SAYINGS ... SAYINGS ...
Hard Saying #1... Eat my flesh and drink my blood!
Hard Saying #2... Do these things and you'll never fall!
Hard Saying #3... I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance!
Hard Saying #4... Heap burning coals on their heads!
Hard Saying #5... It is easier for a camel... than a rich man to enter heaven!
Hard Saying #6... The law was added so that the trespass might increase!
Hard Saying #7... Unless you hate your life, +, ...you cannot be my disciple!
Hard Saying #8... I saw Satan fall as lightning from heaven!
Hard Saying #9... No man can serve two masters - both God and mammon!
Hard Saying #10. He that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost will never be forgiven!
Hard Saying #11. For God has concluded them all in unbelief. (page 2)
Hard Saying #12. Sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ, ONCE for all.
Hard Saying #13. We all have to die just because of another mans sin?
Hard Saying #14. Unless you become holy like God you will not see Him.
Hard Saying #15. A Christian is incapable of sinning?
Hard Saying #16. Unless your faith can remove mountains you remain in unbelief.
Hard Saying #17. When that which is PERFECT comes.
Hard Saying #18. I came not to bring Peace but Division!
Hard Saying #19. The violent take the kingdom by force!
Hard Saying #20. The way to heaven is by having the revelation of who God is!
HARD SAYING #1.
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." John 6:53
"Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" John 6:60
Our Lord did not teach cannibalism! Taken literally, eating a mans flesh and drinking his blood was an offense to the Jews. By replacing his flesh and blood with bread and wine or bread and grape juice (then eating these things IN PLACE OF HIM, or AS HIM in order to receive Life) DOES NOT ANSWER the 'HARD' saying either. This Hard Saying needs a SOLID answer.
In John 6:53 Jesus is speaking LITERALLY of us having to eat of His own body and drink of His own blood. This is a Personal thing! He alone is The Bread Of Life. His/God's Life is in the Blood. To all who have partaken of His flesh and blood and have gained Life, He says...
Luke 22:19-20 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Something done in remembrance of Him and what He's done can only be taken by faith in Him and His finished work. This can only apply to those who have eaten and drank of Him and are saved! If one does not wholly believe in Him or in His work, but only partakes of the offering because of some ceremonial attachment to it and/or because they feel that they too must do something to help save them or keep themselves saved, then it all becomes void and null through that persons unbelief.
Jesus said that 'He' was the bread and water of life...whoever eats of me will never hunger...whoever believes on me will never thirst! He says (in Jn.6:51) that he is the living bread (the bread that never dies!), and that the bread he gives is his flesh...his own self! Therefore, it is in this context where this Hard Saying finds meaning: " John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
To "truly believe" on him is to eat of His flesh, and drink of His shed blood and live! His blood was shed and his body was broken for us, and all (the spiritually poor, blind, lame, prisoners, etc.) who are called and come to eat and drink of God's life, being baptized with the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, and who are right then and there born again and know it!
The manna in the desert and the loaves and fishes were always more than enough to feed the 'physically' hungry. But those who ate these provisions from God still died afterwards. Jesus too is more than enough to feed the 'spiritually' hungry as God's one and only provision to inherit eternal life.
Those who 'share' in his life must eat and drink their fill of him personally. This can only be done by faith...but not by what is known as a 'replacement faith' in some material or transubstantiated piece of bread or wine which represents Him... no! We must arrive at His throne where He is raised up and seated at the right hand of God 'personally' and feast on Him there.
The only way this can happen is to acknowledge him by his words and come to him for life, who was crucified, buried and raised to life on the third day. To know him is to have him, and to have him is to have life. Taste and see that the Lord is Good!
HARD SAYING #2.
"Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall." 2 Peter 1:10
First, you'll want to make sure that you are saved in the first place. (See my comments on this at... "Grow up or die"
Second, if you do these things: ("giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.") you will never fall. (See my comments on this at...Define 'Saved'
Is Peter saying that although we may believe that we are Christians, yet if we aren't going to be eager and dilligent in our calling, adding love to our faith, and grow fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may come short or fall away??? "YES", THAT is what he is saying!
Is Peter also saying that those who 'do these things' will never fall away from Christ??? "YES" THAT too is what he is saying! By this he shows a clear distinction.
