The Spirit & OT Ministries (3); The Sin Against the Spirit

Well, we are on what I believe tonight will be the last of our studies on the Holy Spirit's Old Testament ministry. We've been in a quite a long series on the ministry of the Holy Spirit on actually what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit as a whole. And in the last two weeks, we have talked about his Old Testament ministry, and that's a particular interest of mine. When I was in seminary realized there was very little written on this. You could scan all the major theologies and they would have a 500 page book on the Holy Spirit, five pages on his Old Testament ministry. And so there just wasn't much written on it. So it was a particular interest of mine. And there's so much I would love to say about this, but trying to keep the spiket down to a more normal flow and not just give everything I would like to say. So we're going to try to wrap this up tonight. We have talked about a couple of ministries of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, his empowerment. We've talked about regeneration, the fact that the Holy Spirit gives new birth to people and that happened not only in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament. And we saw that that was necessitated by the lives that were lived by Old Testament saints and also necessitated by the New Testament teaching on salvation, which teaches all people or centers all the way from Adam on that didn't start with New Testament people from Adam on all people were centers. Salvation is only by the grace of God through faith, regardless of when that may have been. And so the giving of new life through the Holy Spirit was done also in the Old Testament. Last week we started talking about the indwelling of the spirit in the Old Testament. Remember how we defined indwelling since the Holy Spirit is a spirit being not a physical substance. The issue is not location, the issue is as the Bible describes it and abiding presence. The spirit maintaining and abiding presence. And we saw evidence of that both with individuals and with the nation as a whole in the Old Testament. But tonight we're going to look at one passage, the teaching of John 14 verses 16 through 17. Anyone who deals with the Holy Spirit and his ministry in the Old Testament particularly when it comes to whether or not he indwell saints in the Old Testament, you have to deal with this passage. And so open your Bibles, please and we'll start here tonight with John 14 verses 16 and 17 where Jesus says and I will ask the Father and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever, the spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. Especially the last part of verse 17 is the passage that is most often used by people like us. We talked about these terms last couple of weeks by dispensationalists like us who believe in the difference between God's dealing with Israel and the Old Testament, the church and the New Testament. This is the passage that is most often used to describe that the Holy Spirit did not indwell people in the Old Testament. He was just with them in some kind of erratic, temporary fashion but in the New Testament as Jesus promised to disciples he will be in you. He will actually indwell you which he didn't do before but quite honestly that is a very surface reading of this passage looking just at the English prepositions and what we understand the difference to be and it's not really taking into account everything that's said in this passage. Especially in its context and so what I want to do for just a few minutes and then we'll throw it up for your questions and we'll discuss this. What exactly is this passage saying? First of all, notice Jesus talks about the giving of the Spirit. He says in verse 16 I will ask the Father He will give you another counselor. That's a common refrain in John's gospel. Some six times in the gospel of John, Jesus talks about the giving of the Spirit. First of all in John 739 and then several times in the upper room discourse and then again in chapter 20. He talks about the Spirit will be given. But what does that mean? Does that mean the Spirit is in one location and will move to another location? It really can't mean that because the Holy Spirit does not...the Holy Spirit is omnipresent. The Holy Spirit is a spirit being. The issue of location has nothing to do with this. It's not like the Holy Spirit was in heaven and he's given in the sense that he now changes location and comes to live inside my body. That's not the concept of indwelling in the Bible and certainly not the concept of the giving of the Spirit. If the Holy Spirit does not have a body and if the Holy Spirit is omnipresent as the Father is, then in what sense is the Holy Spirit given and in what sense is he received? I believe in the same sense that the Bible talks about God coming and going. Let me just give you one example. Isaiah 64.1, the prophet Isaiah talks about the Lord will come and he will rend the heavens and the earth will tremble and quake at his presence. So the Lord comes. Does that mean the Father changes from one location to another? No. There's no physical change in location with God the Father because again he's omnipresent. He's everywhere present at the same time. He's a spirit being. He doesn't move from one location to another. So how does the Father come? Obviously in that passage the emphasis is on a different manifestation of his power. When God comes he shows up in power is what happens. That's how the Bible speaks of God coming. He comes in the sense that there is a fresh new manifestation of his power. And so the mountains tremble at his presence. He rins the earth with his coming. There's a new demonstration of his power. And I'm