An Unforgivable Sin?

Father, your word leads us to talk about some very uncomfortable truths.

And Father, you know how we have a great habit as human beings to ignore truths that are uncomfortable,

to try to do some spin on them.

And Father, you know how unpopular this text is for the average Canadian and even the average Canadian Christian.

And you know, Father, how many Christians in Canada today struggle with some of these ideas and concepts

and even use it as an excuse to walk away from the faith.

Father, you know the state of our hearts.

And we know that every word that you caused to be written in your word written was written for our health,

for our salvation, for our healing, for our strengthening, for our good.

And so, Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would fall with might and power and deep conviction upon us

and upon all who are entering into worship through the video, through YouTube Live.

We ask for the Holy Spirit would fall with might and power and deep conviction

and that your word would do its work in our hearts.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

Some of you know that over the years I've had lots of conversations in coffee shops.

Over the last 22 months I haven't had very many conversations in coffee shops, even recently.

They're not really fully open. They're sort of open.

Actually, mainly the few conversations I've had lately have almost all been with Muslims, actually,

which is a very interesting development when they see me reading the Bible

and they start into a bit of a conversation with me.

But there's one fellow. I'm going to call him Bob.

And if you're watching for a first time or you're a guest here for the first time,

one of the things I try to do when I talk is if I'm using an example of a male,

I just always try to use the word Bob so I don't slip and say the person's real name.

And it's either usually Sue or Sally if it's a woman.

So if you're here and your name is Bob, if I stopped using Bob when the person's real name was Bob,

then you'd figure out that his real name was Bob, right?

So it just has to always be Bob.

So if you're a visitor, you're watching, your name is Bob.

In fact, yeah, I'm not talking about you in this case, for sure.

But ever, I'm not.

But I've had one fellow that I think I had a failure in conversations with him.

At the end of the day, only God knows.

But I really, I spent months talking to this fellow, always misreading him in a very serious way.

The person that he always sat with in the coffee shop was a very, very, very public atheist.

And they always seemed to have very, very friendly conversations.

And as I got to know this fellow Bob, I discovered that he was raised in an atheist household,

that he got a PhD in one of the STEM fields, you know, science, technology, engineering, or medicine.

He had a PhD in one of those STEM fields.

He was raised in an atheist house.

He had had a very, very high-profile job in the STEM field for 30-some-odd years.

So I just kept talking to him, assuming that he was an atheist.

And I actually, I kept missing what he was saying.

And it must have really, it's like, maybe it's part of God's grace that even though I kept being clueless with him,

that he kept talking to me.

And I'd been talking to him for months before it finally dawned on me

that with no help from Christians at all,

he had come to the point where he completely and utterly rejected naturalistic evolution.

And he believed that spiritual beings existed.

And I had completely and utterly missed it.

All these times we were talking, we were two ships passing in the night.

I just, I just didn't listen.

I guess I was just so overwhelmed by his background.

And I'd never really come across somebody who all by themselves,

completely and utterly separate from any interaction with Christians,

had rejected naturalistic evolution completely

and actually accepted that spiritual, that minds existed, spirits existed, angels,

all those things, they all existed.

Then we started to have very, very different conversations

just before COVID hit and then he eventually moved to a different city.

Actually, if you're watching, I, for some odd reason,

I'd love to have a conversation with you again if you'd do me the honor and the pleasure.

I mention all of this because the text that you, we just heard,

and we're going to look at again in a moment,

it makes very clear reference to Satan and to demons.

And in Canada, basically there's two camps in Canada nowadays

when it comes to things like this.

There are a lot of people who completely and utterly reject anything like that

as just being against reason, against science, against common sense.

It's just kooky.

Okay?

And then the other camp, which might even now be the majority in Canada,

is that they accept that these things exist.

It's like a non-issue.

Of course spiritual beings exist.

Of course spells work.

Of course crystals work.

Of course there's a spiritual dimension to life.

So I just want to say that, you know, over the weeks when we look at Mark's gospel,

and we're going to go through all of it,

we're going to take a break actually after this sermon

to do more Christmas and Advent things

and return to it in the second Sunday in January.