True Christianity involves more than just an 'initial faith' as some think. "Faith" IS the foundation on which to rest upon/build upon! Without faith there is no foundation. Look at faith as the laying of a solid foundation or as the root of a seedling. Faith isn't where Christianity ends but where it begins and where all other Godly virtues are added to it to increase it.
Nut what good is a foundation designed to be built upon if we're not going to build upon it??? Likewise, what good is a seed or a root if it never grows into what it was designed for: a plant or tree??? Faith is the foundation or root, and from this comes that which extends from it: a building (on a foundation) or a tree (from a root).
To ones faith MUST be added "The Truth In Love"! Truth is the structure that grows up from the base. As faith in Christ alone as The Way to God establishes the foundation, our continuing to hear and obey Him (who is The Truth) by keeping His words, is the material with which the tree grows or the structure rises, in what I like to call, 'purity' of faith! What's left is to 'fill' that house with LIFE!...to 'fill' that tree with FRUIT!
Now is God's purpose for creating us near! First the foundation, which is laid by faith! Second comes the structure, which grows up from the foundation, by abiding in His words. And finally, in order to FILL that house (the way God intended) we receive "LIFE". (And Jesus is The Life!) But God's "LIFE" cannot be made separate from His "LOVE"!!! His Love is full of Life, and His Life is full of Love...both towards others and towards God! If one has God's Love he has God's Life also, and visa versa! If he lacks either one he lacks both!!!
Therefore, God's purpose is to change us into new creations made in the image of Jesus. In order to do this He had to first turn us, lead us, and finally fill us...with Himself! ("If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him")
A foundation underneath - a structure above - a new creation within filled with the knowledge and love of God.....A root below ground - a tree above ground - joyfully producing fruit for their Master's good pleasure. This is what Peter means by 'adding' to our faith. This is what Christianity is all about, and this takes our full COOPERATION if we want to make our calling sure!
(Remember, when the Lord healed 10 lepers (Luke 17:12-19) and only one of them returned and fell at His feet in reverance and thanks??? It pays to never forget what we were and how wonderful He is who took it upon Himself to save us from eternal damnation! A continued appreciation filled with love for Him who first loved us, is the capstone that makes our faith complete!)
HARD SAYING #3. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:32)
1. 1 Timothy 1:15 "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..."
2. Romans 3:10 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:"...Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
A Christian lives in a hostile world, a place where it's the norm to lash out against your enemies, and harbor resentment against them, even holding them in contempt.
Like Jesus, we all have to learn obedience to God by suffering at the hands of our enemies. He wants us to deny ourself as we carry our cross and follow Him.
What do you do when liars and cheats are out to rob you and slander you and pass you over for promotion again and again? What do you do when you feel the hatred building up, and old 'pals' like resentment and self-pity taking you for a ride on their unmerry go-round?
You do to them just the opposite of what they do to you: "You bless them that curse you!" Give 'em food and drink. Be good to them that despitefully use you. If Jesus could do it for those who crucified Him: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!", then we can do it for those who persecute us as well.
There's no law that says you've got to 'like' what they're doing or the way they go about doing it. There's simply a 'suggestion' (one based in Love to Him) telling us how we are to handle these things we don't like when they do occur, and that is to heap the burning coals over their heads. Our motivation is love! We do these things He asks because we do love Him!
To heap the hot coals causes, 'guilt' in the other person. Guilt is associated with sin in the way that they know they have treated you wrongly or badly. Such is the association with 'burning coals' in the Scriptures (Isaiah 6:7). Let us recognize the connection here between burning coals and repentance.
We are told to overcome evil with good! If we do as the Spirit says here (by walking after the Spirit thus not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh), then we do so in order that the doer of the evil to us may be brought to repentance and cleansed of their sin, and because we love the Lord. (Love covers a multitude of sins!)
WHAT A MAGNIFICENT TESTIMONY! 'Evil' is to be overcome with 'good'! The antagonist has the opportunity to see how God's people treat those who abuse them, and upon seeing 'God's love' in action, the person may have a change of heart ("repent") and be brought out of darkness and into light to the glory of God. This is the purpose behind the Gospel, to bring ALL MEN to repentance in Jesus Christ!
