Can A Person Truly Change?

May 31, 2011 Leave a comment

Can people truly change? Mel Trotter did. Trotter was born to a Christian mother and an alcoholic father. By age 19, he was drinking heavily himself as well as gambling. He met and married a young woman and she gave birth to a son. Trotter, however, wasn’t much of a husband or father. He lost job after job and spent many nights out on the streets in the gutter while his wife and baby went hungry. Sadly, the little baby died. In a climax act of despicability, Trotter removed the shoes from his dead son’s corpse and pawned them for money to buy another drink. You talk about rock bottom!

After the death of the child, Trotter left his wife and ended up in Chicago where he soon found himself homeless and suicidal. During a blizzard, he sought refuge in the city’s Pacific Garden Mission. There he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and was marvelously transformed. He got a job, was reunited with his wife, and became active at the Mission. Ultimately, he moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan where he and a group of community leaders opened a new Mission. Hundreds of thousands of people would be won to Christ and have their lives restored through that Mission, and even today, more than a century after its founder’s death, Mel Trotter Ministries carries on the work of ministering to the needy and telling them about the transforming power of Jesus.

And now I’ve got two questions for you. Question #1: If you find yourself at rock bottom today, what will it take for you to wholeheartedly and unreservedly give your life to Jesus? My prayer is that you won’t have to sink as low as Mel Trotter did before you lay your stubbornness and pride in the dust and accept Christ as your Savior. And then question #2: Have you totally given up that some “Mel Trotter” type in your life will ever change? If you have, perhaps you have given up prematurely. I’m not guaranteeing that the person will ever truly change, but I am guaranteeing that such a thing is possible through Jesus Christ. Think about that.

Filed under Belief, Change, Choices, Forgiveness, Gambling, God's Love, God's Work, Human Life, Husbands, Influence, Marriage, Ministry, Problems, Repentance, salvation, Sin, submission, The Depravity of Man, trials Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

How To Recite The Twenty-Third Psalm

May 24, 2011 Leave a comment

Back in the day when orators were highly esteemed, a banquet was held for such a man. Following the banquet, he was asked to recite something for the pleasure of the guests. He agreed to do so and asked if anyone in the audience had a specific request. An elderly preacher spoke up and said, “Sir, could you recite the twenty-third Psalm?”

After a moment’s pause, the orator said, “I can and I will, but after I have recited it I want you to do the same.” Surprised, the preacher said, “Well, I’m not much of an orator, but I will oblige if you wish.”

Then the orator began his recitation. He held the audience spellbound as he worked his way through the majestic lines of the beautiful Psalm. When he finished, the audience burst into a great round of applause.

When the applause finally died down, the old preacher arose and began his turn. His style was vastly different from the orator’s, much more simple and humble. But there was a strange, undeniable, uncommon power to it. When he finished, no applause broke from the audience. Instead there was a holy silence, marked only by a few tears that streamed from some faces.

At that point the orator walked over to the old preacher, put his hand on his shoulder, and summed up the scene perfectly. He said, “My friends, I reached your eyes and ears, but this man reached your hearts. I know the twenty-third Psalm, but this man knows the Shepherd.”

Filed under Belief, Bible Study, Comfort, Communication, God's Love, God's Provision, Humility, Personal Holiness, Scripture, Trusting In God, Witnessing Tagged with , , , ,

The Foolish Man & His Diamond

May 5, 2011 Leave a comment

A wealthy man sold all his possessions for cash and bought an incredibly expensive diamond. He put the diamond in his pocket and took a voyage from England to America. On the deck of the ship, he pulled out the diamond and began flipping it in his hand. Some of his fellow passengers warned him not to be so careless with something so valuable, but he took great delight in how much they worried over his actions. To increase that worrying, he walked over to the ship’s rail and started flipping the diamond there. But as you’ve probably already guessed, during one flip the ship lurched forward unexpectedly and the diamond went down into the sea.

True story? I’d be shocked if it was. No one would be so foolish, right? But the fact is that millions of people act even more foolishly every day as they take the ultimate gamble with the ultimate prize, their soul. What I mean is, they walk around literally one breath out of hell.

