What is the UNFORGIVABLE Sin? (EXPLAINED) | Live Free with Josh Howerton

that cannot be forgiven, you should pay attention. - If you don't care, that might be a bad sign. - Jesus is better at rescuing and restoring you than you are at sinning and falling. - Jesus knew every sin that you had ever commit before you even lived. He knew what he was getting into when he purchased you on the cross. - Well, hey, Liffry Nation. Before we jump into the episode, this podcast is recorded right here at Lake Point Church in Dallas, Texas. But the Liffry Nation is spread all over the country and all around the world. So if you've been watching and thinking, "Man, I wish I could be part of something like this." We want to invite you to take a simple next step and that is join us for church online. Every weekend we stream our services live on YouTube, Facebook and our church online platform. And it's more than just watching a service. There are live hosts in the chat, prayer teams ready to stand with you and people all around the world worshiping together in real time. And so whether you're exploring the faith, coming back to church or just looking for a place to start, church online is a great way to jump in and experience what God is doing here at Lake Point. We would love to see you in the chat this weekend

and now enjoy the podcast. - Well, hey, welcome back to another episode of the Liffry podcast. This is a bonus episode. My name is Carlos Arazo and I'm here today with the one and only the unique epistle missile chat, G-Paul C. Paul Cunningham. What's going on, man? - It's going to be back with you, man. I think some people were worried that we were not going to be friends after last week's special Q and A on magic and movies and stuff like that. - You knew it was so soft, man. - I was so relaxed. - The second that was over, people should know the first things out of your knowledge, mouth was, oh dude, that was tame compared to sometimes how you and I can be. But anyways, we're still friends, still brothers in Christ. - Yeah, you know, for the most part. - Whoa, whoa. - I'm just kidding, I'm kidding. - But just for people who may be disgusted. - I'm not bitter or anything, you know. I know you might be a little bit, that's okay. - You put some good licks on me last week, man. But hey, a couple of things with that. - What did you say, what did you say?

- Good licks, like, good shot on your punches. - Okay, okay, okay. - That's probably a Southern expression. - I've never heard that one before. - Now. - Okay, okay. - But now a couple of things for people who may have missed last week's episode, we're kind of doing a test drive right now, four weeks of Carlos and I doing some midweek Q and A's. Some of these are evergreen questions that people always ask us. Others are questions that people may have sent us into us. Some of these are going to be long, like that last week was like an hour 'cause it's very nuanced and people can land on different spots on it. - Yeah, and somebody was right on the other person was wrong, go ahead. - Exactly, we won't say which was which. Other episodes like this one are going to be a little tighter. There's a direct answer to the question. So we just want these to be helpful and help answer questions that people are asking. - That's right, man. So before we start, first of all, if, let us know if this is helpful. Obviously, to be able to pull this off, we have to do a little more homework and we want to be prepared whenever we have an opportunity

to, obviously, we value the fact that we get to be in your, whatever, as you're driving, in your living room, whatever it is. So if you could do this, that would be really helpful. If you can go on YouTube or Spotify, let us know in the comment section if this is helpful or not. If you have additional suggestions for a future question, for like a quick little deep dive, we've loved to hear from you. So let us know in the comment section. So here's what we're going today. Paul, the Bible says that every sin can be forgiven. - Amen. - Except one. - Oh crap. So, question for today is, what is the unforgivable sin and what does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? - Okay. - That's what we're going to be asking. So here's what we're going to go real quick. So we're going to go three things, the unforgivable sin is not. - Yep. - We're going to be, Jesus is using the term here, blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. We're going to be answering, what exactly does that even mean? - Yeah. - We're going to transition to a couple questions that were submitted and sent our way

regarding people asking about some other personal struggles and how this applies to this particular question. And we're going to be addressing how to address a sin stronghold in your life. And we're going to be wrapping with pastoral thoughts. So. - That's good. Well, hey, real fast on this. That actually would love for you to read the passage that is coming from. There's multiple places in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I won't have you read the one in Mark. Man, I get this question a lot. I think we did a brief thing on a podcast before on it, but that's because we get to this question a whole lot because people read this. And like, well, what does that mean? And then often what will happen is people just be so worried have they committed the unforgivable sin and therefore their loss. And I want to go ahead and give a quick pass forward. - And by the way, that's how it should be. Whenever Jesus says that there is one sin that cannot be forgiven, you should pay attention. - If you don't care, that might be a bad sign. - Well, I would like to know which sin that is. - But that being said, I'm going to go ahead and give some counsel because we're going to get to pass forward then. If you're worried that you've committed