We'll return to the series.

But today I'm not going to do anything to try to convince those

who don't think that demons exist.

I will at some point in time,

because it's going to come up again in other texts, I will.

But for now, those of you who are watching, who are skeptical,

just give us, just pretend it's, just listen to us as you would

an anthropologist trying to figure out, like, weird people groups.

But for the rest of you Canadians who accept that such things exist,

just to let you know that there's, in a sense, there's two camps in Canada,

but biblical Christianity, real Christianity,

is on the side of the conversation that believes that minds exist

and spirits exist, spiritual beings exist.

We disagree with most Canadians,

because most Canadians who are in this camp

think that this world is either inherently good or neutral,

and we Christians disagree with that.

The Bible tells that that is a wrong way to understand it.

But here is a text where you see that Jesus obviously believes

in the existence of Satan and demons

and Christians who trust him as their Savior and Lord

should also believe the same as well.

Now, I just mention that because it's in the context

of talking about Satan and demons

that these two very, very, very unpopular Canadian ideas,

one of them is more of a Christian issue,

and the other aspect is just a Christian and secular issue,

is that it's in this context that Jesus is going to talk about

an unforgivable sin.

At least that's how it's often put.

And as part of the way he talks about that

and deals with some of these issues,

he also, in a sense, he never uses the word hell,

but he creates part of the, in a sense,

the theological and spiritual superstructure

and theology within which hell would be understood.

So let's look at the text.

Mark chapter 3, verses 20 to 35.

Mark 3:20–35

We're preaching through the gospel of Mark.

And by the way, if you're here or if you're watching

and you're either a skeptic or a scoffer or a seeker,

we don't hide things about the Christian life.

That's one of the reasons why we preach through books of the Bible.

And if you go through all of Mark's gospel,

we're going to have to talk about sexuality.

We're going to talk about identity.

We're going to have to talk about money.

We're going to talk about hell.

All sorts of things because we go through from verse to verse

and so nothing's hidden.

Here's how the text goes.

Verse 20.

Then Jesus went home.

By the way, this would be his,

the last couple of years of his life,

he had a home.

Not probably that he owned,

but that he stayed with in the Capernaum area.

That's sort of where his home base was for ministry during his public ministry.

So verse 20.

Then he went home and the crowd gathered again

so that they could not even eat.

That is the Jesus and his disciples and the people who lived in the home.

And when his family,

and in the original language,

it implies not just family,

but people who were close to him.

So when his family,

in a sense,

and many of his friends heard it,

that that's where he was,

they went out to seize him,

for they were saying,

he is out of his mind.

And actually, literally,

the word literally is the one that's used to get the word berserk.

He's berserk.

Completely crazy.

Raving.

Mad.

Now,

just a little bit of an aside.

I'm not going to say much about this

in terms of the sermon.

I just don't have time.

It would be a whole interesting sermon in and of itself.

But the thing to note here is that people at this time understood the difference between mental illness and demon possession.

They didn't just say automatically that if somebody seemed to be exhibiting weird,

you know,

hearing voices or all those other mood swings,

the things that we would identify as mental illness.

They didn't just assume it was demonic.

They had two categories.

And in fact,

you'll see that very clearly in the text,

because here in this first text,

they use what we would now call a psychological category,

that he's mentally ill.

And we're going to see that in the very next few verses,

they use a demonic category.

So,

it's not,

we can be really guilty of chronological snobbery

and just think that because we know how to set,

get a TikTok account,

that somehow we're smarter than people who didn't have flush toilets.

It's not the case.

You read all writers,

they were very smart,

very perceptive.

And in this day,

they had this distinction,

which we've lost.

And then now the text goes in a very,

very bit of a different direction,

although it helps us to see that they do understand the distinction between mental illness and demonic oppression or possession.

Verse 22,

and the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying,

he is possessed by Beelzebul.

And by the prince of demons,

he casts out the demons.

And just sort of pause here for a second.

