Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 11 ESV. Ch. 12 GNT

Associate Producer

Sister Ann, Anonymous, Michael Haner

Podcast Introduction

It’s Gospels Saturday, and we’ll read Luke 11-12. I’m calling this episode “Nature Abhors A Vacuum.”

Comments on Luke 12

Luke 12:10  “Whoever says a word against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”

In the King James, this is translated, “…but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.”

Have you ever wondered what the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is? Some have called it the unpardonable sin. 

William Barclay wrote a very popular set of commentaries on the New Testament, and even though I very strongly disagree with some of his views, I do like what he had to say about this verse. As a matter of fact, I’m going to quote Barclay for the next couple of minutes or so.  

It tells us of the unforgivable sin, which is the sin against the Holy Spirit. Both Matthew and Mark record that Jesus spoke about this sin immediately after the scribes and Pharisees had attributed his cures to the prince of devils instead of to God (Matthew 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-29). These men could look at the very grace and power of God and call it the work of the devil. To understand this we must remember that Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit as the Jews understood that conception, not in the full Christian sense, about which his audience at that time obviously knew nothing.

To a Jew, God’s Spirit had two great functions. Through the Spirit he told his truth to men, and it was by the action of the Spirit in a man’s mind and heart that he could recognize and grasp God’s truth. Now, if a man for long enough refuses to use a faculty he will lose it. If we refuse to use any part of the body long enough it atrophies. Darwin tells how when he was a young man he loved poetry and music; but he so devoted himself to biology that he completely neglected them. The consequence was that in later life poetry meant nothing to him and music was only a noise, and he said that if he had his life to live over again he would see to it that he would read poetry and listen to music so that he would not lose the faculty of enjoying them.

Just so we can lose the faculty of recognizing God. By repeatedly refusing God’s word, by repeatedly taking our own way, by repeatedly shutting our eyes to God and closing our ears to him, we can come to a stage when we do not recognize him when we see him, when to us evil becomes good and good becomes evil. That is what happened to the scribes and Pharisees. They had so blinded and deafened themselves to God that when he came they called him the devil.

Why is that the unforgivable sin? Because in such a state repentance is impossible. If a man does not even realize that he is sinning, if goodness no longer makes any appeal to him, he cannot repent. God has not shut him out; by his repeated refusals he has shut himself out. That means that the one man who can never have committed the unforgivable sin is the man who fears that he has, for once a man has committed it, he is so dead to God that he is conscious of no sin at all.

William Barclay

I recently said to you that we should keep our account with God short, meaning that we should confess our sins often. In doing that, we remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and will never have to fear committing the unpardonable sin.

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Steve Webb 0:00
The Holy Spirit does not share space with demons.

Steve Webb 0:11
This is the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California. And podcasting since 2004. I’m your OG Godcaster. Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we’re reading through the entire Bible in a year and it’s so good to be with you today. It’s gospel Saturday and our reading will be Luke 11 and 12. I’m calling this episode. nature abhors a vacuum. Let’s get started with a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for our time together today. And I pray, Lord, that You would be with us and that you would teach us. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, let’s get started.

Steve Webb 0:52
Luke, chapter 11. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place. And when he finished, one of his disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. And he said to them, When you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins for we ourselves, forgive everyone who was indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation. And he said to them, Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend led me three loaves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before Him, and He will answer him from within, do not bother me, the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed, I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, though, he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impedance, he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish will instead of a fish give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion? If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who asked him. Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out. The mute man spoke and the people marveled. But some of them said, He casts out demons by be eligible the prince of demons, while others to test him kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he knowing their thoughts said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and a divided household false. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by be eligible. And if I cast out demons by beallsville, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are safe. But when one’s stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides this boil. Whoever is not with me is against me. And whoever does not gather with me scatters. When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and finding none, it says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order, then it goes in bring seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first. As he said these things a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, bless it is the womb that bore you and the breasts that which you nursed, but he said, bless it, rather, are those who hear the word of God and keep it. When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation, the Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but honest stand so that those who enter may see the light. Your lamp is the lamp of your body. When your eyes healthy, your whole body is full of light. But when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore, be careful, less the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its raise gives you light. While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him. So he went in and reclined to table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools did not he who made the outside make the inside also. But give his arms those things that are within and behold, everything is cleaned for you. But woe to you Pharisees, for you tithe mint and Rue and every herb and neglect, justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees, for you love the best seat in the synagogues in greetings in the marketplace. Woe to you, for you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it. One of the lawyers answered him, Teacher in saying these things, you insult us also. And he said, well to you, lawyers also for you load people with burdens hard to bear and you yourself, do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you, for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them. And you build their tombs. Therefore also the wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles some of whom they will kill and persecute so that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar in the sanctuary? Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. Whoa to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves and you hinder those who were entering. As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard, and to provoke him to speak about many things lying in wait for him to catch him in something he might say.

