Jesus dismantles the kingdom of Satan, but some refuse to believe it.
Then he went home, 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 is out of his mind." 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 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 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, 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."
Several weeks ago, we explored a beautiful scene in Mark's gospel. Jesus was teaching in His crowded house (the crowds had been following Jesus everywhere He went). In this particular scene, the roof suddenly opened as Jesus taught, and a paralyzed man was lowered down before Him. And Jesus spoke five unforgettable words to that man.
These words weren't "get up and walk," though He would say that shortly after. Instead, He said, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
These precious words give Christians tremendous comfort, the comfort of the gospel—knowing our sins are forgiven, having a right relationship with God, understanding that Jesus Christ truly came to save us, and knowing "I really can have forgiveness of my sins!"
Five unforgettable words—words that man surely would never forget. And yet here in our passage, we find not five unforgettable words, but nine unsettling words. Damning words. Difficult words. Jesus says in verse 29, "whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness."
How can both of these things be true? On the one hand, Jesus comes and preaches a gospel of forgiveness.
He comes and says, "the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel," and yet here in our passage, He has in mind a certain sin, and says, "No one will be forgiven of this sin." This, He calls it, is an eternal sin—or perhaps in your translation, an eternal damnation (i.e. Hell.)
It's unsettling to see it there, very plain for us in the text, but Jesus says it, and He says it very plainly. It's important that when we read scripture and find things that are difficult, we compare them to things that are less difficult in scripture. That's a principle of Bible study, and we're going to do that this morning as we try to understand what this sin is.
But understand this: the plain message of this passage is that this sin separates you eternally from God. There is no do-over here. There is no second chance. There is a way in which you will be eternally separate from God and condemned to hell. A person, eternally experiencing separation, condemnation, torment for all time.
That's not a popular message. In fact, many throughout history who go under the name of Christian have tried to minimize this teaching of Jesus or even tried to erase it from the Bible. They'll say, "Jesus never said this," or "Jesus never really preached this."
No, actually, Jesus talks more of hell in the gospels than of heaven. He came preaching a message of repentance, just as John did. "Repent and believe the gospel."
Why? Because the alternative is separation from the kingdom and being cast out into utter darkness. It's not something that a pastor relishes. It's not like I just get happy, like I wanted to go into the ministry because I want to tell people about hell.
That's not what gives us joy. Yesterday, if you joined us for our brother Jerry Case's funeral service, we discussed the joy we have in the gospel. But this gospel joy isn't truly complete unless we understand the alternative.
We cannot fully appreciate our salvation without knowing what we've been saved from. Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms what the alternative to salvation is, and what fate awaits those who ultimately and finally fall away from Him.
In this passage, we see Jesus testifying that He has come to dismantle Satan's kingdom. He has come to break the hand of the "strong man," as He calls him. Yet even as Jesus preaches this message and performs miracles that confirm it, some people still refuse to believe.
Jesus performs miracles. He preaches the gospel. He does everything necessary to convince people of who He is and what He's come to do.
Yet some will still refuse to believe. For them, He has these harsh and condemning words. Nine unsettling words - but there's grace in this passage as well.
As we examine this text this morning, one of my challenges in making this clear to all of us is remembering that what Jesus is saying about this unpardonable sin isn't meant to make us Christians go home doubting our salvation. Jesus isn't trying to undermine your assurance as a believer. Rather, He's giving us a warning. We need to receive both the grace and the warning together, just as Jesus presents them to us, so that we may persevere in our faith until the very end.
Our passage begins with a charge. I read for us the first couple introductory verses in verses 20 and 21. This passage reflects a unique feature in Mark, something only Mark does, which I think is really fascinating. Mark frequently takes a scene, inserts a teaching, and then provides another complementary scene at the very end.
Commentators who enjoy creating complex terms call this intercalation. I prefer the other term some commentators use: a Mark sandwich.
I like sandwiches. I think sandwiches are beautiful, God's gift to mankind. And Mark likes sandwiches too. Understanding this structure helps us see what's happening in the larger context of the gospel.
In verses 20 through 21, we find Jesus' family witnessing what He's doing. They hear about Him and see the crowds gathering, but they resist Him, saying He's out of His mind. We'll come back to that next week, Lord willing, as we consider what it truly means to be the family of God.