convinced that the giving of the Spirit and receiving of the Spirit does not have to do with the Holy Spirit used to be over here and now he's over here. That's Greek philosophy thinking. That's dualism. That's not what the Bible talks about with the giving of the Spirit of the receiving of the Spirit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given and received in the sense that he shows up in a new manifestation of his power. And that new manifestation of his power that's being promised to the disciples in the context has to do with being united with Christ. He will talk about that down in verse 18, verse 19, verse 20. He'll talk about being united with Christ. He is in us. Then you expand on it in chapter 15 with the vine and the branches. What ministry of the Spirit? What ministry of power of the Spirit unites us with Christ? It is the baptism in the Spirit as we've already seen. I believe the way in which the Spirit shows fresh new energy and power for the disciples in the future is in the baptism in the Spirit which will start in Acts chapter 2. That is the ministry of the Spirit that unites with Christ. This is not talking about he didn't use to end to all you but he's going to end to all you. The giving of the Spirit has to do with the Spirit coming in a fresh demonstration of his power. And that fresh demonstration of his power will be to unite them with Christ in the body of Christ. That's what is being promised here. Now let me pause there and see if you have any questions before we go on to what LC says about the Spirit here. Comments or questions there. Look at what else Jesus actually says. He says he will give you another counselor to be with you forever. The contrast here is not the Holy Spirit was not with you before but now he will be with you because look down just a couple of lines in verse 17. The end of verse 17 says but you know him for he lives with you. He already is with you. So when he's going to be given in the future to be with you forever the contrast is not that he's not with you now but he's going to be with you. He's already with them and he will continue to be with them forever. The contrast is that Jesus is leaving the Holy Spirit is not. In the upper room discourse in John chapter 13 to 17 Jesus is telling them over and over and over again I'm leaving. I'm leaving. We saw that when we were preaching through that passage on Sunday morning that section of John. Jesus is warning them I'm leaving I'm leaving and so here he's saying although I'm leaving the Holy Spirit who is already with you will be with you forever. So it's not a change in location it's not a difference in he's out here but now he's going to be in here. That's not the issue. The issue the contrast here is I'm leaving you but the Holy Spirit's not. The one who lives with you now will be with you forever. That's the point that Jesus is making. Not some new presence of the spirit but the fact that Jesus is not going to be with them forever the Holy Spirit will be. And then notice verse 17. He identifies this counselor as a spirit of truth says world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him but now notice how he describes the present relationship of these disciples to the Holy Spirit at the end of verse 17. He says but you know him. The word for no here is the word to know experientially to know intimately to know closely. They already have that relationship with the spirit where they know him closely intimately, relationally. And then he says for he lives with you present tense he is continually living with you. Now that by definition is the Holy Spirit is already maintaining and abiding presence with you. He is continually living with you. So it's not that the Holy Spirit was not with them at all times maintaining and abiding presence. Jesus is already saying he is. He's already with you. He's constantly with you. What I'm telling you is I'm going to have to leave but he's not. He's going to stay with you forever. Now when he says at the end of the verse he is with you and will be in you. What he's saying is using the different prepositions to just emphasize his point. The Holy Spirit who is with you now you know him closely by experience. You have a very close relationship with him. He's going to be with you forever. He's going to be in you. He's going to be with you and abiding presence forever. Actually the English our English versions have two different prepositions with and in. The original Greek has three prepositions. The first with is a different preposition than the second with. And most serious commentators believe that he's changing prepositions just for forcefulness. He's using three different ways of saying the same thing. He's reiterating. He's emphasizing. I'm going to leave you the Holy Spirit is not going to leave you. The one that you have already a close relationship with and who already is maintaining an abiding presence with you is going to continue to do that. He's going to be with you. Methah with you. Paara in you and three different prepositions all saying the same thing. Basically that he's going to be with you always. That's Jesus' point here. And if by using the term with like in the end of verse 17 is so many say he's with you now that's kind of temporary presence. That's not really that great, but he's going to be in you. That's constant abiding, indwelling. If that's what he means by with, then we're in trouble because look at verse 23. Jesus replied, if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My father will love him and we the father and the son. We will come to him and make our home with him. Oh, you mean Jesus is just going to be here temporarily some kind of erratic temporary presence. The father is not with me always. He's