Oh, there I went and used an inconvenient word, didn’t I? In this modern era we aren’t supposed to use the word “hell” unless it is for the purposes of profanity or explaining where despicable people such as Osama bin Laden go in the afterlife. But the Bible is still God’s written word, and it still teaches that the souls of all those who die without Christ as Savior go to that awful place called hell.

The New Testament original Greek word for this place is Hades, and in Luke 16:19-31 no less an authority than Jesus Himself described it as a place of torment, flame, separation, remembrance, and regret. In Matthew 13:42, He called it “the furnace of fire” and said it produces “wailing” and “gnashing of teeth.” Obviously, Jesus didn’t shy away from letting people know just how gruesome hell is.

You say, “Okay Russell, I’ll go along with you that hell exists and that the souls of certain people go there in the afterlife. But God only sends murderers, terrorists, pedophiles, rapists, and all the other ‘worst of the worst’ there.” Well, that certainly sounds logical and reasonable to our modern mindsets, but it simply isn’t correct theology. There are so many verses that I could cite here, but I’ll just use a few from the third chapter of the gospel of John:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)

And so, you see, the only way for you to escape the horrors of hell is to place your belief in Jesus as your personal Savior. Anything less than that and you are still flipping up the priceless diamond of your soul as you stand next to the ship’s rail of the afterlife. Why act so foolishly? If you’ve never done so, why don’t you ask Jesus to be your Savior right now?

Filed under Belief, Choices, Coming Judgment, death, God's Wrath, God's judgment, hell, Priorities, salvation Tagged with , , , , ,

The Awesome Seriousness of Unbelief

March 23, 2011 Leave a comment

Revelation 21:7-8 contrasts the two potential eternal destinations. First, in verse 7, Jesus says:

“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be His God and he shall be My son.”

This brings up the all-important question, “How does one overcome?” We find that answer in 1 John 5:1,4-5, which says:

“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him…For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

So, when a person places his or her belief (faith) in Jesus Christ as Savior, that person becomes an “overcomer.” And all “overcomers” will spend eternity with Christ.

But now let’s turn to the other potential destination. Revelation 21:8 says:

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

You say, “I’m no coward. I’m not abominable. I’ve never murdered anyone. I’m not sexually immoral. I’m certainly not a sorcerer. I don’t have an idol that I worship. And I don’t lie.” Okay, I’ll give you credit for living a life of bravery and morality. But did you notice that the word “unbelieving” is also on that sordid list? And the “unbelief” in question relates to Jesus.

You see, even if you have the rest of the list covered, but you have not believed in Christ as Savior upon your death, you will experience what the verse calls “the second death.” And this “second death” is nothing less than spending eternity in “the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.”

This is how high the stakes are concerning your belief (or lack of it) in Jesus as Savior. Most people wouldn’t rate this unbelief as a heinous sin on par with the likes of murder, sexual immorality, or sorcery, but God does. As a matter of fact, while those other sins will all be forgiven the moment a person believes in Christ, there is no forgiveness to be found (in this life or eternity) for the sin of refusing to yield such belief.

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Man’s Body

February 18, 2011 Leave a comment

This will be the last post in a little three-part series on the subject of man’s spirit, soul, and body. This time we’ll deal with man’s body. I’ll grant you that the body is more easily understood than the spirit or the soul, but my guess is that there are still some important things that you need to learn about it.

The best way to describe yourself is like this: You are a soul; you possess a spirit; and you live in a body. Really, the only thing that others see of you is your body. Furthermore, whatever you get done in this world, you’ll do it via your body. As mysterious and wonderful as the spirit and soul are, they aren’t much for mowing the yard, cooking a meal, holding down a job, reading the Bible, going to church, witnessing, etc. You need body parts (eyes, ears, arms, legs, feet, a brain, a skeletal structure, etc.) to get those things done.

This is why, at the moment of a person’s salvation, God the Holy Spirit comes to indwell the person’s body, not the person’s spirit or soul (Romans 5:5; Romans 8:5-11; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:5). Just as a pilot flies an airplane, a captain steers a ship, or a driver drives a car, the indwelling Holy Spirit wants to be at the controls of the person’s body. Also, having God the Holy Spirit inside your body automatically turns your body into a temple. Please understand that everyone’s body is not a temple. That honor is reserved exclusively for the Spirit-indwelt believer (the genuine Christian). The body-builder, the yoga instructor, the fitness guru, and the health- food advocate may all have bodies that are in peak condition, but if these people don’t know Christ as Savior their bodies aren’t temples. Only Christians have “temple bodies.”

