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Amen so tonight. We're gonna speak on a subject that I don't think I've preached a whole sermon on it Maybe several years ago, but I want to I wanted to bring it up And then it last couple of weeks because I preached a similar I touched on a similar heresy a couple weeks ago in our study in the book of John, but tonight I want to talk about a heresy or a story in the Bible that is used to attack eternal security And is this this idea of this story that we see towards the end of Matthew chapter number 12 Where Jesus has this encounter with the Pharisees? So what I want to talk about tonight is this story of the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost and I want to show you how Some people will misapply This story and misapply what Jesus says here to attack eternal security. You'll find this out soloing Particularly Pentecostals tend to bring this up a lot You know when you know because what they don't believe that we do believe is eternal security And if you don't believe eternal security you are not saved because you believe in works-based Salvation, all right So what people will say is since Jesus looked down in Matthew chapter 12 and look at verse number 31 So Jesus just I mean kind of the story we're gonna go through it in detail tonight but the story is that Jesus just cast out a demon and then of course the Pharisees are there and You know, they claim that he used Satan to do so He's you know, the people are amazed and they say well he cast out the demon using the power of Satan But look at verse 31 where Jesus replies He says wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men But the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men and whosoever speak of the word against the Son of Man It shall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaking again against the Holy Ghost It shall not be forgiven him neither in this world nor in the world to come so people will say well You know, how could you say that you can't lose your salvation because if you blaspheme the Holy Ghost You're not going to be saved. You know, he says in this world to come as well So, you know Obviously, that's a very bad statement that Jesus says there in verse number 32 that you're not going to receive forgiveness In this world or the world to come, you know, that's pretty serious He's basically saying you do that and you were done period right? So people will have this heresy where they attack eternal security You'll ask people You know, do you ever think you could lose your salvation and you will literally find people that will say well as long as I don't blaspheme the Holy Ghost and So I want to preach through what happened in this story tonight what it means what it doesn't mean and then apply that to eternal security because remember if We're reading the Bible and we're interpreting something that makes other clear scriptures not make sense or contradicts them It is us that is misinterpreting the Bible not the Bible contradicting itself Look down at Matthew chapter 12 and let's look at verse number 22 Let's start out in this story and just see what this encounter entails and then we'll apply it to this heresy of you know This idea that yeah, I believe in eternal security and by the way anybody that says that to you They believe they don't believe in eternal security They believe any you know, many other things could make you lose your salvation, but we'll cover this one as well tonight Look at verse 22 It says then what was brought to him one possessed with a devil blind and dumb and he healed him Insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw and the people were amazed and said is not this the son of David? So here the people were believing on Jesus because of the miracles that he did saying is this not the son of David? They're they're implying this is the Messiah. That's what the people are thinking because he's doing these great things But look at verse 24 when the Pharisees heard it They said this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils So were the Pharisees amazed, you know where the Pharisees amazed like the people were amazed. They were not amazed They were upset they were mad and they said he's doing this by the work of or the power of Satan and then Jesus goes into this long explanation Where in verse 25 he says in Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them every kingdom divided against itself Brought to desolate is brought to desolation in every city your house divided against itself shall not stand So there's a really interesting statement at the very beginning into that verse where it says Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them and I want to tell you why that's so important that it says it that way Because it's not that the Pharisees were just saying that Jesus was using Satan they actually believed it and That's really key to this doctrine and to this story They were thinking this they believed that Jesus was using Satan in their hearts No, I we see the Pharisees and Jesus having these run-ins with the Pharisees. There were some leaders of the Jewish community the Jewish were What do you call it the synagogue that did get saved and did