The opposition from His family forms the beginning and end of this sandwich—the bread slices, you could say. Call it sourdough or whatever bread you prefer. Those are the bread slices.
But the meat inside the sandwich is opposition not from Jesus' family, but from the scribes. We've encountered scribes before, though perhaps not this particular group of scribes. Scribes were the professors, the experts, the religious leaders. They studied the law, the Torah, and all the commentaries on the Old Testament. Yet here, we find these weren't just local scribes from Capernaum or Galilee. These are scribes coming down from Jerusalem.
That might seem confusing. On a map, Jerusalem is actually south of Galilee. But that's not how people thought of it back then. Jerusalem sits up on a hill, up on a mountain. You could say the scribes are coming down from on high—both literally and metaphorically—to investigate this Jesus.
Actually, it's not so much an investigation as it is an inquisition.
You see, the scribes come down from Jerusalem, and they're saying of Jesus, "He's possessed by Beelzebul! And it's by the prince of demons that He casts out demons!"
That's a serious charge. We need to examine each of these phrases carefully. But let's take the last phrase first: "...He casts out demons."
These scribes clearly recognize what Jesus has been doing. If you haven't been following our study of Mark, casting out demons is something Jesus has done from the very beginning.
In the first synagogue sermon we witnessed, He casts out a demon from a possessed man. He drives the demons away (ekballo in the Greek). He casts them out.
The scribes have all this plain before them. You could say they're Jesus experts. They've studied Jesus. They've followed Him. They've heard about Him. They've watched Him. They've seen everything Jesus is doing. And they have no doubt whatsoever that Jesus is casting out demons.
Today's skeptics might try to question the truthfulness of the Bible. They'll claim these events never happened. But the scribes of that day knew better. They couldn't deny what was happening right before their eyes. They witnessed demons being cast out.
Yet despite all this evidence, despite being experts who knew exactly who Jesus was and what He was doing — they chose to attribute His works to a dark, diabolic source. Jesus declares He's announcing the kingdom of God. They counter that He's actually announcing the kingdom of Beelzebul.
Beelzebul, or as he's elsewhere called in the Bible, Beelzebub.
It's an unusual name. Perhaps you've never heard it before, or have only heard it mentioned in Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody":
"Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me."
That name sounds cool in a song. But who is Beelzebub? He's not mentioned much in the Bible, nor in extra-biblical Jewish literature. We simply don't know that much about the name and identity of Beelzebub or Beelzebul.
But we do have a few clues. In 2 Kings 1, we find references to Baal-Zebul or Baal Zebub. Baal is the Canaanite god, the god of the Philistines and other Canaanites.
He's the storm god. He's the cloud god. He's one of the chief gods.
If you're familiar with the Greek pantheon and Zeus, think of Zeus and you get Baal. Baal Zebul or Baal Zebub could refer to Baal of the heights.
He dwells in the heights. He rides above the clouds. He soars above the skies.
Or, perhaps especially when referenced in the Bible, he is called Baal Zebub because he is Lord of the flies (zebub). Lord of the flies. That's how he's referred to.
Again, not very frequently, but in 2 Kings chapter one, he is actually called upon by one of Israel's kings who falls through a lattice. You remember this story. The king falls through his roof.
He's dying. He wants to know if he'll live. He seeks healing, but he doesn't turn to Yahweh.
He doesn't go to Jehovah. He doesn't seek the God of Israel. Instead, he goes to Baal Zebub because Baal Zebub was believed to have power.
At least that's what they thought. Now, in our passage this morning, Baal Zebul or Baal Zebub or Beelzebul as we see in our translation is a phrase used to describe a powerful entity, a demonic entity. He's spoken of as the prince of demons, which leads many scholars to conclude, I think with some good reason, that by Jesus' day, Beelzebul had simply become a synonym for Satan.
Satan, the devil, the serpent of Genesis chapter three who led mankind astray, the deceiver and the father of lies the Bible calls him, Baal Zebul, Beelzebul, the devil.
The scribes make their accusation against Jesus in two parts:
I really want to emphasize this point again: They have the evidence. They know what Jesus has been doing. They don't deny His actions; they simply attribute His power to a diabolic source. They acknowledge, "Yes, you have been casting out demons. Yes, Jesus, you're doing mighty works," but they insist all those works have a demonic foundation. All those works, they claim, are coming from Satan himself.