Still, though, just because a Christian’s body is a temple and the indwelling Holy Spirit is in there, that doesn’t mean that the Christian has handed over the controls to the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul understood this and said to the Christians of the city of Rome:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1)

That term “living sacrifice” is an odd one, isn’t it? How can a sacrifice survive an altar of death? How can it live once it has become a sacrifice? The answer is: The Christian’s body remains alive, but the inner will, which is sin-tainted, corrupt, and prone to take destructive paths, dies on the altar. The body will now be used to carry out that which is “holy, acceptable to God.” The indwelling Holy Spirit will be given the controls unreservedly. He will now fly the plane, captain the ship, and drive the car.

But would you believe that even the indwelling Holy Spirit will not stop the aging process? Mark it down, the bodies of non-Christians and Christians alike wear down over time and eventually cease working. This goes back to the sin in the garden of Eden. Genesis 2:16-17 says:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Hebrew scholars tell us that the original Hebrew behind the words “you shall surely die” literally mean “dying you shall die.” You see, when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit their bodies began the long, long process of dying, and eventually that process culminated in their physical deaths. Genesis 5:5 says that Adam actually lived 930 years, but that verse ends with the words “and he died.” And the members of his race have been dying ever since, haven’t they?

But did you know that when all of the various stages of God’s sweeping, eons-long, prophetic program have played themselves out, not one body will be left unresurrected? This isn’t the time or place for me to go into every last detail of that prophetic program, but concerning the resurrections John 5:28-29 is a good summation passage. There Jesus says:

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Notice that Jesus spoke of two categories of resurrection. There will be the resurrection of life, and there will be the resurrection of condemnation. Scripture teaches that the saved believers from all of history will have their bodies resurrected and glorified, even though there won’t be one general “resurrection day” upon which it all happens. (As I said, there are multiple stages to God’s grand plan of prophecy.) But what about the bodies of the lost people from all history? Well, those bodies will all be resurrected too, but for them the resurrection will not involve glorification. Also, their bodies will all be resurrected on a single day. This day will occur at the end of Christ’s 1,000-year reign upon this earth, and it is described in Revelation 20:11-15.

You can read that passage for your homework, but I’ll go ahead and tell you that the bodies of the lost are called forth from wherever their final resting places are (graves, the sea, etc.). Each body is then reunited with the soul that once inhabited it, as each soul is called forth from that unimaginably horrific place we know as “hell.” And it is then that the lost person will be cast resurrected body and reunited soul into an even worse “hell” that is known as “the eternal lake of fire.” There the souls will not be annihilated and the bodies will not be burned up. Instead (and this is beyond tragic) each lost person will spend all eternity, body and soul, in that place of torment.

The Greek word for this eternal lake of fire is Gehenna, and Jesus says in Matthew 10:28:

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna).”

You see, the “Him” who is able to cast both soul and resurrected body into the eternal lake of fire called Gehenna is Jesus. But listen, He doesn’t want to do that to you! What He wants is for you to experience salvation by placing your belief in Him as your personal Savior. Once you do that, you won’t have to ever worry about the eternal fate of either your soul or your body, and you’ll be able to present your body as a living sacrifice to Him in this life and enjoy the awesome rewards of the afterlife. So, if you haven’t made this decision for Christ, won’t you do so right now? And, one last thing, get used to that body of yours because you’re going to be spending all eternity in it.

Filed under Belief, Church attendance, Coming Judgment, death, dieting, fear, God's Wrath, God's judgment, God's Will, Heaven, hell, Human Life, Personal Holiness, Prophecy, Reward, salvation, submission, The Holy Spirit Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Man’s Soul

February 17, 2011 Leave a comment

In my last post, I talked about man’s spirit. With this post I want to say some things about his soul. I suppose I should begin by pointing out that some people teach that the “spirit” and the “soul” are simply interchangeable terms. For you theological experts out there, this view of man is known as the dichotomist view. But, as I study the Bible, I find that it really does differentiate between the two. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12, the apostle Paul makes a point of listing each one separately. So I find myself in agreement with those who hold to the trichotomist view of man.

