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Mark 3:20-30 Blasphemy · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, our text this morning is Mark chapter 3. Mark chapter 3, if you want to be turning there, verses 20 to 30. I've titled this morning's message, Blasphemy. It'll be obvious why when we read it. Mark chapter 3, verses 20 to 30. Allow me to read it and we'll begin. It says, Then he went home, referring to Jesus, and the crowd gathered again so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, He's out of his mind.
• 0:33
  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, he is possessed by Beelzebub. And by the prince of demons, he cast out the demons. And he called them to him and said to them in parables, how can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.
• 1:00
  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. Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. For they were saying he has an unclean spirit. Lord, we pray a blessing again on the reading and preaching of your word.
• 1:30
  Lord, make us attentive to its truths. Help us by your Holy Spirit to understand. Lord, you be our teacher this morning. We thank you for your inspired and inerrant word. We believe, Lord, that your word is sufficient for all things. And so, Lord, I pray that you would make us more and more like your son because of our commitment to it. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
• 1:58
  Well, today we continue in our Hard Sayings of Jesus series, and today I've chosen this topic of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit because it is so often asked about. I receive questions consistently about it. What does that mean? Is it possible to commit an unforgivable sin? Pastor Danny, is it possible that I accidentally have committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and therefore will never be forgiven?
• 2:26
  No matter how much I repent and no matter how humble I am before the throne of God, it's a good question. Before we get to that, though, let me start with a question. Have you ever had that dream where you're being chased, but your feet feel glued to the ground? This is so weird. Dogs are chasing you. Maybe you've been playing a lot of video games and it's zombies chasing you, right? But something is chasing you and you just can't get away. Do you ever feel like...
• 2:59
  you're swimming against the current. Like the resistance setting is turned way up on your treadmill and there's no way to fix it. You ever feel like you're riding your bike against the wind? When my oldest son, Pearson, who just recently turned 17, was just a little tyke, he and I decided it would be fun to ride our bikes to his friend's house, who lived about two and a half, three miles away from our house. And where we lived at the time was notoriously windy.
• 3:30
  It's just every single day, and especially in the afternoons, just wind, wind, sand in the air. It was just an awful, awful, awful place. And we decided that we were going to ride our bikes. Now, they lived. The wind always, invariably, blew the same direction it would blow from west to east. It always blew east.
• 3:53
  as we were deciding to ride our bikes, our friends lived about three miles directly east of our house. And so when we both jumped on our bikes and began to pedal there, we had a great time. I mean, we were never breathing heavy. I mean, honestly, we probably only had to actually pedal maybe four times. The wind just blew us all the way to their house. We hung out there for a couple of hours. The whole time, though, I knew in the back of my mind, we're going to have to ride back.
• 4:21
  And it is not going to be as fun. And sure enough, as the afternoon progressed, that wind began to pick up into the 20s, miles an hour, right? Just this sustained, pervasive wind. And sure enough, as predicted, we started riding home. And Pearson was just a tiny little dude, had only just gotten recently his training wheels off. And so for him to be pedaling this single gear bike against the wind was just completely futile.
• 4:50
  And so I told him, you know, daddy's going to ride in front and you just try to draft behind me. Stay as close as you can. You know, so he is just pedaling, pedaling, pedaling, pedaling. And I wish that I had brought a rope because I thought, is there a safe way just to tether him to me? And I'll just drag him, you know, but I thought if he falls and I don't realize, you know. And so I didn't do that. And we just...
• 5:15
  I'm just going to put my head down. Daddy, you know, I can hear him. It's so hard. Daddy, the sand is getting in my eyes. Okay, it's no problem, buddy. We're just going to go in a straight line. Just look down, keep your eyes shut, and you just keep on pedaling, pedaling, pedaling. Right? But because he was so unstable on his bicycle, he was still at the point where he's barely moving, and so he's turning a lot. At one point in the ride, we had been moving and moving and moving and moving and gaining ground. At one point in the ride, his...
• 5:45
  handlebars got flipped around, and he, without even knowing, because his little head was down, had turned the other direction, flipped around, and was now hauling back the wrong way, you know, and I just started yelling at him, no, buddy, no, no, no, no, you know, because he's just going, man, now he's back with the wind, and he's gaining hundreds of yards at a time, just over and over and over, and every single pedal grinding against the wind.