the unforgivable sin, you don't need to worry about that. And I'll explain why in a little bit. But that being said, why don't you actually read the passage from the book of Mark and where Jesus says these words? and Luke. And so I'm going to read it from the book of Mark. Let me give you a little bit of context before. So what you're seeing in this context in this passage is Jesus is healing. He heals a blind and a mute demon-possessed man. And at that point, the crowds are looking at it and they're amazed. And they're asking questions like, man, could this be the sign of David? Could this be the Messiah? But then the Pharisees are also there in the crowd. And the Pharisees and the scribes they accuse Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebel. But when they see Jesus do this, Beelzebel is the prince of demons. We can answer that here in a second. But after that, Jesus says something along the lines of, hey, a kingdom that is divided against itself cannot stand. And that if Jesus is casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom has come amongst them. And then he issues this warning. So Mark chapter three, verse 28, this is what it says. This is Jesus speaking. "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." All right. So let's now having read the text. It's about three things that this is not. And then we will give really crystal clear clarity on what the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and therefore the unforgivable sin is. So three things down for unforgivable sin is not. Number one, committing a really bad sin. So like going off and murdering someone, committing adultery, not saying anyone should do these things, but some people think those are still sins and they are not things we should do. But some people think, oh, maybe that's the unforgivable sin is a really big bad sin. Why would that not be the case? Why is that not what the unforgivable sin is? Yeah. So just to emphasize, so committing a really bad sin is not the unforgivable sin. Okay. So first of all, when you read this passage, you have to realize Jesus begins the famous unforgivable sin passage by emphasizing how extensive forgiveness is, including he even says forgiveness for blasphemies. So let me, we just read a mark. Let me just read Matthew 1231. Therefore, I tell you, this is Jesus speaking every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people. Like this is the whole point of the gospel,

that forgiveness is extensive, that is gracious, extensive. So if somebody's here listening to this, here's what you need to know. The gospel says your sin is actually worse than you realize. It is so bad Jesus actually had to die and shed his blood on a cross because of that sin. So it's worse, but at the same time, his grace is much greater. It's much, much greater than you could ever hope. And so Jesus gives up his life because he loves you that much. And in Christ, because of his blood and because of what he did on the cross, you are embraced, you are covered, you are forgiven, you are accepted, you are redeemed, and you are now a son and a daughter of God. So that's one thing that you need to, you have to start there. Also Paul, in this passage, Jesus also, he says, even the sin of blasphemy can be forgiven. So he specifies, it seems like there's a particular kind of blasphemy that is this different than the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy would be speaking about God in a way that insults slanders or dishonors God. Also to make it clear, blasphemy is a very bad sin. You're not saying you should go and do these things. It's, these are terrible sins. But you know, what's interesting too, do you know who else blasphemed? I think I know who you're talking about. The Apostle Paul. Yeah. First Timothy, chapter one, verse 13, he says, though formerly, I was a blasphemer, persecutor and insolent opponent, the Apostle Paul says, hey, actually, I was one of those guys. But I was forgiven. If you keep reading in that same verse, he says, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. And so again, to your point, even quote unquote, some of the quote unquote worst sinners or worst sins, like blasphemy, they can be forgiven. So keep going. Yeah. And like with the Apostle Paul, what I love about his story, this is a guy he persecuted the church. And he even was a part of putting Christians to death. So he was a murderer. He called himself the chief of sinners. Yeah. In this text, he actually says, like this saying, and trust for these are ringing of folks, that means that Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. And the context, the point of that he's saying is, hey, if Jesus could save me and all the awful things I've done, he can save you too. I love, I think it was Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon, a great British preacher from the 1800s who gave this analogy is like, man, the worst that you've done and all of your sins combined, it's the idea of like, hey, you need grace and forgiveness for that. But there is more grace and mercy in Jesus than there is sin in you. And so he gives us analogy. He's almost like, imagine taking a cup and taking it to a river and filling up that cup. Your cup was full of grace,