I haven't really talked about it very much,

but when you see the word scribes here,

especially scribes from Jerusalem,

this would really be like,

a scribe was sort of a cross between somebody with a PhD,

somebody who was a lawyer,

somebody who was a public intellectual,

somebody who was a judge,

and someone who was a community leader.

So it would be as if,

almost as if,

not quite,

but almost as if Mayor Watson was also a lawyer,

and also had a doctorate,

and also had,

like,

was a public intellectual.

And they're all rolled into one.

And when it says that they come from Jerusalem,

what this means is the elite have come.

So in our case,

it would be that somebody with a PhD from Cambridge,

or Oxford,

or Harvard,

you know,

who writes for elite journals,

and elite media,

and is also a lawyer and a judge,

that's who's come.

Like,

this is a top-notch guy,

has come from the center

of the Jewish intellectual,

spiritual,

and cultural world.

So a scribe is at the pinnacle of the intellectual,

the cultural,

the,

you know,

the biblical,

and even in many ways,

often because of their consultancy role,

at the very height of politics,

all blended in a way that doesn't exist anymore.

And so they've come down from Jerusalem,

and they say that Jesus is possessed.

So the interesting thing,

by the way,

is that what this means is,

they accept,

they realize,

they can't deny that Jesus has been doing miracles.

His fame,

if you look,

you read the other part of the gospel before this,

the way the gospel writers work,

is they record a couple of significant incidents,

that involve a miracle,

or a healing,

or an exorcism,

but they also regularly tell you,

that he did this all the time.

And if you go back,

there's been a couple of summary statements earlier,

that basically just say,

you know,

Jesus is doing this all the time,

all the time,

all the time,

all the time.

We're just recording a couple of them.

And in fact,

in the text that we looked at,

either last week or the week before,

it just said that one of the reasons,

that's one of the reasons why Jesus's fame,

without social media,

had spread so far,

even into areas that were majority pagan,

and mixed pagan Jewish areas,

and the Jewish homeland,

and the center of the Jewish homeland,

the fact that he was doing these things,

had become very well known.

So the scribes,

these cultural elite,

they come,

and they accept,

that he's been doing exorcisms,

and miracles,

and healing,

but they saw this,

as evidence of something,

very opposite,

of what Jesus was interpreting it as.

In fact,

they say,

that the fact that he's able to do this,

is because of Satan,

which we'll see in a moment,

Beelzebul,

Satan,

sort of a common name.

So the,

if you think of the,

demonic world,

C.S. Lewis wouldn't say,

that it was a hierarchy,

if you read the screw tape letters,

and if you haven't read,

the screw tape letters,

read the screw tape letters,

at the bottom of the lower archy,

or the height of the hierarchy,

but a demon,

that has more power,

and influence,

than other demons,

and that Jesus is possessed,

by this very,

very high level,

demon,

or from God's perspective,

a low level,

demon,

and that's why Jesus,

is able to do this.

So how does Jesus respond?

Well here's how he does it.

Look at verses,

I'm going to read all of 23 to 30,

and then we're going to circle back,

and sort of unpack it.

So they make this claim,

against Jesus in public.

So verse 23,

Jesus called to them,

and to him,

he called them to him,

and said to them in parables.

Now he's answering this question,

in public.

How can Satan,

verse 23,

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.

But no one,

right,

so now that is in a sense,

he's given a bit of set of some arguments,

about why it can't be Satan.

Now he's going to challenge them,

to understand how they should be,

interpreting it in a different way.

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.

And now it takes this,

sort of very deeper turn,

about the significance,

of being closed to this truth.

Truly,

and by the way,

those of you who remember,

the King James Version,

that would be verily.

This,

we could almost translate it as,

Amen.

And it means,

whenever you see this,

it's used about,

I think,

ten times or something in Mark.

It means that God,

Jesus is making a very solemn statement.

Amen.

Rather than us say,

at the end of a prayer,

Amen.

Catches your attention.

I say to you,

all sins will be forgiven,

the children of man,

and whatever blasphemies they utter,

literally in the Greek it says,

whatever blasphemies they blaspheme,

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.

