What have we been provided for by grace in Jesus' life, torture, death, triumph over satan, and resurrection, blood offering, placement with God?
We have healing 1 Peter 2:24
We have prosperity 2 Corinthians 8:9
We have deliverance and dominion over Satan. Colossians 1:13, Romans 6:14
We have favor Acts 2:46-47
We have forgiveness and redemption Ephesians 1:7
We have righteousness of God Philippians 3:9
We have an advocate and intercessor 1 John 2:1
We have a helper John 14:16
We have a mediator and a better covenant Hebrews 8:6
We have a new spirit Ezekiel 36:25-27
We are a new creation 2 Corinthians 5:17
We are grafted into Abraham Galatians 3:6-7
We could go to church every day, pray endlessly, read continuously, labor to the breaking point, and give all of our possessions to the poor and we will never earn nor deserve a single one of these provisions.
They are a free gift, purchased and facilitated by the blood of Jesus. When Jesus sat down at the Favor of God, the acquisition was complete for all time. It's a done deal.
If we can believe for any of these provisions 'whatsoever', then we can receive it by grace.
It has already been done in the spiritual, we just need to believe to see it manifested in our lives.
Trust that God is always good, His Word is always true, the provision has been already been purchased, the plan is already in place, and that we, His beloved, are the objects of His desire.
Trust that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us; To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Joy In Giving
God does not want you to give tithes and offerings if you do it out of obligation in a debt mentality. He wants you to give compelled by love and in a belief that everything that you need in this world has been already provided by grace with the finished works of Jesus Christ.
If the motivation for your giving is to get God to bless you, you are trying to gain favor by your works and have stepped outside of faith; This will plug up the works of God in your life.
However, if you are giving in a joyful heart, as an expression of love for the Kingdom of God, knowing that God's promises are true, the windows of heaven will be opening.
If you don't give, God is not going to squash you like a bug; we have been redeemed from the curse of the law. You just won't participate in the blessings he has planned for you.
But if you do give, compelled by love for God, God will bless every aspect of your life, for more than your works could ever aspire.
Be sensitive to God's inspiration to give. Start small when your heart stirs, give a bottle of water to thirsty, read to a child, pay for someones groceries, sponsor a child for camp, etc.
Do so in a way that does not draw attention to yourself and God will start to give you a joy for giving. He will also give seed to the sower, so that you have more resources to give with.
If you aren't a giver, give it a try.
If you are a giver and have been given begrudgingly, but you haven't been able to get out of your rut, evaluate your heart; are you in works or faith in grace.
If you are a giver and God is pouring out blessings so that you cannot contain them, share your testimony.
If the motivation for your giving is to get God to bless you, you are trying to gain favor by your works and have stepped outside of faith; This will plug up the works of God in your life.
However, if you are giving in a joyful heart, as an expression of love for the Kingdom of God, knowing that God's promises are true, the windows of heaven will be opening.
If you don't give, God is not going to squash you like a bug; we have been redeemed from the curse of the law. You just won't participate in the blessings he has planned for you.
But if you do give, compelled by love for God, God will bless every aspect of your life, for more than your works could ever aspire.
Be sensitive to God's inspiration to give. Start small when your heart stirs, give a bottle of water to thirsty, read to a child, pay for someones groceries, sponsor a child for camp, etc.
Do so in a way that does not draw attention to yourself and God will start to give you a joy for giving. He will also give seed to the sower, so that you have more resources to give with.
If you aren't a giver, give it a try.
If you are a giver and have been given begrudgingly, but you haven't been able to get out of your rut, evaluate your heart; are you in works or faith in grace.
If you are a giver and God is pouring out blessings so that you cannot contain them, share your testimony.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Why did Jesus die?
Did you know Jesus was not sent and died on the cross so that your sins would be forgiven?
Jesus died on the cross so that you might gain fellowship with God and Himself. An ancillary benefit is that our sins were forgiven. Jesus said that he came to give eternal life, and defined eternal life as "... that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent". John 17:2-3 If you were only saved to miss hell, you are missing the big picture, God wants to have a relationship with you now.
Sometimes I get so busy with work and church that I neglect intimacy with God. That hit me hard last night as I was thinking about my recent level of intimacy with my son. He has his own life now and doesn't desire to share much of it with me. It occurred to me that I have the same relationship with God. I have been going to God in prayer with the same things, almost mechanically, time and time again and realized, he wants to share my heart, bounce ideas off him, talk about what's been on my mind.