• 6:15
  Does that ever feel that way spiritually for you? You ever feel like you're just caught in a grind? The resistance on the treadmill, you're trying to walk with Jesus, but honestly, it's just hard. I feel like there's a current, and I'm going against the current, that I experience spiritual opposition. I think that the Bible teaches that as long as the kingdom of God has an enemy,
• 6:45
  citizens of that kingdom will face opposition. Opposition, spiritual resistance, is part of the Christian life. Jesus said in John chapter 16 and verse 33, in this world you will have troubles. He was certainly right. Satan, we know, will oppose the work of God in every way that he can. At times, the devil's schemes come from an expected source.
• 7:14
  enemies of the gospel who launch full frontal assaults. It's from a place that we would expect enemies of the kingdom. The apostle Paul even warned against the schemes of the devil in Ephesians chapter six. Second Corinthians chapter two, he challenges us not to be outwitted by Satan. He says, for we are not ignorant of his designs. We know that there is opposition from expected sources. We know that this enemy uses full frontal assaults
• 7:44
  at times, but there are also times when that gospel opposition may come from a place unexpected, family or friends, who though maybe are well-meaning, nonetheless do not have ultimately the good of the kingdom in mind. And what we see in this morning's passage is Christ having chosen his apostles. You'll notice
• 8:12
  where we pick up, it even says, the caption above, verse 13, the 12 apostles. He has just chosen from that mass, from that throng of disciples, he has chosen 12 men to become his apostles, whom he would imbue with authority to go out and to preach in his name and to cast out demons and to do miracles in his name. He's just chosen these 12 and now returning home to Nazareth.
• 8:40
  And he faces opposition in Nazareth from both expected and unexpected sources. And what's interesting about the opposition that Jesus faces is that every time that opposition arises, it comes from people. And make sure that you catch this. If there is a theme of our text this morning, it is this. Every time spiritual opposition arises, it comes from people making an attempt to redefine who they think Christ should be.
• 9:09
  You say you're the Messiah. Well, we had a whole different idea about what you'd be doing, about the messages that you would preach, about the disciples that you would gather, about the miracles that you would perform. They try to redefine who Christ is and redefine his mission. And as we study, let us ask ourselves humbly whether we ever try to redefine Christ to suit our own needs, or if we ever try to redefine Christ's
• 9:39
  mission to suit our own desires. If you guys are taking notes, there are three points this morning. The first is verse 20. Christ experiences opposition from his own friends, this crowd that had gathered, people excited to see him home. In verse 20, then he went home, it says, Nazareth, and the crowd gathered again so that they could not even eat. There was a group of people who may have been well-meaning.
• 10:08
  but were self-seeking. Their accusation of Christ would have been, we thought you were here for us. We thought you were here for us. You know, the church in the last couple of decades has raised a really interesting generation. Through much of the 1980s, when I was in high school, the fear seemed to be that youth would presume upon the grace of God.
• 10:35
  make assumptions about their eternal destination based on their parents' profession of faith. The fear was, in the 80s and 90s, youth ministry was driven by this idea that we need to get youth to understand that they can't ride their parents' spiritual coattails.
• 10:49
  So just because your parents believe doesn't mean you're necessarily in the kingdom. And so this phrase developed and we all got caught up in it. And in order to combat that false ideology, the gospel was presented to us this way. You need to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. We included that word, personal Lord and Savior. He's not the Savior of your family. You need to decide where you're at.
• 11:18
  It isn't about your parents' decision or the school that you go to or the friends sitting around you. It's about you and Jesus. Right? You guys remember that? Now, decades later, a new problem has arisen. The concept of personal Lord and Savior has been so embraced that the pendulum perhaps has swung too far the other direction. Right? And we see this where we live.
• 11:48
  So the church for many decades taught personal, personal, personal, personal. And finally, people in the church began to believe it. All right, it's personal, which means it's just me and Jesus. I can have church in the mountains, right? I don't need the establishment. There is a casting off of the organized church because the idea is, well, you've been teaching me this whole time. It's between me and Jesus. It's personal.
• 12:13
  Today, that generation now in their 30s and 40s, my generation, feels like the gospel they believe and the Jesus they worship is so personal and their faith so autonomous that they alone have authority to determine right from wrong, truth from error. Tell me if you've ever heard this thought. Today, the thought is, well, who is Jesus to you? You can define him however you want. It's personal, right? You become the authority.
