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

- 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. - Jesus is better at rescuing and restoring you than you are at sinning and falling out. - 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, a live free nation. Before we jump into the episode, this podcast is recorded right here at Lake Point Church in Dallas, Texas. But the live free nation is straddle 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 live free podcast. This is a bonus episode. My name is Carlos Arazo and I'm here today with the one and only the unique epistle chat G Paul C. Paul Coneyham, what's going on, man? - It's good to be back with you, man. I think some people were worried that we were not gonna be friends after last week, special Q&A on magic and movies and stuff like that. - 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 all dude, that was tame. - It was so tough. - Compared to sometimes how you and I can be. But anyways, we're still friends. So brothers and Christ. - Hey, you know, for the most part. - Whoa, I'm just kidding, I'm kidding. - But just for people who maybe just get-- - 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 year, man. But hey, a couple of things with that. - What did you say? Good licks, like good shots or 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 kinda doing a test drive right now, four weeks of Carlos and I doing some midweek Q&A. 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 gonna be long. Like that last week was like an hour 'cause it's very nuanced and people can lay in on different spots on it. Somebody was right and the other person was wrong. - Exactly, we won't say which was which. Other episodes like this one are gonna 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 ask them. - That's right, man. 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 wanna 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 comments 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 comments section. So here's what we're going today. Paul, the Bible says that every sin can be forgiven, except one. - Oh crap. - So, question for today is, what is the unforgivable sin? And what does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? That's what we're gonna be asking. - Okay, good. - So here's what we're gonna go real quick. So we're gonna go three things, the unforgivable sin is not. We're gonna be, Jesus is using the term here, blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. We're gonna be answering, what exactly does that even mean? We're gonna transition to a couple of questions that we're submitting and send our way regarding people asking about some of the personal struggles and how this applies to this particular question. And we're gonna be addressing, how to address a sin stronghold in your life. And we're gonna be wrapping with pastoral thoughts. So, it'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 want to read, have you read the one in Mark? Man, I get this question a lot. I think we did a briefing on a podcast before on it, but that's because we get this question a whole lot as 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 so therefore they're lost? And I want to go ahead and give a quick passable. 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. You'd be like, well, I would like to know which sin that is. But that being said, I'm gonna go ahead and give some counsel because we're gonna get to pastoral worth 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? - Yeah, so it's interesting, Paul. Actually, there are three gospels that tell this story, the same one and it's Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And so I'm gonna 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 immune demon assessment. And at that point, the crowds are looking at it and they're amazed and they're starting asking questions like, man, could this be the son of David? Could this be the Messiah? But then the Pharisees are also there in the crowd. And the Pharisees in the scribes they accuse Jesus of casting out demons by Bielsabaab. When they see Jesus do this, Bielsabaab 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, the 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, those are still sins. And they are not things we should do. But some people think, oh, maybe that's the unforgivable sin. It's a really big bad sin. Why would that not be the case? Why is that not with the unforgivable sin? - 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 Mark. Let me just read Matthew, Matthew 12.31. 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 grace is 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. - Yeah, we're not saying you should go and do these things. - These are terrible sins, but what's interesting too, do you know who else blasphemed? - I think I know who you're talking about. - The Apostle Paul. 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 point on quote, some of the quote on quote, worse sinners, or worse 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 trustworthy is evering a fool, except 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, 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 Spurge and Charles Spurge and great British preacher from 1800s who gave this analogy. It's 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 in New and so he gives us analogy. It's almost like, imagine taking a cup and taking it to a river and filling up that cup. Your cup is full of grace, but the river has no idea that any water is missing. That's how much grace there is. Jesus. - That's all right. So Jesus is grace is more than enough for forgiveness of any sins, including the really, really bad sins. That's one thing. That the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is not 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 unforgettable sin Although it matters by the way, yes, 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 the this this one also happens with especially with unbelievers And I know this because I remember even growing up with my non-Christian friends It 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 2 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 oh around 3,000 people were saved and so again Those are sins. Yes 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 Love that you pointed out the very people who falsely attributed something about the Holy Spirit with the people who were versus later saved by the Holy Spirit 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 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 For many years that they're alive they oppose 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 even of somebody who Followed Jesus closely and failed mysteriously 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 If that's a huge deal kind of a video Peter knowingly spoke falsely about Jesus. He's like. I got nothing to do with Jesus He 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 general person generally responds positively and that's on average so there it could be many more So that means that there were at least six times if not more where initially they rejected Christ were different to him And so again, we're not saying that anyone who's a Christ that's not a bad thing We're saying that that is not unforgivable because of unforgivable because otherwise It's like well, you had your one chance and again and you blew it. That's that's not the case here. That's not the case here Okay, so Paul yeah, 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 because I actually think it's