I have had shameful intimacy with God lately. If my son treated me the same, it would break my heart. Spend some time today with the Father and just talk to him, don't intercede for anyone, ask for blessings on your endeavors, just talk to him, like a friend, about the weather or brainstorm a decision you are trying to make with him. He will be blessed by your friendship.
Jesus died on the cross so that you might gain fellowship with God and Himself. An ancillary benefit is that our sins were forgiven. Jesus said that he came to give eternal life, and defined eternal life as "... that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent". John 17:2-3 If you were only saved to miss hell, you are missing the big picture, God wants to have a relationship with you now.
Sometimes I get so busy with work and church that I neglect intimacy with God. That hit me hard last night as I was thinking about my recent level of intimacy with my son. He has his own life now and doesn't desire to share much of it with me. It occurred to me that I have the same relationship with God. I have been going to God in prayer with the same things, almost mechanically, time and time again and realized, he wants to share my heart, bounce ideas off him, talk about what's been on my mind.
I have had shameful intimacy with God lately. If my son treated me the same, it would break my heart. Spend some time today with the Father and just talk to him, don't intercede for anyone, ask for blessings on your endeavors, just talk to him, like a friend, about the weather or brainstorm a decision you are trying to make with him. He will be blessed by your friendship.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Thoughts on El Shaddai
One of my favorite names for God is El Shaddai. I just think it is a beautiful sounding name. When I looked into the meaning of the name in Hebrew, I found the true meaning has been lost on us but the theories are beautiful as well. Here are some thoughts I have been writing down.
El Shaddai - pronounced (El Shad-dah'-ee)
A proper name God occasionally used for Himself with patriarchs like Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.
We don't really know the meaning of this name.
There are many different thoughts.
Literally, it translates as God of the (uncultivated) Fields.
Most Bibles originally interpreted the name Shaddai as coming from the word Shadad.
Shadad means to deal violently with, to devastate, put to ruins; hence God Almighty.
However, there are several more theories based on contractions of the word.
For example, Sha means "who" and dai means "sufficient" or "enough"; the God who is sufficient.
Another example, Shad means "breast" dai means "enough"; people interpret this as the God with sufficiency and nourishment.
In modern Judaism, Shaddai is also thought to be an acronym for the phrase Shomer daltot Yisrael - "Guardian of the doors of Israel" - abbreviated as the letter Shin on most mezuzot.
El Shaddai - pronounced (El Shad-dah'-ee)
A proper name God occasionally used for Himself with patriarchs like Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.
We don't really know the meaning of this name.
There are many different thoughts.
Literally, it translates as God of the (uncultivated) Fields.
Most Bibles originally interpreted the name Shaddai as coming from the word Shadad.
Shadad means to deal violently with, to devastate, put to ruins; hence God Almighty.
However, there are several more theories based on contractions of the word.
For example, Sha means "who" and dai means "sufficient" or "enough"; the God who is sufficient.
Another example, Shad means "breast" dai means "enough"; people interpret this as the God with sufficiency and nourishment.
In modern Judaism, Shaddai is also thought to be an acronym for the phrase Shomer daltot Yisrael - "Guardian of the doors of Israel" - abbreviated as the letter Shin on most mezuzot.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Spiritual Laws
We live in a world that is bound by laws, both physical and spiritual. We all believe in the physical (ex. Gravity), however we don’t always understand and trust in spiritual.
A law the spans both physical and spiritual is that of seed and harvest.
Understand that by giving tithes and especially offerings, we are seeding into the Kingdom and set in motion a mechanism that God uses to shower us with blessings.
Never fail to plant seed when times are good. However, even more so, never rob yourself of the opportunity to plant seed in a famine. It is when you don’t have much, and faithfully seed what you don’t think you can do without, that really gets God’s attention.
Jesus noticed the widow and God noticed Isaac. Isaac seeded in a famine and was blessed beyond his wildest dreams; Blessed not only financially, but in every aspect of his life.
I received this truth in my heart 5 years ago and I will never look back.
A law the spans both physical and spiritual is that of seed and harvest.
Understand that by giving tithes and especially offerings, we are seeding into the Kingdom and set in motion a mechanism that God uses to shower us with blessings.
Never fail to plant seed when times are good. However, even more so, never rob yourself of the opportunity to plant seed in a famine. It is when you don’t have much, and faithfully seed what you don’t think you can do without, that really gets God’s attention.