but the river has no idea that any water is missing. That's how much grace there is in Jesus. And so Jesus's grace is more than enough for forgiveness in his sins, including the really, really bad sins. So that's one thing. Another thing is, it's not asserting something false about the Holy Spirit, so blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is not simply asserting something false about the Holy Spirit, why would we say that, Carlos? - Yeah, so saying something that is not true about the Holy Spirit doesn't mean it's the unforgivable sin. - No. - Although, it matters, by the way, it really matters. Getting your theology of the Holy Spirit wrong doesn't necessarily mean it's an unforgivable sin, although obviously your theology matters. This one also happens with, especially with unbelievers, and I know this 'cause I remember even growing up with my non-Christian friends did, which this would happen all the time. Being offensive to the Holy Spirit, careless about the Holy Spirit, or scoffing or mocking things of the Holy Spirit, especially when, again, when you're talking about somebody who doesn't even know Jesus yet, that's not necessarily unforgivable sin. In Acts chapter two at Pentecost, the Bible says some people were mocking Spirit-filled disciples, accusing them of being drunk and making fun of what the Holy Spirit is doing, and several verses later,

Peter calls the crowd to repent, and the Bible says around 3,000 people were saved. And so, again, those are sins, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they've done something that is unforgivable. - That's the key is we're not saying these aren't sins and these aren't serious. What we're saying is these are not unforgivable sins. I love that you've pointed out the very people who falsely attributed something about the Holy Spirit with the people who were verses later saved by the Holy Spirit, a very, very big thing. One final thing that the blasphemy of the Spirit is not, then we will finally tell you simply what it is. But one, another thing that is not, is simply anyone who rejects Christ. Why would we say that that is not the blasphemy of the Spirit, simply anyone who rejects Christ? Why is that not an unforgivable sin? - Yeah, because that's probably the story of a lot of Christians today. - That's exactly right. - For many years of their life, they opposed Christ, they rejected Christ, and at some point by the grace of God, they were saved. Another, one of my favorite examples of this, even of somebody who followed Jesus closely and failed miserably after in the Bible in Matthew 26, the Bible says Peter denied Jesus three times. And if you read that story carefully,

you know, we hear about that, we're like, oh yeah, I remember that. Well, that's a huge deal. - Kind of a big deal. - Peter knowingly spoke falsely about Jesus. He's like, I got nothing to do with Jesus. The Bible says he even invoked a curse on himself and swore I do not know that man. You know what that sounds like? Rejection of Christ. - Yes. - And yet Jesus forgave him and restored him and commissioned him and used him mightily to make a difference in the kingdom of God. So to your point. - Yeah, and I've heard it said before, like a study has been done where it takes at least seven times of sharing the gospel with someone before that a person generally responds possibly. - Interesting. - And that's on average, so there could be many more. So that means that there were at least six times if not more were initially they rejected Christ who were indifferent to him. And so again, we're not saying that anyone who rejected Christ, that's not a bad thing. We're saying that that is not unforgivable because otherwise, it's like, well, you had your one chance and again and you blew it. That's not the case here.

That's not the case here. - Okay, so Paul, what is then? You said what is not, so what is the unforgivable sin? - I'm gonna give a clear answer here in a minute 'cause I actually think it's in the text. We start up to verse short of where I think we get the clear answer. But what I wanna do is also use this as an opportunity to help teach people of how do we read the Bible? And so we do wanna give a clear, easy answer, but I'm also always like, hey, I think the analogy that even John Piper once used is like, hey, I could just give you a meal or I could teach you how to cook and then you can also know how to prepare your own meal. So we are gonna give an answer, but I also wanna say, okay, here's a simple way of how to do this when you get to tough questions like these. There's many principles of being a good Bible reader and interpreter, but two that I think are appropriate here. Number one, we don't read a verse or a couple of verses in isolation in the Bible, but we read them together with other verses. So for example, it does say that whoever blasphemies against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but he is guilty of an eternal sin. And yet Matthew 11, 28, Jesus says, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. John 637 says, whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.