Steve Webb 7:28
Luke chapter 12, as 1000s of people crowded together so that they were stepping on each other. Jesus said first to His disciples, be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, I mean, their hypocrisy, whatever is covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known. So then whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in broad daylight. And whatever you have whispered in private in a closed room will be shouted from the house tops. I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot afterward do anything worse. I will show you whom to fear. Fear God who after killing has the authority to throw into Hell, believe me, he is the one you must fear. Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one Sparrow was forgotten by God, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid you are worth much more than many sparrows. I assure you that those who declare publicly that they belong to me, the Son of Man will do the same for them before the angels of God. But those who reject me publicly, the Son of Man will also reject them before the angels of God. Whoever says a word against the Son of man can be forgiven. But whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they bring you to be tried in the synagogues, or before governors or rulers, do not be worried about how you will defend yourself or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say. A man in the crowd said to Jesus, teacher, tell my brother to divide with me the property our father left us, Jesus answered him, Friend who gave me the right to judge or to divide the property between you two. And he went on to say to them all, watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed. Because your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be. Then Jesus told him this parable. There was once a rich man who had land which bore good crops, he began to think to himself, I don’t have a place to keep all my crops. What can I do? This is what I will do. He told himself, I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones where I will store the grain and all my other goods. Then I will say to myself, Lucky man, you have all the good things you need for many years. take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself. But God said to him, you fool All this very night you will have to give up your life, then who will get all these things you have kept for yourself. And Jesus concluded, This is how it is with those who pile up riches for themselves, but are not rich in God’s sight. Then Jesus said to the disciples, and so I tell you not to worry about the food you need to stay alive or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes. Look at the crows. They don’t plant seeds or gather a harvest. They don’t have storage rooms or barns, God feeds them. You are worth so much more than birds. Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it? If you can’t manage even such a small thing? Why worry about the other things? Look how the wildflowers grow. They don’t work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers. It is God Who clothes the wild grass grass that is here today and gone tomorrow burned up in the oven. Won’t he be all the more sure to clothe you what little faith you have. So don’t be all upset, always concerned about what you will eat and drink. For the pagans of this world are always concerned about these things. Your father knows that you need these things. Instead, be concerned with his kingdom and He will provide you with these things. Do not be afraid little flock for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell all your belongings and give the money to the poor. Provide for yourselves purses that don’t wear out and save your riches in heaven where they will never decrease because no thief can get to them, and no moth can destroy them. For your heart will always be where your riches are. Be ready for whatever comes dressed for action and with your lamps lit like servants who are waiting for their master to come back from a wedding feast. When he comes and knocks they will open the door for him at once. How Happy are those servants whose master finds them awake and ready when he returns? I tell you, he will take off his coat, have them sit down that will wait on them how Happy they are if he finds them ready, even if he should come at midnight or even later. And you can be sure that if the owner of a house knew the time when the thief would come, he would not let the thief break into his house. And you too must be ready, because the Son of Man will come in an hour when you are not expecting him. Peter said, Lord, does this parable apply to us? Or do you mean it for everyone? The Lord answered, who then is the faithful and wise servant. He is the one that his master will put in charge to run the household and give the other servants their share of the food at the proper time. How Happy that servant is if his master finds him doing this when he comes home, indeed I tell you, the master will put that servant in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself that his master is taking a long time to come back. And if he begins to beat the other servants, both the men and the women at eats and drinks and gets drunk, then the master will come back one day when the servant does not expect him and at a time he does not know. The master will cut him in pieces and make him share the fate of the disobedient. The servant who knows what his master wants him to do, but does not get himself ready and do it will be punished with a heavy whipping. But the servant who does not know what his master wants, and yet does something for which he deserves a whipping will be punished with a light whipping. Much is required from the person to whom much is given. Much more is required from the person to whom much more is given. I came to set the earth on fire and how I wish it were already kindled. I have a baptism to receive and how distressed I am until it is over. Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the world? No, not peace but division. From now on a family of five will be divided three against two into against three fathers will be against their sons and Sons against their fathers. Mothers will be against their daughters and daughters against their mothers. Mothers in law will be against their daughters in law and daughters in law against their mothers in law. Jesus said also to the people. When you see a cloud coming up in the west at once you say that it is going to rain and it does. And when you feel the south wind blowing you say that it’s going to get hot and it does hypocrites. You can look at the earth and the sky and predict the weather. Why then don’t you know the meaning of this present time? Why do you not judge for yourselves the right thing to do. If someone brings a lawsuit against you and takes you to court, do your best to settle the dispute before you get to court. If you don’t you will be dragged before the judge who will hand you over to the police and you will be put in jail. There you will stay As I tell you, until you pay the last penny of your fine.

