I’m so excited to share with you today, that I need for you and me to simply jump into our Scripture with little introduction. If you didn’t bring a Bible with you, you’ll need one today. And we’ve provided you with one if you didn’t bring it. As matter of fact, you have my permission to take that Bible home with you, if you don’t have one. It’s free for you and a gift from our church. We love God’s Word and we want you to have access to it.
“As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.”
1 “In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.
4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:1-12)
We’re looking at some of the more obscure and baffling things Jesus said. And if you were to identify one of Jesus’ more troubling statements for people down through the years, it would be this…
Today’s Big Question: What is the unpardonable sin? And have I committed the unpardonable sin?
I can’t begin to count the number of people who’ve come to me broken and shaken because they are convinced they have committed a sin that God cannot or will not forgive.
Sermon Preview
Calling Out Hypocrites
Rejected like Judas
Redeemed like Peter
1. Calling Out Hypocrites
It’s noteworthy that Jesus begins talking about hypocrisy when the big crowds arrive (Luke 12:1).
Fame brings huge temptations where you’re motivated to simply please people. And certainly, Jesus is aware of this. Hypocrisy normally comes when I’m concerned about what you think about me. Jesus says, “Don’t act like a Pharisee.” There are various levels of hypocrisy. Even the most devoted follower of Christ is a hypocrite at one level. Yet, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees was bold and blunt hypocrisy… … a major league hypocrisy.
Move your eyes back into chapter 11 for a moment to better see just who these religious men were and why Jesus boldly called them out: “As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.” (Luke 11:53-54) To really picture the invisible heart of these religious men, Luke has to use vocabulary from hunting. Later, the same word behind our phrase “lying in wait for him” is used to describe the actions of a group of forty men who had taken an oath to ambush Paul. And they were pursuing Christ as men pursue a wild animal.
The word “hypocrisy” comes from a Greek word that was originally used in the world of the theatre. When the Greek actor put on the mask, he was to mask his real self in order to play his role. But each and every form of hypocrisy is fueled by pride – what others think of me. You’ve worked with people like this, right? People who were born on third and think they hit a triple? A big ego drives us to worry about what others think, pride. And the big ego drives you to hide your allegiance to Jesus because you’re ashamed to be placed with such a crowd.
We’re tempted to think, “I’ll follow Jesus privately. After all, faith is a private matter.” It’s right here that Jesus tells everyone of His followers: you deny Me, I’ll deny you. We’re afraid to reveal we follow Christ in the faculty lounge and college classroom… …in the theatre club at Richland High School and in the band at Birdville or Haltom High.
You may think, “But won’t Jesus accept me, even I deny Him? I mean, pastor, wasn’t it you that said: ‘I do nothing to earn salvation; it’s Jesus who does everything. So won’t I be fine, even when I disown Christ?” There’s a truth all over Scripture that I want to show you. For those of us who are concerned about our lives and feel the danger of our hypocrisy… Let’s do some turning in our Bible and we’ll return back in Luke 12:8-10 in just a moment.
Endure To the End
“and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22) READ THIS ONE BUT ASK THEM TO TURN TO JOHN 8: “By your endurance you will gain your lives.” (Luke 21:19) “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide [continue] in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) READ THIS ONE BUT ASK THEM TO TURN TO JOHN 3:“For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” (Hebrews 3:14)
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19) The contrast between “they” and “us” in verse 19 is striking. In the original text both words appear five times. There are two spiritual teams as John sees it: there is “us” and there is “them” (they). Here is the gospel truth, those who fall away from the church and from belief in Jesus, show they were never saved. Perseverance is proof of God’s possession. But when these people leave the people of God and the Son of God it shows them for who they are: they were and are lost. Here’s the encouraging truth: God’s hand is the one that holds us all through our lives: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:27-28) It’s because of His work in us all throughout our lives that we don’t depart from the faith.