What it doesn't say is, oh, but I guess if you've committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, whoops, and I'm going somewhere with this, but just stick with me. Romans 10, 13 says, for everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. Now those don't invalidate what Jesus also said here, but we gotta read these in conversation with each other. I think this is a really simple way to think about this, is that if it says, whoever comes to me, I will never cast out, what we should not imagine happening is, oh, you commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which we'll talk about what it is again here in just about a minute or two. We're gonna get there, I promise. - Dude, the suspense is just killing us. - You're gonna get to it, is that? - Killing us, killing us. What I don't want people to imagine is, oh, you do that, and then later you feel bad about it, and you come to Jesus, and he's like, too bad, bro, you committed the one sin, I'm not willing to forgive. Instead, I think we got something else going on here. Second, a good key for interpreting scripture is to read it in its entire context. You gave us some of the background, but here's a key part in the, in, in Mark that happens right after. So it says, whoever blasphemes against the Holy spirit never has forgiveness, but as a guilty of an eternal sin, verse 30, four.

And anytime you see a word like that in scripture, you got to like, this is an old cheesy cheesy passer thing, but if you see the word for or therefore it is there for a reason. And so you have to, okay, what is happening here? Whenever you see the word for it is explaining what happened before it. So it says, for they were saying he has an unclean spirit. So right there, we get the answer of what blasphemy of the Holy spirit is. As you had said earlier, um, these scribes were seeing all these miracles that Jesus was doing. And so they say, Hey, you're actually casting out demons by Beelzebel, the Prince of demons, which we see also in the same text is Satan. Cause Jesus is like, dude, are you saying that Satan cast out Satan? Like Jesus is really saying, like, let me get used to this straight. Your logic is, is that Satan is in power me to cast himself out. Why in the world would he do that? Unlike the apostle Paul who says that he acted in ignorance, Jesus is looking at them and saying, Hey guys, you see the truth, but you're so against me that you're willing to attribute what I'm doing, which by the way, the gospel say is done by the power of the Holy spirit. You're willing to say that what I'm doing, which is done by the power of the Holy spirit is actually done by demonic spirits. These guys were so far gone that in order to reject Jesus, they are willing to attribute the work of God to the work of Satan. That is the blasphemy of the Holy spirit. Yeah, go ahead. The blasphemy of the whole spirit, the unforgivable sin is where you make a active and specific and I would say a decisive. It's not just simply saying this out loud flippantly. It is a decisive choice that you declare the person work of Jesus as being demonic in origin.

That's the blasphemy of the Holy spirit. And so here's what I would say is, is we shouldn't imagine again that these people are later going to come and say, I'm sorry. And Jesus is like, Nope, sorry, too bad. Why not? The idea is that they are simply so far gone. Where else did they have the term to that? They think that he is literally evil and that he has satan himself and they're rejecting the Holy spirit's testimony about him. They are so far gone. They're never going to come to him. They're never going. Their hearts are so hard. And again, these specific people, not all Pharisees and scribes were like this. We see in the book of Acts that some scribes and Pharisees and priests came to Jesus. He's talking to a specific group of people. So let's go back to the initial pastoral word that I gave. I said, Hey, if you're worried that you've committed the sin, you actually have nothing to be worried about. And this is why is if you have committed the blasphemy against the Holy spirit and you actually think that Jesus is demonic, you would not care about offending him. The very fact that you're worried that you have committed the sin is evidence that you have not committed this sin. So here's like the only unforgivable sin is unforgiven sin. The only unforgivable sin is unforgiven sin. As you've said earlier, Jesus came and he down the cross in order to forgive us of all of our sins. Why is this the unforgivable sin? Because the people who commit the sin are never going to come to Jesus to have their sins forgiven.

Carlos, does that make sense? It makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. So basically if somebody's like, well, okay, then attributing the work of the Holy spirit to Satan, that is the unforgivable. Say if somebody were to do it in a way that I guess comes from the heart in a way that the heart has hardened, you're saying that that's it. That that heart has it's kind of like a point of no return is what you're saying. Yeah. And there's places in scripture where it talks about how God sometimes hands people over to their sin and he allows them to be hardened in it. I think that's the picture we got to get here is that these particular people were so hardened that they thought that what Jesus was doing was actually by the power of Satan. They're so far gone. They're never ever ever going to come to Jesus for forgiveness. That's why it's unforgivable. He hands them over to their sin and allows them to live in it. That makes sense, man. Now, with this being said, I hope they give some clarity to people. I know we had to wait a few minutes to get there. Again, we did that because I wanted to show people it. We could have just given an easy answer that took us one or two minutes. We wanted to show you how do you actually read the Bible? Well, so even what you were doing, Carlos, when I was asking you, what is it not? You were going to other places in scripture to help us understand that. I can ask you something though, because I feel like some people define it like, oh, it's an ongoing thing against God or against the Holy Spirit. It's an ongoing rebellion against it.

