe it. It's like how could you not believe when you saw him rise again? And yet what the Bible teaches is there are people that cannot believe. You say, why? Because they've lost their chance to be saved. So when the Bible's saying blaspheming the Holy Ghost, what it's saying is there are people in this world where they reached that point, they've rejected God too much, and one of the things they could do is blaspheme the Holy Ghost where God says, you know what? You've never got forgiveness. You will never believe on me. You'll never get saved. You have no hope of going to heaven. This is not about saved people losing their salvation. This is about unsaved people that cross a line with God where God says, you know what? You're not getting forgiveness. Your hope is done. You've gone too far. Because you've got to realize the Bible said all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven. You think of the thief on the cross. I mean, he's blaspheming Jesus. He's mocking Jesus. And then like a few hours later, he believes on Jesus and gets saved. That's remarkable. But what the Bible's saying is, but you know what? You blaspheme the Holy Ghost. You've pushed it too far. Turn to Matthew 12. Notice what it says in verse 22. Let's just look at the context here, and then we'll explain this more in detail. Matthew 12, verse 22. Matthew 12, verse 22. Then was brought unto him one possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him in so much that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. The Bible speaks about somebody who is blind and dumb, meaning they cannot speak, and it's actually a result of devil possession. Now, look, obviously there are a lot of people in this world that are blind. I'm not saying they're possessed by a devil. There's a lot of people that cannot speak. I'm not saying they're possessed by a devil. Obviously there's physical ailments. Sicknesses happen that can destroy the body. But in this instance, we are seeing that the devil possession has caused this person to be blind and dumb. The Bible tells us there are people with physical ailments, and it is as a result of devil possession. The Bible says that Jesus healed this person, and a blind person can see. A dumb person can speak. Notice what it says in verse 23. All the people were amazed and said, Is not this the son of David? Now, I would be pretty amazed, too, if my neighbor that had been blind for 25 years, all of a sudden can see. It's like, wait, how can you see? How is that possible? It's like, well, this person healed me. Right? Now, they make this statement, Is not this the son of David? And when you're reading that, you can just easily read over it without thinking about what are they actually saying. Keep your finger in Matthew 12. Go to Matthew 22. Matthew 22. Matthew chapter 22. And it says in Matthew 22, verse 41, While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And when he says, What think ye of Christ? You know, Christ is another name for Messiah. And when you're saying Jesus Christ, what you're basically saying is that Jesus is the Messiah. And I refer to Jesus as Jesus Christ. Right? I mean, there's nothing wrong with saying Jesus, but I say Jesus Christ, and what you're basically saying is Jesus is the Messiah. He's the promised one from the Old Testament. He is the Messiah. He is the Christ. And Jesus flatly asked them what they think of the Messiah. What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. You see, in Matthew chapter 12, when they said, Is not this the son of David? Do you know what they're saying? Is not this the Messiah? Is not this the Christ? I mean, there's a reason why the Pharisees got so mad at him. They're like, This is not a normal guy. I mean, is not this the son of David? I mean, obviously, they're not just saying, Oh, it's his lineage goes back to David. No, they're saying something more than that. They're like, Is this the one? I mean, he's healing the blind. The dumb can speak. I mean, is not this the son of David? Is not this the Christ? Is what they are saying. Go back to Matthew 12. Matthew 12. And look, if you live during that time period, and there's a man that's healing people of blindness, there's a man that's healing people of leprosy, there's a man that's healing people of being deaf or dumb, wouldn't you have that sort of reaction? It's like, This is either some great prophet or this is the Christ. Unless you just do not want to believe. Right? Notice what it says here in verse 24. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. Look, they don't deny that the miracle took place. You remember another story in the Bible when a person's healed of his blindness. They're going around. It's like, Are we sure this guy was blind? And then they talk to the parents. They're like, Yep. He was born blind. He's blind. How he sees, we don't know. He's of age. Ask him because they're afraid of being thrown out of the synagogue. But, you know, they don't want to believe. And then here it's like they understand, Okay, a miracle has taken place. They realize that. They believe that. But you know what they say? This miracle was done by the power of the devil. So what they were basically saying is, We believe Jesus healed people of blindness through the power of the devil. So what is blasphemy of the Holy Ghost? Seeing a miracle that Jesus performed and attributing it to the work of the devil. That's what blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is. Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is not listening to a song that uses the Lord's name in vain. Where is that in Matthew chapter 12? Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is not committing sins, you know, that you're used to, or watching bad movies or whatever, or being, you know, very perverse or whatever. No, blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is looking at a miracle of Jesus Christ and believing the miracle took place but by the power of the devil. That is what the Bible teaches about this topic. Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost doesn't appear a hundred times in the Bible. I mean, it's like a very famous scripture that people debate about and talk about. We're looking at it today. And so you cannot just say, Well, I think this is blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. It's like you cannot just make something up. I mean, you watch that R-rated movie. You blaspheme the Holy Ghost. It's like you can't just make up stuff. When the Bible's very specific, what it is is believing a miracle that Jesus did is by the power of the devil. That is what blaspheming the Holy Ghost actually is according to the Word of God. Now, this leads to a lot of different questions that people have. Now, for example, you know, obviously, we do not live during the day where Jesus is actually performing miracles. It's like I have not seen Jesus Christ with my eyes. I have not seen him perform any miracles. You could ask the question, Is this something that even exists today because nobody's seeing miracles? Now, what I personally believe is that blaspheming the Holy Ghost still does exist. I do personally believe, and you could agree or disagree, and that's fine, but that if somebody actually believes that Jesus performed miracles but by the power of the devil, then that would be blaspheming the Holy Ghost today. Now, I'll be honest with you, though. I don't think I've ever met anybody who actually believed Jesus performed miracles but by the power of the devil. I mean, even in Judaism, they teach, and we're going to see this in their scriptures, they teach that Jesus was a sorcerer. But you know what? I don't know that I've ever talked to a Jew that actually believed Jesus performed miracles. I mean, a lot of them think that he was a sorcerer, but they don't necessarily believe he actually did anything. And so I do believe blaspheming the Holy Ghost can actually exist, but I can just say that in terms of my friends or neighbors or acquaintances in my life and my social network, I don't know that I've ever met anyone that said, I believe Jesus performed miracles by the power of the devil. I don't know that I've ever met anyone like that personally. So you know what? It's not like this is something that a large number of people have done. Right? There are plenty of reprobates in this world, but very few of them have done it as a result of blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Right? Because very rarely do you meet people that say, I believe that Jesus Christ performed miracles by the power of the devil. Look, I have no doubt that Catholic priests are a bunch of pedophiles and reprobates and sick perverts. Right? But I don't know that I've ever heard a Catholic priest say that they believe Jesus Christ performed miracles by the power of the devil. Have you heard that? So this is not something that is a very common thing. For something that people are so afraid that they've done, it's like very few people have actually done this before, where they believe a miracle of Jesus Christ was done by the power of the devil. Okay? And so there's a lot of things that are not blasphemy. I mean, mocking Jesus Christ is not blaspheming the Holy Ghost. The thief on the cross did that. Right? And then he got saved shortly afterward. Is it a wicked sin? Absolutely. If somebody mocks Jesus Christ, is there a good chance that they already are a reprobate? Yeah, there's probably a good chance that they are. But that's not what blaspheming the Holy Ghost is. Blaspheming the Holy Ghost is seeing a miracle that was done by Jesus and saying, I believe it took place, but it was by the power of the devil. Okay? Now, here's what it says in the Talmud. And the Talmud is the spiritual book of Judaism. And Judaism will claim they believe in the Old Testament, but not really. And more specifically, they'll claim they believe in the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, but they really don't believe in that either. But in all actuality, their main holy book is not the Torah. It's actually the Talmud. Okay? And this is basically all of their stories that have been passed down, and they say they've been verbally passed down from generation to generation. And you know what? Our Bible is, you know, we're doing the New Testament, Bible-reading challenge, which is maybe one-fourth or one-fifth of your whole Bible. I hope you finish