Jesus noticed the widow and God noticed Isaac. Isaac seeded in a famine and was blessed beyond his wildest dreams; Blessed not only financially, but in every aspect of his life.
I received this truth in my heart 5 years ago and I will never look back.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Will I hear, "Well Done"?
I have a new perspective of James 2:14-26. James talks about faith without works being dead. I have always believed this to mean that you should labor in the faith. You must work hard at what you do for God; whether it is in the Children’s ministry (God knows those of you who work with the little kids labor) or in the sound-booth, or in pastoral ministry.
If you really think about what James said, he is not talking about laboring out of your own ability, but he is talking about putting faith into action. He is talking about not only believing that Jesus is lord, but he is talking about doing what Jesus told you to do by faith. And He says, the more you step out in faith and do what I told you to do, outside your natural ability, the more your faith will be perfected.
James 2:14 starts off with a perfect illustration of this. You see someone that is hungry and cold without warm cloths. Your heart burns for them but you only say to them, “Go in peace, be warm, and be filled”. You did not help them very much. You have your faith in God but you did not do what your spirit was calling out to do. You are the hands of God here on Earth. The Spirit of God lives inside you not just to give you warm fuzzies during Praise and Worship but to empower you to fulfill God’s will and your commission.
Additional illustrations? You see someone that is lost and searching and you feel led in your spirit to share the Gospel and lead them to salvation, but instead, you listen to them and tell them things will get better. You see someone that is sick and you know the Bible says to be an imitator of Christ, and Jesus says that we are to lay hands on the sick and they shall be healed. Your spirit leads you to believe the Word and lay hands on them, but instead, you still want to show your faith, so you only say, “I’ll pray for you”. Your faith without works is dead. You have these seeds of doubt in your heart that tell you, “What will they think of me”, “I might loose this sale if I say anything that offends them”, “What if I lay hands on them and they are not healed”, “What if”, “What if”.
We are set apart and justified not by our faith, but by what we do with our faith. Abraham believed in God. But, it wasn’t until he laid his son on the alter, and was prepared to sacrifice his son for God that he was justified (made righteous in the Lord). It was his works (or faith in action) that set the stage for us to be blessed through Abraham. It wasn’t that he was a good man, helped his people out, worked hard, it was that he believed God at His word and put his faith in action.
As Christians, we all believe in God. However, James says that’s not enough. He says even the demons believe in God and shutter. We need to step beyond believing in God and step into His calling. We need to be mindful of the Spirit (that voice inside you that tells you to do the right thing), even when it is uncomfortable. His calling is to continue the Ministry of Jesus. His calling is for us to be the hands and mouths of Jesus.
Whether we believe it or not, when we became born again, we became a new creation. In that new creation, the Spirit of God came to live within us. This is very different than pre-Pentecost where the spirit walked beside man. Now, if you are a born again believer, you have the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, dwelling inside of you. He didn’t come to do that for the heck of it. He indwells in you to empower you to be an imitator of Christ. It is such a shame that the full gospel has been watered down over the years. Can you imagine a world where every Christian walked in the full knowledge of who we are in Christ like Paul, James, Phillip, etc?
The only thing stopping us from living up to the fullness of God’s expectations for us is our selfishness. It is us giving into our doubt and being more concerned about “what-if” than helping our brothers and sisters.
I don’t know about your church, but at my church there are some amazing men and women of God called into the pastoral ministry. They touch lives everywhere they go. They will be in line at the grocery store and share the Gospel with a stranger. They will be visiting a friend in the hospital and lay hands on the sick they don’t even know. They have faith and selflessness that blows me away. They move into a new apartment complex and immediately start bringing their neighbors to a saving knowledge of Jesus. What kind of super-heroes are they? Well, they are just like me. They are just like you. I have the same calling and commission on my life as they do. The only difference is they have been justified, like Abraham, by mixing their faith with action. Their faith has been intermingled with their works, and as a result of the works, they are perfecting their faith.
I desire to be more of the man God has called me to be. I desire not be plagued and constantly succumb to doubt. I desire to see the manifestation of God’s power and glory on a daily basis. I desire my children not to be as ineffectual in faith as I have been and am. I desire to love people more than I have. I desire to have an answer to God when he asks me, “What have you done with what I have given you?”; will I hear, “Well done” or will I be ashamed when I see what could have been if I would have only put my faith into action.
