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Jesus says that every sin will be
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forgiven or can be forgiven except
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one blasphemy of the holy spirit that is
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the sin which will never be
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forgiven now Jesus says this I mean our
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earlier Source will be Mark chapter
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3 speaking to the Pharisees and the
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Pharisees accuse Jesus of being demonic
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they say that the reason he's able to
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cast out demons of people is because he
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is is a demon himself he is Satan
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whatever it is and Jesus says how can
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this be the case A House Divided cannot
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stand you know if if I'm a demon I can't
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be casting out demons but then then he
00:00:44
goes on to say that all sins can be
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forgiven but blasphemy of the holy
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spirit will not and cannot be forgiven I
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provide the context there because I'm
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told that it's quite important this is
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enough to send a shiver down your spine
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Jesus saying if you do this thing you
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will not be forgiven I've heard stories
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of Christians who sort of are up at
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night in cold sweat thinking have I
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blasphemed the Holy Spirit when I made
00:01:07
that joke at Christmas about bringing in
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The Holy Spirits was that oh my God you
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know what is blaspheming the Holy Spirit
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and why is it
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unforgivable blaspheming the Holy Spirit
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I would relate to Romans chapter 1 when
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Paul talks about how eventually God gave
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them over to their own desires so
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blasphemy of the holy spirit is not I'm
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driving
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down the Merit and all of a sudden I get
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into this incredible road rage and I
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curse at somebody or I curse at God and
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that those the last words on my lips and
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I die in this road rage so it's a sin
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I'm committing at the end of my life so
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obviously it's going to send me to hell
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no has nothing to do with that blasphemy
00:01:48
of the holy spirit is deciding on my own
00:01:52
my own valion it's like pharaoh to be
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honest that's another example of
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hardening my own heart and then
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eventually God hardens my heart so it's
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I'm going to live any old way I want to
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Romans chapter 1 and then God gives me
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over to my own
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desires and so it's it's not a specific
00:02:12
act it's instead it's grieving the Holy
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Spirit living in line with the flesh not
00:02:20
the spirit because if you're living in
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line with the genuine Spirit you're
00:02:24
growing out the fruits of the spirit
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Galatians 5:22 love joy peace patience
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kindness goodness faithfulness gentl
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self-control and T anical kind of way
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it's always shown as fruit so you're
00:02:31
supposed to be growing in these areas so
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blaspheming against the holy spirit is
00:02:34
the only unforgivable sin is back to
00:02:36
your original question can I just ask
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for forgiveness at the end of my life