So,

whoa,

that's heavy.

What's going on?

Well,

here's a couple of things.

Part of what Jesus is saying is,

here's how your argument works.

Okay?

When you're trying to interpret what I'm doing,

we'll use the example of Martin Luther King,

Jr.,

and his great action in the 60s

to begin to break down segregation,

to really begin to challenge at a very,

very deep level.

It was a cultural turning point,

the United States,

the great work of Martin Luther King,

Jr.

and if somebody said to you,

Martin Luther King,

Jr.,

in all his works,

he was actually working for the Klan,

the Ku Klux Klan.

You know those things,

and I don't want to put an image,

because it would just,

it would,

it would,

it would,

it would defile our room

to put up an image

of the Ku Klux Klan.

Those evil men robed in white

with the white hoods,

cowards,

covering their faces,

the burning crosses.

So imagine somebody said,

you know Martin Luther King,

he was actually working

for the Ku Klux Klan,

and you'd go,

what?

What?

They'd say,

yeah, yeah, yeah,

all that stuff,

the demonstrations with the cops,

and, you know,

the bus boycotts,

and breaking down segregation,

and opening places up,

they were actually working for the Klan,

and you'd go,

what?

Like,

how could you possibly look

at Martin Luther King

and say that he was working

for the Klan?

But actually,

it would even be worse

if it went the other way.

If somebody said,

yeah, yeah,

Martin Luther King,

I've just been doing a lot

of reading about him,

I've really been doing

lots and lots of research

about him,

and do you know

that Martin Luther King

ran the Ku Klux Klan?

And you'd go,

you'd laugh,

like I just did,

you'd giggle.

And then they said,

no, no, no, no,

I've been studying it.

Like,

I've been looking

at archival footage,

and I've been reading

interviews,

and Martin Luther King

ran the Ku Klux Klan.

Now,

you'd start to realize,

what?

Like,

okay,

how do you have

a conversation

with somebody like this?

Like,

how can anybody

in their right mind

possibly think

that Martin Luther King

organized the people

in the white hoods

to go around

and lynch

black people?

And, like,

wouldn't that be a,

like,

wouldn't it almost

make you want to gag

and vomit

that it's such a

perversion

of the truth

and such a slander

against a very,

very,

very great man?

Like,

and you might try

to say to them,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

like,

Martin Luther King

did things

to stop black people

from being African Americans

from being lynched.

Yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

no,

it was all part

of a Ku Klux Klan.

No,

no,

no,

no,

like,

you,

and that's what

Jesus is saying

here is going on

with these scribes

and the scribes.

He's saying,

like,

like,

one moment,

like,

if you know mentally ill people,

imagine,

you know,

some of the,

those of you who are downtown a fair bit

and you see these regular mentally ill people,

there's this really,

like,

I see so many sad cases

of mentally ill people

on the streets of Ottawa

that are off their meds

and,

and you just see them gaunt,

raving,

waving their arms

as they wander down the street

with the sores all over their body,

huddled in,

in little corners,

talking to non-existent people

and if somebody healed them

that all of a sudden

they were in their right mind,

how could you possibly think

that that was the devil doing it?

Like,

how could you,

if you saw somebody on the street

and their arm

was all bent

and when you saw them,

you know,

their sleeves came up

and there was basically no flesh on it

and they'd lost all control

of their fingers

and then,

like,

a day later,

you saw that their arm

was straight,

there was muscle on the arm

and their fingers were moving

and you said the devil do that,

you say,

what?

That's not the sort of thing

the devil does.

You see,

what the,

what,

what Jesus is pointing out here,

like,

look,

look again at verses,

28,

see,

look again at verse 27,

but no one can enter

a strong man's house

and plunder his goods

unless he first finds

the strong man,

then indeed he may plunder his house.

Jesus is saying

that if you actually look

at the evidence,

what you see

is the strong man of death

is being,

is being bound.

That's why people

are being healed.

You are seeing

the strong man

of mental illness

being bound

and that's why people

are being put

in their right mind.