Actually, the fact of the matter is that each person doesn’t have a soul; each person is a soul. Consider the following passages:

1. Genesis 2:7 says: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living nephesh (the Hebrew word for “soul”).”

2. Genesis 12:5 describes the servants that Abram had acquired in Haran as “the souls (nephesh) whom they had acquired.” This is just one of numerous places in the Old Testament where groups of people are referred to as groups of “souls.”

3. 1 Peter 3:20 says that eight “souls” were saved by way of Noah’s ark.

4. James 5:20 talks about saving a “soul” from death.

5. Romans 13:1 commands that every “soul” be subject to the governing authorities. Obviously, this means that every “person” should be subject to the governing authorities.

6. In Revelation 6:9, John sees heaven’s altar and under it the “souls” of many martyrs. Then, in 6:10, he hears those souls actually speak.

7. In Revelation 20:4, John sees the “souls” of those who had been martyred for Jesus during the Tribulation period.

When you understand that each person is a soul, you’ll understand how the Hebrew behind Amos 6:8, which says “The Lord God has sworn by Himself,” can rightly employ the word nephesh. The point is that God Himself is a soul. Furthermore, you’ll also understand why the Bible talks about the need for the human soul to get saved. You see, the term “soul saving” is just another way of saying “person saving.” Passages that speak of “the saving of the soul” are: Hebrews 10:39; James 1:21; and 1 Peter 1:9.

For the record, I should also mention that creatures and animals are also “souls” in the strictest technical sense. Verses such as Genesis 1:21,24; 2:19; and 9:10,12,15,16 all use the Hebrew word nephesh and translate it as “creatures.” Unlike the case of man, however, this doesn’t mean that creatures go to any kind of afterlife. Believe me, I like to think of my favorite dog, Tramp, as being out there in eternity waiting for me, but the Bible really doesn’t teach that he is. It does mention animals as being a part of Christ’s future 1,000-year reign upon this earth (Isaiah 11:6-9), and if you take Revelation 19:11-14 literally (and I do) there will be horses in heaven. But all that is not the same as saying that the souls of animals depart to an afterlife at death. I know there is a movie called “All Dogs Go To Heaven,” but I can’t find that verse in the Book.

But where does the soul of the individual go in the afterlife? Since the soul is eternal it must go somewhere, right? Well, first let me say that, like the spirit, the soul immediately departs from the body at death. Genesis 35:18 describes Rachel’s death in this way:

“And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin.”

There is, however, a serious difference concerning the spirit’s departure and the soul’s departure. As I said in my previous post, each person’s spirit returns to God at death (Ecclesiastes 12:7). But the soul passes on to one of two locations. It either goes to a place of eternal salvation with God or a place of eternal damnation apart from him. The proof texts here are: Luke 16:19-31; Acts 2:27,31; 1 Corinthians 15:50; Matthew 5:11-12; Romans 8:16-18; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 25:41; and Romans 2:5-9.

And so, when everything is said and done, the main thing that you need to pull from all this is that you are a soul and you are going to spend eternity either with God in perfect bliss or separated from Him in indescribable torment. And the deciding factor on where you end up is your belief in or lack of belief in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. 1 Peter 2:24-25 says this to Christians:

“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

Jesus really is the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul. I wonder, can the same be said of your soul?

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The Forgotten Word

February 8, 2011 Leave a comment

Consider the following handful of verses:

-”I listened and heard, but they do not speak aright. No man repented of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his own course, as the horse rushes into the battle.” (Jeremiah 8:6)

-In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:1-2)

-From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)

-”I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3,5)

-”Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place – unles you repent.” Revelation 2:5

The word “repent” is a forgotten word in our culture. This holds true even in Christian circles. We hear much about mercy, grace, love, forgiveness, longsuffering, and patience, but not much about repentance. This has turned our preaching and teaching into a vanilla batch of mush and gush wherein everybody is okay and no one needs to make any real changes in conduct.

The word “repent” translates the Greek word metanoeo. Greek scholars tell us the word literally means “a change of mind.” Thus, we might say that true repentance is a changing of the mind that leads to a changing of the conduct. Getting the conduct right begins with getting the thinking right.