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and God you'll just grant me my wish to
00:02:42
go into heaven Kira nightly live any old
00:02:45
way you want it's so easy for Christians
00:02:47
because then at the end of their lives
00:02:48
they can just say God forgive me no Kira
00:02:51
I love Pirates of the Caribbean but no
00:02:53
Kira that's completely wrong blasphemy
00:02:55
of the holy spirit is God I'm playing a
00:02:57
dirty trick with you I I think you'll
00:03:00
forgive me no matter what so I'm going
00:03:01
to live any old kind of way that I want
00:03:04
and then eventually God gives you over
00:03:06
to those
00:03:07
desires now the the thing that really
00:03:10
strikes me about this is
00:03:13
unforgivable like forgiveness is
00:03:15
something that is done retrospectively
00:03:18
for something that's already been done
00:03:21
and now regretted and apologized for so
00:03:24
I understand the idea that like there
00:03:27
are people who become so consumed with
00:03:30
their own desires that their hearts are
00:03:31
hardened mhm that maybe for some reason
00:03:35
God then like reinforces that by extra
00:03:37
hardening their heart or whatever but
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like locking it in somehow as if to say
00:03:41
that I mean what does it mean for it to
00:03:43
be unforgivable it means that if that
00:03:44
person does that they live that way I
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mean suppose I've been thinking to
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myself like well I'm not sure if I
00:03:49
should really be living this way but I'm
00:03:51
sure that one day I'll have a religious
00:03:52
experience and I can know I'm sure God
00:03:54
will forgive me and it'll be okay I'm
00:03:57
starting to live like that right I'm
00:03:58
starting to do that and then one day I
00:04:01
what was I thinking this is this is this
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is terrible I I I should never have done
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that I'm really sorry about it well
00:04:09
tough luck you can't be forgiven you
00:04:10
don't have to worry about that blasphemy
00:04:13
against the holy spirit means I have
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played so many games with God that I've
00:04:17
reached the point where my heart is so
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hard I never hear the voice of God I am
00:04:24
not sorry for the wrong that I've
00:04:26
done therefore the only people who
00:04:29
blasphemed the Holy Spirit are those who
00:04:30
could give a rip they're totally
00:04:32
unconcerned because they're totally dead
00:04:34
towards God in their Spirit Pharaoh six
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times hardened his heart then we read
00:04:41
the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart well
00:04:43
you take the first six times out and
00:04:45
you're thinking what the Lord hardened
00:04:46
Pharaoh's heart what does that mean no
00:04:48
Pharaoh hardened his heart and I can do
00:04:51
that we all can do that but if a person
00:04:54
has any desire at all to say Lord
00:04:56
forgive me of course the Lord forgives
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them it's only those who have no desire
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to ask for forgiveness who have possibly
00:05:03
committed that sin so so why does God
00:05:06
then Harden the ph's heart right his
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heart he's already hardening his heart
00:05:09
why is it that God does this extra thing
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I'm now going to harden your heart as if
00:05:13
like the imagery I'm getting there if
00:05:14
this is indeed what something like
00:05:16
blaspheming the holy spirit is and
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becomes the unforgivable sin it's almost
00:05:19
like God himself is like locking that in
00:05:21
it's like well Pharaoh's been hardening
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his heart he's been you know rejecting
00:05:24
God's advances and so God says okay I'm
00:05:26
going to grab you by a hold of the heart
00:05:27
and I'm going to sort of switch off this
00:05:29
possibility for you you as if God is
00:05:31
like doing that to Pharaoh right no he's
00:05:34
not doing that to Pharaoh it's it's more
00:05:35
a statement that Pharaoh you have
00:05:37
hardened your heart so much that you are
00:05:39
now shutting yourself off from me no the
00:05:43
offer of Christ the offer of God for
00:05:45
forgiveness is always open to every
00:05:47
single human being and there are
00:05:49
countless illustrations of the grace of
00:05:51
God working with some of the biggest
00:05:52
wretches on Earth so we don't have to
00:05:55
worry about that but is it impossible in
00:05:58
principle for somebody to have once
00:06:01
blasphemed the Holy Spirit and then
00:06:03
regret it yeah that's that's not going
00:06:06
to happen because when you blashe the
00:06:08
Holy Spirit you don't have the ability
00:06:10
to repent you don't have the ability to
00:06:12
be sensitive towards God because you are
00:06:14
so hardened so separated from
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God there's no hope for you that that
00:06:19
sort of seems to make it worse to me
00:06:21
it's like oh whatever I may have done
00:06:23
because this the thing is that that you
00:06:24
might say well well look you're you
00:06:26