You see the strong man

of demonic possession

being bound

by someone

stronger still

and that stronger one

is obviously of God

because it brings life,

it brings clarity

of mind,

it brings healing,

it brings

a putting away

of death

and you're going to see

other nature miracles

later on

as it goes on

and that what you're seeing

is not

demonic,

but what you see

is that it's possible

to close yourself

to the truth,

so close yourself

to the truth

that no truth

can penetrate

your mind.

Some of you

have probably heard

the old joke,

there's a doctor

dealing with a patient

and then one day

he comes

because he's troubling

all of his family,

it's a psychiatrist,

and because he believes

he's dead

and so,

like how do you tell

a live person

that they're not dead

and so then

they have conversations

about it,

they try medication

and all of that

type of stuff

and every time

he comes up

with something

about well you do this

and dead men do this,

he always has

some type of explanation

as to why it really

just proves

that he's dead,

not alive.

Anyway,

finally one day

the fellow comes in

and he happens

to mention

he'd just been

watching a movie

and murder

and he noticed

that one of the things

which is very telling

is that dead men

don't bleed

and the psychiatrist

goes ah,

maybe this will work.

He's come to the conclusion

that dead men

don't bleed.

So he said

you understand

that dead men

don't bleed,

right?

And the guy says

absolutely

so you can put out

your hand

he cuts him

and he cuts him

here on the arm

and blood comes out

and the man goes

whoa,

doctor,

thank you so much.

You've shown to me

that dead men

do bleed.

Sorry,

it wasn't very funny.

Sorry,

anyway,

it's so possible

to be closed

to the truth

that you just,

and you know

we see this in life

if you think about it

for a second.

How many people,

maybe it's been

some of you

in the room here

that have had

a problem

with a teacher

or a boss

or a coach

or a parent

and for some reason

the teacher

just turns against you.

They put you

in a certain category,

a bad category

and then it doesn't matter

what you do.

If you do an act

of kindness,

it's manipulation.

If you accept responsibility,

you know,

they come up

with some other bad,

well of course

you accept responsibility,

of course you did

that bad thing,

we already knew

you did bad things

and no matter

what you did,

it always gets twisted

by the person

in a bad direction

and we see that

it's in movies,

it's what happens

with bullies,

it's what can happen

with parents,

people will talk about

that,

you know,

just something

that Louise and I

were watching

the other night

and it was this kid

talking about

how his dad

tried to kill him

when he was 12,

how his dad

was an evil man

and nothing he did

could ever convince

the dad

that the kid

had any worth,

that he was any good,

everything would be

twisted in an evil way

and what Jesus

is warning us about

is that there is

a way for us

as human beings

to be like that

with God,

to be like that

with God.

Now why does this matter?

Obviously it can matter

to a kid

to have a parent

like that

that nothing you do

will ever show

that parent

that there's something

good about you

or that you've moved

in a good direction,

that their mind

is completely

and utterly

closed against you.

But why does it matter?

Look at verses 28 to 30.

Truly,

remember,

amen,

I say to you,

all sins will be forgiven

the children of man

and 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.

Now we get troubled

with the last part

but not realize

how amazing

the first part is.

What the Bible

is saying here

is that there's

a watershed,

a potential watershed

in a person's life.

Many of you know

if you come here

I really love

the analogy

of the watershed.

If you're driving

along the Trans-Canada

at some point in time,

I think it's between

North Bay and Sudbury,

there's a sign

on the side of the road

from here on in

that all the water

you see is flowing

to the Arctic.

Before this point

it's all flowing south

but from here on in

it's a watershed.

Everything is flowing

in the direction

it's flowing north.

It's flowing towards

Hudson's Bay

or the Arctic.

And what Jesus

is saying here

is that there's

a watershed moment

will come in your life

and on one side

of that watershed

is eternal forgiveness.

The flow of your life,

the flow of the waters

of your life

are immersed

in eternal forgiveness

that you've been forgiven

and you flow

towards a forgiveness

that will go on

into all eternity.

and on the other side

of that watershed

sorry for you folks here

I'll try to reverse it

later on.