believe on Jesus Nicodemus? Maybe being one of those but they were really secretive about it because when you know the Bible is talking about Pharisees the Pharisees and Jesus having all these run-ins with them the Mainstream religious Jewish religious leaders did not believe on Jesus. Okay by not believing on Jesus It's not like they hated him and were fearing for their power I mean, yes, that was part of it But they literally did not believe that he was the Messiah and same thing today, you know It's same thing today the the Jewish religion today. It's not that they're worried about losing clout To this person Jesus 2,000 years ago. They literally don't believe that he was the Messiah That's it. They don't believe it and that was the case here these Pharisees Jesus knew their thoughts He knew what they were thinking what they were believing and they did not believe that he was the Messiah And and I'll prove that to you like beyond a shadow of a doubt here But they literally believed that he was using Satan and we're just trying to slander him or anything They literally believed it now. It's interesting. Look at verse number 26. Jesus gives this long You know dissertation now on why it couldn't possibly be Satan that he was using He says if Satan cast out Satan He is divided against himself because he cast out a demon from this man How shall then his kingdom stand if I by Beelzebub cast out devils by whom do your children cast them out? He's talking about the disciples who are also Jews who are casting out demons He says therefore they shall be your judges. And of course the disciples are going to rule and reign with Jesus But if I cast out devils by look at this by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God is come unto you So if they would have believed that he was using the Holy Spirit the Spirit of God Then they would have believed on Jesus. That's what Jesus says verse 29 Or actually, let's skip verse 29 for now, but basically what Jesus is saying here. He's saying this accusation makes no sense because I literally cast out a demon and A Satan is not going to be against himself or he would his whole plan his whole house would fall Apart the devil cannot be against himself is what? Jesus is explaining to the Pharisees and then he explains that in several different ways Going forward through turn to Luke chapter 11 through the rest of this chapter But turn to Luke chapter 11 and let's focus in on verse number 29 So you're gonna keep a place in Matthew chapter 12, and we're gonna go to Luke chapter 11 So we're gonna get kind of we're gonna kind of dig into the Bible here a little bit All right So look at verse number 29 at Matthew chapter 12 verse 29 as you're turning to Luke chapter 11 Where Jesus says this now, he says something a little bit different He says or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods? Except first he bind of the strong man and then he will spoil his house So now Jesus brings up this analogy. He first says the devil can't be against himself That makes no sense a kingdom this divided against itself will fall, you know, everybody agrees with that But then he gives this analogy of this house Could somebody breaking it to a house and it's saying you can't break into somebody's house, you know I can't break into brother Trevor's house Cuz like, you know, that's not gonna go. Well, we all know that but somebody can't break into someone's house Unless they first bind the man that is protecting the house They first bind the strongest person in an order to bind the strongest person Guess what? You need to be stronger than that Strongest person in that house the strong man of the house makes perfect sense, right? Look at Luke chapter 11 and verse 21 kind of a parallel story here verse 21 puts it this way of Luke 11 It says when a strong man armed keepeth his palace his goods are in peace So you got to keep this remind remind yourself of this word goods So verse 29 of Matthew 12 use this word goods and then also 1121 uses this word goods that this man is guarding his house He's armed and his goods are in peace, but verse 22 when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him but taketh from him all his armor were any trusted and Divided his spoils he that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scatter it So he kind of gives away who's who in the story there in verse number 23. Well, let me just ask you this Who's the strong man? Whose house is it? What are the goods and Who is spoiling the goods? These are the things that we need to figure out to understand what Jesus is teaching I mean, can you imagine the the Pharisees and even the disciples? I mean hearing these stories just like right over their head, right? Nobody's understanding what he's saying, but turn to Isaiah chapter 6 1 So who's taking who's taking the goods? Who's breaking into the house? Let's look at that first Look at Isaiah chapter 61 in verse number 1 Isaiah 61 verse 1 is a messianic prophecy that Jesus himself repeats in Luke chapter 4 verse I don't want to misquote the verse. It's in Luke chapter 4 where Jesus quotes messianic prophecies And by the way, this is one of the things that you can figure out like a lot of messianic prophecies That would