In the matter of sinners, the Bible uses the word “repent” in two ways. First, it inseparably links repentance with saving belief in Christ. The idea is that genuine belief in Christ MUST be laced with genuine repentance. You don’t repent, believe in Jesus, and then get saved. Instead, the belief that saves oozes repentance. A wonderful passage that shows how repentance and belief walk hand in hand is Acts 20:20-21, where Paul says to the Ephesian elders,

“…I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith (belief) toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Second, the Bible uses the word “repent” in a general way that calls Christians and non-Christians alike to turn from their sins and go in an opposite direction, a direction of holiness. A good verse here would be Luke 3:8, the first part of which says,

“Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.”

And so, in light of all this, I want to close by asking you a very simple question: Have you thoroughly repented of your personal “pet sin”? If you haven’t, then consider this God’s way of looking right at you and saying, “It’s time that you DID!” Repentance can never come too soon, but it may come too late. Don’t let that happen to you.

Filed under Backsliding, Belief, Doing Good, Holiness, Personal Holiness, preaching, Repentance, salvation, Sin Tagged with , , , ,

The Indian Chief & Jesus

February 7, 2011 Leave a comment

A missionary preached to a group of Indians, telling them that Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, had voluntarily died for their sins. The old Indian chief was very moved by Christ’s sacrifice and decided to do something for the Lord Jesus. So he rose to his feet, walked up to the missionary, laid his tomahawk at the missionary’s feet, and said, “Chief give his tomahawk to Jesus.” Then he went back and sat down.

The missionary, sensing that the Holy Spirit was working on the chief, started preaching again. This time he told the Indians that God, in giving us Jesus, had given us His absolute best. The chief listened carefully, considered the matter, and then walked forward again, this time carrying his blanket. He laid the blanket at the missionary’s feet and said, “Chief give his blanket to Jesus.”

But that still wasn’t the response the missionary was seeking, and so he went to preaching again. He told the Indians how Jesus, even though He was rich in heaven, had become poor for us by being born in a manger, living a humble life, and dying by way of a cruel, humiliating cross. This compelled the chief to leave the meeting, go and get his horse, bring the animal to the missionary, and say, “Chief give his horse to Jesus.”

Now the chief thought to himself, “I have given everything I have to Jesus, who gave Himself for me.” The missionary, however, started up yet another round of preaching. This time he explained that Jesus had arisen from the dead, appeared to many in His post-resurrection body, ascended back to heaven forty days later, and was now seated at the right hand of His heavenly father, calling men and women to Himself. And it was then that the Indian chief finally understood why the missionary had never seemed satisfied with the fine gifts. The chief stood up again, walked forward, bowed himself at the missionary’s feet, and said, “Chief give himself to Jesus.”

Ah friend, there it is! That is the decision that Jesus wants from each of us, and it is a far cry from merely attending church, putting some money in the offering plate, owning a Bible, praying prayers, trying to live a moral life, etc. Certainly each of those things is proper when understood in its rightful place. But, really, when it comes to salvation, they are all just tomahawks, blankets, and horses. What Jesus truly wants is you, lock, stock, and barrel. And, just to be honest about it, when He has you like that, He’ll have you keep all your tomahawks, blankets, and horses and use them in service to Him.

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The Arms of God

January 28, 2011 Leave a comment

A family was awakened one night by the blaring of their smoke detector. Sure enough, the house was on fire. The father immediately raced into the kids’ room and came out carrying his 18-month old baby with one arm and holding his four-year-old son’s hand with the other. They were halfway down the stairs when the four-year-old realized that he had left his teddy bear in his room. Impulsively, he broke away from his father’s grip and ran back to get the bear. With the house beginning to fill up with smoke, the father made the split-second decision to go ahead and get the baby out and then go back and retrieve the four-year old. He calculated that he’d have enough time.

But the fire accelerated faster than he expected, and by the time he got the baby outside the flames had trapped the four-year-old in his second floor bedroom. Frantically, the father looked up to the window, and through the thick smoke he saw that the boy had raised the window and was trying to get out. The man yelled, “Jump, son, I’ll catch you!” The boy, who was now engulfed in smoke, said, “But I can’t see you, daddy.” The father’s reply was, “That’s okay, son. Jump. I can see you!“

Tell me, is God calling you to make some “jump” with your life these days? What I mean is, is He asking you to do something you’re not quite sure about? Maybe you’re arguing with Him about it. Maybe you are hesitating to obey Him. Well, I want you to remember that if you know for certain that it’s God who is doing the calling, you needn’t worry about not being able to see where you will land. You’ll land in the strong arms of a God who loves you more than you can imagine and knows what’s best for your life. And when it’s all said and done, you certainly won’t regret having made the leap.