That's why I said decisive. Yeah. So when I said decisive, I mean, it is like, Hey, you have made your stand. You think that Jesus is like, again, not a studio. It's not simply that you don't believe he's a Messiah. You think he's demonic. extreme that it's not that we don't need to be mindful of it at all it's just I hope this helps people understand that your average one of your Christian you're not in danger of having committed this yeah you're not in danger of having committed this and now that being said what's interesting about this Carlos and this we want to kind of go to some pastoral words and pastoral advice because oftentimes I'll get messages about this sin in conjunction with Christians struggling with ongoing sin their lives um in fact I've got I've got a few messages I'm not going to read them word for word but I'll get sometimes get messages on Instagram and Facebook and by the way for those of you who've seen it I'm usually I'm terrible sometimes it responded these in very in very time sensitive ways so Paul's got nothing to do guys I apologize for that I try to prioritize scrolling TikTok every day my family in my church that that I definitely do not do so sorry for anyone who's sent stuff by the way when Paul Skroal's TikTok it's uh it's theology it's like you know old theologians very boring uh speed it's it's guys like Carlos be read by somebody in a university with a PhD or something like that is there something wrong with that nothing wrong with it it's I'm just saying I'm just painting a picture for people who understand when I start to start starting to feel a little ashamed a little convicted there yeah it's a little close to home it's a flex it's a flex all right so I've got some some messages from people um uh I think I've got one on Facebook that go something like this hey pastor Paul hope it's okay to ask this I've been a Christian for a while but I still struggle with sin in so many areas it feels like I make progress for a little bit and then I'm right back in the same patterns it's not just one thing it's all kinds of things um it says I know we're saved by grace but the fact that I keep struggling makes me wonder if I'm really saved at all another person on Instagram sent me a message so this is sorry this is kind of heavy message I've been stuck in the same sin for a long time keep promising God I'll stop but then I fall back into it again I sometimes wonder if I've committed the unforgivable sin so people will be strong with sin thinking okay

like am I actually saved or maybe the fact that I keep struggling with this specific sin or sin in general maybe that's a sign that I've committed the unforgivable sin so like Carlos we've already established that the unforgivable sin isn't this it is literally attributing the work of God and Jesus to the work of Satan but that being said I do think it'd be helpful to help maybe give some counsel to people out there that are strobing when they would in general with sin and lives or maybe it's a specific stronghold in their lives. Carlos what would you say in terms of just any pastoral counsel to someone who may be not using those exact words as those people use but maybe he has that general feeling what are some pastoral words that you'd give to people? Dude first of all to the people that are writing these and I get some of these once in once in a while um let me let me say this uh the I really uh the posture of the heart of these men and women reaching out uh with with this message is something that uh man uh man it's uh the kingdom of God belongs to people with a heart like that let me say what I mean um Psalm 51 17 says the sacrifices of God in other words what God is looking for um are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart oh God you will not despise and I love this so much because again when God sees a heart that is broken and says oh God I need you so much I am so undeserving of you um and there's so much grace it's like the heart of the heart of the Father saying let me just embrace you Isaiah 66 2 says all these things my hand has made and so all these things came to be declares the Lord but this is the one to whom I will look he who is humble in contrite in spirit and trembles at my word basically what I'm seeing when I read these messages that's the fear of God yeah that's the fear of God saying I'm so undeserving of a holy and righteous and good God and so let me start there here's another thing that I would say um this is something that a lot of Christians subtly believe but it is completely false and I'm gonna tell you what I mean the life of a Christian is not marked by never failing it is marked by what happens when you fall amen so this is very practical Proverbs 24 16 the godly may trip seven times but they will get up again so notice that the verse does not say that those who know Jesus they never fall um on the contrary it actually says they fall quite a bit yeah it says that those who do know Jesus they do fall but what makes them different is that they get back up and they keep their eyes fixed on Jesus um and they keep learning from Jesus they keep walking with Jesus they're not putting their faith in their own capacity they're putting their faith ultimately in the power of the Holy Spirit working through them so when you read something like this you need to understand this is not a license to sin this is power to overcome your sin so especially if you're struggling with