Steve Webb 15:05
Beloved, I’d like to read Luke 1124 through 26. To you again, when the unclean spirit is gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest in finding none, it says, I will return to the house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house swept in put in order, then it goes in bring seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last date of that person is worse than the first. Well, of course, that was Jesus speaking. And when he said, When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, here, Jesus is showing that demons can come and go for people, they look for people to inhabit. But take note, when a person gives their life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live in them. In John 1415, through 17, Jesus said, If you love me, you will keep my commandments, then I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, or advocate or counselor, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know Him for He dwells with you, and will be in you. And then in First Corinthians 619, Paul said, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God? So you see, the Christian, the believer, the one who has asked Jesus to forgive them and be their lord has the Holy Spirit in them? Right. And the Holy Spirit does not share space with demons. They cannot take up residence in a Christian, no way. No How. Now, notice in this account that Jesus is giving that he says, When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest and finding none, it says, I will return to the house from which I came. So the demon left the person, and it looked around for some other place to occupy, but it found no place as well suited as the former place. So it returned. And since the place was empty, without Jesus, he moved back in. Listen, you can’t be on the fence. Either Jesus is in you, or he isn’t. Jesus said in Matthew 1230, Whoever is not with me is against me. So an agnostic is just as lost as an atheist. You’ve probably heard the phrase nature abhors a vacuum, right? Where there is space, it wants to be filled. I remember my first computer back in the late 80s, maybe early 90s. I had 120 megabyte hard drive. Yes, megabyte, not gigabyte and certainly not terabyte. Well, after I use the computer for several months, guess what the hard drive filled up. So I got a really spacious 350 megabyte drive. I thought this thing is so big, it’ll never fill up. Well, today, I have a one terabyte drive in my iMac. Now, for reference, there are 1000 megabytes in a gigabyte, and 1000 gigabytes in a terabyte. So a terabyte is 1 million times larger than a megabyte. So compared to that, 120 megabyte hard drive I started off with the one terabyte drive in my computer shouldn’t be just fine, right? It’ll never fill up. Well, wait a minute. I’m not done. The one terabyte drive in my iMac is nearly full. Yeah. Plus, I’ve got another four terabyte drive connected to my computer, which gives me five terabytes. That ought to be enough, right? I’m not finished. I have another eight terabyte drive connected to that’s 13 terabytes. That’s 13 million megabytes. And all of my hard drives, all 13 million megabytes are almost all used up. Yeah, I need to buy more disk space. Out of all that space, I have only a total of 435 gigabytes available. That’s less than half a terabyte. Like I was saying nature abhors a vacuum. And according to what this story from Jesus tells us that applies in the spiritual realm as well. Either the Holy Spirit lives in you or you’ve hung out a vacancy sign for a demonic tenant. Now, I’m not saying that every non Christian will have an experience like an exorcist movie. But of course, the way the enemy works, he usually likes to inflict damage a little bit at a time, sort of like termites. They can get into the wood framing of a house and be there for months and years eating away at the structure. without being detected, but all the while the house is being weakened, until there’s no structural integrity left, a demon takes up residence in a person and spiritual decay begins. How it manifests can be a collapse of morals, lack of judgment, substance abuse, addiction, to pornography, and on and on. Now, I’m not saying that these examples are always or only because of demonic possession. I’m just saying that these can be indicators. But listen, instead of focusing on what the enemy or demons can do, our focus ought to be on Jesus. He is the source of life and freedom and joy and salvation. If you have him, you have all you need. He said in John 1010, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. So what is your signs say vacancy or no vacancy? If your sign says vacancy, you can change that. Jesus wants to move in. He said in Revelation 320, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Now notice, he does not just move in. He’s a gentleman. He waits for your invitation. And you can invite Him in. Now, if you want to just say this prayer, you can say it out loud, you can say it in your heart. Just simply say, Lord Jesus, I want you to move in. I know that I’m a sinner, and that only you can forgive me. I asked you to forgive me now and be my Savior and my Lord, make me the person you want me to be? Make me yours. Amen. Well, if you prayed that prayer, congratulations, right now there is rejoicing in heaven. And your sign now says no vacancy. From this point forward. You belong to Jesus, and there’s nothing that can take you from him. Romans 828 says, neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created being will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Men. Talk about security. Talk about an abundant life. Hey, do me a favor, William. If you prayed that prayer, would you let me know? Send me an email at Steve at Lifespringmedia.com. If you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer and I won’t put you on a list. I won’t spam you or anything like that. I just want to pray for you and do what I can to help you get a good start in this new life. If you have any comments or questions, call the Lifespring family Hotline at plus 1-951-732-8511 Or comment via boostagram or by going to comment.lifespringmedia.com. Tomorrow will be Epistles Sunday and we’re going to read Ephesians four through six Lord willing, we’ll also have a time of prayer and our third installment of essentials.