not indwelling me. Of course not. That's not what Jesus is saying. The preposition with indicates the same thing as the preposition in. It indicates the fact that the Holy Spirit and the father and the son maintain an abiding presence with us at all times. Jesus' point is not some Old Testament New Testament distinction in the presence of the Spirit. That's not his point. He's not saying the Holy Spirit just occasionally show up with you in the Old Testament, but he's going to be permanently with you in the New Testament. No, no, what he's saying is the Holy Spirit whom you already have an abiding relationship and presence with is going to continue that even in my absence. That's his point in John 14. So I think I will stop there even though there's a lot more in this passage. I think I'll stop there and just see what questions you have. Tommy? The great thing about heaven is we will be in the presence of the Trinity all three forever. Right, that doesn't end. We are with the father, son and spirit eternally. Now the father and the father and the son through the Holy Spirit are with us forever right now. The whole Jesus is not in a physical bodily sense because Jesus is located in a body in heaven. Oh, the Holy Spirit does not have to dwell with us like he does today. Not in the same sense that we need his continuous help and that sense, the manifestation of his power, but we will be in his presence and he will be in our presence for eternity. So there's a sense in which this will continue right on through eternity. He'll be with us forever. Right, right. We don't need the same sense of the spirit's help when we get to heaven. Okay, but he'll still be with us. John? Yes. Yes. The term pardon me? Yes. The word translated counselor here in the NIV. In some places it's translated comforter, some translations, comforter, helper, advocate is the same word translated in first John 2 of Jesus as our advocate. But yes, the word paraclete, that's the Greek term. Okay, yeah. Okay, I can't recall the hymn probably Jim could, but the paraclete will come. I remember how it goes. Yeah. Yeah. Comforter has come. The comforter has come. Yeah. Okay. Gotcha. It's a song. Yeah. Yes, Barry. There is a bit of a difference there. I think it does. I'm not sure I'm going to go completely there. Understand what you're saying. In the Old Testament, the law basically was a guide for the nation and obviously individual implications for Jews, but it was God's covenant with his people as a whole. And it basically, whether or not you kept the law, basically had to do with the result of that basically was is the nation still in the right covenant relationship with God. Because if Israel kept the law, then God blessed them as a nation in Deuteronomy 28 and 29, the Palestinian covenant God would give rain for their crops, you know, all that. So the law had more to do with how God would bless the nation. Obviously individuals kept the law, but it was it was to show their faith in God and obedience to him. There's a sense in which we still we're not under the law of Moses, but we still keep the law in the sense that we're we're to be obedient to Christ commands. So the Old Testament saints needed the Holy Spirit to be able to be obedient to the Lord under their covenant and we need the help of the Holy Spirit to be obedient under this age of grace too. Now there is a difference and this is kind of what I'm coming to in the conclusion here in a little bit. There is a difference between Old Testament New Testament minister of the spirit, but only really one difference. And that's the baptism in the spirit. I personally believe that the Holy Spirit empowered people in the Old Testament. He regenerated people in the Old Testament. He maintained in abiding presence with people in the Old Testament who knew the Lord. As we're going to see in your outline, I believe because he maintained in abiding presence, he sealed them and he filled them, but he did not. There was no baptism in the spirit in the Old Testament. And why would that be? What does the baptism of the spirit do? It places us in the body of Christ. Remember we talked about the baptism of the spirit really is Christ immersing us into the realm of the spirit which places us into his body. The body of Christ didn't start till Acts 2. Till after Jesus dies and is ascended back to heaven and once the head of the body is in place, then the body can start Acts 2 when it starts. That's when Christ starts baptizing people in the spirit. That's the thing that's new in the church age. I think every other ministry of the spirit is the same in the Old Testament. But the new expression of his power is his uniting us with Christ through the baptism in the spirit. I understand that's a little radical. You won't find a lot of disconcessionist that teach that. But please don't throw any rotten tomatoes. Just give them to me. Let me take a moment to you. Great question. Good question. Any others? Walton and Max. They are not included into the body of Christ. They will not be. They will be a part of the company of believers in heaven. But the body of Christ is a unique expression for the church. Hebrews 12, for instance, talks about the different people and groups of people in heaven and the spirits of just men made perfect. Those are Old Testament saints. But the bride, the body, that's the church. And so we'll all be together in heaven. But the Old Testament saints never go into the church. There's always that distinction. Although once we get the heaven and eternity starts, we're just all the people of God. Redeemed saints worshiping around the throne in heaven. Good question. Max. I will comment very briefly because our last study or group of studies is going to be on the Holy Spirit's