Jesus refutes this accusation, but He does it in an interesting way. He doesn't respond as perhaps some of us might.
When faced with such an accusation—"You're just the son of Satan"—many of us might retort, "I'm rubber, you are glue. Bounce off me, stick to you," right? We'd want to fight fire with fire, to say something equally nasty in return. But Jesus doesn't do that.
Instead, Mark tells us, He responds to them first in parables. Jesus chooses parables as His method of reply. But why parables? What exactly are they? We'll actually see more parables in the gospel of Mark, Lord willing, especially in chapter four.
So what are these parables? Simply put, a parable is a story with a point. The story itself serves as an illustration.
You could think of it that way—"parable" can be a very general term. Some parables are elaborate, like the parable of the prodigal son that Jesus tells in the gospel of Luke.
A son who forsook his inheritance and squandered it in the far country, then returned to his father who forgave him. This story Jesus created wasn't a historical event, but rather a parable illustrating a true doctrine: the father welcomes repentant sinners to himself.
He tells several parables here. They aren't full-fledged stories, but they serve as illustrations—word pictures for us.
In telling these parables, Jesus makes a very simple point that exposes the silly logic of the scribes.
On one hand, it might seem reasonable to say Satan has the ability to work wonders. After all, he does have some sort of power, right? He's described as an adversary who "prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). Surely he can perform marvelous works?
But it's important to understand that Satan never performs miracles, properly speaking. Satan doesn't possess that kind of power. Satan is a creature just like us. He can't create things out of nothing (ex nihilo). He's a counterfeit, and everything he does is counterfeit work.
But the scribes aren't claiming Jesus' works are counterfeit—they believe they're genuine. They believe demons are truly being cast out. But because they will not acknowledge His authority as the Son of God, they need to find another explanation.
This was actually a persistent problem in the early church. Jewish writers in the first and second centuries continued to write Jesus off as a sorcerer, one who wields demonic power to evil ends. Interestingly, like the scribes, these Jewish apologists never doubted the miracles had occurred.
Yet there's an even greater problem here: Even if Satan had the power to perform true miracles, why would he perform them against his own devils?
There is an unspoken premise here, which both Jesus and the scribes understand: Satan is clever. He knows what's best for his kingdom. So, why would he begin tearing it down? "If I were of Satan," Jesus says, "Why would I be working against Satan? A house divided against itself cannot stand."
We might know that phrase better from President Abraham Lincoln, than from Jesus' coining of the phrase here. To be sure, there might be a good moral here about the importance of unity in the nation (or in the church). Not a bad point—but that's not Jesus' main point. He's simply saying if Satan is casting out Satan, then his house is divided against itself. He is tearing himself apart.
Consider a king facing a formidable enemy—and in God, Satan finds the greatest Adversary of all. Would Satan's best strategy again God be to sabotage his own forces and cast out his own demons?
As Jesus says this, He shows how the scribes are saying is simply grasping at straws. They have the evidence, but it doesn't fit their paradigm or what they want to think of Him. They're desperately searching for another explanation, one that collapses under scrutiny. It's absurd to think Jesus is operating under demonic power.
It makes no sense for Satan to cast out Satan. Indeed, as Jesus says, if Satan has risen up against himself, he is divided and cannot stand.
Jesus then offers another parable in this section—one we might miss the significance of if we're not paying careful attention. He says no one can enter a strongman's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strongman; only then can he plunder the strongman's house and possessions.
This might seem like a non-sequitur, disconnected from the previous topic. You were just discussing Satan being divided against himself, and suddenly Jesus shifts to talking about robbery. What's going on in here? Who's the robber? Who's the robbed?
Simply put, Jesus is going on the offensive now. Before, He was pointing out the silliness of the scribe's logic, but now He's justifying His own actions. He's explaining what they should have already realized—what He's actually come to do.
Who is the "strong man"? It is Satan. What is the house? What are the goods? Well, the house is the world, and the goods are men and women, boys and girls.
We read about this in Genesis 3. Satan comes into the world and leads mankind astray. He deceived, we sinned, and the whole world is was plunged into an estate of sin and misery. A curse.