one specific habit or something that's a hidden habit or something that's keeping you stuck in your walk with Jesus you feel like you keep stumbling over the same thing um you need to understand that the disciple the the life of a disciple that journey may look like a series of falling down and getting back up yeah falling down and getting back up but as you keep doing that you need to understand that God is working inside of you and shaping you to become more like Jesus. Again, if some perhaps today, or you said, "God, I'm not gonna do this again." And you just stumble one more time. Okay, you fell by the grace and the power of God in your life and the Holy Spirit working within you, you get up and you keep walking. And let me tell you why, and you alluded to this before, Paul, Jesus is better at rescuing and restoring you than you are at sinning and falling. You need to ask God, "God, would you give me the bold faith to believe that the grace of Jesus is stronger than the power of sin in my life?" - Yeah, a couple of things really now, if you got more to continue, I just wanted to double click on a few things you said. What we're not saying is that you should have an attitude of, "Oh, I don't care, I'm gonna keep doing whatever I want." That's not what we're talking about here whatsoever. The point is, is that man, when you do fall down, you do feel a sense of good godly guilt that then motivates you to run to Jesus, and then you get back up and you keep moving forward. And just that practical thing I'll tell people is,

when you're living with your own sin and with your own junk, you usually can't see the progress you're making day by day, but others actually might see it, 'cause you have to live with it every day, you don't see it. Others do. I got to experience this in a practical way, not with sin, but just with like my body weight. I think like 15 years ago, my first year of marriage, Carlos, I gained like 60 pounds. It was just really busy, really unhealthy. No, it was not that whatsoever, unless that muscle was fossilized fat. That was not the case though, man. I gained a lot of weight in a little time in about a year, and part of that is, by the way, I didn't notice it. It just kind of crept up and crept up and crept up. So by the way, the opposite can be true too. But then I remember I watched a video of myself and I was like, "Oh my goodness, I've gained so much weight." And so then we did a fitness competition for the staff on our church, and I lost 65 pounds in 80 days. It was nuts. And by the way, for the low price of $20, I can tell you how. Now I'm joking, this is not an advertisement for that. Although I'm sure now I'm going to get messages of asking people like, "No, but really, how'd you do that?" - I'm sure they will.

- Another message for another time. But here's what's interesting is, I lost a lot of weight and even less time that I gained it. But I'm going to tell you though, I really couldn't see it day by day. I couldn't see it. It still felt like on day 20 or 30, when I think at that point, I was dropping five pounds a week. So at that point, I was probably about 15 to 20 pounds down. Like I didn't see it 'cause you're living with, I was living myself every day. And so usually it was snapshots of pictures over time. Or people come up like, "Dude, you've lost so much weight in the last couple of weeks." The reason I'm just saying this for encouragement is sometimes the reason people feel the way that they felt and those messages I read is because you live with yourself every day and you don't see it. So I will say, this is part of why it's important to be in community, because other people might be able to say, "Hey, actually dude, I've seen a lot of progress in you." So just keep going, I want to double click on this thing. - No, no, no, that's what I got. - All right, here's a few things I'd say. And really, this is a different way of saying what you already said. I always do four things, I give these four things.

Number one, I think people need to have a realistic understanding of what the Christian life is and what following Jesus is. I love the show, don't watch this much anymore, but I used to love the show Fixer Upper or any kind of show that's like that where you take a Fixer Upper house and then they buy it and they fix it up and it looks so much better and it blows people's minds. - Well, here's the idea is that the first thing I would tell you is this is they don't fix the home up first before they buy it. Instead, the people buying it know what they're getting into. So just know that Jesus knew every sin that you had ever commit before you even lived and he died on the cross for it. - Oh, that's so good. - He knew what he was getting into when he purchased you on the cross. So that's the first thing I would say. - And he still did. - And he still did. And number two with that is he realized, hey, he was purchasing a Fixer Upper. Now you're not a project to him, your person he loves, right? But I was like, he knew that there was a work he wanted to do that started the day you were saved and it's not gonna be complete until the day you either go to heaven or the day that Jesus comes back to earth. There's that scene at the end of Fixer Upper is where they like peel back this thing