have been maybe difficult to figure out messianic prophecies if you were just reading the Old Testament by itself But then when Jesus like in Luke chapter 4 like literally refers back to those verses, you know in regards to himself You're like ah messianic prophecy. That's Luke. That's Isaiah chapter 61 verse number 1. Look what the Bible says here So Jesus applies this in Luke 4 to himself It says the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim here Here's another word for bind up to gather to gather up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and Ope and the opening of the prison to them that are bound So it turns out that the spoils the goods in this house are actually bound within the house They're actually, you know, they need to be freed from the house That's what we're learning in Isaiah chapter 61 But the earth is what in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 who is the God the ruler as you know We looked at in in Psalm 38 last week. Who's the ruler of this world? Psalm chapter 2 and very not song for 2nd Corinthians 4 says that Satan is the god of this world So the earth is Satan's house is what Jesus is saying in Luke chapter 11 and Matthew chapter 4 Satan is the strong man in the earth and guess what? Thankfully Jesus is stronger than Satan Jesus is stronger than Satan and he's going to through salvation through the gospel He is going to spoil Satan's house This is what he is prophesying in Matthew chapter 12 and Luke chapter 11 And guess what? Jesus turned to Revelation chapter 18 so many of these things repeat themselves throughout the Bible and even in the end times but so Jesus busts into this house with the gospel with his death burial and resurrection and All people have to do is just trust on that and they're saved and they're freed and the house is spoiled He busts into this house and he binds Satan first So he first has to bind Satan before he can spoil the goods in the house But look at Revelation chapter 18 because this is not the first time or this is not the last time I should say that Jesus will bind Satan We'll get revelation chapter 18 and look at verse number 10 The Bible says standing afar off for the fear of her torment saying alas that great city Babylon Oh, actually, this is not in Revelation chapter 20. I'm sorry. I had you turn to the wrong verse there Look at Revelation 20 in verse number 2. Jesus will bind Satan again in verse number 2 He says he laid hold on the dragon, which we know is Satan that old serpent Which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years So he binds Satan through the gospel he frees us through the gospel but he's gonna bind him again before the millennial reign And he'll it bind him for a thousand years before he lets him go for a little while and then throws him in the lake of fire, right you're like Clearly Jesus is stronger than Satan. Thank God Thank Jesus for that, but he's gonna bind Satan. Let's keep going with this go back to Revelation 18 now He's gonna bind Satan and then he's gonna steal or as as Luke 11 and Matthew 12 says he's gonna spoil his goods. What is that? What are the goods? I'm gonna show you something really interesting in Revelation chapter 18 in verse number 10 The Bible says talking about the destruction of Babylon here talking about the end times destruction of Babylon The Bible says in verse 10 it says standing afar off for fear of her torment saying alas Alas that great city Babylon that mighty city for in one hour as thy judgment come and The merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore Now it's going to go into this great extensive list of merchandise or another word for that Goods look at verse number 12 the merchandise of gold silver and precious stones pearls and fine linen and purple and silk Scarlet and all fine wood and all manner of vessels all of ivory all manner of vessels of most precious wood of Brass and iron and marble just more goods all these nice things things that you know what you'd probably find in a lot of American houses actual houses and Cinnamon and odors and ointments. I mean, isn't that those are huge goods today. Oh the my goodness the candles Sorry But I mean the owners and just the the the potpourri and all the different goods that we have and I mean we're talking about a strong man Binding Satan Jesus binding Satan and spoiling his house and spoiling his goods. What are we talking about? Is he stealing his candles? let's keep reading and fine flour and wheat and beasts and sheep and horses and chariots and slaves and look at this and souls of men I I Think that's very interesting that the souls of men are put into That list of goods because that is the goods that Jesus will spoil When he binds Satan and busts into his house with through the power of the gospel So look that is the goods that he is going to do. So the house is Satan's house the earth The strong man is Satan himself. Jesus is stronger than Satan He binds Satan and he frees us through the power of his death burial and resurrection Which we're about to celebrate here in a couple three weeks. So that is what Jesus I mean what a profound You know verse in the Bible verse number 29 and you'd have to wonder if anyone at that time realized