hardened your heart you did this you
00:06:27
turned yourself away from CH and so so
00:06:29
now you're in a state where you can't
00:06:31
even possibly come to repentance and I
00:06:35
would say but that seems a little unfair
00:06:37
you know so well it's your fault you did
00:06:38
it but the whole point of Christianity
00:06:39
is that like well yeah you did this yeah
00:06:41
you did that you did that for years but
00:06:42
I'm still going to forgive you as long
00:06:43
as you regret it but you're telling me
00:06:44
that there's something a person can do
00:06:47
that makes it such that it is literally
00:06:49
impossible for them even to want to
00:06:52
repent you know let alone being forgiven
00:06:55
for it that that seems like really
00:06:57
difficult to square with the with the
00:06:59
sort of eternally forgiving God you know
00:07:00
like we're talking about something
00:07:01
that's unforgivable when you say well if
00:07:03
somebody dies in a state where their
00:07:05
where their heart is hardened to God
00:07:07
that's true of any sin if you die in in
00:07:09
sin without repentance you know you're
00:07:11
not going to be entered into the you're
00:07:12
not going to enter into the Kingdom of
00:07:13
Heaven to say that this is
00:07:17
unforgivable and you're you're telling
00:07:19
me now something like well they've done
00:07:21
something to the extent that now it does
00:07:23
not matter what they do they will never
00:07:26
be able to repent it's a full LIF style
00:07:29
though just like in Matthew 25 when
00:07:31
Jesus is talking about the sheep and the
00:07:33
goats he's saying I never knew you
00:07:35
depart from me uhh I never knew you
00:07:38
depart from me the Pharisees shiny on
00:07:41
the outside with the cup y but
00:07:43
completely rotten on the inside their
00:07:45
father's the devil okay that's blasphemy
00:07:49
as the Holy Spirit where it's a
00:07:50
hypocritical hypocritical lifestyle all
00:07:53
life long but there's no way that those
00:07:55
Pharisees could ever have snapped out of
00:07:57
it and been like I don't know what I was
00:08:00
thinking I was wrong I regret it I'm
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sorry Lord no Jesus wouldn't forgive
00:08:05
them we may disagree on this point but
00:08:07
Pharaoh I think God judges Pharaoh I
00:08:09
think it was Pharaoh's Free Will at
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first but then I think judgment came and
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thank heaven it came Pharaoh is a nasty
00:08:14
brutish guy was he not so so Judgment
00:08:18
Day I'm looking forward to because I
00:08:19
think I think judgment needs to happen
00:08:21
um at the same time I'm not looking
00:08:22
forward to it because I realize I've
00:08:23
done wrong but so so for me it's yes God
00:08:27
eventually judges but I I think you keep
00:08:29
taking blaspheming as the holy spirit is
00:08:31
like a one-time thing because you you
00:08:32
started off this way you started off
00:08:34
making it sound like you're at a
00:08:35
Christmas party and all of a sudden you
00:08:37
said the wrong thing against the Holy
00:08:38
Spirit you're going to hell well that's
00:08:39
radically different from what we're
00:08:41
talking about we know it's not that
00:08:43
right but but I think there are things
00:08:44
that you can do I mean all kinds of you
00:08:45
could be in a in an adulterous Affair
00:08:49
for 10 years it's something you do over
00:08:50
10 years and then on you know the very
00:08:54
next day you could suddenly realize it
00:08:56
was wrong suddenly repent of it and if
00:08:58
as long as you're genuine you're
00:09:00
forgiven mhm you're telling me that
00:09:02
there's something people can
00:09:03
do not asking for
00:09:06
forgiveness but like that's I mean yeah
00:09:09
you don't if if I steal your wallet and
00:09:11
you say Cliff I offer to forgive you and
00:09:13
I say forgive me for what I haven't done
00:09:14
anything wrong oh no Cliff you stole my
00:09:16
wallet well so what yeah so so then I
00:09:18
say that what you're doing there is
00:09:19
unforgivable right I I'm not going to
00:09:22
forgive you for what you're doing right
00:09:23
now and so then tomorrow when you come
00:09:24
to me and say you know yesterday when I
00:09:26
was sort of like refusing to even
00:09:28
acknowledge I I I I was wrong I'm sorry
00:09:30
about that and I say hey man I already
00:09:31
told you I'm not forgiving you for that
00:09:33
Christ will always forgive the person
00:09:35
who is repentant blasphemy against the
00:09:37
holy spirit is an unrepentant hardened
00:09:40
heart there's no need there there's no
00:09:43
understanding of my need for forgiveness
00:09:45
and once you get into that state there's
00:09:47
no possibility for Redemption
00:09:50
correct so like I mean what are you
00:09:53
imagining like how old is a person in
00:09:54
this day like how long does it take what
00:09:56
do they have to do you know we don't
00:09:57
have the finest idea because because
00:09:59
people are or what they've done we don't
00:10:01
know that's between them and God I find
00:10:03
that so so difficult like it it's sure
00:10:05
it's difficult
00:10:07
unforgivable cuz they're not asking for
00:10:09
forgiveness correct you cannot be
00:10:12
forgiven unless you ask for forgiveness
00:10:13
you humble yourself something it's
00:10:14
unforgivable to not ask for
00:10:17
forgiveness the the problem is there's
00:10:19
sort of two levels here right there's
00:10:20