and the couple, how's they get to see it? And there's this like, wow, transformation moment. That's not gonna happen until literally the day we die of the day Jesus comes back. And in between then. - Move that button. (laughing) - And in between then, guess what? You're a work in progress and I am too. And there's times where like I imagine in the show Fixer Upper, like usually we see snapshots. I'm guessing if you went day after day, it doesn't feel like a lot of work is being done, but it is slowly, but surely, but man, that is the Christian life until the day we die. And what I love in that analogy is that there's almost in every episode, there's a time in the middle episode where we're like, oh, wow, we found something new. We didn't even realize it was there before. Now Jesus did, but guess who didn't, you. So there's gonna be things in our Christian walk where, hey, there's gonna be stuff, he's an earth thing. And he's not doing that to shame us. He's actually doing that to fix us and to make us who he saved and created us to be. So number one, we just have a realistic picture of, guess what, the rest of our lives is gonna be Jesus working on us because he loves us. Number two, I think I'd say,

focus as much if not more on your Savior The point is not simply not to sin. The point is that you would actually fall more in love with your Savior with Jesus Christ. I remember reading this book called Future Grace by John Piper, and I didn't make it past the first page of the introduction, the first time I read it, and it's because I read this line where he said, "Sin is what you do when you're not satisfied with God." I read that line, Carlos, and I was like, "I'm done, I'm done for the rest of the day." Because it's not simply about me not sinning. It's actually about me delighting in and loving my Savior and my God. Maybe let's use an analogy for like this. In my relationship with my wife, it'd probably be a better use of my time to focus on falling in love with her than simply not cheating on her. Because I could not cheat on her, but that doesn't mean I'm in love with her. Meanwhile, if I focus on simply falling more deeply in love with her, I am actually still walling myself against cheating on her. It doesn't mean by the way I shouldn't take precautions against doing that. It just means that I cannot do certain things, but it doesn't mean I have an act of love for my wife. It makes sense. And every person that's been in love or married or in a healthy, godly relationship, they'll tell you this. When you do fall in love with somebody, you change. Yes. You do what it takes. You fight for your family. You fight for your marriage. You change. But again, not because you're trying to avoid something, because you're pursuing someone. That leaves great in my next question, and I was going to ask you this. I got two more things, but the next one's going to be a question.

Are you truly willing to do whatever it takes to kill your sin? So on the one hand, do focus more on your savor than your sin, but you get this idea in Scripture that we should be actively killing our sins. I forget now what the Puritan was going to kill me because it can come to me later. I can't believe it. You can't remember that. I can't believe it, but he said be killing sin or sin will be killing you. And even Jesus at one point basically said, man, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Now he was using hyperbole there. I don't think people should actually go and do that. But the point is, it's like, I'll talk to guys. I'll just be real about this. Guys who maybe have like. Dude, it was John Owen. Yeah. John, come on. See, it's early. I'm going to give you a pass. I hope that was. Well, I know that wasn't the unforgivable sin, but it kind of feels like that when I'm in that moment. I can't believe I didn't remember that. That was a John Owen boat. Isn't he Dutch? No. I thought. What is it? It's not. I think Henry, no way.

Henry knew one. Yeah. He's Dutch. Right. Yeah, but he wasn't a Puritan. Okay. Anyways, we're getting really theological. I felt the whole judgmental belt. Okay. I need to repent. Oh, yeah. Again, there's more grace in Jesus in their sin. Anyways, the point is is that Jesus was using hyperbole to say, Hey, do whatever it takes you rid of your sin. And so I'll often talk to guys sometimes who frankly you're dealing with loss and looking at stuff on their phones and they're looking at stuff on the computers. And I'll look at them and say, Hey, would you be willing to give up your smartphone in order to kill this one some for all? Now, I'm not saying this what everyone should do, but I'm basically, I just sometimes asked the question the first time I meet with them really to say, Hey, are you truly willing to do whatever it takes to master and kill whatever the particular sin you're struggling with this? A final thing I would say is this is just some practical counsel. The most powerful sin in your life is probably the one you haven't confessed yet. I'll say that again, the most powerful sin in your life is probably the one you haven't confessed yet. It might be to God because you're living in shame. And I would just tell you right now, again, Jesus knew what he was signing up for you and then when he was signing up for when he died for you, he saw every sin you'd ever commit.