If you really think about what James said, he is not talking about laboring out of your own ability, but he is talking about putting faith into action. He is talking about not only believing that Jesus is lord, but he is talking about doing what Jesus told you to do by faith. And He says, the more you step out in faith and do what I told you to do, outside your natural ability, the more your faith will be perfected.
James 2:14 starts off with a perfect illustration of this. You see someone that is hungry and cold without warm cloths. Your heart burns for them but you only say to them, “Go in peace, be warm, and be filled”. You did not help them very much. You have your faith in God but you did not do what your spirit was calling out to do. You are the hands of God here on Earth. The Spirit of God lives inside you not just to give you warm fuzzies during Praise and Worship but to empower you to fulfill God’s will and your commission.
Additional illustrations? You see someone that is lost and searching and you feel led in your spirit to share the Gospel and lead them to salvation, but instead, you listen to them and tell them things will get better. You see someone that is sick and you know the Bible says to be an imitator of Christ, and Jesus says that we are to lay hands on the sick and they shall be healed. Your spirit leads you to believe the Word and lay hands on them, but instead, you still want to show your faith, so you only say, “I’ll pray for you”. Your faith without works is dead. You have these seeds of doubt in your heart that tell you, “What will they think of me”, “I might loose this sale if I say anything that offends them”, “What if I lay hands on them and they are not healed”, “What if”, “What if”.
We are set apart and justified not by our faith, but by what we do with our faith. Abraham believed in God. But, it wasn’t until he laid his son on the alter, and was prepared to sacrifice his son for God that he was justified (made righteous in the Lord). It was his works (or faith in action) that set the stage for us to be blessed through Abraham. It wasn’t that he was a good man, helped his people out, worked hard, it was that he believed God at His word and put his faith in action.
As Christians, we all believe in God. However, James says that’s not enough. He says even the demons believe in God and shutter. We need to step beyond believing in God and step into His calling. We need to be mindful of the Spirit (that voice inside you that tells you to do the right thing), even when it is uncomfortable. His calling is to continue the Ministry of Jesus. His calling is for us to be the hands and mouths of Jesus.
Whether we believe it or not, when we became born again, we became a new creation. In that new creation, the Spirit of God came to live within us. This is very different than pre-Pentecost where the spirit walked beside man. Now, if you are a born again believer, you have the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, dwelling inside of you. He didn’t come to do that for the heck of it. He indwells in you to empower you to be an imitator of Christ. It is such a shame that the full gospel has been watered down over the years. Can you imagine a world where every Christian walked in the full knowledge of who we are in Christ like Paul, James, Phillip, etc?
The only thing stopping us from living up to the fullness of God’s expectations for us is our selfishness. It is us giving into our doubt and being more concerned about “what-if” than helping our brothers and sisters.
I don’t know about your church, but at my church there are some amazing men and women of God called into the pastoral ministry. They touch lives everywhere they go. They will be in line at the grocery store and share the Gospel with a stranger. They will be visiting a friend in the hospital and lay hands on the sick they don’t even know. They have faith and selflessness that blows me away. They move into a new apartment complex and immediately start bringing their neighbors to a saving knowledge of Jesus. What kind of super-heroes are they? Well, they are just like me. They are just like you. I have the same calling and commission on my life as they do. The only difference is they have been justified, like Abraham, by mixing their faith with action. Their faith has been intermingled with their works, and as a result of the works, they are perfecting their faith.
I desire to be more of the man God has called me to be. I desire not be plagued and constantly succumb to doubt. I desire to see the manifestation of God’s power and glory on a daily basis. I desire my children not to be as ineffectual in faith as I have been and am. I desire to love people more than I have. I desire to have an answer to God when he asks me, “What have you done with what I have given you?”; will I hear, “Well done” or will I be ashamed when I see what could have been if I would have only put my faith into action.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Unpardonable Sin
A friend asked me the other day to brainstorm with her about the unpardonable sin. I recall the different sermons I heard from different pastors about it, and it seems that there is a great deal of confusion and disagreement about it in the body of Christ. Furthermore, any time Satan can divide the church and bring us out of one accord he steals some of our victories. Satan has used this confusion on the topic for a long time to bring doubt to both the unbeliever and believer; that they have sinned beyond God's capability to forgive and there is no hope for salvation.
I don't know all the answers but I do know that the Word cannot contradict itself, we must rightly divide the word of God, we must meditate on the word, and pray for wisdom and revelation.