in the text We we start up to verse short of where I think we get the clear answer But what I want to do is also use this as an opportunity to help teach people of how do we read the Bible? And so we do want to 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 learn how to prepare your own meal So we are going to give an answer But also when we say like hey, here's a simple way of how to do this when you get to tough questions like these To there's many principles of being a good Bible reader interpreter, but two that I think are appropriate here Number one, we don't read a verse or a couple 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 6 37 says whoever comes to me, I will never cast out what it doesn't say is all out But I guess if you've committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit Oh, whoops, and I'm going somewhere with this, but just stick with me Romans 13 says for everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved Now that was don't invalidate what Jesus also said here But we got to 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 just about a minute or two. We're going to get there. I promise Through this suspense. It's just you gotta get to it as a killing us killing us Well, 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 oh too bad, bro You committed the one sin. I'm not willing to forgive you messed up We shouldn't imagine people coming to God and begging for forgiveness than him saying no 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 is guilty of an eternal sin verse 30 Four and anytime you see a word like that in scripture you gotta like this is an old cheesy cheesy pastor thing, but if you see the word Four or therefore it is therefore a reason and so you have to okay, what is happening here whenever you see the word four 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 These scribes were seeing all these miracles that Jesus was doing and so they say Hey, you're actually casting out demons by be eligible the Prince of demons which we see also in the same text is Satan Because Jesus is like dude. Are you saying that Satan cast out Satan like Jesus is really saying like so let me get you to the straight Your logic is is that Satan has empowered 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 he is done by the power of the Holy Spirit You're willing to say that what I'm that what I'm doing Which is done by the power of the Holy Spirit is actually done by demonic spheres 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 The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit the unforgivable sin is where you make a Active and specific and I would say a decisive. It's not just 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 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 like nope. Sorry too bad. Why not the idea is that they are simply So far gone. Where else did they have the turn to that they think that he is literally evil and that he is 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 to come. They're hearts are so hard And again these specific people and not all Pharisees and scribes were like this We've seen the book of Acts that some scribes and Pharisees and priests came to Jesus He's talking to a specific group of people So now 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 affinding 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 and ordered 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? Because does that make sense? It makes sense. Yeah, so basically if somebody's like well Okay, then attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan that is the unforgivable sin 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. It's 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 about 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 the 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? Yeah, yeah to help us understand that Can I ask you something? Yeah, please do 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. Yeah, that's why I said decisive. Yeah When I said decisive, I mean it is like hey you have made your stand you think that Jesus is like again Not they see you don't it's not simply that you don't believe he's a Messiah you think he's demonic you think Jesus is satanic. And I hope you eat when people hear that it's so specific. That is so specific and that is so extreme that it's not that we don't need to be mindful of it at all. It's just so I hope this helps people understand that your average one or your Christian, you're not in danger of having committed this. You're not in danger of having committed this. Now that being said, what's interesting about this Carlos, and this we want to go to some pastoral words and pastoral advice because oftentimes I'll get messages about this and in conjunction with Christians struggling with ongoing sin their lives. In fact, I've got a few messages, I'm not going to read them word for word, but I'll sometimes get messages on Instagram and Facebook. And by the way, for those of you who've sinned it, I'm usually I'm terrible sometimes it responded these in very in very time sensitive way. So it's not going to do guys. I apologize for that. I try to probably just scrolling TikTok every day in my church that I definitely do not do. So sorry for anyone who's sin stuff. By the way, when Paul scrolls TikTok, it's it's theology. It's like, you know, all theologians very boring. It's it's it's got like Carlos John Edward, you know, transcripts being 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 to understand what I just wrote. I started to feel a little ashamed and a little convicted there. It's a flex. It's a flex. All right. So I've got some some messages from people. I think I've got one on Facebook that goes something like this. Hey, Pastor Paul, I 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 right back in the same patterns. It's not just one thing. It's all kinds of things. 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 it. 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, am I actually saved or hey, maybe the fact that I keep struggling with the specific sin or sin in general. Maybe that's a sign that I've committed the unforgivable sin. So I, Carlos, we've already established that the unforgivable sin isn't this. It is literally attributing the work of God in 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 struggling when they would in general with center 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 maybe not using those exact words that those people use, but maybe has that general feeling? What are some pastoral words that you'd give to people? First of all, to the people that are writing these, and I get some of these once in a while. Let me, let me say this, that I really, the posture of the heart of these men and women reaching out with this message is something that then it's that the kingdom of God belongs to people with a heart like that. Let me say what I mean. Psalm 51, 17 says, the sacrifices of God. In other words, what God is looking for 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'm so undeserving of you. And there's so much grace. It's like 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 declared as the Lord, but this is the one to whom I will look. He who is humble, and 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, this is something that a lot of Christians subtly believe, but it is completely false. And I'm going to 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 on the contrary. It actually says they fall quite a bit. 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. 