ministry and prophecy in the future. So we will talk about that more. I believe the Holy Spirit will still convict people. And when people come to know Christ as their Savior, he will maintain an abiding presence with them and give them spiritual power through his empowerment and filling and so forth. So I think the ministry of the spirit will be much the same. Now, obviously, second Thessalonians two ways in there with the restrainer being moved. But that, that is only true. And we'll get to that more when we get to this study. The, the restrainer is removed, not in the sense that he no longer ministers in the tribulation time. He is removed in the sense that his presence in this world through the church is removed at the rapture. And thus the restraining influence of the spirit on the spread of corruption in this world is taken away. And corruption just is like a dam that breaks and it just unleashed through the program of the antichrist in the tribulation. So in that sense, the restrainer is removed, his restraining influence through the church, but it doesn't mean the Holy Spirit won't be at work in the tribulation time. He'll be very much at work. He'll see how when we get to that study, if I could put off a more complete answer to that question for a couple of three weeks. Okay, thanks. All right, other questions? Very good. Okay, then the last two points on your outline. I'm going to deal with him about 30 seconds. Sealing. Remember what we talked about when we talked about the ceiling of the spirit, the indwelling of the spirit, the fact that the Holy Spirit comes to maintain an abiding presence with us. Is the seal. It is the Holy Spirit's presence with us that is God's seal of ownership and protection and security on us. So if the Holy Spirit maintained an abiding presence with saints in the Old Testament, obviously they were sealed. I don't think Old Testament saints lost their salvation any more than we do. So yeah, they were sealed. They were secure. They were marked out as God's possession in the Old Testament as well. And then filling certainly the control of the spirit was there. If the Holy Spirit is maintaining an abiding presence, then certainly he had the same desire to control them. And in both senses that we saw when we studied the filling of the spirit, remember we talked about their two kinds of filling. One is that normal, progressive control of the spirit over our conduct and character. That's the Ephesians 5, 18 filling. Be filled with the spirit. But there was also, and we saw much evidence of this in the Old Testament, that sudden enablement, infusion of power for a task or for service. And that's that special sovereign filling of the spirit. So both of those would have been true in the Old Testament as well. So let me just conclude by saying this, the only I believe, you know, if I'm wrong, I'll apologize in heaven. I promise I will. You won't have to ask me too many times. I'll apologize. But my conviction is the only distinct new Testament ministry of the spirit is the baptism in the spirit. Because that is uniquely tied to the body of Christ, to the church. And so I think that, you know, that is everything to do with placing us in Christ's body. And that is a new Testament church truth solely that didn't start to append a cause. But I think other ministries of the spirit are uniformed throughout the Old Testament just like they are in the New. And that's why I think it's so sad that it's been a dearth of study of this and writing on this ministry of the spirit in the Old Testament. Okay. Other comments or questions? Okay. If you would like to get into this deeper, if you still have questions, you think, man, I think John is really out the lunch. He's losing his mind. If you'd like to read a little bit more on it, I've got a couple of volumes that I could recommend to you from my library that I would love to give you to read a little bit more on that. All right. We're going to move, we're going to change gears now and move to another controversial subject in regard to the spirit before we get to the Holy Spirit's ministry in the future as it deals with prophecy. In other words, what is his role in the tribulation? What is his role in the millennium? What is his role throughout eternity? Before we do that, there is one topic I've mentioned to you earlier that you have to cover any time you're studying what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit, and that is the sin against the Holy Spirit, or what is often called the unpardonable sin. And so let's look at Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12, where this story is found most completely in the Gospels. It's verses 22 to 37, and let me kind of set the context because this passage really comes to life if you understand what's happening in the ministry of Jesus at the time this event occurs. Jesus has just gone on a preaching tour of Galilee with the 12 disciples. Now a little bit later he'll send them out on their own, but this time Luke's Gospel describes this in Luke 8 verses 1 through 3 that Jesus has gone with the disciples on a preaching tour of Galilee. Mark 3 describes at this point in our Lord's life and ministry that the crowds were huge. The crowds were swarming to hear Jesus, and his teaching was so amazing and so powerful that they wondered at his authority and his power. He didn't teach like the other rabbis and so great crowds were coming to hear him preach. The demands on his time and energy were so amazing that he didn't even have time to eat. Mark tells us. This is the time period in his life where his ministry and activity reaches a fever pitch so much so that his brothers and they drag Mary along with him come to take him home thinking he's losing his mind. You