the entire Bible in a year. But I can just say that I don't know if anyone's ever read the Talmud in a single year, because the Talmud is like so many volumes of books. I mean, very, very few Jews have actually read, you know, even a small portion of the Talmud. And I would say this, the Talmud is also kind of confusing. It's just very vague. If you've ever actually tried to read the Talmud, it's really bad literature. It's pretty confusing. It's not very clear what they're talking about. It's very different than the Bible. It does not sound like the Bible. It's very different. But here's a quote from the Talmud where it says in Sanhedrin 43a, it relates to trial and execution of a sorcerer named Jesus, parentheses Yeshua in Hebrew, and his five disciples, the sorcerer stoned and hanged on the eve of Passover. And so what the Talmud actually teaches is that Jesus Christ was a sorcerer, and he was put to death for committing sorcery. And it says a lot of other evil things about Jesus Christ. And obviously, you know what, the Jewish Scriptures, they blaspheme Jesus Christ. But the reality is very few Jews actually believe this about Jesus. If you go to YouTube and listen to interviews with Jewish people talk about Jesus Christ, there's a lot of different opinions. It's like you're going to hear people that say, well, you know, he's just some random person that got put to death. Some will say he's a bad person, maybe a criminal. They don't really have a set standard of belief, the average Jew that exists in 2025. Now, if they literally do believe, though, that Jesus Christ performed miracles and healed people, blindness and being deaf and dumb and leprosy and all these things, but they say it was by the power of the devil, I do believe that blaspheming the Holy Ghost still exists today. But I would just say it's a very small number of people that actually believe that. Because even if Jews believe that Jesus was a sorcerer, I don't know them actually believing that he healed anybody of anything, right? I mean, there's a lot of sorcerers that exist today that aren't really actually doing anything, and they're evil and deserve to be put to death according to the Word of God. But you have to actually believe that he actually performed those miracles. And I'm just saying, I have not run into people that have actually believed that. Although I'm sure it does exist somewhere. Probably in Israel there are people that do believe that. Matthew 12, verse 25. Matthew 12, verse 25. Now, as I've said about Judaism many times, I mean, they are like the least receptive people to the Gospel, but I don't believe that most of them are reprobates. Because most of them have not blasphemed the Holy Ghost. Most of them don't believe Jesus performed miracles by the power of the devil. Now, I definitely believe they have a higher percentage of people that are probably reprobates than other faiths, but most of them are actually savable, even though they're very hard to actually get saved because they're not receptive. Matthew 12, verse 25. And 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 Jesus knows their thoughts. I mean, he understands these things. Obviously, Jesus is omniscient. He knows all things. And he knew what their thoughts were, and he says every kingdom divided against itself is going to fall apart. Right? And so kind of some examples that you could think of this. Think about, he says, every house divided against itself. Think in a symbolic sense if you have a Baptist marriage or if you have a Baptist marry a Catholic. What are you going to do at the day when you've got to make that decision? Are you going to baptize an infant? The house is divided. What about if a Baptist marries a Hindu? I mean, what are you going to do when you walk by a cow on the side of the street? Are you going to bow down and worship it or not? I knew somebody in college who married a Muslim. He was Baptist, and he pretended to be Muslim because the parents required their daughter to marry a Muslim, so he pretended to convert to Islam in order to appease her family. Right? And, you know, I guess the way he justified it, because what he said is that behind his back, while he said, yes, I am now Muslim, his fingers were crossed. So that's okay. Go ahead and marry a Muslim. But it's just like, well, here's the thing. Your house is going to be divided. I mean, what think ye of Jesus Christ? If you believe Jesus is the Savior, and look, I believe that person. I knew him. I believe he saved. But it's like, what are you going to do when you make a decision about how you're going to raise your kids? I mean, are you going to a mosque or are you going to church? Right? And look, a house that's divided, it's going to fall apart. It cannot last. You're going to have problems. And what Jesus is saying is, no, wait a minute. If the devil is trying to possess people, and then I'm being used by the devil to unpossess people, then basically Satan's fighting against himself. Right? Verse 26. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself, how shall then his kingdom stand? Now, let me give you some examples that are not the exact same thing as blasphemy and the Holy Ghost, but things that we would say, or at least I would say, are by the power of the devil. Right? Now, look, you know, I have never, as far as I know, talked to an Albulario before, but I know people at our churches that have talked to Albularios before. And, you know, I would say this, because there's a lot less sorcery in the U.S., and oftentimes you think all of this stuff is fake, but plenty of people have told me that they've actually seen things that are beyond explanation. And, you know, many people will go to an Albulario to get healed, especially if you're living in certain provinces or other areas. They will go to an Albulario instead of a doctor because it's a much cheaper price. And, you know what, here's what I'm saying. Any miracle that an Albulario does is by the power of the devil. Anything they do, it's like, well, you know, they heal. And here's the thing. I would be kind of worried about getting cured by an Albulario. You say, why? Because the Bible talks about if a devil departs, it comes back like with seven. So maybe you get healed for a short time, and then it's far worse a couple months later. Right now I'm assuming nobody at our church is going to go to an Albulario to get healed. Okay? If you need the money, I mean, talk to me. It's like, do not go to an Albulario. Right? I get weirded out enough just talking to a spiritista, much less, you know, an Albulario. Right? But any miracle or anything that they do, it's by the power of the devil. Another example I would think of is, you know, Pentecostal preachers. Now, there's no doubt that in Pentecostal preachers a lot of what they do is just complete fake. Right? They have paid workers that come up to the stage, and then they practice. I guess they just practice this in their free time where it's just like, all right, once I touch, you just go. And then I can't hit the deck here. This is pretty hard. Okay? I'm not going to be that illustrative. I'm afraid I'm going to bash my head or whatever. But, you know, they'll do this, and then a lot of them are just paid workers that are doing this to basically just make it look more. I mean, this person, I mean, how long have you been blind for? It's like, I've been blind since birth, and now I can see. Obviously, a lot of what they do is completely fake. Okay? But I can just say that I have seen in person in front of just a very small group of people, like five people, or six people, I guess, including the preacher. A Pentecostal preacher touched this kid, and he hits the deck, and he's holding his head. And I'm like, he's not faking it because who is he impressing? He's not impressing anybody because there's not a crowd. This is not done on TV. It's just a few people, and it's like, what just happened? Now, here's the thing, though. He didn't take a devil out of that kid. I believe he put a devil in that kid. But there's no doubt that something took place. But here's what I'm saying. People like Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland, what I believe is they often act as mediums where basically they transfer devils from one person to the next. Now, don't get me wrong. When you see videos online where Benny Hinn's like, wow, and the crowd hits the deck, or he takes off his coat and just starts smacking people in the face, yeah, I believe that stuff's fake. It's very entertaining, but obviously I believe that's fake. But I don't believe that everything they do is fake because you think of the sorcerers in the book of, not the book of Egypt, but with the Egyptians. The magicians, the sorcerers, they're the spiritual gurus during that day, and what are they doing? They're actually doing miracles. They actually have that sort of power. But any miracle they're doing is by whose power? Well, not the Holy Ghost, but by the power of the devil. So, for example, we would talk about speaking in tongues. Let's talk about that. A lot of people that speak in tongues are faking it. I had a friend in college, and he said that he grew up in Pentecostal Church. In Sunday school, they would teach you how to speak in tongues. And basically they would just say, just start rolling the back of your tongue, and just start practicing. Then they'd give you words to say, and then at some point the spirit's just going to hit you. And, of course, in Sunday school, it's probably like a competition. Who gets filled with the spirit first? So all of a sudden there's one kid doing it, and it's like, hey, I also, I also, right? So obviously a lot of them are just faking it, but I don't believe that they're all faking it because I believe many Pentecostals, they speak in tongues. They do not remember what they're saying. They might black out. They might pass out. You say, how are they doing that? Well, they're not speaking an earthly language like Spanish or German or Arabic or anything like that. They're not speaking a heavenly language. They're speaking a demonic language. And how are they doing that? By the power of the devil. And that exists outside of what you'd say is Christianity because that exists in a lot of eastern religions and denominations of Buddhism and Hinduism, these sorts of things, and shamanism and voodoo and all of these dark arts. These sorts of things exist, and it's by the power of the devil. And, in fact, many Pentecostals will say that we blaspheme the Holy Ghost when we attribute the speaking in tongues to the work of the devil. It's like, well, say whatever you want, but it's by the power of the devil. And they would say, well, you're blaspheming the Holy Ghost. But then they also think that we can get forgiveness later on. It's like, but it said never forgiveness. So make up your mind whether I blaspheme the Holy Ghost or not. Right? But, look, anything they're doing, it's by the power of the devil. Any miracles, any healings, the speaking in tongues, it's by the power of the devil. Notice what it says in verse 27. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or how else can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man and then he will spoil his house? Now, verse 29 is a bit of a confusing verse, so let me just kind of explain what it's saying. When it talks about this example of somebody spoiling the goods or taking the goods that belong to someone, this is not something Jesus is promoting. He's giving an example of somebody committing robbery. If you were going to rob a house, you're going to probably look for houses without dogs. And if you rob a house where people live in it, what are you going to do? You're going to bind up the man of the house first. Doesn't that make sense? If there's a husband and a wife, what are you going to do? Take control of the guy. Because obviously your assumption is going to be, well, the woman is not going to be as strong. The woman's probably going to be more timid to shoot a gun or fight with a knife or whatever. And so you bind up the strong man. And if you can bind up the strong man, then you've basically got full control of the house. And he's using this example to talk about with devil possession. And basically, as Jesus is casting out devils, this person is now free. But when the devil is inside of them, the entire person is under control. You could look on a line of stories where people do some very bizarre and weird things when they're possessed by devils. Just crazy stories that you've heard. And I can tell you about a lot of stories online, but I can say I've experienced people that are certainly possessed before. I mean, I remember I was going solo with my friend a long time ago, and I was the silent partner. And we knocked on this house, and we talked to this little old lady. She was very weak, very frail. Opening the door was not easy for her. Her voice was very soft because she had gotten older. And this is a woman that stayed home and watched Joel Osteen all day long. And so my friend gave her the gospel for like an hour, and he thought he got her saved. And then I remember we were in the same neighborhood just like a week later because we had offered to give her a ride to church. And we figured, well, let's just visit her house, because we're already right here, and just see if she's interested in coming to church. And so of course my friend leads off because he's the one who talked to her, and all of a sudden we get there. This was a frail and weak lady whose voice was very soft, and all of a sudden she slams the door open. What are you doing here? And I remember I immediately just jumped off the porch. She's like, I'm out of here. My friend was like a deer caught in the headlights. He's like, we just wanted to invite you to church. There's no doubt this woman was possessed by a devil, but here's the thing. If you're possessed by a devil, you don't have full control of what you're doing. Obviously I believe people that are possessed can get saved because they can hear the gospel and believe on Christ, but if someone is possessed by a devil, they do not have full control of themselves. Verse number 30. He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Jesus says, you know what? If you're not with me, you're against me. And if you're not gathering with me, you're actually scattering. There's a multitude of different religions in this world, and the general assumption people would have is, well, I'm not a Buddhist, but they're doing a good thing helping people get a clear and peaceful mind. I'm not a Hindu, but they're doing a good thing. I'm not a Catholic, but they're doing a good thing. Well, that's not what the Bible teaches because if they're teaching another gospel, another way to heaven, they are not gathering. What they're doing is scattering. And so, look, if we run into people that believe a work salvation that are very nice and friendly people, it's like they're scattering. They're not on our side, right? I mean, look, there's people that go door to door. I mean, Mormons are generally very friendly, but are they gathering with us? No, they're not. They're scattering. They're against us. They're our enemies, right? They're teaching the exact opposite, and so if they're not gathering, they're actually scattering according to the Word of God. 