what he was actually Saying so that is what Jesus is talking about So what is this idea the question of the sermon tonight is what is this idea of the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost? Go back to Matthew chapter 23. What is happening here? What is the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost? And how does that apply or does it apply? To us today. So what do we know so far? Let's just kind of recap here because it's it's kind of a complicated set of verses when Jesus starts talking there What we know so far is as far as the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost what Jesus accuses the Pharisees of is first of all Jesus is there physically. He's there doing a miracle He's using the Holy Ghost to cast out a demon he's very clear about that and then we also have the mainstream Jewish leaders the Pharisees that are there and Jesus has already Identified if you look at Matthew chapter 23 verse 13 so you have these Pharisees Jesus has already at this point identified them as reprobate as Rejected this mainstream group that is not believing him. Look at Matthew 23. Let's not take my word for it Let's look down at the Bible verse number 13. Look what Jesus says he says but woe unto you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites free shut up the kingdom of heaven against men For neither you neither go in yourselves Neither suffer ye that them that are entering to go in You say not only are you not gonna believe and go to heaven yourselves, but you're stopping other people from going to heaven He says woe unto you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for you devour widows houses and for a pretense make long prayer Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation so much for all sin is equal He says to them Because of what you are doing because you are leading other people To not be saved you're gonna receive a greater damnation What he's talking about is that he's literally saying and this isn't the point of the sermon He's literally saying that some people look everybody that doesn't believe is gonna go to hell, but for some people it will be worse and he's telling them that because You have caused other people to stumble and other people to not see the truth and not get saved Your damnation your time your eternity in hell. It's kind of hard to wrap your head around this one And I'm glad I don't have to but he's saying your eternity is going to be worse in hell Because you led people down this path go to John chapter 12 So these people are clearly not saved I mean it literally says multiple places in the Bible that they did not believe on Jesus like the people did look at math or John chapter 12 verse 37 John chapter 12 and verse 37 the Bible says in John 12 37, but though he had done so many miracles before them Yet they believed not on him and this is why You just you the Bible will not this this will not make sense to you If you do not believe that it is possible to be rejected by God before you're dead You can't make sense of this He's he's doing all these miracles. I remember being a kid. I remember being a kid and Reading about because like one thing they did teach you in Sunday school Was the miracles of Jesus? I mean you just you you read about the miracles of Jesus and did all the coloring books and all these different things Just ad nauseum again and again and again certain stories in the Bible like, you know, Zacchaeus and you know Zacchaeus was a wee little man all this stuff and I mean all these stories in the Bible Jesus's miracles being the main section of those those stories that they teach in Sunday school Like again and again and again, and I was always confused by this. How could they not believe? How could they not believe that Jesus was the Messiah? How is that possible after they saw all these miracles back exactly what verse 37 just said he done so many miracles Before them. Yes, they interviewed the blind guy and they didn't see that one But they saw many right before him right in front of their faces yet. They believed not on him. You say why is that? Because something happened. That's why look at verse 38 That the saying of Sias the Prophet might be fulfilled Which he spake Lord who hath believed our report and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed Therefore they what what does this say is referring to Isaiah chapter 44 just for the record But I want to continue reading here that this was prophesied that this would happen to these Jewish leaders It says verse 39 therefore They did not believe no it says therefore they could not Believe it was not possible for them to believe meaning it was too late for them It was too late because as I said again He who is he now now you have to pay attention to who the he's and the eyes are In this verse it says he's gonna explain why they couldn't believe He says he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that he is God the Lord That they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and I again the Lord So he and I are the same should heal them That's Isaiah 44. I think verse 18 is what that is talking about And it's saying look they got to a point Yeah, some of the Pharisees got saved and they were