You're not bad guys

okay on this side

but the other side

of the watershed

is that

you will never

have forgiveness.

The sin that is

in your life

is a sin

that not only

has begun

in this side

of the grave

but continues.

That direction

the flow

will continue

into all eternity.

And you see

what Jesus

is doing here

is he's preparing us

to understand

what's going to happen

to him

at the end

of the gospel.

That his death

is not just

a mere death

but his death

is that

which creates

a watershed.

That you can come

to a point

in time

in your life

where you receive

what Jesus

has done for you

by his death

upon the cross

and that when you

receive it

what you've received

is eternal forgiveness

and the crossing

over of a watershed

that the flow

of your life

is now

in forgiveness

to forgiveness

for every single

thing that has

ever been done

or you ever

will do.

he's not saying

that if you

happen to let slip

a stupid thing

about the Holy Spirit

you're going to go

to hell forever.

You see

blasphemy

is

like

couldn't you

blasphemy

is slander

blasphemy

is believing

lies

blasphemy

is believing

not just

lies about a person

but terrible

offensive lies

just as if I was

to try to argue

to you

that Martin Luther

King ran

the Ku Klux Klan

I mean

just imagine

if I tweeted

that without

any context

I'd break

Twitter

I would break

Twitter

and I should

by the way

it would be

an evil thing

and so the reason

that Jesus

mentions the Holy

Spirit

is to under

because it

partly

it's not here

in the text

it's part of

the bigger

picture of the

Bible

that all of

the Trinity

is involved

in a person

becoming a

Christian

in redemption

the Father

sends the Son

the Son

dies as the Lamb

of God

who takes away

the sin of the world

and the Holy Spirit

is God

who brings you

to a saving

faith and knowledge

of Jesus

all of the Holy

all of the Trinity

is involved

in your salvation

and mine

it was the Holy Spirit

that led you

to Jesus

it was the Holy Spirit

that led you

to accept him

as your Savior

and your Lord

it is not

your doing

it is nothing

that you can

pat yourself

on the back

for

it is not

because you

are so clever

so winsome

so cute

so charming

it's the work

of the Holy Spirit

and so to deny

the work

of the Holy Spirit

and to say

that the work

of the Holy Spirit

in miracles

in the person

of Jesus

and to be so

completely

and utterly

close to the truth

you are being

towards God

exactly like

that parent

or coach

who completely

and utterly

sees the child

as an evil child

a bad child

and no amount

of action

and no amount

of truth

will break through

the hardness

of their heart

and the Bible

says that even

if you are a

Kanata soccer mom

and you're really

really pleasant

or you live

in Rockcliffe

or you live

in a rich section

of Manitik

or out in West Carleton

or you're a hockey star

or you're a PhD

from Harvard

or a D Phil

from Oxford

or you are the head

of the Globe and Mail

or whatever it is

if there is in fact

a possibility

for you

to be completely

and utterly

so close to God

that nothing

can penetrate that

see the other thing

about this

is that sin

is not puny

sin

is not puny

God is infinite

you are finite

when you

as a finite being

do something

that separates you

from the infinite God

you have created

an infinite distance

between you

and God

and so only

an infinite

sacrifice

can cover

the infinite distance

that you have created

between yourself

and God

only the infinite

can cross the distance

between the infinite

and the finite

and so this is

pointing very powerfully

towards who Jesus is

and what he accomplishes

for you on the cross

it is the infinite God

closing the infinite distance

between you

and God

and an infinite distance

which

I mean you can't

add to infinity

it's just infinity

but your whole life

is just part of

an infinite separation

from God

and God

in the first God

the son of God

closes that infinite distance

that no finite being

could ever cross

and he dies

a death

that covers

that infinite distance

and offers you

a fellowship

and a walk

with that infinite

eternal God

and when you accept

Christ as your savior

and know him

as your savior

and know him

as your Lord

that eternal life

of forgiveness

begins

and carries on

into eternity

I think it was C.S. Lewis

but it might have been

somebody else

who said

you see

if you're so completely

and utterly

closed to God

if you become

at a subtle level

like these scribes

who see these evidences

of the strong man

