The Hard Sayings of Jesus: Part 3

The Hard Sayings of Jesus   •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Introduction : On June 2, 2010, at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga nearly became the 21st pitcher in Major League history to throw a perfect game. Facing the Cleveland Indians, Galarraga retired the first 26 batters he faced, but his bid for a perfect game was ended one out short when first base umpire Jim Joyce incorrectly ruled that Indians batter Jason Donald reached first base safely on a ground ball. Galarraga instead finished with a one-hit shutout in a 3–0 victory. He faced 28 batters and threw 88 pitches (67 strikes and 21 balls), striking out three. The game is sometimes referred to as the "28-out perfect game", the "Imperfect Game", or simply the "Galarraga game".
I don't know about you but if I were Armando Galarraga I'm fit to be tied. I'm calling for his head. Look when i go through the fast food restaurant i'm furious when they get my order wrong! Today we are going to talk about the unpardonable sin. today we are going to talk about not getting the most important thing wrong!
The word forgiveness appears 134 times in our English Bibles - 134.
There are all types of commands about forgiveness. How we are to forgive one another. How our forgiveness is to be without limits. 70 X 7.
Charles Speurgon stated
"I believe that as often as I transgress, God is more ready to forgive me than I am ready to offend."
God’s forgiveness is without boundaries - his mercy is abundant!
Romans 5:20 NKJV
Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
That’s Christianity 101 - Grace without measure - Grace without limits- Forgiveness and pardon.
That’s the God we know.
That is why the Word’s of Jesus in are so hard.
In you see Jesus speaking in a way that seems counterintuitive to the Christian faith.
He is talking about sin without the possibility of forgiveness.
In Your notes:

Jesus warns that there is a sin that will not be forgiven.

Mark 3:28–30 ESV
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

A word used to denote all forms of evil speaking against God

Blasphemy denotes all forms of speaking evil against God.

What is the “eternal sin” that Jesus warns about?

In understanding this “hard saying of Jesus” we must understand the context that these comments were given.
Jesus is in a time of his ministry where he is experiencing growing popularity!
Look back in the earlier portion of this chapter.
Mark 3:7–12 ESV
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
Mark 3:

Christ’s power is undeniable.

Jesus was no amateur magician struggling to pull a rabbit out of a hat, or they would have said so. Rather, he was doing inexplicable miracles that no one had even seen before—raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, etc. The religious leaders knew that Jesus had power. They saw the hand of God in the life and ministry of Christ.
When you witness the work of Christ there is an overarching conclusion. This is not the power of man! This is not the work of a great man! This is the hand of God Himself.

The miracles of Jesus provide overwhelming evidence that when you encounter Christ you are encountering God.

Yet please note their response!
Mark 3:22 ESV
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
Baalzebub “lord of the flies” or “prince of Baal” was the Canaanite deity worshiped at Ekron.
By NT times this name becomes a substitute for the devil himself.

Sin’s perversion is unbelievable.

Baalzebub “lord of the flies” or “prince of Baal” was the Canaanite deity worshiped at Ekron.
or “prince of Baal” was the Canaanite deity worshiped at Ekron.
By NT times this name becomes a substitute for the devil himself.

They saw a blessing and called it a curse.

They saw the holy and called it repugnant.

They saw good and called it evil.

They saw God and called Him Satan.

Mark 3:23–30 ESV
23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. 28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Please note how the religious crowd responds to Christ’s powerful work.

Sin’s punishment is eternal.

Hebrews 10:29–31 ESV
29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:26–30 ESV
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”
Heb 10:26-30

The “eternal sin” can’t be committed by a believer.

Salvation is eternal. God always finishes what He starts!
Mark 3:22 ESV
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”

The “eternal sin” can be committed by an unbeliever.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is attributing Jesus’s works to Satan, claiming that Jesus was empowered by evil.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Beelzebul in the Old Testament

Thus, it seems likely that Baalzebub (“lord of the flies”) is a caconym of Baalzebul (“prince of Baal”), the actual Canaanite deity worshiped at Ekron

Seeing the unmistakable hand of God in the person of Christ and saying that’s the hand of Satan.
Militant perversion of the hand of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

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