super secretive about it But this main section of Pharisees got to the point where Jesus is just like I'm hardening your heart now You're done You cannot believe you have reached the point where it's not possible for you to get saved. That's it You're done This makes no sense unless you believe the reprobate doctrine and it's very clear in not just Romans 1 but throughout The entire Bible all right, so I mean you have to wonder people don't believe, you know The the doctrine of Romans 1 and the reprobate doctrine that you can reach a point if you're unsaved You can reach a point where God says it's too late for you What do people do with that? What do people do with Isaiah 44 18? What do people do with John 12 37 through 40? How do they make any you can't make any sense out of it? it just shows you that if you If you're not able to make sense out of parts of the Bible, you're believing something wrong Because if you believe the right doctrines the entire Bible just fits together perfectly and it makes sense Well, it may not be what you want it to be But it makes perfect sense. The whole Bible doesn't contradict it fits together like a beautiful miraculous puzzle So what do we have we have Jesus that did this great miracle he cast out this demon Using the power of the Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Lord and we have him surrounded by a bunch of reprobates and He rebukes them and I mean, they're literally these reprobates are literally standing in front of Jesus and they are insulting Jesus and the Holy Ghost to his face and in their hearts So for people to use this as an argument against eternal security Go back to Go back to Matthew chapter 12. I Mean We could pretty much just end the sermon right here because could a saved person do what I just told you Is the same person a reprobate? Let's pray it's like But you see how you could fall into false doctrine if you don't believe correct doctrine So, I mean many people think that the reprobate doctrine is like just this subtle little well, you know, whatever You know, a lot of people will go to like an old ifb church and like this is just my opinion Okay, you take this for what it's worth. A lot of people go to an old ifb church Maybe they're in a good church and they moved away I don't know why people would do that, but they do and They they moved away to and they go to an old ifb church and they're like, well, we're trying to change the pastor on on The the pre-trib rapture and we're truly think we can fix him. The pastor is like 78 years old, you know What's the matter with you? But I mean The pre-trib rapture what does that even matter compared to the reprobate doctrine? Because you don't believe the reprobate doctrine You can have a bunch of perverts and weirdos and child molesters in your church That's a pretty big deal. Yeah, I mean forget end times. That's a bigger deal to me as a parent as a pastor So you have to believe Proper doctrine or literally people are in danger Literally the church is in danger literally just everything just falls apart, but eternal security falls apart, too But a saved person can clearly not be a reprobate and insult the Holy Spirit So we could just pray at that point, but look at Jesus in verse number 25 one more time He says Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand So look a saved person can grieve the Holy Spirit But a safe person, you know, say first can follow the flesh and grieve the Holy Spirit that was in them But a safe person can never do what these Pharisees did end of story So the first part, I mean that the first rebuttal to this is that this situation Could not even take place today It's not even possible for this situation to take place. Jesus isn't here casting out demons. I Mean and look even if it did even if Jesus was here casting out demons Because he knew their thoughts and they this is really the key right here Because he knew their thoughts and he knew that they actually believed That he was using Satan that is something that is simply not possible for a saved person to do And this is why I wanted to preach the sermon because a few weeks ago in John chapter 10 I believe it was we talked about how it's another one that you'll see used is. Well, you know, what have you stopped believing? And a safe person can't stop believing a Safe person may say things and may do things and may you know? Quit the Christian life and may fight against their brothers and sisters in Christ But you'll never once you know the voice of the Shepherd, you know it That's it and I preach the entire sermon on that the exact same thing applies here Once you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and you have trusted on that you will never stop believing that So matter what you say whatever stupid things that you do You're never gonna believe that Jesus who is standing in front of you that won't be standing in front of you on this earth is casting out demons using the devil I Mean if you're worried about that, you know, you probably need to come talk to me but it's not possible because the Pharisees You know, you won't stop believing you will never forget the voice of the Shepherd and that's why again again not to preach that sermon again That's why you