• 12:43
  on Jesus. And however you would like to define him is perfectly acceptable, because after all, Jesus is your personal Lord and Savior. He came here for you. And what we find in verse 20 is that thought is nothing new. This crowd that had gathered around Jesus, surrounding Jesus, was so self-serving, self-seeking. They may have been well-intentioned,
• 13:10
  But so self-absorbed that they couldn't even understand that they were keeping Jesus, depriving Jesus of basic physical needs. He couldn't even eat. All of them there in order to receive something from him. So let me ask us, by way of application, do we exist for Christ? Or honestly, does Christ exist for us? Would we seek to do the same thing? Would we redefine Jesus based on our needs rather than the other way?
• 13:44
  And Kent Hughes' excellent book, in my opinion, called Disciplines of a Godly Man, he encourages men to conclude their prayers with this simple but life-altering statement. He says, when you get done praying to the Lord, just add this little piece. Lord, whatever you want, whenever you want it, however you want it. Amen. Can you imagine?
• 14:10
  Could you pray that to the Lord right now and be, I mean, just clear conscience. Yes, Lord, I will follow. However you want, whatever you want, whenever you want it. That's what I want. If we do not want to oppose the work of Christ, then we must, as a church, understand that he doesn't exist for us. We exist for him. That's first. Opposition from friends. Notice second in verse 21, there's opposition from his own family. Verse 21 says, and when his family heard it,
• 14:39
  The fact that he wasn't eating, they went out to seize him, for they were saying he's out of his mind. So his own family makes some assumptions. He's lost his mind. These people also, his own family may have been well-meaning, but they were off base. Their accusation was, he's insane. Because Christ was too busy to eat, they thought he must have been out of his senses. Scripture says in John chapter 7 that his own siblings did not believe him.
• 15:13
  And so perhaps they had another motive, a more ulterior motive. Perhaps they sensed trouble coming from the establishment. In fact, the very next verse, in verse 22, it says, the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, you guys, Jerusalem to Nazareth is a long way. That's a long way to walk. This was not just a, you know, jaunt down the street.
• 15:40
  This was miles and miles and miles, dozens of miles, maybe even upward of 50 miles, that they walked from Jerusalem to Nazareth to come and confront Jesus. And so there's a possibility, I think, that his family hears about him not eating, these people gathering, thronging around him, and now the establishment has come down, the religious elite have come down from Jerusalem to see what's going on, and perhaps his family felt the pressure.
• 16:10
  You ever met anybody whose spiritual confidence makes you uncomfortable? Maybe they pray too loudly in a public place. They're like, listen, I'm all for praying before we eat, but man, we don't got to leave the whole restaurant in prayer. Maybe blurting out hallelujahs at inopportune times. You know, it shocks me how often Christ is only Lord and Savior of my life when it's convenient and inoffensive. Shocks me, and I say this to my shame.
• 16:48
  What a chicken I can be when it comes to standing with Christ when it doesn't suit me. Can you imagine how many spiritual opportunities we miss simply because we don't want people to think that we're weird? Here his family comes and tries to rescue him out of this opportunity. He's got people around him. He's preaching. And now they're saying he has completely lost his mind. Let's get him out of there. Something about...
• 17:18
  Christ's ministry must have been inconvenient for his family because they certainly did not have the kingdom's good in mind. To call Christ insane is insane because he was the sanest man who ever lived. One commentator says this, this is an upside down world. This world is insane. You ever look around and just think the movies that are coming out, the news articles, the things you hear on TV, you think we have lost our minds.
• 17:51
  It ain't Jesus, right? What are we thinking? We're nuts. This commentator continues, we thank God that when he stepped into history, sanity itself stepped into history. When he stepped into life, sanity stepped into life. When we follow Christ, we do the sanest thing possible. The greater our commitment, the greater our sanity. And brothers and sisters, seek the kingdom, even when it looks crazy.
• 18:24
  Even when it makes no sense, follow Christ. Remember, when people think you're crazy, and they will, you're standing in very good company. That's second, opposition from family. Notice last, and this is the bulk of our text, opposition from foes. Opposition from foes. Verse 22, the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, he is possessed by Beelzebub, Beelzebul.
• 18:52
  By the prince of demons, he casts out the demons. We see first in verse 22, this scribe's blasphemous rejection. By the power of Satan, he's casting out Satan. What are you talking about? Their religious system, social system, their livelihoods were certainly being threatened by Christ. You've got to remember that they were at the top of a very, very large pyramid scheme, right? They were benefiting.