of God breaking

into our world

and they either just

you just dismiss them

as just being

so much nonsense

you don't care about them

you don't give a hoot for them

you don't get mad about it

you just deny it

you just close your mind

to it

you just say

yeah whatever

yeah whatever

I'm empathetic

but whatever it is

it closes you

to these things

and if that state

of your soul

continues into all eternity

then even if

in eternity

in the new heaven

and the new earth

you experience

the love of God

in a way

that that love of God

could not be denied

or could not be avoided

but you actually began

to experience

without any veil

the powerful goodness

and love of God

you would experience it

not as release

but as torment

you would experience

the warmth

of the love of God

not as a warmth

which heals your bones

but as a fire

that burns

your bones

that it is possible

for a human being

to so become

close to God

and resent

the presence

and the demands

of God

that even his mercies

will be experienced

as torment

so some of you

might say

George

I mean that's all

very sobering

I mean I guess

what you're saying

is that the hell

is an uncomfortable

truth

and according to you

it's a truth

and so you shouldn't

close your eyes to it

but think about it

but George

are you saying

that you sort of

somehow

are more open

to God

than I am

that you're more open

to truth about God

than I am

I mean frankly George

your poop smells

just as bad as mine

and you're no better

than me

so I just

I even resent

the fact

that you would

think that

that's the problem

with Christians

they think that

and the other thing

George

you just listen

to what you're saying

I mean what you're saying

just defies

all the logic

of morality

and culture

and religion

and spirituality

and the good things

and things like

stoicism

like if you really

believe that

then why on earth

wouldn't you just

go ahead

and do whatever

you want

knowing you're

going to be forgiven

like George

what you've just said

is both

is both

personally

very offensive

and is morally

ridiculous

and those would be

good reactions

by the way

and I'd have to say

well

I'm going to be

honest with you

yeah there's times

I think I'm a lot

better than other

people

but that's me

at my worst

not my best

there's

there's times

I do somehow

think I've just

figured these things

out and why don't

other people do it

but that's me

at my worst

not my best

that's me

forgetting the Bible

not being based

on the Bible

in a very

interesting way

Jesus sort of

addresses some of

these issues

in the very next

part or Mark

has Jesus

address this issue

in the very very

next bit that

comes

just part of it

one of the things

he doesn't

I'll talk about

that at the end

look at what

happens in

verses 31 to 35

and his mother

and brother

and his brothers

came and standing

outside they sent

to him and called

him and a crowd

was sitting around

him so they're

sitting around him

to listen to him

and they said to

him your mother

and your brothers

are outside

seeking you

and the implication

is that they're

sort of making

demands on Jesus

you're not just

saying oh where's

Jesus oh you've

seen Jesus

no no no

get Jesus here

okay we're outside

we're his mom

these are his

brothers

get Jesus

and tell him

to get his butt

out of that place

and come here

that's that's

what's going on

get his butt

out of there

come here

I'm his mom

these are his

brothers

tell him to come

and Jesus

answered them

that's the people

who passed it on

and he says

who are my mother

and my brothers

verse 34

and looking about

at those who

sat around him

he said

here are my

mother and my

brothers

verse 35

for whoever

does the will

of God

he is my

brother

she is my

or he is my

brother

she is my

sister

and my

mother

whoever does

the will

of God

now there's

a couple of

things here

which are going

on in this

text

the first thing

is here

that

you see

here's the

great thing

about this

Ted Lasso

if you've

watched that

one of the

things he

talks about

is that

sports players

have to be

like goldfish

because goldfish

only remember

things for

10 seconds

and you know

that's probably

good advice

if you're in

sports to get

over things

but the

problem is

that human

beings

especially

Christians

but human

beings

we're like

goldfish

we very

very quickly

forget

and the

thing

that we

very

very

quickly

forget

is that

we forget

that what

had just

happened

what just

happened

well Jesus

just said

