But the God who called us, he’ll keep us, he’ll preserve us and we will not repudiate him. And we want to keep our hearts warm towards Jesus Christ. Should we be concerned about sin in our lives? Absolutely. No Christian does that, no Christian can do that. That’s the language of Hebrews again, isn’t it? They crucify the son of God, they utterly and totally reject him. They’ve left Christianity behind, they’ve left Jesus Christ behind and how does it culminate in the gospels? They put Jesus to death. Those who have committed this sin, to put it another way, they never ever want to turn back. If you fear that you’ve committed this sin, if you’re tortured by that, then you almost certainly haven’t committed that sin.Īnyone who wants to turn to Christ in repentance and faith, anyone who comes to him and says, “I’m sorry for my sins,” is forgiven. So no Christian should fear, it’s often been said, but it’s true.
If you look at the work of Jesus, if you look at the work of the Spirit of God and you say, That’s the work of the devil, that’s demonic, that’s fundamentally evil, you’re not tortured by that, you think the other side is actually evil and contrary to the things of God, if you even believe in God. And those who have committed that sin, they don’t care. Can a Christian commit that sin? Can a Christian look at the work of Jesus Christ, can someone who believes in Jesus look at the work of Jesus Christ and say, “No, that’s the work of the devil”? I’d say, no, no Christian can, no Christian will ever commit that sin. So Jesus Christ has healed a person who had a demon and he heals them and they say, “That’s not the work of God, that’s the work of the devil.” I think that’s immediately helpful. How have they committed that sin? They have attributed to the devil what Jesus Christ has done. In the historical context of the gospels, when Jesus talks about the blasphemy against the Spirit, who’s committed that sin? It’s the Pharisees. There’s a variety of ways that Scripture talks about what this sin is. Outraging the Spirit, right? Insulting the Spirit of grace. I think it’s the same sin as what we find in the warning passages in Hebrews, crucifying Christ again, trampling him under foot is the expression used. I think a helpful way to think about it is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the unforgivable sin, I think it’s the same sin as mortal sin in 1 John 5, the sin unto death. Many Christians struggle with, what is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? What is the unforgivable sin? Have I committed it? Many Christians feel tortured about this, even, and it can torment them.
0 kommentar(er)