• 19:22
  profiting from the sheep at the bottom rung. These would have been the people that Christ castigated and railed on in Matthew 23. Woe to you who shear the sheep. Woe to you who do that.
• 19:39
  They were the ones benefiting from this religious system. And they knew that Christ being who he was, if people begin to follow him and really honestly believe in grace, unmerited favor of God, despite our spiritual obedience,
• 19:57
  real honest grace upon grace being poured out. What Jesus was preaching, if they began to follow him, they would stop, the people would stop following the scribes and Pharisees. And so they begin to come at Jesus pretty heavy. They got to get this guy out of the way. If he was indeed who he said he was, the son of God, they knew everything would change. And it was simpler to explain his miracles away.
• 20:23
  than to accept them for what they were. Now here's what's interesting. These are the enemies of Jesus, right? These are the skeptics. These are the critics. These are the ones who hate him, and yet they could not deny his miracle-working power. Did you see that first? They couldn't deny it. Skeptics today try to explain his miracles away by stating that they never happened.
• 20:55
  that the miracles were forged. But if you read the Gospels, you realize that any eyewitnesses of those miracles could not explain them away. They may have a different explanation for how they came or what their purpose was, but there was no denying the power of Jesus. If they saw it, they had to believe it. If you could go back in time and ask,
• 21:25
  Jesus' critics, if he was doing miracles, they would have said yes. And it's not like there were only a few eyewitnesses to the miracle-working power of Christ, right? Just three or four people in some weird little town in North Galilee. If witnesses are to be believed, that's not it. He went everywhere. He was doing miracles in front of everybody. Thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, saw them, believed them.
• 21:58
  Can I speak to the skeptics in the room for a minute? To anyone here who would raise a brow when Christ is described the way the scriptures portray? You can explain Christ away any way you want, but don't say that he wasn't different. Don't say that he wasn't powerful, that he wasn't clear. Don't say that he didn't prove who he said he was. Don't say that he was just a moral teacher that left a good example. That's bolder Jesus, right? That's not the Jesus of this book.
• 22:32
  The Jesus of this book was powerful. He made bold claims and he backed up those bold claims with miracles. C.S. Lewis said it this way famously, you can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But don't let us come with any patronizing nonsense about his being nothing but a great moral teacher. Christ hasn't left that open to us and he didn't intend to. That's first.
• 23:02
  A blasphemous rejection. And notice how Jesus replies in verses 23 to 30, the remainder of our text. He replies with a blistering rebuttal. A blistering rebuttal. Look at verse 23. And he called them to him and said to them in parables, how can Satan cast out Satan? You see, this is logical fallacy. It doesn't even work. If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And it was nice of Jesus to quote Abraham Lincoln here in verse 25.
• 23:30
  If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. Satan has risen up against himself and is divided. He cannot stand, but he's coming to an end. 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. Now Christ simply called them to himself and pointed out the logical inaccuracies of their argument. This argument could not work.
• 24:01
  Kingdom can't destroy itself. A house cannot destroy itself. A man will not steal from himself. They were, in essence, cutting off the branch they were sitting on. This makes no sense. I wondered this week if the church could make application from Christ's remarks on division. A kingdom divided, a house divided. Is there such a thing as a church divided? You know, our enemy knows he has no power over the blood of Christ.
• 24:34
  He knows this. He's lost. He knows he cannot kill the church because Jesus himself is the one who said he would build his church. He can't stand against the power of Christ. And if he cannot extinguish Christ's bride, if he cannot extinguish Christ's bride, he would so cripple her as to make her impotent, powerless, and a laughingstock, which is what he's trying to do.
• 25:03
  And the simplest and most effective way for him to accomplish this end is to divide the church to the point that it collapses under its own weight. And J.C. Ryle said this, the divisions of Christians are one great cause of the weakness of the visible church. He says, if you want to, and this was written 150 years ago, if you want to know why the church seems weak, it's because of division in the church.
• 25:31
  Christians, he says, often absorb these divisions, often absorb energy, time, and power, which might have well been bestowed on better things. Saying, well, we're fighting against each other. Who's fighting the good fight? These divisions also furnish the skeptic with a prime argument against the truth of Christianity. Why would I want to be a part of your little group? You guys can't even get along. None knows better than the devil.
• 26:01
  that to divide is to conquer, he says. And before we go slinging mud at denominations, because that's typically where my mind goes, I think divisions in the church. Oh yeah, there's hundreds of denominations, right? And these are bad things. Let me just be clear that it is not against denominations that I'm preaching, but rather against the smaller interpersonal divisions within the church itself. I'm not in charge of any denominations. I'm in charge of this little group right here.
• 26:28
  And so let's make sure, before we go railing against the big ones, let's make sure that there's no divisions here. Right? Because honestly, we can't do anything about the division and denominations and anything else. I don't know. There's 2,000 Baptists. Different Baptists. I've heard 2,000 different Baptist denominations. Fine. You guys, it doesn't concern me. It's not my problem. I'm not in charge of that. But I am here. So let's make sure. Are there interpersonal problems?
• 27:00
  within our own church. There are some of us who are at odds with others even in this room. There are some who are offended, some maybe holding grudges. And may I just suggest that we apply the words of Jesus. A church divided against itself cannot stand. Can I encourage us to make the necessary phone call?
• 27:25
  Swallow whatever pride it is. Have the necessary conversation. May it never be said that we stood in the way of the gospel's advance because we couldn't get along. Amen? Notice the last. So there's this preaching on division and then last.
• 27:43
  He talks about this blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 28. Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. For they were saying he has an unclean spirit. Christ continues with a statement that has caused all kinds of speculation and confusion. People ask me pretty regularly, what is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? But the definition, I think, is actually given in verse 30.
• 28:14
  For they were saying, he has an unclean spirit. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is very simply attributing or crediting to Satan the words and works of Christ. And Christ states that this is an unpardonable sin. Now there is some disagreement. There is a variance of opinion on this next piece. Can it be committed today?
• 28:44
  I believe the answer is no, because Christ isn't here the way that he was then. You are unable to attribute his words and works to the power of Satan, because he is not in our presence in that way, the way that he was physically then. So I don't believe it can be committed now. However, does an unpardonable sin exist? And I believe the answer is yes.
• 29:17
  They say, well, what about 1 John 1, verses 8 and 9, where it says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. The truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, right? And will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You say, well, Pastor Danny, how can an unpardonable sin exist when this just said all unrighteousness, all forgiven? How can both of those things?
• 29:46
  What a great promise from God's word. There is no such thing, 1 John 1 says, as an unforgivable offense. Sins of our youth, like arrogance and pride and ignorance. Sins of old age, like arrogance and pride and ignorance. We'll all be forgiven in Christ?
• 30:07
  heinous sin against ourselves, against our families, against our neighbors, sins that we never commit but only imagine will all be forgiven in Christ. And so how can an unpardonable sin exist? I believe there is only one sin which can never be forgiven, and that is ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ. Rejection of Jesus is unpardonable.
• 30:33
  Because by rejecting the Savior, you reject the means by which we may be pardoned. Ultimate rejection of Christ will result in eternal punishment. In other words, if you die in hard-hearted, unrepentant, unbelief, Scripture says you can never be forgiven. And so can I encourage everybody in the room, come to Christ if you have not already. Come to Christ. And if you're wondering if you've committed the unpardonable sin, then come to Christ.
• 31:04
  and ask for forgiveness, and the answer will be no. You have not. You've not committed it, and yes, you will be forgiven. If I could choose some parting words to share on our way out the door, they would be these. First, let us not fool ourselves into thinking that Christ is here for us. He is. It is true. Our personal Lord and Savior. There's nothing wrong with wording it that way. But that doesn't mean we then become the authority. We get to define who he is.
• 31:38
  and what his mission should be. Allow Christ instead to define us. Second, don't be afraid to stand radically for Christ, even if that stand seems insane, because we are, after all, standing in good company. Third, don't wait to repent from sin. There is, indeed, an unpardonable sin, its final rejection of Christ as Lord.
• 32:05
  If we die in unrepentant, unforgiven sin, we will find ourselves in hell forever. That's what scripture says. But praise God that Romans 8.1 says, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If you are in Christ, your sin, no matter how big or small, has been forgiven. What a wonderful thing it is to know that our sin is paid for. Amen? Amen. Lord, I pray that you would help us to define ourselves.
• 32:35
  by understanding you first. I pray, Lord, as we sing about your greatness now, I pray that we would believe what we are singing, that you are bigger than us, brighter than us, deserving and worthy of the praise. Lord, we are not. We are yours. You are not ours. So, Lord, I pray that you would be glorified as we sing. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.