In Mathew 12 and Mark 3, Jesus was just brought a man that possessed a blind and dumb spirit. He cast this unclean spirit out and the Pharisees heard of it, they accused Jesus of using witchcraft and the power of Satan to cast out the demon. This ticked Jesus off and he tried to reason with them saying that how can you use the power of the devil to defeat the devil. This rebuke by Jesus is what instigated the teaching of what we call the unpardonable sin.
Jesus said (paraphrasing) , Listen, you can talk bad and lie about me and that's ok, but if you lie about and condemn the works of the Holy Spirit and call them works of the Devil, you will not be forgiven. In Mark, it goes a little bit differently and says that you are in danger of eternal damnation.
So how can it be that, over and over again, that God said that All of your sins are washed away if you believe, “and there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ”, ... How can the word contradict itself? Well it can't so we have to look at this much closer.
Here are some keys that might be important as I share my thoughts brainstorming this.
In rightly dividing the Word, we must look at the context (who it was being directed towards). This was being directed at the Pharisees, old covenant Jewish religious leaders, whom had hardened their heart toward Jesus. It wasn’t directed at the disciples. Let us meditate and consider this for a bit while we move on.
Let’s look at the translation … Mathew and Mark were translated a little bit differently. Mark talks about eternal damnation but Mathew doesn’t. Ok, let’s look at the Greek to see if there are some clues there. Mathew translates pretty clear, but let’s look at Luke. Did they really get two different revelations on this message and which is closer to accurate?
Mathew:
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come .
Luke:
Verily I say (5719) unto you, All sins shall be forgiven (5701) unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme (5661) :
Amhn legw (5719) umin oti panta afeqhsetai (5701) toiv uioiv twn anqrwpwn, ta amarthmata kai ai blasfhmiai osa ean blasfhmhswsin; (5661)
But he that shall blaspheme (5661) against the Holy Ghost hath (5719) never forgiveness, but is (5748) in danger of eternal damnation:
ov d' an blasfhmhsh (5661) eiv to pneuma to agion ouk exei (5719) afesin eiv ton aiwna, alla enoxov estin (5748) aiwniou amarthmatov
I left the Greek translation attached to this because I want to bring out a point which I will touch on a little later.
KJV says, ‘is in danger of eternal damnation.’ Damnation was not in the original Greek text. The word for Damnation here is ‘Krisis’ and means separation, judgment, condemnation. The word used in the original Greek text is ‘amarthmatov’ which means sin. If you translate the original text it reads something like this … ‘But if someone speaks evil of or reviles the Spirit of the Most Holy, he will not receive forgiveness in this age, but will be bound to the evil deed forever.’
Now this reads a lot like Mathew. It doesn’t talk about eternal damnation.
We know that there has to be something that has been lost in the translation and or true intent of this message because of the following:
It cannot mean that anyone that assumes and accuses someone exhibiting a gift of the Holy Spirit as working with the devil is damned to hell, with out any hope. If that was the case, there would be a lot of pastors and congregations that would be walking on very thin ice when they say that the gifts of the Spirit are not for today, and that speaking in tongues is the manifestation of the devil (I have heard this preached).
We know this because the Apostle Paul, then Saul of Damascus, would have never received salvation. He personally did and gave authorization to have people killed for heresy. He accused and spoke evil of the Holy Spirit no differently than the Pharisees did and probably have evil in his heart while doing it. I am sure he was being egged on and influenced by Satan. Yet Paul did receive salvation, was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and proved this with signs and wonders following. Paul says that there is “No Condemnation To Those In Christ Jesus.”
So what’s the deal.
Did Jesus just favor Paul more than the Pharisees and possibly us? Peter says in Acts 10:34 that God is no respecter of persons.
Here is what I think, and this is just my opinion and what I have been able to discern up to this point. I am praying for wisdom and revelation on this. Not from Man, because every man has their own opinion, but from God. Looking on the internet, I have not found any that agree with me, nor have I heard anyone preach this, so I am alone in the desert on this one to some extent.
I believe that context is extremely important here. Jesus was speaking directly to these Pharisees. It says in Mathew 12 that when the Pharisees started accusing Jesus, that Jesus saw their heart and knew their thoughts. I believe he was addressing the church under the Mosaic Covenant (The Law). I believe that Jesus was saying that no sacrifice they can perform under the old covenant would clean them from the evil they were thinking and speaking; that this sin would be bound to them forever. This was a big deal for the Pharisees. They were very religious and knew what it meant for them if they were forever unclean. Telling them that Jesus wouldn’t forgive their sins and they wouldn’t receive salvation was not of any significance to them because they didn’t believe Jesus to be the Messiah anyways.
I don’t believe that there is a sin that is too bad for the blood of Christ to wash. Nowhere in the teachings of any of the disciples and apostles does, in the hundreds and hundreds of places referencing forgiveness, does it keep throwing out the unpardonable sin disclaimer. You won’t find … 1 John 2:12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name, OH YEAH, INCASE YOU LIED ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THEN YOU ARE NOT ONLY UNFORGIVEN, YOU ARE DAMNED. Or Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins., UNLESS YOU MISTAKENLY ACCUSED SOMEONE MANIFESTING GODS POWER AS SUPERNATUREAL AND DEMONIC.
It says, He has Forgiven All our Sins, We are no longer condemned. We have been sanctified through His Blood if we believe. NO SMALL PRINT EXCLUSIONS.
Even though the King James translation in Mark is a little off, I think that somehow they may have captured the intent of the message. Jesus was saying that the sin of blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will be bound to you and that no sacrifices that you perform will make you clean. And that you will be held accountable for these words. And I think the part that KJV picked up is significant. And if you do not let your heart become sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, you will never hear Him convicting you of the truth of the Gospel, and that you are in danger of missing the Messiah and missing the calling to receive salvation through Jesus Christ.
But thank God we have a redeemer in Jesus Christ that has forgiven All of our sins, he sits at the right hand the Father as an advocate for us, and that there is no sin that is too ugly for the blood of Christ to wash.
Romans 10:9-10
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
I am sure this has stepped on peoples toes. As there are about as many opinions on this topic as there are denominations. If I did step on your toes, I encourage you to open up the word and meditate on the topic. Seek wisdom and revelation. Open your heart to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. He will bring to remembrance all things that Jesus said. You don’t have to rely on your pastor to spoon feed you every ounce of revelation. Dig in and pray that God will open your eyes and let you see things as never before; to make the Word come alive in your heart and burn with revelation and understanding.
I don't know all the answers but I do know that the Word cannot contradict itself, we must rightly divide the word of God, we must meditate on the word, and pray for wisdom and revelation.
In Mathew 12 and Mark 3, Jesus was just brought a man that possessed a blind and dumb spirit. He cast this unclean spirit out and the Pharisees heard of it, they accused Jesus of using witchcraft and the power of Satan to cast out the demon. This ticked Jesus off and he tried to reason with them saying that how can you use the power of the devil to defeat the devil. This rebuke by Jesus is what instigated the teaching of what we call the unpardonable sin.
Jesus said (paraphrasing) , Listen, you can talk bad and lie about me and that's ok, but if you lie about and condemn the works of the Holy Spirit and call them works of the Devil, you will not be forgiven. In Mark, it goes a little bit differently and says that you are in danger of eternal damnation.
So how can it be that, over and over again, that God said that All of your sins are washed away if you believe, “and there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ”, ... How can the word contradict itself? Well it can't so we have to look at this much closer.
Here are some keys that might be important as I share my thoughts brainstorming this.
In rightly dividing the Word, we must look at the context (who it was being directed towards). This was being directed at the Pharisees, old covenant Jewish religious leaders, whom had hardened their heart toward Jesus. It wasn’t directed at the disciples. Let us meditate and consider this for a bit while we move on.
Let’s look at the translation … Mathew and Mark were translated a little bit differently. Mark talks about eternal damnation but Mathew doesn’t. Ok, let’s look at the Greek to see if there are some clues there. Mathew translates pretty clear, but let’s look at Luke. Did they really get two different revelations on this message and which is closer to accurate?
Mathew:
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come .
Luke:
Verily I say (5719) unto you, All sins shall be forgiven (5701) unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme (5661) :
Amhn legw (5719) umin oti panta afeqhsetai (5701) toiv uioiv twn anqrwpwn, ta amarthmata kai ai blasfhmiai osa ean blasfhmhswsin; (5661)
But he that shall blaspheme (5661) against the Holy Ghost hath (5719) never forgiveness, but is (5748) in danger of eternal damnation:
ov d' an blasfhmhsh (5661) eiv to pneuma to agion ouk exei (5719) afesin eiv ton aiwna, alla enoxov estin (5748) aiwniou amarthmatov
I left the Greek translation attached to this because I want to bring out a point which I will touch on a little later.