In light of this, it makes sense that Satan is called elsewhere in Scripture "the god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4) and "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2).
Satan has a kingdom. And, as one of the old spiritual hymns puts it, Jesus comes crying out, "Satan, your kingdom must come down."
So He says you wouldn't expect a strongman to have his goods plundered unless he were first tied up and left defenseless. And you wouldn't expect Satan's kingdom to be dismantled unless someone came in casting out demons and demonstrating that they had power greater than Satan. Omnipotence, indeed. The power of Almighty God.
There's not enough time today—and you guys know sometimes I preach pretty long, but even I am admitting there's not enough time today to cover this topic: the binding of Satan. But I do want to go to one passage about this where Jesus talks about this in another section.
And it's not the passage you think. It's not Revelation 20, although you can find it there as well.
But just turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of John if you have a Bible. Gospel of John chapter 16. Jesus actually picks up this teaching again, but not in front of the scribes.
He's actually going to say it to His disciples right before He goes to the cross. Right before Jesus is crucified. In John chapter 16.
You can look there beginning in verse 5. He says to His disciples, "Now I am going to Him who sent me," that is to the Father, "and none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'" But because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Jesus says I'm going away. He's going to the cross, and even after the resurrection, though He'll come back for a time.
He's going to ascend into heaven. He's going away. But He says to them, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth."
Verse 7: "It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper" — whom the Lord just a moment ago in the previous chapter defined as the Holy Spirit — "the Helper, the Paraclete, the Comforter, will not come to you unless I go away."
"But if I go, I will send Him to you." We just confessed in the creed, "He proceeds from the Father and from the Son." The Spirit comes from the Father and the Son. "If I go, I will send Him to you, and when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment."
Okay. There's a lot going on in here, but just track with me here:
"Concerning sin because they do not believe in me."
Concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer."
"Concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged."
That's a present tense verb. That's not a future reality. Jesus says here, "The ruler of this world is judged."
How can a strong man's house be plundered unless the strong man himself is first bound? And how can the ruler of this world be cast down unless Jesus Christ first comes and binds him? The devil has his own powers, to be sure, that God has in His providence allowed to him. But they are temporary and fleeting. As Jesus Christ has come into the world, He binds that man.
He binds that Beelzebul. He takes Satan's domain — the domain over not just the Jewish believers, but over the Gentiles as well. He takes Satan's domain and He cracks it in two.
And He says, "I have come for these. I am taking what is rightfully mine. These are my people, and you cannot have them, Beelzebul." Jesus binds the strong man.
This should give us confidence again no matter what your millennial views might be, no matter what you might think about the end times and all that stuff. Just know this: the gospel is going forth in the world. Jesus Christ says He will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
He binds the strong man. He breaks the power of reigning sin. He sets the prisoner free.
I'd love to just stop here and simply say, "Look, that's the Gospel! Jesus Christ comes, and through a Roman cross He sets us free. In Colossians He tells us it is in the cross that He disarmed the rulers and authorities—the Beelzebuls of this world. He disarms them and puts them to open shame."
And I'd love to stop there. But Jesus goes on, because He's talking to the scribes—you remember the scribes who have been denying Him, the scribes who've been ascribing to Him demonic power and principle. He says, and this is the first but far from the last time He will say this: "Truly."
Now Jesus is "the Amen," the true one. Everything He says is true. But when Jesus says "truly," that's when our ears should especially perk up. What He's about to say is very serious.
When He says "truly" — or sometimes doubled as "truly truly, (amen, amen") — He wants us to pay attention. All of us, not just the scribes. All of us need to pay attention to this word. And this word contains within it both a promise and a warning.
We're going to take the warning first, and we have to take it seriously. Jesus says "Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin."
This is the unpardonable sin. This is past the point of no return. Jesus says there is a situation in which a person can have no forgiveness.
It rubs us the wrong way as Christians. When we're accustomed to hearing the gospel preached week in and week out from this pulpit—when we love the gospel of grace and forgiveness for the foulest of sinners—it's jarring to hear that there's a sin in a category that puts someone beyond forgiveness.
What could that sin possibly be?
First, ask yourself, "What would a non-believer think that sin is?"