Steve Webb 23:17
I’ve got some people to thank Today we have three count them three associate producers Lifespring family Berean sister Anne came in with $100 today Thank you, Sister and God bless you. And anonymous came in with their weekly $22.22 cent row a duck’s donation. Thank you anonymous and God bless you. And Michael Haner came in with his weekly $7.77 cent striper donation. Thank you, Michael, for your donation. And also Thanks for doing the chapters for us. God bless you. And Lifespring Berean brother Halley boosted 500 sets Thanks for that brother how he God bless you. And speaking of $22.22 cent row a Doxon 777 striper donations in there are a bunch of number combinations that have been given names it started I think on no agenda and then when podcasting 2.0 got started with boost and booster grams, it just kind of exploded I think so here’s some example of some of those numbers. 1004 is a trucker boost. Get it 10 410 04 1492 is a Columbus booster Of course. 1776 is what? Yeah, Liberty boost. See if you can figure this one out. 376006376006 We’ll flip that upside down or what does it spell? Yeah, this is a Google boost. And then 90210 is a Beverly Hills boost and there’s lots more. Well as I was listening to the podcasting 2.0 podcast today, it occurred to me that we could have some fun with this too. Right off the top of my head I thought about John 316. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal Life. Well, John is the fourth gospel. So John 316 would be four for John and then 316 4316 4316 SATs could be a John 316 boost or maybe call it any evangelism boost. I’m open to naming ideas and the numbers. What do you think? Let me know your ideas, preferably in a boostagram. But you can also let me know in all the normal standard ways to let’s see if we can get some fun numbers in the boostagram list Lifespringmedia.com slash thoughts. Tomorrow will be our next time of prayer, beloved, so if you’ve got a prayer request that you would like to share or if you’ve got a praise report, call it in at 951732 at 511 or go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com.

Steve Webb 25:59
Thanks to Sister Denise Michael Haner Scott Snider, Jason Paschall, who did today’s show art and SR Brittaney, who probably by now has sent out the newsletter. Did you get it? If not, be sure you sign up, go to news dot Lifespringmedia.com Brittaney has been really writing some good stuff for the newsletter. Be sure you’re subscribed. You don’t want to miss it. Thank you, beloved, for being with me today. Thanks for inviting me to be part of your day until tomorrow. May God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye

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