KJV says, ‘is in danger of eternal damnation.’ Damnation was not in the original Greek text. The word for Damnation here is ‘Krisis’ and means separation, judgment, condemnation. The word used in the original Greek text is ‘amarthmatov’ which means sin. If you translate the original text it reads something like this … ‘But if someone speaks evil of or reviles the Spirit of the Most Holy, he will not receive forgiveness in this age, but will be bound to the evil deed forever.’
Now this reads a lot like Mathew. It doesn’t talk about eternal damnation.
We know that there has to be something that has been lost in the translation and or true intent of this message because of the following:
It cannot mean that anyone that assumes and accuses someone exhibiting a gift of the Holy Spirit as working with the devil is damned to hell, with out any hope. If that was the case, there would be a lot of pastors and congregations that would be walking on very thin ice when they say that the gifts of the Spirit are not for today, and that speaking in tongues is the manifestation of the devil (I have heard this preached).
We know this because the Apostle Paul, then Saul of Damascus, would have never received salvation. He personally did and gave authorization to have people killed for heresy. He accused and spoke evil of the Holy Spirit no differently than the Pharisees did and probably have evil in his heart while doing it. I am sure he was being egged on and influenced by Satan. Yet Paul did receive salvation, was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and proved this with signs and wonders following. Paul says that there is “No Condemnation To Those In Christ Jesus.”
So what’s the deal.
Did Jesus just favor Paul more than the Pharisees and possibly us? Peter says in Acts 10:34 that God is no respecter of persons.
Here is what I think, and this is just my opinion and what I have been able to discern up to this point. I am praying for wisdom and revelation on this. Not from Man, because every man has their own opinion, but from God. Looking on the internet, I have not found any that agree with me, nor have I heard anyone preach this, so I am alone in the desert on this one to some extent.
I believe that context is extremely important here. Jesus was speaking directly to these Pharisees. It says in Mathew 12 that when the Pharisees started accusing Jesus, that Jesus saw their heart and knew their thoughts. I believe he was addressing the church under the Mosaic Covenant (The Law). I believe that Jesus was saying that no sacrifice they can perform under the old covenant would clean them from the evil they were thinking and speaking; that this sin would be bound to them forever. This was a big deal for the Pharisees. They were very religious and knew what it meant for them if they were forever unclean. Telling them that Jesus wouldn’t forgive their sins and they wouldn’t receive salvation was not of any significance to them because they didn’t believe Jesus to be the Messiah anyways.
I don’t believe that there is a sin that is too bad for the blood of Christ to wash. Nowhere in the teachings of any of the disciples and apostles does, in the hundreds and hundreds of places referencing forgiveness, does it keep throwing out the unpardonable sin disclaimer. You won’t find … 1 John 2:12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name, OH YEAH, INCASE YOU LIED ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THEN YOU ARE NOT ONLY UNFORGIVEN, YOU ARE DAMNED. Or Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins., UNLESS YOU MISTAKENLY ACCUSED SOMEONE MANIFESTING GODS POWER AS SUPERNATUREAL AND DEMONIC.
It says, He has Forgiven All our Sins, We are no longer condemned. We have been sanctified through His Blood if we believe. NO SMALL PRINT EXCLUSIONS.
Even though the King James translation in Mark is a little off, I think that somehow they may have captured the intent of the message. Jesus was saying that the sin of blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will be bound to you and that no sacrifices that you perform will make you clean. And that you will be held accountable for these words. And I think the part that KJV picked up is significant. And if you do not let your heart become sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, you will never hear Him convicting you of the truth of the Gospel, and that you are in danger of missing the Messiah and missing the calling to receive salvation through Jesus Christ.
But thank God we have a redeemer in Jesus Christ that has forgiven All of our sins, he sits at the right hand the Father as an advocate for us, and that there is no sin that is too ugly for the blood of Christ to wash.
Romans 10:9-10
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
I am sure this has stepped on peoples toes. As there are about as many opinions on this topic as there are denominations. If I did step on your toes, I encourage you to open up the word and meditate on the topic. Seek wisdom and revelation. Open your heart to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. He will bring to remembrance all things that Jesus said. You don’t have to rely on your pastor to spoon feed you every ounce of revelation. Dig in and pray that God will open your eyes and let you see things as never before; to make the Word come alive in your heart and burn with revelation and understanding.
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