And so he actually, this sounds bad, but he expects worse of you than you do from yourself. He saw all your failures and flaws and he died for you anyways. And so some of it might be that when you sin, you're like, Oh, I can't reveal this to God. I can confess it. He already knows the best thing you could do is to confess it to him. Psalm 51, what you said earlier. And I'd also say is this also means confessing it to others. And I don't mean the inertia. If you've done something to them, I just mean that you're only as sick as your secrets. I heard Pastor Chris Hodges say that yesterday. You're only as sick as your secrets. Also, I've heard this before, the devil plays in darkness. In my experience, the sins that have the strongest stronghold on my life are the ones that other people don't know about. And so just as a practical admonition is that if you're struggling with a particular sin, I would encourage you, if you don't have it yet, find some community that you can be honest about that. And that's they can affirm you in your sin, but they can help you conquer your sin by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. That's great, man. Last word, man. Let me just wrap with this. You know, just first of all, everything you just heard is great, Paul. You know, I think if somebody's like, man, it feels like, it feels like a sin strongly in my life. And what do I do with it? So let me just read the verse here. Second Corinthians 10, three to five says, for though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war. That's important.

We are not waging war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy what strongholds we have divine. destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. So as you do everything that Paul just said, you need to understand warfare, the spiritual warfare that you're in, to demolish a sin stronghold starts in the Battle of your mind. And so super quick, here's what you need to do as well, if you're wrestling with a specific sin or a stronghold in your life, you need to identify, because this warfare happens primarily in the Battle of your mind, you need to identify the lie that you're believing. So perhaps it could be, man, I am too far gone from the grace and forgiveness of Jesus. I'm too stuck in my sin. I don't think I have that God's done with me at this point. That right there, that's a lie, you have to identify the lie number two, you got to replace it with what is true. What is true in this case, if that is the lie, Romans chapter eight says, therefore, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, that is who you are, you are a son and a daughter of God. That is what's true. Number three, you need divine power. The verse says that what destroys stronghold is not, try really hard, or, you know, find the next hack or whatever, or listen to the other podcast and that's going to help you. It says, you need divine power to destroy a stronghold in your life, you need the power of the Holy Spirit working through you. The grace of Jesus is stronger than the power of sin in your life. And number four, I just want to emphasize what you said, Paul, now you need to be surrounded by community. If you read this verse on how to demolish a stronghold in your life, it says we are waging war. We

destroy arguments. We take every thought captive. Most Christians are trying to destroy a sin stronger in their life by saying, I, I'm trying, I'm working really hard, or, you know, and so who do you have around you that's helping you? Who are you fighting with? Who's the we that you can say, man, we are praying for each other. And we are holding each other accountable. And we are, whenever I'm weak, somebody, I got somebody to lift my hands up and help me with this. So, again, you need the power of God inside of you, but you also need the people of God around you. It's good. That is so good. I think it'd be good for us to pray for people right now. Was Pastor Paul, would you please pray for us? We'll do. Oh, God, we, we thank you for your word and how amazing he is God. We thank you for the clarity can give us and what I want to do to pray for people maybe who up to today were so concerned that they committed the unforgivable sin. God, I want to pray for those people that, that now that we've shown what the Bible says, Lord, they don't have to live in fear for that, of that. God, I do pray that you would do a powerful work in people's lives who have come to know you. So many of us, Lord, so many people struggling with guilt and condemnation, like they can't live up to a standard, help them to remember you came and you live the perfect life they couldn't live and you lived up to that standard for them. But I do pray now of Holy Spirit that you would work a powerful work of transformation in people's lives. That Lord, that they would become more and more of what you created and saved them to be Lord by the power of your Holy Spirit and by good Christian community. May you tear down the strongholds that are in our lives so that we became more of what you created and saved us to be. It is your name

and pray. Amen. Amen. The free brother, the free. Well, hey, thanks so much for listening. Lake Point Church is a movement for all people's in no Christ, live free and change the world for God's glory. If you're already a member of a local church, we want you giving there. But if you'd like to make a donation to help this message go further faster, it genuinely helps us boost getting out to more people. If you'd like to make a donation, you can text the word give to the number 20411 and then just choose church online from that drop down menu. To find out more about Lake Point, you can visit lakepoint.church. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] You