Filed under Belief, Choices, faith, Fatherhood, fear, God's Omnipotence, God's Omniscience, God's Will, obedience, submission, Trusting In God Tagged with , , , , ,

The Unpardonable Sin

January 13, 2011 9 Comments

Will God forgive any sin or is there one sin that He considers unpardonable? Good question. In Matthew 12:22-32, the Bible gives us the record of an incident in which a group of Jewish Pharisees attributed Christ’s miracle-working power to the power of the devil. In the context of this story, Jesus gave the following warning:

“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” (New King James translation)

Some students of the Bible contend that the sin of which Christ spoke (the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit) cannot be committed today because it specifically involved attributing an obvious miracle of Jesus to the power of Satan. According to this view, since Jesus is no longer personally on the earth working miracles today, the “unpardonable sin” no longer comes into play. As Dr. Harry Ironside wrote,

“The unpardonable sin of Israel at Christ’s first coming was the rejection of the Spirit’s witness to His Messiahship.”

However, with that said, I agree with Dr. J. Vernon McGee who wrote:

“The Holy Spirit came into the world to make real the salvation of Christ to the hearts of men. If you resist the working of the Spirit of God when He speaks to you, my friend, there is no forgiveness, of course.”

Along the same lines, the previously mentioned Dr. Ironside also wrote:

“…if they speak against the Holy Spirit, that is, in the sense, of course, of utterly rejecting His testimony, then there can be no forgiveness, for it is only through the Spirit’s testimony that the Son of Man is made known.”

You see, to rightly understand this whole subject it is vital that we understand the role that God the Holy Spirit plays in salvation. First, the Spirit convicts the lost sinner concerning the sinner’s sin (John 16:8). Second, He (the Spirit is not an “it”) strives with the sinner over the sinner’s need for forgiveness and salvation (Genesis 6:3). Third, He works to convince the sinner of the sinner’s need to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior (John 15:26; 16:14). Fourth, at the moment the sinner chooses to believe in Christ as Savior, the Spirit comes to indwell the sinner’s body (Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Titus 3:5). It is this indwelling of God the Holy Spirit that creates the “born again” experience in the person (John 3:1-8).

But what if a lost sinner time and time again refuses the Holy Spirit’s convicting, striving, and convincing? Well, that is where the issue of blaspheming the Holy Spirit comes into play, and at some point the Holy Spirit will simply stop working on that lost sinner. And it is then that the lost sinner will have committed the unpardonable sin. I think that Dr. John R. Rice described the potential situation perfectly when he wrote:

“The unpardonable sin is a complete and final rejection of Christ so definite and blasphemous that it insults and drives away the Holy Spirit forever. Then He no longer moves the heart, brings conviction or arouses desire for salvation.”

Let me close with an illustration that I trust will help. Let’s say that you have a life-threatening disease, but your doctor knows about a cure and tries repeatedly to tell you about it. But, for whatever reason, you refuse to hear his words. When he walks in to see you, you get up and leave. When he calls on the phone, you hang up. When he sends you a letter, you throw it away without opening it. When he sends you an email or a text, you immediately delete it. And so what happens? Well, finally, after his best efforts have been repeatedly rebuffed, the doctor says, “Alright, if you want to die, go ahead because I’m through trying to help you.” And so you die. But what killed you? Was it the disease? Yes, in a sense. But in another sense it was your refusal to heed the doctor who was trying to point you to the cure, to say nothing, of course,  of your lack of the cure. Now let’s put it all together. Your fatal disease is sin. The doctor who is trying to help you is God the Holy Spirit, and the cure He is trying to get you to take advantage of is Jesus Christ. Now do you understand? That is how one commits the unpardonable sin today.            

 

Filed under Belief, Forgiveness, salvation, The Holy Spirit, The Unpardonable Sin, Uncategorized Tagged with , , , , , ,

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