If you polled someone who'd never been in a church and didn't really know the Bible, and you asked them what they think the unpardonable sin is, they might say it was something sexual. Adultery perhaps, or some truly terrible act.
Or maybe they would say it was murder. Murder is really bad. Perhaps it's a serial killer, or a serial killer rapist? That's the person who can never have forgiveness, right?
Or maybe they would have enough biblical knowledge to say, "No, the truly unforgivable sin is blasphemy. When you say something evil about God, that's it—there's no forgiveness. Sorry, you're gone. Thanks for playing. No forgiveness for you."
But none of these situations I've just described show us the unpardonable sin. And we know that because Scripture is actually very clear about this.
Take sexual sin, for example. Judah, way back—remember Judah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob? Judah committed great sexual sin, and he was forgiven.
We also talked about David. Not only did he commit great sexual sin, he also committed murder at the same time. Pretty impressive. But he was forgiven.
What about blasphemy? You say something evil about God and suddenly you've cut yourself off from Him? Actually, no. Because Paul calls himself a blasphemer.
Even more to the point, Jesus never says in this passage that the scribes themselves have committed the unpardonable sin. After all, why would He be warning them if they were already past the point of forgiveness?
In fact, I believe there's evidence, especially in the book of Acts, that hostile religious leaders like these scribes—if not these very scribes themselves—will find forgiveness in Jesus Christ (Acts 6:7; 15:5). And it shouldn't surprise us, because Jesus prayed for this, even as they were nailing Him to a cross of wood: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
If there was ever a blasphemy in this world, to revile Him and to nail Him to a cross, that would be it—and yet they repent and believe in the book of Acts. When the gospel is preached to them, they repent, they believe, and they're forgiven.
So if it's not sex and it's not murder and it's not blasphemy, then what is it? What is the blasphemy that Jesus is referring to—this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
To answer that, we need a little more light from the rest of Scripture. I'd point you to just one passage in the book of Hebrews chapter 6:
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
And then the author of Hebrews provides a parable:
For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
So, is Jesus talking about losing your salvation? Like, you were a Christian one time, and then you decide that you're not a Christian anymore, and then you want to come back but the gates of heaven are closed to you?
He's not even talking about that. The Bible could not be more clear on this point: Those who are saved are saved to the end. There is no "heavenly hokey-pokey." Jesus says, "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28).
But if that's the case, then who are these people in Hebrews 6 and in Mark chapter 3? Who are these people who commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
In a word, they are people who know the truth, accept the truth as truth, and then fully and finally reject it.
They know the truth. They have the evidence. They believe it's true. They understand who God is.
They know exactly who God is. They know who Jesus is. They know who the Holy Spirit is, and the truth of Christ that He has revealed to them. That's why it's called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. They know who Jesus is and they fully and finally reject Him. For such people, Jesus never prayed, "Father, forgive them," precisely because they know exactly what they do.
That's why the unforgivable sin isn't simply a one-time mistake. I want to emphasize this: you cannot accidentally commit the unforgivable sin, because the unforgivable sin is not a single chance event. Rather, it is "a settled condition of the soul" (Wessel, 1984).
This is why church is dangerous. That's why it's dangerous for all of you to be here this morning, for me to be here preaching.
I was sharing with the elders this week. I remember one pastor once told me, "You know, one of the very dangerous things about being a pastor is you get comfortable handling holy things." And so Jesus is saying to the scribes,
"You're in peril. You're in danger, because you understand. There are those out there who are ignorant, though they'll be held accountable because they know enough—but you know far more. You know who I am, you know what I'm doing, and you're rejecting me. You're in peril. You're in danger."
Church is a dangerous place, because God's word always does its work—and it's not always a softening work. I think it was Charles Spurgeon, probably drawing on the Puritans of old, who once said "The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay." And the same word of God that softens sinners' hearts can also harden them, desensitize them, and inoculate them to the Gospel. "I know all this stuff," one may say,
"I know who Jesus is. I know what he claims to be. I know what he says, and I Just. Don't. Like. Him. I don't want him. I don't accept what he says about my life. I don't accept what he says about my sin. I don't accept him. I reject him fully and finally."
Those who blaspheme the spirit are those who have settled it to the very end.