Let’s look again at verse 8: “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” (Luke 12:8-10)
Watch the same truth expressed negatively and then positively. If I stand up for Jesus, then Jesus will stand up for me later. But… and this is scary … if I deny Jesus, then He denies me before God. To understand this, we lean in and listen carefully to all of what Jesus says in verses 8-10. For Jesus warns that speaking against the “Son of Man (and that is Jesus) will be forgiven” but “the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” The thinking behind Jesus’ statement in verse 10 is intended to clarify Jesus’ statement in verse 8 and 9. So we can say that when I understand Jesus in verse 10, I’ll understand Jesus early statement in verses 8 and 9 as well. The reserve is true also. Look again with me a verse 10 and let’s ask, “What is the sin that will not be forgiven?” The Holy Spirit is categorically 100%, fully God. He isn’t a force and isn’t the angel, Gabriel. A straightforward reading of the Bible sees three facts that seem to contradict one another but in reality do not:
1) God is Three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
2) Each Person is Fully God;
3) And God is One.
The Holy Spirit is not partly God or just one-third God. And each person of the Trinity has a role He plays in accomplishing and securing our salvation. The Father orders our salvation, sends the Son to accomplish our redemption, and judges our sin through His Son. The Son must come to take on our human nature and offer Himself a substitute on the cross, in obedience to the Father, bearing both our sin and the Father’s just wrath against our sin. The Spirit must apply this work to our lives, opening our blind eyes and causing us to behold the beauty of Christ so as to embrace Christ’s saving work for us. Only because God is Triune is salvation accomplished and made real for us.
And the telltale trait of being a believer is the Spirit’s presence in you: “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” (Romans 8:9b)
And there’s two ways you can deny the work of the Spirit in your life: you can grieve the Spirit, like Peter, or you can boldly and bluntly reject the Spirit, like Judas.
2. Rejected like Judas
For the next few moments, I want you to consider the lives of two of Jesus’ disciples: Peter and Judas. Both denied Christ but in very different ways. Judas denies Jesus very differently than Peter denies Jesus. Judas Iscariot was one of the original twelve. He was one who was the treasurer of the twelve (John 13:29) and he stole from the till (John 12:6). And his love of money was so overwhelming, that he betrayed Jesus into the religious officials. He led Jesus’ enemies right to the private garden where Jesus was praying, all for thirty pieces of silver. Now Judas and Peter both denied Jesus, but there lives go opposite directions at the point of their denial. Where Peter humbled himself and came back to Christ, Judas felt terrible about did treachery, returned the 30 pieces of silver, but took his life (Matthew 27:3-10). Peter’s sin was forgiven where Judas’ wasn’t: “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled: (John 17:12)
2.1 What the Unpardonable Sin Is
Why did Judas’ sin go unpardoned? What is the Unforgiveable Sin? The unpardonable sin is also discussed in Matthew 12:31-32 and Mark 3:29-30. When the Holy Spirit begins to speak to you, telling you about Christ and His work on the cross…
And your callous, cold, hard-heart has grown so calcified, that even when you see the love of Christ in others…
…even when you witnessed miracles…
… even though your intellect can’t reasonably offer you another explanation…
…yet you stubbornly persistent in long-term rebellion …
…you’re guilty of the unpardonable sin.
Go back to Judas for a moment and see three crucial components that make him guilty of this heinous sin.
1) It’s when you have a clear knowledge of who Jesus was and he had a clear perception of the Spirit’s power in working through people around him;
2) It’s when you willfully reject the facts of Jesus as they stare you in the face when everyone knows they’re true;
3) And it’s when you maliciously slander the Holy Spirit making Him no better than Satan.
Judas witnessed the miracles, the anointed teaching of Jesus, and the tremendous heart of our Lord… … yet He sold Him for 30 pieces of silver. The unpardonable sin isn’t a momentary slip-up in act of rage. And it isn’t a careless one-time act you did. Instead, it’s the culmination of all three of these steps. The unpardonable sin is when you constantly smother the truth and stifle the conviction the Spirit brings in your life. While many people have rejected the Spirit’s work in their lives, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit is a decisive rejection. It’s on another level. So here this warning: it is possible to so offend the Holy Spirit that His convicting work will not come to you again.
2.2 What the Unpardonable Sin Isn’t
I can’t begin to count the number of people who’ve come to me broken, shaken, and losing sleep because they are convinced they have committed a sin that God cannot or will not forgive.
Some of you live in constant fear that you’ve committed the unforgivable sin. The Roman Catholic Church taught it was suicide. Nowhere does the Bible say that suicide is unforgivable. Others feel the Unpardonable Sin is nothing more than rejecting Christ. But the man who was once named Saul but later became Paul, was a hardened sinner, but came to know Christ. Yet, he too was forgiven.