should stay in the Christian life You should stay here. You should stay in church You should continue to grow and mature and learn and just just push forward in your Christian life because who in the world would want To live that haunted Christian life of always knowing the voice of the Shepherd always knowing what they're really supposed to be doing When you're doing none of it. I Mean, that's a curse Christian life right there That's a disastrous Christian life, but you will not stop believing You will never be able to get rid of that Holy Spirit that's inside of you sealing you because Satan is not as strong as Jesus. Guess what neither are you? So It's not possible for a Christian to do this is really the answer somebody that's truly saved Alright, and if but if you're trusting that you need to what people will do in the Pentecostal world is they'll define blaspheming the Holy Ghost as all these different works and all these things that they can or cannot do and Then they believe that if they don't do or don't do these things. It's just works based salvation through and through It's boring. It's such all the same thing but turn to turn to Revelation chapter 22 What's interesting about this is like, oh if you stop believing or oh if you blaspheme the Holy Ghost You know These aren't the only things in the Bible That divide that give these blanket statements like if you do these things you've lost your opportunity to be saved I mean, it's not the only thing I mean look at Revelation chapter 22 in verse number 18 for another specific example I mean, I always thought it was just great that God ends the Bible this way If there's a way to end the Bible, this is how to end the Bible look at verse 18 It says for I testify unto every man that here at the words of the prophecy of this book if Any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book And then let's get the other side of it, too Let's be complete if any man shall take away from the words of this book this prophecy God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and From the things that are written in this book Well, so what if a saved believer goes in like makes up his own Bible? Like what if Thomas Jefferson was saved I Mean you know, what do you need to say this stuff like this? Well, the point is Find me a safe person that's gonna go write their own Bible It's never gonna happen I Mean Romans 1, you know, they Romans 1 is exactly the same thing as these two verses, by the way Why does someone get rejected in Romans 1? It's the exact same methodology Just put right on top of Revelation because what they changed the truth of God into a lie What do you do if you take the Bible and you're pulling words out of it? Why would you do that? I Mean you have the Bible and you're taking words out of it and then you're putting words into it What are you doing? You're changing truth into something. That's not true. What do you call something? That's not true a lie So Romans 1 is exactly the way God and the Bible. It's exactly the same thing Revelation 13 here's another one somebody that takes the mark of the beast and worships the image Well, what if a saved person does that well, no one's gonna do that No, same person is going to do that that is the answer That is the answer to these silly questions. Look God is never going to give up on his own That's the whole point of John 10 28 29 30 is that God he never gives up on his own family He may punish you and chastise you and you may be a worthless Christian for the vast majority or even your whole life But God will once you are saved he will hang on to you and no matter what All right, it's just this idea of this blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is just a stupid thing invented by false prophets To make themselves sound smart It's really what it comes down to you had Jesus casting out Devils using the Holy Spirit and you had a bunch of reprobates that were surrounding him reprobate meaning The fact that they became reprobate means that they did not believe on Jesus They did not believe on him So this is not a situation that can be even in any logical way applied to someone who is saved Even if you want to take a loose interpretation of it, it's just like no saved person can stop believing and that is easily provable from simple clear doctrine in the Bible, so it makes no sense as false interpretation, but this just shows you that again, it just shows you that just a little bit just a little bit of Bible knowledge is Enough to disprove the vast majority of false doctrine out there Just a little bit of Bible knowledge. So it doesn't take a lot To read your Bible to understand these things and even when you run into people on the street who are you know? Giving flyers out that say, you know on Easter we celebrate, you know, the memorial of Jesus's death. You're like What are you talking about? You know if you if you've even been in Sunday school in your life Even in a church that doesn't even have the right gospel, you know, something's wrong with that The point is you don't have to know much Bible But we should know a lot of Bible, but you don't have to know much to disprove most of these things Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer You