How to Cure Hypocrisy, Part 3

The Bible says there is no other name unto heaven given among men whereby ye must be saved. The Bible says that he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

It's all about Christ and him alone. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. We understand that the Bible speaks to the identity of the Messiah, who he is and what he's done. Unfortunately, there is a slew of people out there that confuse the identity of Jesus. There is a whole slew of people out there who fall into the realm of apostates. There is a whole slew of people out there who truly are hypocrites. And they promote a hypocritical religion.

Jesus, knowing that, would confront the religious leaders of his day. At the same time, he would confront them publicly because they had announced their false system so publicly throughout the land of Israel that Jesus would rebuke them publicly. And in our section, Luke chapter 12, Jesus, having gathered together all these people, he himself did not do that, but they were all coming to follow him. Tens of thousands of people, so many, that they were stepping on one another. He said, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

He was concerned that there are a slew of people out there who say they know God but really don't know God. Who say they know the way to heaven but are not going there themselves. Who say they are holy but live unholy lives. Who say they understand heaven, but in reality will never make it to heaven. There's a lot of people that way. Jesus is concerned about that hypocrisy, that leaven that would permeate not only the land of Israel, but people even today, that they understand the truth. He didn't want them to succumb to something that was false.

He wanted them to believe in the truth. Earlier in his ministry, in the Galilee, in Matthew chapter 7, he said, beware of false prophets. Why? Because they come to you, they come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. They want to destroy your life. There are people who say and confess Christ as Lord with lip, but not with life. Those are false prophets. Matthew 7 describes that for us. They are the ones who come and make a profession about the Lord, but in reality they do not possess Christ as Lord of their lives.

Christ was concerned that the people of Israel did not succumb to the false teaching that had permeated the land. And so he would speak in Luke 12 to his disciples. And that would mean people who were of the curious nature, those who were not yet committed to Christ, but curious about who he was and his identity. They were the ones who had maybe a casual acquaintance with the Lord. They had followed the bandwagon, they were there, they were listening, they had yet to make a commitment to Christ. Amidst that crowd of people in Luke 12, many of them were hostile toward him because they had already determined that what he did, he did by the power of Beelzebul, the Lord of the flies, he had a spirit demon and therefore they were hostile toward him.

But amidst that crowd there were those who were casual, there were those who were curious, that Christ wanted them not to succumb to the influence of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. So he told them very clearly that God will one day uncover everything that's secret, everything that's hidden, and you must understand that. You must realize that everybody is accountable to God. And not only are you accountable to God, you must come to him fearing him because he is the one that just doesn't kill body, but kills body and soul in hell.

Yes, there is a hell, and yes, Jesus said more about hell than he ever did about heaven because the Bible says, understand the kindness and severity, Romans 11, of God.

That yes, he is kind, but he is severe in his judgment. And so Christ would tell them that one day they would be accountable to God, he will expose everything to the world, all their hidden secrets, all their motives, you must come to him, you must fear only him because you are more valuable than anything else. At the same time, you must respond with a public confession of the Christ. He who confesses me before men, I will confess before my angels who are in heaven. But he who denies me before men, I will deny before my father and before my angels who are in heaven.

In Matthew 10, it was his father, in Luke 12, it was his angels. And that's where we concluded last week. You must respond with a public confession of the Christ. And we talked to you about that confession and how important it is. It's just not a confession of Jesus as Lord with my lips. It must manifest itself with my life. That is a true confession, a genuine confession. And we told you, when you confess Christ before men, when you confess him, you confess, number one, his deity, 1 John 4, verse number 15.

He who says that Jesus is the son of God, the father abides in him, he in the father. You must confess the deity of Jesus Christ. You must confess the humanity of Jesus Christ, 2 John 7, right? He who says that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, okay? So you confess his humanity. You also must confess his sovereignty. For if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, speaking of his sovereign rule, his mastership of the world, you must confess him as Lord of your life. That is the essence of confessing Christ both with lip and with life.

The two must be together. You cannot confess him just with your lips and deny him with your life. That's called hypocrisy. That's called a false confession, not a true confession. We know that because Titus 1 says that those who do not know the Lord confess him with their lips, but they deny him with their deeds. Those are the false professors. And so we talked about that last week, but I need to camp out there just for a moment because there is so much error in the church today, excuse me, that needs to be exposed.

This whole truth is rooted throughout the Bible. Just as an example, Isaiah 9, 6. The Messiah is a son that's given. That is his deity. He is a child that's born. That's his humanity. And the government will be upon his shoulders. That's his sovereignty. So the Messiah is God, is man, is sovereign ruler over the universe. So just because it's in the New Testament doesn't mean it's not in the Old Testament. No, it permeates the entire Bible. And if you were to take time to go through the Scriptures, you would see that that is the case.

And the very fact that Jesus is Lord is essential to saving faith. Absolutely essential. For example, when the apostles began to preach in the book of Acts, it was always about Christ as Lord because he's referred to as Lord 92 times in the book of Acts. He's referred to as Savior twice in the book of Acts. So when the apostles began to preach Jesus, they preached Jesus as Lord. Because he cannot be your Savior unless he is your Lord. Without Lordship, there is no Savior-ship. Without kingship, there is no Savior-ship.

You can't take him as Savior and not as Lord. He is Master, he is Ruler, he is Sovereign God. In fact, Jesus is referred to as Savior 10 times in the New Testament, but over 700 times as Lord. That is important to understand. The Lordship of Christ is no minor detail, but the majority of churches today in evangelicalism have made his Lordship a minor detail. To emphasize his Savior-ship. But you can't be saved unless he is Lord of your life as well. That is so crucial to understand. Why is that? Got your Bible?

Turn with me to the book of Jude. The book of Jude. Jude writes, verse 3, Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long before marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turned the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

He makes it very clear. Jude does. I want to write to you about our common salvation. But there's a problem in the church. And this was in Jude's day. That is, there are certain people who have crept into the church. They don't come in and deny Christ as Lord publicly. They just do it privately throughout their lives. Oh, they confess Him as Lord publicly, but they deny Him as Lord privately. They have crept into the church unnoticed. And they have a certain creed. A creed that denies the identity of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

A creed crucial, important to come to grips with. They come in, and what they do is pretend. The church is filled with pretenders. That's why we need to be contenders. Why do we need to be contenders? Because there are so many pretenders in the church. That's why we need to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Because the faith of the gospel says that Christ is both Lord and Savior. Not one or the other, but both in the same. And yet, there have been these people who have crept into the church.

Unnoticed, and they make a denial of four things. I want you to note them with me if you would. One, they deny His kingship. His kingship. They deny Him as Master. Despoten, which comes from the word despot, which means a sovereign ruler. They deny Christ as King. They deny His sovereignty over their lives. They deny Him as Sovereign King. Two, they deny Him not only as Sovereign King, but as Kurios, as Lord of their lives. They deny not only His kingship, they deny His Lordship. They deny the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Jesus would say in Luke chapter 6, Why do you call me Lord and do not the things that I say? Why is it you would profess me with your lips, but deny me with your life? And that is the essence of hypocrisy. That's the essence of false teachers. They confess Christ as Lord with their lips, but they deny Him with their lives. The Lordship of Christ is not a minor detail in the church. But unfortunately, it has become a minor detail in the church. One author said it this way. He said, According to the view that says Christ must not be Lord to be saved, or you must not surrender to Christ's Lordship, because it is an optional matter, relevant for only those who are Christians for a long period of time, the gospel therefore has been reduced to an invitation to believe in Jesus as Savior, while carefully omitting any reference to His authority as Lord, gone from the message our Christ called to discipleship, all His hard demands about cross-bearing self-denial, and His admonition to count the cost of following Him.

The, quote, no Lordship gospel meticulously avoids calling sinners to repentance. A no Lordship doctrine rose to popularity in the mid-20th century and was almost unchallenged as the dominant system of theology in America evangelicalism for several decades. The no Lordship message has filled the church with people lacking spiritual fruit and absent every other vital evidence of living faith, who nonetheless are convinced they are authentic Christians. In fact, accordingly to no Lordship doctrine, someone who lives an utterly debauched lifestyle should nevertheless be embraced as a true Christian, if he or she ever once professed faith in Christ.

The so-called, quote, carnal Christians are regularly given strong reassurance that their salvation is secure no matter how long or how gregariously they rebel against Christ's authority. Of course, that completely eliminates the meaningful exercise of church discipline. It also effectively unseats Christ from His rightful place of authority over the church. That is the majority of teaching in the evangelical church today. That Christ must not be Lord. He doesn't have to be Lord. You just need to believe in Jesus as Savior, and sometime down the road you can submit to His Lordship.

You can decide to obey Him. Really? Is that what Jesus said? But that's what the majority of evangelical churches teach today, unfortunately. One author, Alan... excuse me, Alan Christie, in his book, Jesus is Lord, writes, There is no element of apostolic preaching more prominent than the resurrection, exaltation, and lordship of Jesus. The confession, Jesus is Lord, is the single most predominant Christian confession in the New Testament. Not only does it occur in several passages which emphasize its singular character as the Christian confession, but it also occurs numerous times in a variant form in the phrase, Our Lord.

A designation of Jesus which was so widely used that it became the distinctive and universally recognized Christian confession known and acknowledged by all believers. When Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4 verse number 5, We do not preach ourselves, but we preach Christ Jesus as... What? Lord. Why is it we think today we can preach Christ Jesus as something other than Lord? But we do. One author, John MacArthur, said this, Jesus is Lord, and those who refuse Him as Lord cannot use Him as Savior. Everyone who receives Him must surrender to His authority, for to say we receive Christ when in fact we reject His right to reign over us is utter absurdity.

It is a futile attempt to hold on to sin with one hand and make Jesus or take Jesus with the other. What kind of salvation is it if we are left in bondage to sin? This then is the gospel we are to proclaim that Jesus Christ who was God incarnate humbled Himself to die on our behalf. Thus He became the sinless sacrifice to pay the penalty of our guilt. He rose from the dead to declare with power that He is Lord over all and He offers eternal life freely to sinners who will surrender to Him in humble, repentant faith.

The gospel promises nothing to the haughty rebel but for broken, penitent sinners. It graciously offers everything that pertains to life and godliness. He's right. In The Great Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon said this, listen carefully. If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord but does not mean to attend to Him, you are not to pamper his presumptions but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. So let me ask you this question.

When was the last time you assured somebody they were not saved? We are so busy giving people an assurance that they are saved when in reality we should be assuring people that they are not saved. And I know people say, you don't know someone's heart so you can't say that, really? Really. Let me tell you what Jesus said to Peter.

Peter, you have the keys to the kingdom. What do keys do? They open the door. They let you in. Right? Peter made a confession, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Right? Remember Matthew 16, Caesarea Philippi? He made that great confession. Who do you say that I am? You're the Christ, you're the Messiah. You are the Son of the living God. You are equal with God. You are God in the flesh. That's who you are. And Jesus said, Peter, flesh and blood has not revealed that to you but my Father who is in heaven has revealed that to you.

And I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I'm going to build my church on that confession, Peter, that I am the Messiah, I am the Son of the living God. I'm going to build my church on that confession and Peter, based on that confession that you made, I'm going to give you the keys to open the door to the kingdom of God. And then he says, listen carefully, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Peter, you have the authority to tell somebody whether they are still bound in their sins or they are released from their sins based on their confession of Christ as Lord of their lives. Don't believe anybody who says to you, you can't tell somebody whether or not they're saved or not. Really? You have the keys to the kingdom of heaven and you can't pamper somebody's presuppositions. You must tell them. If you're a husband and you have a wife that lives in disobedience to God, do you pamper her presuppositions?

Or do you say, honey, you know what? I'm not sure. You know Christ is Lord and Savior. I think you think you know. But it seems to me you're still bound in your sins, not released from them because you have not submitted to the Lordship of Christ in your life. Why would you pamper her presuppositions instead of confront her over the fact that she is not saved? Why do we give people a false assurance? Well, you know, I was there when you prayed a prayer. I talked to an elder once who confronted me on the fact that I believed that you had to have Christ as Lord both in life and lip.

There was a manifestation, a visible manifestation of the Lordship of Christ in your life. You are submitting to what he says because he said, Jesus did, why do you call me Lord and do not do the things that I say? He confronted me and said, you know, I have sons and I don't want my sons looking at their lives to determine whether or not they're saved. I said, what do you want them to look at?

Well, I want them to be able to go back to the time when they were kids and they prayed a prayer and they believed at that time and because they believed at that time, they are saved. I said, can you show me a verse of Scripture that will support that view? He could not show me a verse of Scripture because there is no verse of Scripture that supports that view. There is none. Charles Spurgeon hit the nail on the head. We go around telling our children, our husbands, our wives, oh yeah, I was there.

I remember when. Really? You remember when? How about remembering now? Because there is a clear evidence of a confession of Christ as Lord. You see, they creep in unawares in the church, unnoticed. Jude was concerned. You contend for the faith. You be a contender because there are so many pretenders in the pew, so many pretenders in the pulpit who creep in unnoticed and they deny the mastership, the sovereign rulership of Christ in their lives. They deny his lordship in their lives. Oh, they might confess him outwardly as master and Lord, but their lives are a contradiction to what they have professed in their mouths.

See that? We sit back and we have stopped contending for the faith. We've just assumed that because they had one time did this or did that, then they must just, quote, be carnal Christians. There's a major theological problem with that view though. Major. And that's another message for another day. But the bottom line is, as Charles Spurgeon said, would you pamper their presuppositions or would you truly go to them and say out of love as a loving father, loving husband, loving wife, you know what?

You have no evidence of your salvation. And the problem is, you see, those people can go to church. A myriad of churches in the world and feel very safe there because the lordship of Christ is not preached and therefore they do not come under conviction because the truth has not been given. Sad, isn't it? And yet people allow that to happen. They not only deny his mastership, his lordship, they deny his saviorship, Jesus. Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah. That's the one name under heaven whereby you must be saved.

It's his name that constitutes the reason he came. You should call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sin. And then of course his messiahship, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. They deny his kingship, his lordship, his saviorship, and his messiahship. Can't get saved unless you believe that Jesus Christ is the messiah of God, the messiah of Israel, John 20, 30, and 31. Why do I tell you all that? Because this is so important in the church today. It is. And you, if you're going to escape the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, you must respond with the public confession of the Christ, his divinity, his humanity, his sovereignty, his royalty, and you submit to that lord in your life because he demands all of you and you will follow because you're obedient to him.

But there's one more thing. And this is where we left off last week. Let me read it to you. Luke 12, verse number 10, And everyone who will speak a word against the son of man, it shall be forgiven him. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him. What does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? We have told you that Jesus made it very clear that to avoid hypocrisy, you must remember your accountability to God. You must recognize the one you should fear is God alone.

You should realize how valuable you are to that God. You should respond with public confession of Christ. And lastly, you must revere and rely on the Holy Spirit of God. You must revere and rely on the Holy Spirit of God. This becomes so crucial. Listen carefully. 1 Corinthians 12, 3. No one will confess Christ as Lord without the Spirit of God. Right? No one can confess that Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit of God. You will notice that in the text there is that triune emphasis on God as Father, God as Son, and God as Spirit.

The Spirit of God reveals to us the Christ of God. The Christ of God shows us His Father because He and the Father are one. But it's important to note that Jesus makes it very clear that a full, true confession of Jesus as Lord can only be possible when the Spirit operates in the life of an individual who is exposed to the written revelation of the Word that the Spirit Himself authored. Let me explain that to you.

John 15 says that the Spirit of God is the revealer of Christ. John 16, Christ says the Spirit comes and He will convict man of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

He will convict them of sin because they don't believe in Me. Right? The Spirit of God has a unique responsibility and privilege of showing us Jesus as God. No one will ever confess Jesus as God. Jesus as Lord except by the Spirit of God. Now remember, faith cometh by hearing, hearing by a word about the Christ, Romans 10, 17. And yet the Spirit reveals God to us through His Word that He Himself authored because holy men of God were brought along by the Spirit of God and that's how inspiration came about according to Peter's epistle.

And so we know that the Spirit of God is the author of the Word of God. He is the revealer of God to man. He's the revealer of Christ to man and the only way He does that is through the Word of God. That's how He does it. So the Spirit of God in conjunction with the Word that He Himself authored illuminates the mind of man to believe that Jesus is who He says He is. And the Bible says these words, Everyone who will speak a word against a son of man it shall be forgiven him.

So if I speak a word against the Christ I can be forgiven. But if I speak in blasphemy against the Spirit I can't be forgiven. Really? But isn't Christ God is the Spirit of God? Yes. But if I speak against Christ the Son of Man I'll be forgiven. But if I blaspheme the Spirit of God I won't be forgiven. Yep, that's exactly what it says. In fact let me read you what Mark says.

Mark chapter 3 verse number 28 says these words. Mark 3, 28. So let us say to you all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they utter. So whatever blasphemy you utter shall be forgiven. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness. Wow. Look what Matthew's account says. Matthew's account says in Matthew chapter 12 verse number 31 these words. Therefore I say to you any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.

Is there a sin that you can commit that will not be forgiven? Answer, yes. And yet the Bible says that any sin man commits or utters any blasphemy that he utters he shall be forgiven except for the sin against the Holy Spirit.

Wow. So you can blaspheme God and be forgiven. You can blaspheme the Son of God and be forgiven. But if you blaspheme the Spirit of God it shall not be forgiven you. Whoa. I thought God the Father God the Son, God the Spirit, the triune nature of God they're all three in one. One God manifests himself in three distinct persons and you're telling me that I can blaspheme God as Father and be forgiven? Yes you can. That I can blaspheme God as Son and be forgiven? Yes you can. That's what Mark said. That's what Matthew said.

But if I blaspheme the Spirit of God I can't be forgiven? That's correct. Paul was a blasphemer. First Timothy chapter one.

He was a persecutor of men and he was a blasphemer of God. But he was forgiven wasn't he? He was forgiven. In fact every one of you blasphemed the name of God before you were forgiven and you were saved. Every one of you blasphemed the Son of God before you were forgiven and you were saved. You blaspheme his name by by treating it as if it doesn't mean anything to you and you would deny his existence. You would deny his authority over your life. You would not walk in obedience to him and you would blaspheme the name of God and you would blaspheme the Son of God and yet God in his grace and his mercy forgave you of your sins and you're born again and you're living in the light of God's glorious Word today.

Just like the Apostle Paul. But if you blaspheme the Spirit of God you will never be forgiven. Are you kidding? No. That's what Jesus said. He said it three times. Mark, Matthew and Luke. How many times did Jesus have to say it for it to be true? Just once right? He said it three times. Just make sure you got it. So what does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? I'm running out of time. Why is it that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven? Listen carefully. Because the Holy Spirit is the revealer of salvation through Christ.

He's the revealer. John 15, John 16. He's the revealer of salvation through Christ. If you speak evil, listen, against the revealer's revelation you can't get saved because there is no other way to come to the truth. Does that make sense? If you blaspheme the revealer of the revelation then you can't get saved because the only way you're going to be saved is through the revelation of God's Holy Word. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing by a word about the Christ. And if you blaspheme the revealer who reveals the revelation to you you can't get saved because there is no other way to be saved.

Let me explain to you this way. The Pharisees, the scribes, rejected and blasphemed the Spirit of God. Because they attributed everything that Jesus did to who? Satan. He has a demon. He has a demon. When Christ began His ministry, Christ was conceived by how? The Holy Spirit, right? Luke 1. When He was baptized the Holy Spirit came down upon Him. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. The voice came from heaven. After that the Spirit of God, after His baptism, the Spirit of God drove Him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan for 40 days and 40 nights.

When He was done, Luke 4 tells us that it was the Spirit of God who would continue to minister in and through Him and drive Him to preach the Gospel. And when He came to the synagogue in Nazareth in Luke 4 He said, The Spirit of God is upon Me and has anointed Me to preach the Gospel. Right? Everything that Jesus did, He did in the power of the Spirit of Almighty God. Everything He did. So that when you come to the book of Acts the 10th chapter, it was reported of the Lord, these words in verse 38, You know of Jesus of Nazareth how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him.

What Jesus did was He did what He did under the power and ministry of the Spirit of God. And the Pharisees said, What you do, you do because you are empowered by a demon. They blasphemed the Spirit of God and therefore they put themselves in an unforgivable state. They put themselves in a place where they could not get saved because they would deny the revealer of the revelation by which was the only means they could get saved. Hebrews 6 speaks about this, verses 4 to 6. People who were partakers of the Holy Spirit tasted of the heavenly gift.

They had seen and heard all that God had given, yet they were on the brink of rejecting what the Spirit of God had taught them and therefore they were in danger of coming to a place where it would be impossible to renew them to a place of repentance. Hebrews 10 says the same thing. Book of Hebrews 10th chapter says it this way, If you go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins because the truth gives you that sacrifice. And if you continue to go on sinning willfully in spite of that truth that has been given to you by the Spirit of God who reveals to you the truth and the revelation of God in Christ, you bring yourself to a place where there is no other way of salvation because there is no other way.

It says this, But a certain terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of fire which will consume the adversaries. Why? How much severe punishment, verse 29, do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and is regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace or blasphemed the Spirit of God. See that? When you come to a place because the Bible says all sins will be forgiven.

All blasphemies will be forgiven. You can blaspheme God the Father. You can blaspheme God the Son. All those sins will be forgiven. The Apostle Paul is a perfect illustration of that in 1 Timothy chapter 1. But if you blaspheme the Spirit of God who is the revealer of truth about God and about Christ and uses that revealing power through the revelation of the Word that he himself authored and you reject that and you blaspheme that, you put yourself in an unforgivable state because there's no other way to be saved except by hearing the truth about the Christ and responding to what the Spirit convicts you of.

And that's why Jesus says you must revere what the Spirit says. That's why Paul said in 1 Timothy 5, 1 Thessalonians 5, do not quench the Spirit. How do you do that? Do not, next phrase, despise prophetic utterances. Why? Because the prophetic utterances, the preaching that's given, when they preach the truth of God's Word, it's the Spirit of God who uses that truth to convict man of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And you quench the Spirit by saying and belittling the preaching of the Word and belittling the truth of God's Word and God's Spirit is quenched.

That's why it's important that when you hear the Word of God you respond immediately to what he says. You follow through by what he says, on what he says, because you do not want to quench the Spirit of God. So, the Lord says, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit means rejecting His revelation as to the truth of Jesus Christ. If you reject the revelation, you reject the Scriptures, the Word of God. And therefore, that is the final rejection and you are in an unforgivable state. That's the danger of hearing God's Word and not responding.

Listen to God's Word and belittling God's Word because it blasphemes the Spirit of God and puts you in a state that truly is unforgivable. Hebrews 6, 4 to 6, Hebrews 2, 1 to 3, Hebrews 10, 26 and following all speak to the fact that it's impossible to renew you to repentance if in the face of overwhelming evidence given to you by the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, you reject that truth. You put yourself in an unforgivable situation because there's only one way to be saved and that's through hearing the Word of God and responding to the Spirit's convicting work in your life because He was the one who authored the Word of God.

You revere that Spirit. As you revere Him, then you will rely upon Him. Listen carefully. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities do not become anxious about how or what you should speak in your defense or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Once a believer, listen carefully, hears the testimony of the Spirit, the Spirit assures you you will always be a testimony for the Spirit. Did you get that?

Once you've heard the testimony of the Spirit and responded by believing the revelation He gives, the Spirit's promise to you is that you will always be a testimony for the Spirit. That's the promise. Listen to what it says. When they bring you before the synagogues. It doesn't say if they bring you. It says when they bring you. When they bring you before the synagogues. Paul was involved in this in Acts 26. They would bring you in the synagogue and there would be a whipping of 39 lashes, 39 because according to Deuteronomy law you can only do it 40 times.

There would be someone there to count the lashes to make sure you didn't go over the 40 because that would be a breaking of the law of God. Someone there would count. Someone there would read the psalms as you were being whipped. And someone there would be there to whip you. It would be a public humiliation. Paul was involved in this in synagogue after synagogue after synagogue. And people would say, well, if I follow you Jesus, if I follow you, what's going to happen to me? What am I going to do?

People will speak against me. What will I ever do? The Spirit of God will give you the words to say and you will be a testimony for the Spirit of God. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke chapter 20.

Verse number 10. 21 verse number 10. Nations will rise against nation. Kingdom against nation. And there will be great earthquakes and in various places plagues and famines and there will be terrors and great signs in heaven. Talking about the tribulation here. But before all these things they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you delivering you to the synagogues and prisons bringing you before kings and governors. For my namesake it will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.

But you will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends and they will put some of you to death and you will be hated by all on account of my name yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives or you will be saved. What saves you? Your endurance? Yes. So wait a minute. How does my endurance save me? Because the Spirit of God will enable you to endure and to give a testimony for Him. Because the mark of Christianity is perseverance and endurance.

You keep on keeping on because the Spirit of God enables you to do that. Without the Spirit's work what do you do? You fall away. It's called apostasy. You fall away from the truth. You don't endure. You don't persevere because you don't have the Spirit's power to do that. But the Spirit will enable you to continue on and give you the words to say, don't even prepare to defend yourself because the Spirit of God because you believe the testimony of the Spirit. The promise of the Spirit is that you will always be a testimony for Him.

Peter says in his epistle in 1 Peter chapter 4 these words, Beloved do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for testing as though some strange thing were happening to you but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation for if you are reviled for the name of Christ you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. The Spirit of God rests upon you.

That's what happens and that Spirit of God enables you to speak for God to stand true for God to live for God. Why? Because you just don't make a public confession with your lips you live it with your life and you will stand for Christ in the moment of severe persecution you will stand for the Lord Jesus Christ because the Spirit of God you believe the revelation given to you by the Spirit of God and because you believe it that Spirit will enable you to stand strong for Him and for the glory of Almighty God and so the Lord says this is how you don't succumb to the influence of hypocritical teaching and the leaven of the Pharisees which truly is a false gospel not a true gospel.

It will lead you to hell it will not lead you to heaven you must remember you are accountable to God. You must realize your need to fear Him and fear Him only and recognize that He is the one who sees you of great value you respond with a public confession of Christ and revere the Spirit of God rely upon Him and you will not succumb to the hypocrisy of false teaching. Let's pray. Father God we thank you for the truth of your word we pray God that our hearts would be touched by that truth we do pray for everyone who is here today that they've heard the word of God and that they will respond to the Spirit's prompting of that word and they would be more than willing to submit themselves to Christ as Lord as Savior as ruler of their lives and pray Father that your word will not return void that you do work in all of our hearts and lives that we would be contenders of the faith preaching the truth of the gospel without reservation in Jesus name Amen.