In all of my years as a Christian I now concur that a 'silent' witness for Christ (one who heaps the hot coals) can be just as powerful in their testimony as one who 'loudly' proclaims the Gospel. "Father forgive them"...still rings out from the cross. May we learn the lesson of this 'hard'; saying...and may you pray for me that I may surrender all to the Lord so that I too may 'joyfully' do and be in His will. God Bless you!
The way of bitterness, resentment, violence and revenge comes 'naturally' to the natural man. But Jesus calls us to overcome these 'evil' things with 'good'...'Turn your other cheek'...'go an extra mile'...'forgive 70X7 times'...'give 'em the coat off your back, and your shirt too'.
It is written: "You heap burning coals on their head!"
HARD SAYING #5. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Mark 10:25
'How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!' 'Then who can be saved?' they asked. If ever there was a time to rejoice in being poor, now is that time. The trouble with riches aren't the riches themselves, but the familiarity and trust the worldly rich place in them.
It is so hard for the rich to give up the hold they have on their wealth, because it means 'security', 'power to rule your own destiny', and growing accustomed to 'the finer things of (this) life'. Yet we know the Scriptures speak of other 'riches' and 'cares' of this life that are stumbling blocks to our entering the kingdom.
'Hard is the way and narrow is the gate that leads to life...and few find it.' His disciples found it: 'We have left all and followed you!' Paul found it: (Ph.3:8) 'I count it all loss...' Jesus' command to the rich man was: 'Go and sell all you own, give it all away to the poor (and you'll have riches in heaven) then come and follow me!' The bottom line is: "Come and follow Me!" In order to do that we first have to lay it all down (deny ourself), and (Mt.11:28-30) take His yoke upon us and learn of Him (take up our cross)...
Many today think these things are unnecessary and so make an excuse for this 'hard' saying in order to retain whatever 'riches' they have so as not to acknowledge the 'impossibility' of their ever entering the kingdom of God carrying all that baggage. To those it is written: 'But wide is the gate that leads to hell, and many there be that go that way.' To the rest: 'Sell all', 'forsake all', 'hate your life', 'leave it all behind in order to follow Me'!!! I am the way to...and through...
Jesus promises that all who lose their life for His sake will find it again! (Matt.10:39)
HARD SAYING #6. "The law was added so that the trespass might increase." Romans 5:20
Some seem to believe Romans 5:20a to mean that the law was given to Moses in order that men would sin all the more. However, 'death' has always been the penalty for sin, whether they be big or little, lots or few. When kept in context we see in Romans 3:20 that it is through the law where one becomes 'conscious' of sin. The law is what makes people aware that they are sinners!
Now the clincher is where Paul, in Romans 7:7-8 shows that it is not the laws purpose to increase our sins, but to increase our 'awareness' of sin, and of the exceedingly sinfulness of sin and our connection to it: "I would never have known what sin was except through the law."
So it is by the giving of the law which lights up our sin and exposes us as guilty of sin thus worthy of death before God. (There is no mercy in the law! It's purpose, for those who break it, is to condemn sinners, period!) And it is only by the revelation of Christ; God's grace, (But where sin increased, grace increased all the more...Romans.5:20b) whereby we can be cleansed of our sins, come to Him for life, thus fulfilling the righteousness of the law, made free to walk after the Spirit:
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:2-4
This hard saying fits right in with (Hard Saying #5) and those who can't bear to part themselves from their riches. In this case they can't bear to be parted from their loved ones or even their own life. This is a very hard saying (as is #5) to accept, and there are many who'd like to believe that this saying somehow doesn't apply to them.
This is where the 'EASY believism gospel' came to power with its false message that it won't cost us something to be saved and follow/obey Christ, and that such things aren't necessary for salvation anyway, because they would be considered as 'works'. Yet verse 28 begins:
Luke 14:28-30 "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
The calling of God is a calling to 'come to Christ', thus it is a 'setting aside every obstacle' that would stop us from answering the call. And if we are called, yet do not heed His call; because our love/interests would conflict with His: namely our love of money, parent, spouse, child, good reputation, OR ANYTHING OR ANYONE ELSE, would be MORE VALUABLE TO US THAN our love of Him, then we are not worthy of Him (Matthew.10:38).
We'd be far better off just turning our back on Him and walk away, and stop playing the hypocrit and the harlot by pretending we're Christians when in reality our hearts are about as far away from loving and doing what He says as can be.