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. You need to understand that the disciple, the life of a disciple, that journey may look like a series of falling down and getting back up, 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 somebody's listening to this right now and you just felt perhaps today or you said, God, I'm not going to 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 faith, 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 continue, I just want to double click on think 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 going to 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 of good God be guilt that then motivate you to run to Jesus and then you get back up and you keep moving forward. And this is a 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 because you have to live with it every day. You don't see it. Others do. I got to experience this in a practical way. I'm not with sin, but just with like my body weight, I think like 15 years ago, I had my first year of marriage, Carlos, I gained like 60 pounds. It was just really busy, really unhealthy. No, it was not that was so ever, unless that muscle was fast. That was not the case though, man, I get 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. It does. 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, and 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 to do that. 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 because I was living with myself every day. And so usually it was snapshots of pictures over time or people would 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 in my business say, hey, actually, dude, I've seen a lot of progress in you. So go ahead. Just keep going. I want to double click on the things that you said. 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 was to get four things. I'll 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. I don't watch this much anymore, but I used to love the show Fixer Up or any kind of show that's like that where you take a Fixer Up or House and then they buy it and they fix it up and it looks so much better and it blows people's minds. Well, 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 would ever commit before you even lived and he died in the cross for that's so good. So that's the first thing. And he still did. And he still did. And number two with that is he realized, hey, he was purchasing a Fixer Up or now you're not a project to him. You're a 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 going to 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 Upers where they like peel back this thing and the couple about the house they get to see and there's this like wow transformation moment. That's not going to happen until literally the day we die the day Jesus comes back. And in between 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 Up are 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 an every episode. There's a time in the middle of episode where 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 going to be things in our Christian walk where hey, there's going to be stuff. He's unearthing. And he's not doing that to shameless. He's actually doing that to fix us and to make us who he saved and created us to be. So I'm going to be saying a realistic picture of guess what the rest of our lives is going to be Jesus working on us because he loves us. That's right. Number two, I think I'd say focus as much if not more on your Savior than your sin. That's good. I'll say that again, focus more on your Savior than on your sin. 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 and you're not satisfied with God." I read that line, Carlos, and I was like, "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. Yeah, 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, and again, not because you're trying to avoid something, because you're pursuing someone. That leads great and small next question, and I was going to ask this, and 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 Savior 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. It's going to kill me because it can come to me later. I can't believe you can't remember. I can't believe it, but he said be kill your sin or sin will be killing you. Okay. 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 guy as you maybe have like. Dude, he was John Owen. Yeah, John, come on. Oh, come on, bro, it's early. I'm going to give you a pass, right? 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 was a John Owen quote. Isn't he Dutch? No. I thought, what is it? Is he. John Owen is not Dutch. Henry, no way. Henry knew on, yeah. He's Dutch, right? Yeah, but he wasn't a Puritan. Okay. Anyways, we're getting really theological here right now. I felt the whole Dutch mental, bro. Okay, I need to repent. Oh, again, there's more grace in Jesus than they're saying. Anyway, the point is that Jesus was using hyperbole to say, hey, do whatever it takes you rid of your sin. 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 smart phone in order to kill this once and for all? Now, I'm not saying that's what everyone should do, but I'm basically, I just sometimes asked a 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. Now that 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 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 say you're like, oh, I can't reveal this to God. I can confess it. He already knows that the best thing you could do is to confess it to him. Some fit the one that you said earlier. But I'd also say is this also means confessing it to others. And I don't mean that necessarily 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, 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 strong as stronghold on my life or the ones that other people don't know about. And so just as a practical admonition is that if you're struggling with 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. The last word, man. Now, let me just wrap with this. First of all, everything you just heard is great, Paul. You know, I think if somebody's like, man, it feels like a, it feels like a sin stronghold in my life. And what do I do with it? Let me just read the verse here. Second Corinthians, 10, 3 to 5 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, I'm going to say it one more time, we have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments in 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 battlefield 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 war for happens primarily in the battlefield 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 the, 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 8 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 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, 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, 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, which plus for Paul, would you please pray for us now? We'll do. God, we, we thank you for your word and how amazing he is. God, we thank you for the clarity he can give us and what I want to do 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 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 lived a perfect life they could 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 we pray. Amen. Amen. The free brother. The free. Well, hey, thanks so much for listening. Lake Point Church is a movement for all people to know 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 2-0-4-1 and then just choose church online from that drop-down menu. To find out more about Lake Point, you can visit lakepoint.church. [BLANK_AUDIO]