like there's not asking for forgiveness
00:10:22
which of course you can't be forgiven if
00:10:24
you don't ask for forgiveness but we're
00:10:26
saying here now it's not you can't be
00:10:28
forgiven if you don't ask for
00:10:29
forgiveness it's you can't be forgiven
00:10:31
for the state of not asking for
00:10:34
forgiveness if not asking if blaspheming
00:10:36
the holy spirit is something like not
00:10:37
asking for forgiveness to say that
00:10:39
blasphemy of the holy spirit is
00:10:40
unforgivable is not to say that when you
00:10:42
blaspheme the Holy Spirit you know you
00:10:46
like you you're not going like okay
00:10:49
you're not being forgiven right now
00:10:52
because you're not apologizing it's one
00:10:55
thing to say you're not being forgiven
00:10:56
for not apologizing it's another thing
00:10:57
to say that you will not be forgiven
00:11:00
like full stop ever for the fact that
00:11:02
right now you're Unforgiven you see what
00:11:04
I'm saying the only person who's
00:11:07
committed that sin could care less M God
00:11:10
is irrelevant God is not part of the
00:11:12
equation my sin is not part of the
00:11:14
equation I'm totally shut off it's a
00:11:17
lifestyle not a one-time thing right CU
00:11:19
it sounds like you keep taking it back
00:11:20
to a one-time thing but we're saying
00:11:22
it's a full
00:11:24
lifestyle sure age of accountability you
00:11:27
bring in 12 years old
00:11:29
so after 12 maybe but it's the sheep and
00:11:31
the goats Matthew 25 I understand it's a
00:11:33
terrifying passage we've had some
00:11:35
students come to us crying I I get it we
00:11:37
need safe spaces for them but I think
00:11:40
for us it's a matter
00:11:42
of what are your motives when I am
00:11:46
sitting in an Uber with an Hindu going
00:11:48
to a temple with a Hindu and sitting in
00:11:50
an Uber with a Muslim I hear very
00:11:52
similar things when it comes to I have
00:11:54
to do X Y and Z to get out of this cast
00:11:57
in order to get out of a certain cycle I
00:11:59
have to to do X Y and Z for my heart to
00:12:00
be lighter than a feather to get to
00:12:02
Paradise it's all me me me I have to do
00:12:04
these things versus I'm doing these
00:12:07
things but what is my true motive
00:12:09
motives don't matter here with these two
00:12:11
it's just you have to do good things
00:12:13
here it's a heart motive in the sense of
00:12:15
who am I doing it for why am I doing it
00:12:18
God am I genuine in my relationship with
00:12:20
you am I genuinely loving you am I
00:12:22
genuinely loving others or is this
00:12:24
simply just a a sick game where it's a
00:12:26
hypocritical lifestyle and I think we
00:12:28
all know let's real I think we all know
00:12:30
when we're living in a hypocritical kind
00:12:32
of way and the answer is if you if you
00:12:34
do that for long
00:12:36
enough then you just enter into a state
00:12:40
where now for the rest of your life no
00:12:43
matter what you do no not no matter what
00:12:46
you do if you repent you'll be forgiven
00:12:48
but these people can't repent right
00:12:50
because they blasphemed the holy spirit
00:12:52
it's impossible for them to repent they
00:12:54
have so hardened their hearts that they
00:12:55
have no interest in repenting if you
00:12:58
have a slight interest in repenting
00:13:00
Christ will forgive
00:13:01
you do you think it's possible to be in
00:13:04
a state where you have no interest in
00:13:05
Repentance for 10 years and then the
00:13:08
11th year regain it somehow good sure
00:13:12
that happens to many people yeah so they
00:13:14
those people didn't blashe the holy
00:13:16
spirit for 10 years
00:13:18
and they were Sinners but they chose to
00:13:21
repent and that's that's well that's a
00:13:22
thief on the cross the thief on the
00:13:25
cross just remember him yeah I mean I
00:13:28
must admit it's one of the most
00:13:29
theological theologically troubling
00:13:31
things I mean there's there's troubling
00:13:32
and then there's troubling right like I
00:13:34
find the Old Testament passages M
00:13:37
troubling they're kind of they're kind
00:13:39
of gave it away can't be you know I'm oh
00:13:42
this seems immoral this seems wrong
00:13:44
right uh but maybe it fits in maybe
00:13:46
maybe that was just fine maybe whatever
00:13:48
you know um know the women verses I find
00:13:51
those challenging yeah but maybe you
00:13:53
know maybe women shouldn't speak in
00:13:54
church maybe that's just true fine but
00:13:56
with this the blasphemy of the holy
00:13:58
spirit it's not just because I think
00:13:59
it's like oh that's really immoral or
00:14:01
that's kind of evil I I just firstly I
00:14:03
don't really understand what it means
00:14:04
and secondly it seems just like so it's
00:14:07
it's the reason it sends a shiver down
00:14:08
your spine is because it seems so out of
00:14:09
character for Jesus you know it's like
00:14:12
you know come to me child and forgive
00:14:14
and go into no more you will never be
00:14:16
forgiven out of and you whoa you know
00:14:18
what are you talking about and so I I
00:14:20
must say that of all the things we've
00:14:21
spoken about so far it's been the it's
00:14:24
it's it's the most theologically
00:14:25
challenging to me watch the full
00:14:27
conversation with cliff and Stuart by
00:14:28
clicking the link on your screen to get
00:14:30
Early Access add free to videos support
00:14:32
the channel by subscribing to my
00:14:34
substack at alexo con.com thanks for
00:14:37
watching and I'll see you in the next
00:14:38
one