This is serious business folks! Life and death! And the Lord is saying: "IF you love these things MORE than me... "IF you can't bear to part with them for me and in order to come to me... "IF you are so involved in clinging to others rather than me... "IF you're so wrapped up in the deceit of riches and/or the cares of this life... "then don't bother coming after me at all. IF I am not worthy of you then neither are you worthy of me!"
True Christianity involves counting the costs, hard decisions and conflicts...conflicts of interests...conflicts of the mind, heart, emotions and the will...conflicts of tearing yourself away from loved ones in order to come to Christ (Mt.10:34-39). There is a very real 'conflict' of life and death involved, a struggle for supremecy: 'Me or the Lord? Who lives and who dies? Who do I follow? Who do I put to death (turn away from) and who do I let live (turn to)?" There can only be ONE master we serve...
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other..." Matthew 6:24
The bottom line to all of this 'struggle and conflict' is just this: "In order to believe on and come to Christ we must 'SEVER' ANY AND ALL TIES that would stop us from doing just that! On the negative side: If he calls, we are to come; to drop everything - yes, that's right: 'everything', and follow him! We are called to let go of it; to sell all we own. We are called to leave it all behind, considering it as no longer ours, and not even stopping long enough to bury the dead (Matthew 8:19-22).
On the positive side: When he calls we will follow because we'll have seen the 'Perfect Pearl' and discovered the 'Treasure hidden in the field' (Matthew 13:44-46). The 'Light of Life' will have shined in our souls and our desire to have Him will far outweigh (for those who go on to know the Lord) the (temporal) benefits of not having and knowing Him!!!
Our initial call is like seeing the 'Perfect Pearl' for the first time! The 'money' necessary to buy it, however, is a work of the Holy Spirit, as He reveals to us ALL of our 'other' loves and lusts (i.e. 'pearls of our life') as the price necessary to obtain the perfect pearl.
And to be sure the reader clearly understands what I mean by the 'Power of His love' in His call, I can only liken this to being invited to the wedding of all weddings...one where YOU have been chosen to marry the groom chosen for you...a groom who is 'perfect' for you in every way...a groom with whom you are already head-over-heals in love with...a groom with whom you want with all your heart, your mind, your strength, and your soul to be in union with...forever (thanks to the wooing of the Spirit!)!
This is where 'deep calleth unto deep', 'Spirit unto spirit', a place where there is no darkness, and where all is real and everything is just as it is and as the way God says it is! Like in the Song of Songs, when he is heard and seen for who He is, our hearts will be ravished over him, and we will know that we must have him and won't want to live a single second without him. In His call is the power that can cause us to let go the holds we have here so that we may be free to lay hold of him.
And if our loved ones won't go with us (because they haven't been called) then we have to leave them behind and go on without them (like we see in the story of John Bunyan's, 'Pilgrim's Progress'). The Spirit calls us to come and know Christ intimately, and receive the grace and truth that are in Him for ourselves. Those who are called must not permit anything to stop them. They must set their face like flint, and set their hand to the plow and never turn back! (Phil.3:14)
He may hide his face from time to time in bringing us closer to himself in order to test our love (He knows, but we don't! Tests and trials will bring all of this to light). Is he worth the hardships? Is he worth the struggles? Is he worth the persecution? Is he worth the temporary conflicts fought in darkness? Is he worth losing all of it over?
It is these tests and trials of our faith which will weigh our hearts in the balances of love and see if we consider him to be 'worthy'. Will we; after receiving a 'taste' of Him and His kingdom (Hebrews 6:5; 1 Peter 2:3), keep on running the race, and go on heeding his voice as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in our hearts??? (2 Peter 1:19) - OR - will we turn away and forfeit the opportunity of why we were created in the first place???
I cannot explain why some continue obeying His words until they are brought to know the truth ("I am the truth", says Jesus) for themselves and are made free, and why others stumble and fall from the way. I can only explain that those who do fall away do so because their eye and love for riches, people, power, a good reputation, etc. was MORE THAN their eye and love for the Lord Jesus Christ and His words!!!
One man will come to 'hate' his life and lose it for the Lord, only to find it (in Him) again, while another 'loves' his life, wife, kids, etc. and holds onto them for life (only to lose them all when he dies). I can only explain that God knows hearts, and those who love Him enough to obey His words...those who will set aside (i.e. 'hate') every obstacle and come to Him for LIFE, and FOR life...are his to have and to hold, forever!
Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish."
It is only by our remaining in agreement with Him in what He keeps showing us: 'You must sell all you own to have enough to buy the perfect pearl', whereby we come to the end of the road (the end of ourselves), literally. And it is here, at the end of the road, with nowhere else to go, standing between life and death...between the riches and worth of His life and all that it contains verses the depravity and worthlessness of keeping our own.
HERE is where the road ends!!! HERE is where we go on or turn around...forever!!! HERE is where LOVE is tested to see if ones FAITH endured to the end of the road...and beyond - into His arms!!!
HARD SAYING #8. "I saw Satan falling as lightning from heaven!" Luke 10:18
When Jesus watched Satan as lightning falling from heaven was when His kingdom began IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT on earth....
It was right after this that His disciples came up to Him and said to Him: "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name." Luke 10:17 They too found that they had the power to cast out devils.
This was given to them in Luke 9:
Jesus came to do what He said He would do: "Bind the strong man (Satan) and spoil his house (divide his kingdom)."...
In doing so Jesus showed that He had with Him the keys to the kingdom of God, and that the kingdom (which also included the casting out of devils) began with His ministry. Binding Satan on earth before men was effectively binding him in heaven before God also. The "strong man" was overpowered by a "stronger one".
He also gave those keys to His disciples because their names were written in heaven, thus they too were also capable, in Christ, of casting out devils as well.
The kingdom of God begins in heaven!
Note the words that Jesus uses concerning the kingdom of God having come: "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Luke 10:19
It was when the strong mans house was broken into that marked the judgement of that strong man...
John 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Not yesterday, not tomorrow, nor the next day, but NOW! Proving that when Jesus began His ministry, the Kingdom of God had come and Satan was effectively taken, stripped of his armour and thrown down from his high perch in heaven!
"But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." Matthew 12:28
1 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.
2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
Matthew 12:28-29 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
The kingdom of God begins with the sending forth of the Holy Spirit!
and: "the gates of hell will not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24
Mammon is the expression for "wealth" or "riches", or anything that one may "treasure" in their heart other than "God". Yet from child birth we are taught by our parents, by our schools, by society, that the only worth while goal in life is to become wealthy. Mankind in general is obsessed with the desire to become rich. However Jesus said that we cannot serve both. It is impossible! We can either place God first in our lives and serve Him, or we will place and serve the material things of this world.
Those who place materialism first simply cannot and do not give their whole-hearted attention to God and His Way of Life. To be involved in the mad pursuit of physical things is to set aside the things of God in disobedience. It's that simple.
What is covetousness? Whereas "Mammon" means "wealth" or "worldly riches", "covetousness" refers to an actual condition of the heart. It refers to one who "seeks" to become wealthy or "possess" other riches", anything they consider to be more valuable than having God. It is an inordinate desire, an unrestrained drive to control or possess that which is forbidden or harmful to you, namely to want and have something which someone else has. The Bible command on this "sin of covetousness" is found in Exodus 20:17, where we are told not to covet our neighbor's goods, whether they be his house, wife, servants, nor anything else of his. Today we call all of this 'covetousness' as merely, "Keeping up with the Jones'".
The problem today (as it was in the past) is that unsaved people are not satisfied with what they have. Because of their insatiable "hole" in them (that only knowing "God" can fill) they want more and more, never being fulfilled or satisfied, always looking around the corner for the next "fix" that will cause them to be (temporarily) sated. People today are taught to Buy, Buy, Buy, hearing, "you don't need to steal what they have, all you need do is Buy it - then you too will be happy"!
Those who are caught up in "having to possess it" never realize Jesus' promise in Matthew 6:33. After describing the physical amenities ("Mammon") that unsaved men so often desire and covet, He said: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Jesus often spoke of the dangers of coveting. "And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses" (Luke 12:15).
Another time Jesus met a rich man who asked Him what he should do to have eternal life? After speaking with him Jesus said to him, "One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. (see Mark 10:17-21)
What was that man's response to what Jesus told him? "And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions" (v. 22).
To emphasize His point Jesus said:
The disciples were astounded at this. Mark relates: "And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible" (vv. 26-27).