Are you perhaps wondering (worrying?) if you've committed the unforgivable sin? Is it possible today that you afraid, because of a sin that you've committed, and even though you want to repent and turn to God, you're afraid that He won't have you back? Are you past the point of no return?
Jesus says, “Absolutely not.”
In the words of J.C. Ryle, "There is such a thing as. sin which is never forgiven, but those who are troubled about it are most unlikely to have committed it.".
You see, there's a promise tied in with this warning. Jesus affirms that there is a sin that leads to eternal death (cf. 1 John 5:16). But He also says all sins—all sins—will be forgiven, the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter. "Even against me."
"There are people who hate me now, who are going to wake up one day," Jesus says. By God's grace, they're going to come to an understanding of the truth, not just in their head, but also in their heart. They're going to hate their sin. They're going to hate what they've done to Christ, and they're going to cry out for mercy.
And is Jesus going to stand at the door and say, "Sorry, no admittance"?
No, not today. Today is the day of salvation.
There will indeed be a day when the door is shut, but for now the day is open, and the door is open. The day of salvation is at hand. Jesus says, "All sin, all manner of sin will be forgiven." There's not a sin that you could commit this day that could not be forgiven at the cross of Jesus Christ.
This is not because sin is a light thing to God, but because Jesus is so weighty. "The Lord and giver of life"— that's how we describe the Holy Spirit, but it's also appropriately a way we could describe the Son Himself. Here is the One who gives life, and He's hanging dead on a cross. How can your sin be greater than that? He takes your sin upon himself.
And so Jesus says they will be forgiven. So we find other passages, including in Hebrews chapter 6, and chapter 7, and chapter 10, where the author of Hebrews says, understand this. Yes, there are warnings. Yes, there is danger. Your heart might get hard if you're not careful. But God is gracious and God is faithful.
And he says in Hebrews chapter 6, you know, he guaranteed this stuff with an oath. He swore by his own name. Jesus Christ is your assurance.
If you're not sure if you're a Christian, if you're not sure if you're saved, cry out to Jesus, because he is called the anchor of your soul. He is your hope that enters into the heavenlies. The author of Hebrews says, just after he finished warning them, he gives them the gospel.
He gives them the grace. Jesus Christ is your salvation. If you will have him, if you will not reject him, if you will cling to him.
And there's lots of things we could talk about when it comes to assurance of salvation and how to feed that assurance.
But just understand this today: If you're not sure if you're saved, then go to Christ.
If you don't know how to go to him, then come to one of us. Come to me or John or Tony, and we want to tell you more about how to come to Jesus. But this is the gospel.
And these words that Jesus says here, we don't want to pass over them lightly. All sins will be forgiven the children of men. And we need to take these words just as seriously as those of Jesus' warning. I'd like to quote Ryle again, and this time at length:
“These words fall lightly on the ears of many persons. They see no particular beauty in them. But to the man who is alive to his own sinfulness and deeply sensible of his need of mercy, these words are sweet and precious. "All sins shall be forgiven." The sins of youth and age — the sins of head, and hand, and tongue, and imagination — the sins against all God's commandments — the sins of persecutors, like Saul — the sins of idolaters, like Manasseh — the sins of open enemies of Christ, like the Jews who crucified Him — the sins of backsliders from Christ, like Peter — all, all may be forgiven. The blood of Christ can cleanse all away. The righteousness of Christ can cover all, and hide all…”
Our salvation comes from an eternal God. And that means we have an eternal security. One of the strongest statements of this doctrine in the Bible comes at a time when Jesus is surrounded by his enemies, by scribes and pharisees who want to kill him. And he says in John chapter 10, those people, Jesus says, have been given to me. And for that reason, no one is able to snatch them out of my hand.
Author Chad Van Dixhoorn writes, "We are the objects of a divine gift exchange.” The Father has given us to the Son. And no one can take that away. Not Beelzebul. Not any prince of this world, not even the Prince of Darkness himself. No one can take us away from the grace of God.
We are, as Peter writes, those who are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.
So we have a Savior who is strong to save. The Lord your God is in your midst. The mighty one who will save, says the prophet Zephaniah,
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
Or, as the author of Hebrews again writes,
"...he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him..."
Amen.