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, neither in the world to come. And what Jesus says is if somebody speaks against me, it can actually be forgiven. I mentioned the thief on the cross, but you just think about Jesus basically saying, Well, just forgive them. They don't know what they're doing, right? And oftentimes he would forgive people that were doing a lot of bad things or would speak against him, and I'm sure there's a lot of people that existed back then that mocked Jesus Christ but ended up getting saved. And look, even in this room, I mean, I'm sure there's people in this room that in your life at one time, maybe you thought Jesus Christ was a joke. You're like, I don't believe this. This is a joke. Why do people believe this? And then at some point you got older, and then you believed on Jesus Christ, right? I remember somebody I knew in college, and this guy, I remember they were handing out, the Gideons were handing out Bibles, and I remember I was with him, and we got Bibles, and he was just mocking it. He's in class. They're handing out Bibles. And then, well, later on in college I got saved, and so I gave him the Gospel a year later, and he got saved. It's like he was mocking the things a year earlier because that's like the cool thing to mock God, right? And then a year later he believed on the Lord. He got saved, okay? So it is possible to blaspheme against Jesus, use the Lord's name in vain, mock Jesus and still get saved, but the Bible says if you blaspheme the Holy Ghost, you cannot be forgiven. We cannot just take these two verses here in isolation without looking at the context of the passage, right? Because if you looked at these things by themselves, of course anybody could make an opinion, what does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Ghost? But if you actually look at the context of the section that is talking about this, it is very clear what blaspheming the Holy Ghost is. He's saying, hey, you know what? These people are blaspheming, and if you're to blaspheme against me, then you know what? That could be forgiven. I mean, if you were mocking me and said, I don't believe you're the Messiah or whatever, that could be forgiven. But when you're saying, hey, you performed a miracle by the power of the devil, this man hath never forgiven us in this world nor in the world to come, meaning in this life nor in the afterlife. Now, I remember being in Baptist church before, and I remember reading this section of scripture, and it's a bit of a confusing section when you hear a lot of opinions about it and if you've never heard preaching on it or thought about it. And I remember just asking my pastor what this is referring to, and I'd say this is probably the most common belief in Baptist churches, that this is referring to not believing on Jesus Christ. Because they'll say, well, the only thing that cannot be forgiven is not believing. And so you will not be forgiven in this world if you don't believe, and you're not going to be forgiven in the world to come if you don't believe. I used to believe that's what this was referring to just because I heard that and I didn't understand the reprobate doctrine. I didn't understand people could cross a line with God while they're alive. But when you look at the context, is there anything about believing on Jesus in this section? Nothing that would link blasphemy and the Holy Ghost with believing on Jesus. The Bible's very clear this is referring to people that attribute a work, a miracle of Jesus Christ to the power of the devil, where he would heal someone and you'd say, you know what, that was by the power, just like we would say about an albulario. If I saw an albulario do some sort of miracle, I would say that is by the power of the devil that he did that. That is what they were saying about Jesus Christ. Now, of course, if you say that about someone, if I were to say that about an albulario, I'm basically saying he's a wicked and evil and horrible person, right? I mean, sorcery is a massive sin. I know in today's world as people watch Harry Potter and read the books and watch Lord of the Rings, it seems like no big deal. Sorcery is a pretty wicked sin. I mean, being a wizard or a witch or a monk who cool on one of these things, this is the death penalty according to the word of God. It is not a joke. It's not something to mess around with. I mean, this is very serious. And if I were to say somebody did something by the power of the devil, if I say, hey, Benny Hinn, maybe he has healed some people by the power of the devil. You know what I'm saying? Benny Hinn is a horrible and evil person. And that is what I'm saying. He's a horrible and evil, wicked person. And look, at least other Pentecostals are good speakers. He's not even that good of a speaker. I don't get it. I mean, T.D. Snakes is a good speaker. I'll give him that. Okay? I mean, Benny Hinn, it's like, not really. Okay? But any miracle that he's doing or these people are doing, it's by the power of the devil. Right? Matthew 12, verse 33. Matthew 12, verse 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. O generation of vipers, how can ye being 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 bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment, for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Now, let me just give a bit of a recap on this section and answer just kind of a couple questions. There's this guy by the name of Michael Shermer, and