Jesus made it plain that seeking to be wealthy of this worlds goods is a genuine hindrance for anyone who wishes to gain eternal life. Those who are rich generally trust in their riches and serve them, and have little need for God. We cannot worship or seek after both God and money! It's one or the other. If it's money we seek then it's of the flesh and the world - if it's God we seek then... God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). We must come and worship Him as He is in spirit and in truth!
Is it any wonder that Jesus said: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24).
How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God (vv. 23-25).
How many covetous rich men do you know who seek to direct their lives toward God and seek Him daily? The answer: "None!"
HARD SAYING #10. "But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation...(Mark 3:29)"
The pharisees and scribes; experts in the Jewish law, came to Galilee to evaluate for themselves the work which they heard Jesus was doing there, especially his ministry of exorcism. After observing him they came to this conclusion: "He hath an unclean spirit." (Mk 3:30) "He is possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons" (Mk 3:22).
(Beelzebul was once the name of a Canaanite divinity, "the lord of the high place," but by this time it was used by Jews to denote the ruler of the Abyss himself.)
They deliberately ascribed the Holy Spirit's power to cast out devils (in a house/body where God was establishing His kingdom in - cf Mk 3:27) to demonic authority, and were calling His work, unclean or unholy!
A) These men were in the presence of God incarnate in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus said that all manner of sin (even sin against Himself) would be forgiven...all except the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. They had sinned past the point of no return. There was no longer any hope for them. They both heard and saw "GOD" in action, yet they went beyond not giving credit to where credit was due, by attributing the very act of casting out demons to the head of demons himself.
The sin against the Holy Spirit involves deliberately shutting one's eyes to the light and consequently calling the highest good evil! It is apostasy at its fullest! And its opposite will be seen at its fullest in the day when the man of sin is revealed and does all sorts of lying wonders and miracles...so much so that he will even deceive the elect, if it were possible. In that day of the apostacy (2 Th.2:3) men will end up cutting their own throats forever, calling the lowest evil good, attributing the anti-Christ's miracles to the Holy Spirit. Again: 'Blasphemy'!
Beware of those (and this goes to include Charismatics, Pentecostals, and any in the 'God wants you rich' crowd, etc.) who say today that whenever we speak out against them (because of an obvious false teaching of theirs), etc., that we are in danger of committing the unpardonable sin: 'Blaspheme against the Holy Spirit'! (Reminds me of the "Excommunication Threat" used by the Catholic church to keep unruly members in line.) That is simply a ploy and scare tactic to deceive their hearers and is spoken against those who are right to 'question and refute' many of the gifts and teachings they use out of context with God's word.
The unpardonable sin happened when Jesus: God made manifest in the flesh, walked the earth in the power of the Spirit, and they attributed His power (the 'power' of His kingdom) to Satan.
It will happen again when the anti-Christ arrives on the scene. He will arrive in the power of his father, Satan, and all the world will wonder after the beast. They will flock over to him and bow before him in awe and reverance, pleading for him to 'Touch Them With The Power That Marks The Arrival Of His Kingdom' so that they may receive his 'mark', and belong to him and glorify him. And they will attribute his power to that of God's own arrival and kingdom - in, with & through them! (cf 2 Th 2:10-12)
Between then (when God in the flesh walked the earth) and now (when the man of sin is about to be revealed) there is no 'Unpardonable Sin'! The new testament began with the outpouring of the Spirit of Grace and will (unofficially) end at the outpouring of the spirit of anti-Christ (see Revelation 16:13-14) that will mark the beginning of the gathering to amageddon.
Until then all manner of sin will be forgiven and all can come to repentance through preaching the gospel of the kingdom: "Awaken and hear all men! God's Kingdom has arrived in power through the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Believe on Him and reach out to Him today while you still can...lest He be angry and smite the place where you stand with a curse. For the day is coming when no one will be saved!" (cf Rev.15:8)
When Jesus heard this, he exposed the absurdity of Satan casting out Satan from his own house. (Mk 3:23-27) Then he charged those who had voiced this absurd conclusion with blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, because...
B) With their own eyes they clearly saw that demons were being cast out of men.
C) Yet they refused to believe the evidence before their very eyes, even attributing the exorcisms to Satan!