[BE STRONG HERE]
Some of you are burdened and terrified that your sinful, secret habit or your habitual and recurring sinful choice will exclude from God’s presence forever. People who are ashamed of their sin have not committed the unforgivable sin. People who feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, who sense the piercing presence of guilt for having violated God’s Word, have not committed the unforgivable sin. People who are in fear they have committed the unforgivable sin have not committed the unforgivable sin!
2. Rejected Like Judas
3. Redeemed Like Peter
For believers, it’s not possible to commit the act of Judas. Why? Because God’s hand keeps us and we have the Spirit. But it is possible to grieve the Spirit: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30) Peter is a guide for us to see how its possible to even momentarily deny Jesus and still be a follower of Jesus. The story goes like this: on the very night Jesus was betrayed, arrested, and eventually crucified, Peter was straight-up asked if was with Jesus. And each time Peter was asked of his connection to Jesus, Peter said no. Peter even cursed on one occasion to make sure everyone knew He wasn’t with Jesus. The Bible says that when Peter denied Jesus for third time, Jesus and he locked eyes. But he was forgiven.
Here’s the difference… Here’s what you need to do to be forgiven like Peter was: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Turn Up the Volume on Your Faith. Jesus offers many reasons in our text of why you and I should be a bold, Christ-followers. Here are three reasons why you should be open and honest with people around you that you’re a Christ-follower.
3.1 Everything Will Be Broadcast
“Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” (Luke 11:2) There is one day that when it’s written it’s with a capital D. And that is Judgment Day. Every secret sin on earth is an open scandal in heaven. Secret sin will be public sin one Day. But confessed sin now will be covered sin then. “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13) But more than this, don’t be a closet Christ-follower. Instead, come out of the closet and follow Christ publicly. Do so now, because there’s a day coming when there’s full disclosure. But don’t let this passage simply and only scare you. While it is a warning, this message is also motivation. For the believer, every simple act of kindness, every thoughtful, private deed done in secret is seen by the Father, is known by the Father, and will be rewarded by the Father.
3.2 Fear Only God
At times, following Christ is scary because people make threats against the very lives of Christian believers. This week I meet someone whose family lived in Saudi Arabia for a number of years. They were practicing Christians who were forced to meet for worship underground. In order to just simply meet to gather together, they would meet underground and arrive in 15-minute intervals so Saudi “religious police” would not detect them. Saudi Arabia bans all churches. You have to smuggle Bibles into the country. Whenever you share the gospel with Muslims, there’s a tendency for Muslim background believers to accept Jesus privately but either delay or altogether refuse to publically identify with Jesus through baptism. Go back to the person I mentioned whose family followed Christ and was living in Saudi Arabia for another moment. When I asked how they practiced baptism, this individual told me they would go out into the desert to baptize the courageous new believers in Christ. It was there that they found water at a resort to baptize. They would pay off the workers there in order to keep their actions quiet from authorities. A proper fear of God frees you from fearing people.
3.3 The Spirit Will Tell You What to Say
“And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:11-12)
True spiritual courage doesn’t come from ourselves. Instead, true spiritual courage comes from the Spirit. I also think of a Country Song Christian where they sing about sin and turn around sing about Jesus without blinking an eye. Perhaps you see yourself in Jesus’ “Secret Service?” Are you less than candid with your family about your allegiance to Jesus? Do your Instagram followers know you follow Christ?
“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) If you’re truly a follower of Jesus, then what you believe in your heart always makes it to your lips. Repeat: You’re truly a believer when your heart’s beliefs makes it’s way to your lips.
God Knows & Loves You
Jesus says God knows each sparrow, He hasn’t forgotten even one. And they are sold for pennies; they’re worthless. You, on the other hand, you’re valuable – you would sell for much, much more! You are made in the image of God Himself! You are at the top of the pecking order in all that God has created! If God takes such good care of sparrows, then much more will care for you? He even knows the number of hair on your head? Medical scientists tell us that a blond has about 150,000 thousand hairs, a brown-haired person has 110,000, and a redhead has approximately 90,000. But God knows the precise number.
Invitation
[Invite staff and musicians to come to platform right now.]
There are two types of people in the room today… you’re either Peter or Judas. Which are you? I’m telling you, He loves you! In the final analysis, it doesn’t matter if other people won’t forgive you. It doesn’t even matter if you can forgive yourself. The only thing that really matters is whether God has forgiven you.