he's the head of a magazine called Skeptics Magazine. I'm not sure if anybody's heard of that magazine before, but it's this atheist magazine. This is a guy that's debated various creation scientists, and he mocks the Bible, mocks the existence of God, does not believe in God, and he basically started this blasphemy challenge where people basically go on YouTube or go on videos. I mean, you can watch old YouTube videos where you'll see like 1,000 people one right after another walk up and say, I blaspheme the Holy Ghost, and the next person walks up and says, I blaspheme the Holy Ghost. Now, look, there's no doubt that's extremely wicked, and I have no doubt a lot of those people are already reprobates, and I have no doubt that some of those people might cross the line when they make a statement like that, but saying, I blaspheme the Holy Ghost is not actually blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Blaspheming the Holy Ghost is when you believe a miracle of Jesus Christ was by the power of the devil. I have no doubt most people that walked up and said, I blaspheme the Holy Ghost, they have no idea what that even means. They don't know what it means to blaspheme the Holy Ghost. They've never read the Bible. They have no idea what miracles Jesus performs, right? So even though that's wicked and even though many of those people probably are reprobates, that is not actually blaspheming the Holy Ghost, saying, I blaspheme the Holy Ghost. Now, it's stupid. It's sinful. It's wicked. It's something that I've never done something like that before, but it's still not blaspheming the Holy Ghost because the Bible's very specific on what blaspheming the Holy Ghost is. Another question you might ask is, well, what if you live in a home where your parents are very ungodly and wicked and then they basically teach you. Let's say you grow up in a Jewish home and they teach that Jesus was a sorcerer doing miracles by the power of the devil. Here's what my opinion about this is. When it comes to kids, kids believe everything their parents tell them pretty much. My daughter is turning five today, and she pretty much believes everything that we say. And there's a lot of stuff. She's not even old enough to comprehend what it means. For example, most kids don't get saved at that young of an age. I'm not saying it's impossible, but most kids, they get saved when they get a little bit older. I mean, you're not going to see a two-year-old get saved. But my son Ezra is two years old, and I can talk to Ezra. He can comprehend stuff. I talk to him, and I explain stuff, and he believes what I'm saying. I don't think that a two-year-old can reach that point where in their heart they truly believe and understand that, hey, you know what? Jesus performed miracles by the power of the devil. I would say that if they're too young to get saved, they're too young to become a reprobate. And so even if they're taught that at a young age, I think they have to actually comprehend that in their mind, in their heart. When a person gets saved, what they're doing is they're basically making a decision to believe on Jesus Christ. They hear the gospel. They're thinking about these things. And there's a point where you cross over where you're like, you know what? I believe that. I remember hearing the gospel, and I remember just thinking to myself, I've never heard this before. I've always thought that living a good life will get me to heaven. And I remember just thinking about it. This makes a lot of sense. This makes a lot of sense. And then I just remember it's like, you know what? I believe this. And you just kind of cross over. It's the same thing for blasphemy and the Holy Ghost, where basically you make that decision, you know what? I do believe Jesus performed miracles by the power of the devil. During the days of Jesus, this would have been a lot more common, simply because a lot of miracles were taking place. And obviously, when Jesus rose again, there's plenty of witnesses. So some people might have said, well, I don't believe he actually rose again. But I'm sure there's others that said, yeah, he rose again. But you know what? It's because it's the power of the devil. It's like that's the only thing that they can say, because what are you going to say when he's actually performed miracles? He rose again from the dead. And there's some people that decided, I'm not going to believe this. And they said, you know what? It's just by the power of the devil. And that is blaspheming the Holy Ghost, because they're attributing the work of the Holy Ghost to the power of the devil. So just in conclusion, is this something safe people can do? Nope. If you believe on Jesus Christ today, is it possible you blaspheme the Holy Ghost in the past? Nope. Because the person who blasphemes the Holy Ghost never has forgiveness. And how do we get forgiveness? By believing. So if you believe, you've never blasphemed the Holy Ghost. Now, you know, for me, this is not something I worry about. I don't have fear about my salvation. I don't go day to day and be like, man, I'm really afraid that I haven't really believed or whatever. But you know what? The reality is there are people that I believe are genuinely saved, and they just live in fear. And I've had conversations with plenty of people that are afraid. It's like, I believe it's only by Jesus. It's eternal life. But I'm worried that maybe I did something in my past. And there are people that actually deal with that fear. And look, I just want to give you confidence that, hey, if you believe on Jesus Christ right now, you're saved. And you don't have to worry about it. Say, but, you know, pastor, 20 years ago, I used to use the Lord's name in vain. That's not blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Now, obviously, if you have a guilty conscience about something, make sure that you get right with God. But, you know, at some point, you've got to forget those things which are behind. It's not like in church you need to carry around this weight with you. Here's all the sins I've committed. Here's what I've done wrong. I'm not some Catholic priest. I don't want to know all your past transgressions. It's like, you know, the things that we've done wrong in the past, the sins any of us committed, they're shameful. We should be embarrassed by them. They're not things to repeat, but they're also not things to just beat yourself up about the rest of your life. You get right with God, you move on. And you don't have to worry about your salvation. Just move on. Because the reality is, a lot of people, they cannot forget the past. You look at stories in the Bible like Joseph's brothers. It's decades later, they're like, you know, our father told us before he died to forgive us. They still have that guilty conscience, don't they? It's like whatever the past is, you get right with God, you move on. And look, if you believe today, you do not have to worry about, well, what if I blast you in the Holy Ghost? If you're going out soul winning and somebody brings this up as a hindrance, what you could say to them, because obviously you want to explain something in a simple and easy way, you could explain it's only unsaved people that do this. It's not someone who's saved. So it's not that someone could be saved and lose your salvation. And you can just briefly explain, well, what blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is, is seeing Jesus perform a miracle and attributing it to the power of the devil. So if somebody said Jesus healed somebody of blindness because the devil gave him that power, well, that's blasphemy, but we don't know anybody that's actually done that. I've never met anyone like that, right? And so I think you can explain this in a very simple way and say, hey, the Bible cannot contradict. The Bible says they've given them eternal life and they shall never perish. It's everlasting life, the gift of eternal life. No matter what, it's not of our works. It's not how we get saved. We don't have to keep our salvation. It is eternal life. Let's close in word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and I ask you to help us to apply this sermon to our lives, God. If there's anyone in here that's saved but just has some fear from maybe past mistakes they've done, help them to realize that if they believe, they don't have to worry about that, God. And I ask you to help us to, when we go out soul winning and we run into people that have hindrances to getting saved or questions about eternal security, God, help us to be able to give an answer to everybody that asks us about these things. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, for our last song, let's turn our hymns to hymn number 17, 1-7. Let's sing the song, One Day, on the first. One day when heaven was filled with his praises, One day when sin was as stark as could be, Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, Drought amongst men my example is he. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, Buried he carried my sins far away, Rising he justified, really forever, One day is coming, O glorious day, One day they let him uncover his mountain, One day they neared him to die on the tree, Suffering anguished, bearing our sins, My Redeemer is he. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, Buried he carried my sins far away, Rising he justified, really forever, One day is coming, O glorious day, One day they left him alone in the garden, One day he rested from suffering free, Angels came down for his tomb to give vigil, Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is he. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, Buried he carried my sins far away, Rising he justified, really forever, One day is coming, O glorious day, One day the great blue water, One day the stone rolled away from the door, Then he arose over that he had conquered, Now is ascended, my Lord evermore. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, Buried he carried my sins far away, Rising he justified, really forever, One day is coming, O glorious day, One day the trumpet will sound for his coming, But his eyes begin to shine, Wonderful day, my beloved one's free, For you the Savior, this Jesus is my everybody, Living he loved me, dying he saved me, Buried he carried my sins far away, Rising he justified, really forever, One day is coming, O glorious day. Amen. Let's have a short break.