May 23, 2008

• Blaspheme of the Holy Spirit by Pastor Don

  I am catching up slowly with the Bible studies, but do not want to skip one – each one offers so much good to share.

  We are working through the elementary principles of faith as mentioned in Hebrews 6:1-3 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.
  

  Pastor Don spent some time on the Blaspheme of the Holy Spirit, which is explained in Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

  In order to blaspheme the Holy Spirit you need to make a conscious, willful decision to reject the cross and all forgiveness of sin as nothing, and walk away.  The Holy Spirit brings things to your attention, but if you walk away after meeting all the conditions in the above passage, then you have lost your opportunity and the possibility of again receiving repentance. You can’t go back and say, after whole heartedly rejecting Christ, that now He counts for something – you would need another savior.

  If you go to the store and spend a dollar for something, take that something, and then go back to the store and demand the dollar back.

  If you trust Jesus for salvation, knowing what you know in Christ, and then say, “I don’t want God.” God takes that as a personal decision that is permanent.  We are not talking about a temporary backsliding or doubt and unbelief that can occur with believers or because of a crisis where faith is tested.  This is a person who is walking firm in their faith, someone who has walked in all of the power of the faith. It would be like a Billy Graham turning his back on Christ, after knowing Him the way Billy Graham knows Christ.

  Lucifer and the angels, who knew God in Heaven, rejected God. God prepared hell and gehena and hades for them. We know that lucifer and those angels will end up in the Lake of Fire. There are false teachers in this day and age teaching that even satan will be forgiven by God and that no one will spend time in Hell.  Do not believe them.  At the end of the age everyone will be judged, and if our names are not written in the Book of Life, the Lake of Fire will be our destination.  God has clearly told us in His Word what will happen when this age ends. It would weaken the righteousness of the saints if there were no punishment, for then God would not be a just God. If punishment lasts 30 seconds we would want to keep people from it, but it lasts for the ages of ages.  We don’t know what the duration of ages of ages are, or what will be after the events of the last chapter of Revelation. We do not want to reject the work that Jesus did on the Cross for us.

  Hebrews 6:7-8 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

  God is a fruit tester and what bears thorns and briers will be burned.

  Hebrews 6:9-10 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

  The most important thing in the Body of Christ is not the facilities we worship in, but that we minister to each other and get past our stuff.  We care about each other in the body. Do we care more about each other than we do to our church building? When we are ministering to each other, our judgement is not as harsh.  When we minister to each other, we end up in ministry. Each job in the Body of Christ is important.  Pastor Don told us that an usher with an attitude problem can negate the best sermon that Pastor Don can preach. If we are not careful we can begin to think we are so righteous, and in our minds elevate ourselves above our situation.  Some people in church have no manners, no good sense, and will walk all over you. We need to forgive them, and remember that once someone forgave us and got us off the floor.

  We also have to realize that our ministry is continuous.  We can’t teach Bible study and then go home and curse out the wife or husband.  We need to act like Jesus as much as we can and be careful about beating up the moneychangers.  Jesus did not let anger cause Him to sin. We are instructed in the Word to be angry and do not sin, do not be in excess. 

  Hebrews 6:11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end,

  We are to be diligent with the assurance of hope until the end.

  Hebrews 6:12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises

  Imitate those who are further along in Christ, and don’t be sluggish.

  1 Peter 3:13-18 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

  If you choose to go the distance with Christ or turn your back on God, you need to accept the rewards for going the distance as well as the punishments and bad stuff for turning your back. It is a false gospel to say that all will be saved and everything will be ok forever, or that you will suffer and be miserable all your life. 

  If you don’t turn your back on God you will eat the good of the land, but there may still be persecution and strife.  Salvation does not prevent you from persecution.  It is better to suffer for doing good than for evil, for taking the high road rather than the low road.  We need to hang in there and we will end up on the plus side, eating the good of the land in the land of the living.  We do not want to despair to the point of giving up and rejecting God. 

  Some try to tell us that even Judas Iscariot will be saved.  Judas knew about Jesus and he was also sent out to do the signs and wonders, then he turned His back on Christ. Remember to live is Christ to die is gain.

  2 Peter 2:1  But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

  These false teachers and their teachings will bring on swift destruction.

  2 Peter 2:2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

  The way of truth will be blasphemed and this will lead many people astray.  The Spirit and the Word MUST AGREE.  If it doesn’t you are out of balance.  God will not speak out of both sides of His mouth.  If the Word is out of balance with the Spirit, people can get self righteous and the letter of the Law kills.  The Spirit of the Law brings life.

  2 Peter 2:3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

  Some people claim to have an ultimate revelation that no one else has, don’t be deceived, judge the Word that is taught.

  2 Peter 2:4  For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment

  God did not spare the angels.  There will be JUDGMENT.

  2 Peter 2:5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

  The whole ancient world was not saved, except 8 people.  In Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

  They were ungodly. Some don’t want anyone to be punished, only those who deserve it, who did things with full knowledge. But where do we draw the line? God is righteous and anything ungodly will be judged. Judas betrayed Jesus with full knowledge.

  2 Peter 2:6-7 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked

  There are many who say that the rapture will not happen.  But God saved Noah, delivered Lot from Sodom. The revealing of the antichrist is closer than ever, and why would God not deliver us from the wrath to follow? Noah and Lot were not all that righteous.  For example, Lot lived in Sodom, and ruled from it’s gate, and after he was saved there was incest with his daughters. Noah messed up and got drunk. We have to be careful who we sleep with, this behavior produced the Edomites and Palestinians.

  2 Peter 2:8  (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—

  The evil torments, and we have seen such evil and lawless behavior in recent history.  Eight year olds bringing handcuffs, knives and tape to school to kidnap their teacher, the Twin Towers, suicide bombers.

  2 Peter 2:9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,

  God has to punish the unjust and remove the just from an environment of evil.

  2 Peter 2:10-14 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.

  Except man ceases from sin, evil incarnate will infect the land, and they will perish in their own corruption.

  2 Peter 2:15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

  This happened in Moses and Joshua’s time, as they were preparing to come into the promised land. Balaam had to go to God to get permission to prophesy to the pagan king. He sacrificed bulls and who did he sacrifice them to? He wasn’t a priest, and God caused Balaam to bless the people, not curse them. Why did Balaam think that God would reverse himself and what He says because we ask Him to? God is not going to change His mind because of a sacrifice. He is a Covenant Making God, and He will not break His Covenant. We so often go to God with our plan, but that does not cause us to do what the Lord wants.

  We need to ask God, what is Your plan? We do not want to refuse to be obedient. We want to obey God. We need to examine ourselves and see what we have placed above God’s Honor and Respect. God will not go back on His Word. If God would change His behavior so that a prophet could prophesy what he wants to prophesy, God would be in error and life would be a mess.

  2 Peter 2:15-16 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

  The prophet instructed the King how to subvert the people, and the people accepted the values of the prophet. Balaam lusted for money and that brought sin into the camp of the Israelites.

  2 Peter 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

  Wells without water (the Word of God), and because they spoke lies, they would be reserved for the blackness of darkness forever.

  This is not a prophesy for us, we need to remember that. For we have not turned our backs on God. We have not blasphemed God or the Holy Spirit. So this prophesy is not for us.

  Praying your day is blessed, and that you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

  Heather

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