there is a

way

for you

to be

eternally

forgiven

the implication

is is that

the infinite

God has done

something that

a finite

human being

cannot do

to cross

the infinite

distance

between

God

and you

and he

has done

something

you cannot

possibly do

for yourself

he has died

for you

it is his

death that

covers everything

that you've

ever possibly

done

this is an

unbelievable

not unbelievable

hopefully you

believe it

this is a

a truth

of a profound

thing that

God has done

for you

and you

cannot do

for yourself

and then we

come here

and say

the will of

God

oh the will

of God

means I

have to be

good to

be right

with God

what

why are we

all goldfish

what does

the will of

God mean

listen to

Jesus and

do what he

says

believe that

he is the

Savior

in the Lord

and you

cannot save

yourself

what does

it mean

it means

that listen

I did

not become

a Christian

because I

am so

clever and

I could

follow all

the evidence

so well

God did

something for

me in the

person of

the Holy

Spirit that

I could

not do

for myself

the Bible

says that

when we

appear before

the judgment

seat of

God

no one

will have

an excuse

no one

will be

able to

say that

God

didn't do

things in

their life

in such a

way that

they did

not have

moments of

freedom and

clarity where

they could

not have

responded to

the gospel

that's what

Romans 1

through 3

is talking

about amongst

other things

and all I can

tell you is

if you're

watching this

if you're

honest with

yourself

before I

became a

Christian

I wasn't

honest about

this until

after I

became a

Christian

but before

I became

a Christian

I didn't

want it

to be

true

I didn't

want Jesus

to be the

Savior and

the Lord

I didn't

want him

to be the

Lord of

my life

do you

know how

geeky

nerdy

awkward

and just

unlikable

Christians are

and you

want me to

become one

of them

no way

the Christian

life comes

when there

is that

pressure of

the Holy

Spirit

Romans 3

Revelation 3

talks about

Jesus knocking

at the door

of your

heart

and the

Christian

life comes

when you

lay down

your sword

and shield

and you

stop running

and you've

been running

like this

to try to

shut out

Jesus'

voice

and you've

been running

with your

eyes closed

and the

Holy Spirit

just puts

that pressure

and you

finally say

I surrender

and you

stop

you take

your fingers

out of your

ears

you open

your eyes

and you

turn

and you

let him

come with

all his

love

and you

let him

take you

for himself

and what

does it

mean to

be completely

forgiven of

everything you've

done in your

life if you

take that

to mean

that you

can do

whatever you

want then

you're like

the mom

and the

brothers outside

demanding

Jesus come

out and

talk to

us because

we're who

we are

that's not

what it

means

it's only

in the

perspective of

forgiveness

that you can

begin to have

moral clarity

about the

world and

about yourself

that you can

begin to

have humility

that you

can be

convicted

of a

sin

of pride

or prejudice

or racism

or greed

or gluttony

or lust

or something

and before

that we

always wanted

to put up

our good

fronts that

we're this

type of

person

and so we

try to figure

out a way

to spin

that

to deny

it

to make

it look

like we

didn't

do it

you know

we used

to joke

in my

house

that sometimes

when one of

the kids

you'd hear

this loud

crash

and what

was the

thing they

say

first they

say nothing

happened

second

they'd say

it wasn't

me

and then

the third

thing they'd

say it

wasn't my

fault

that was

the litany

right

nothing

happened

how come

somebody's

screaming

wasn't

me

how come

they're

screaming

your name

not my

fault

right

and you

go through

and it's

only if you

know you're

completely

forgiven

that you

can actually

stop and

say yeah

that was

me

that was

me

Lord help

me to

see the

moral world

as it

really is

help me

to confront

the selfishness

and the

greed

in my

life

it's only

in that

perspective

in that

place

that you

can actually

begin to

have true

moral improvement

at the very

very deep

level of the

heart

as the

gospel

becomes real

to you

invite you

to stand

if you

are here

and you've

never given

your life

to christ

and you

feel that

pressure

in your

heart

all i can

say is

just as i

used in

that example

that's the

holy spirit

knocking

that's god

giving you an

opportunity to

no longer be

closed off to

him

for god so

loved the

world that he

gave his only