read about it in Mark 3. It's an incredible story. That's what's going on with Jesus at this particular point in his ministry. At that particular time, well all that's happening. There is an incident that takes place that serves as a real turning point in Jesus ministry. It's the incident that we're going to see here in Matthew 12. Opposition has been mounting because of his growing popularity. The Pharisees are squirming and they're thinking, well we've got to do something about this guy. He's tearing the people away from us and so we got to do something about his popularity and so that tension is increasing at the same rate Jesus popularity is increasing. The opposition of the Pharisees is now reaching a pinnacle and it's going to spew out here in this passage. This is such a critical turning point in Jesus ministry that from this point on Jesus will basically say that the nation has rejected him. The very next thing he will do after this incident in Matthew 12 is he'll introduce the parables of the kingdom which are basically teachings that are kind of hidden to the Pharisees and the lost but teachings which he will explain to his disciples that talk about the future, the church. The parables of the kingdom is what he introduces and from that point on he will start to focus more on his disciples, training them, working with them because the nation has already officially rejected me. That's how critical this turning point is. So this is not an ordinary scene here and that background is important understanding why this sin that is committed here is so unusual. You have to understand all that background to understand why this is such a condemning sin. Okay so now let's look at the actual story of the unpardonable sin and we begin with the situation itself in verses 22 and 23. Then they brought him a demon possessed man who was blind and mute and Jesus healed him so that he could both talk and see. Here's a demon possessed man with the result that there are physical consequences to this demon possession of this man. He's blind, he's unable to speak and Jesus heals him. One of the gospel says with a word Jesus heals him that clearly quickly, simply, fully Jesus heals him so that he can both talk and see. Now verse 23 says all the people were astonished. It's an interesting word. The word literally means to stand outside yourself. It means to be so amazed. It's like it's an out of body experience watching this. Did this really happen? You know, we would say today they were beside themselves. We use that expression. The expression they would use in that day is they stood outside themselves and that's what the word astonished literally means. People were absolutely beside themselves with wonder and amazement what they were seeing. And so they asked this question. They said could this be the son of David? Again, in the original language, this question, and we've talked about this before, this question is asked expecting a negative answer. The new American standard translates it best. This couldn't be the son of David. Could it? Something to that effect. It gives the sense of the question more. This can't be the son of David, can it? And what that question does is it shows how torn the people are in their minds and hearts. What they're seeing, they can't explain. What they're hearing, they can't explain. This has got to be the son of David, but the Pharisees are religious leaders who we are taught to respect and admire. They're telling us this man can't be trusted and he should not be believed. And so this question, this can't be the son of David, can it? The very question shows how they're torn in their minds. In other words, they are on the brink of a decision and that decision could go either way. And the Pharisees know it. The Pharisees know that the crowd is wavering a bit. They're beginning to think, could he be the son of David? Could he be the Messiah? How do you explain the teaching we're hearing? How do you explain the miracles we're seeing? But then the Pharisees, our religious leaders tell us he's not a good man. They're torn, but they are leaning toward accepting him and the Pharisees know it. And so notice the charge of the Pharisees, they pounce on it immediately, verse 24. But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, it is only by B. L's above, the Prince of demons that this fella drives out demons. B. L's above was the Jewish name for the Prince of demons that was responsible for physical afflictions, for disease, illness, whatever. In the Jewish mind, this was the name for that Prince of demons. Okay, now here's what's going on. The Pharisees cannot deny that there is something miraculous going on here. When a man is blind and cannot speak, that's not like a backache. That you don't really know for sure if it's there. You know, the guy is blind, he can't speak, and when suddenly he can talk and he can see, that's undeniable. That is a miracle that's undeniable. They can't deny that something miraculous is going on here. So what they do instead of trying to deny that, which would just fall flat, that wouldn't work. They say, okay, yeah, he's doing miracles, but he's doing him by the power of Satan. His power for doing those miracles does not come from God. We've been telling you, he's not a good man, he's not from God. He's a deceiver, and we're telling you now, he's doing this by the power of the demon that is in charge of physical ailments, B. L's above. So rather than saying he is the incarnate son of God, he is God in human flesh, what they are saying is he is indwelt by a demon and possessed by Satan himself. That's pretty serious. And Jesus knows that. Jesus knows how serious that accusation is, and so he does something that he doesn't normally do. What he does is he responds. The response of Jesus is actually three arguments. Jesus gives three reasons why what the Pharisees have just said is absolutely ridiculous. Doesn't make a bit of sense. Basically he's going to shut their mouths. But he gives three reasons why what the Pharisees have just said cannot be true. Let's look at them fairly quickly. The first reason is that your charge is absurd. Look at it in verse 25. Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he's divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? In other words, your charge is absurd. You're saying Satan is opposing himself. Somebody indwelt by Satan, empowered by Satan, is casting out demons. A person empowered by demons casting out another demon, Satan fighting against himself. How can anyone's kingdom stand if he's destroying his own work? So your charge is absurd. And then secondly, he says your charge is inconsistent. Verse 27. And if I drive out demons by beels above, by whom do your people drive them out? So then they will be your judges. By the way, Jesus was not the only person casting out demons. There were others casting out demons in Israel, some even of the Pharisees' own party, and they were considered God's gift to the nation even by the Pharisees. And so Jesus says, it's inconsistent for you to say that person is good. I'm doing the same thing and I'm evil. It is inconsistent for you. The other people that you laud for having that power of God to help hurting people, they will be your judges. It's inconsistent. And basically he says, the only alternative, verse 28, but if I drive out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. So your charge is inconsistent. If you laud others, but accuse me, that's an inconsistent charge. The only alternative is that I am actually doing this by the power of the Holy Spirit. And if that's true, then my kingdom is genuine. My kingdom has come from God. So he's basically turned the argument back on them. And then quickly he gives them a third reason why their charge is wrong. Their charge is contradictory, verse 29. Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions, unless he first ties up the strong man, then he can rob his house? In other words, in order to go into somebody's house and rob it, you've got to first of all disable the guy you're going to rob. And in Jesus terminology, you've got to be stronger than him. You've got to be able to disable the strong man, the one who's there to guard his house, in the analogy, Satan is the strong man, and I'm going to go in to disable him before I can cast out his demons. So in other words, I've got to be stronger than the strong man. Here's the point. Satan cannot give greater power than he himself has. So the one who's coming into his house to cast out his demons who is stronger than him, can't be getting his power from Satan. That's contradictory. You've got to be stronger than the man you're defeating. So I'm casting out demons. I'm stronger than Satan. And you're telling me Satan has given me that strength? That's contradictory. So Jesus has just shut their mouths. He has turned the tables of their argument back on them. And so he makes this challenge in verse 30. He who is not with me is against me. He who does not gather with me, scatters. This is the challenge. Christ is the one who gathers, who makes whole. And what he's talking about is this miracle they've just seen. He made a person whole. He gathered this person back to wholeness. Jesus is doing good work. If you're not with me, then you're against me. If you don't gather with me, you scatter. You see it's Satan who scatters. Satan disrupts. Satan always does harm to people. And so if you're not with him, then you're with the one who scatters rather than gathers. And so basically he's turned the charge right back on them. They accuse him of being empowered by Satan. Jesus ends the argument by saying, you're with Satan. If you don't gather with me, if you don't come into my kingdom to see God's genuine power, demonstrated to help people, to gather, to make people whole, then you're with the enemy, Satan, scattering, disrupting, harming, destroying people. So he's brought the argument all the way around against them. Incredible. You know, it's a wonderful study in the gospels to see how Jesus deals with the Pharisees. There are so many times where he turns the argument, 180 degrees, back against them, to where they're standing there thinking, what just happened? And I'm sure they were here. Our time is gone. So we can't get to the actual description of the unpardonable sin. But what Jesus will do next is he'll say, okay, this is what you've charged me with. I'm going to show you how serious your charge is in verses 31 and 32. He actually describes what the unpardonable sin is and describes why it is so serious. So next week we'll kind of wrap it up and we'll talk about, can the unpardonable sin still be committed today? We'll try to answer that question next week. Make sure you don't commit any unpardonable sins before next week. You find out what it is, okay? Let's pray. Father, thank you for the helper that you've given to us. The one who comes in a demonstration of his power to strengthen us, to help us to aid us, to counsel us, to guide us, to instruct us, to affirm us as your sons, your children. Thank you for all that he does, manifesting his presence and power with us. Thank you for that, Lord. You've given us such abundant provision to live this life and how little we take advantage of it. I pray, Father, that you will enable us to be sensitive aware of his presence and of living in such a way that he is not grieved by the way we live, but he is pleased and he is free to work in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.