Eye On The Prize
Keep your mind on what God has told you to do and stay at the task until it's finished.
Transcript
Alright thank you very much, and hello again dear radio friends. How in the world are you? Aren’t you glad you can be in the world but not of it? Don’t have to be tarred with the world’s brush. Believe you me, you can be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. Thank God for His keeping power. In a dirty world you can shine for Jesus. Well we’re looking at Mark chapter 3, and we’ve come down to this passage where the Lord Jesus said, “All sins be forgiven except he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgiveness, but is in danger eternal condemnation”, because they had said, “He has an unclean spirit”, in other words was, they were ascribing the work of the Holy Spirit of God to Satan. Now, people write to me from time to time and say, “I’m afraid that I’ve committed the unpardonable sin, and I’m in such terrible fear that my soul be forever lost. I love Jesus and I want to go to Heaven, but I’m afraid I’ve committed the unpardonable sin”. Let me set your mind at rest beloved. If you read the whole Bible and take all of the truth of the word of God together as a whole, you’ll find that God judges people not for their chance utterances, but for their heart commitments, “Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life said the wise man”. What these people were doing, the scribes who came down from Jerusalem, and who said, “He hath Beelzebub and by the prince of the demons”, that’s Satan, “cast of the out demons”. What were they doing? Not only were they saying words that said that Jesus was possessed of a demon, not only were they saying that, but in effect, they were rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s blessed Messiah, God’s son, God’s Passover lamb, and so on, that He was going become as He suffered on the cross. They were rejecting Him Later on He would weep over Jerusalem and say, “How often I have gathered your children as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but she would not. Behold your house is left unto you desolate”. You see, the unpardonable sin is not a chance word that you may say. Dear people write to me and say, “I said something 50 years ago and I’m afraid that that was the unpardonable sin”. No, no. All of you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. You’ve ask Him to forgive your sins and to come into your heart. He has done that. He said, “Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out”.
Mel Trotter, great rescue mission person and evangelist of another day, was dealing with someone who was concerned about this very matter, and he referred this person to the verse I’ve just quoted, “Unto you all the Father give me should come to Me and him that cometh on to Me I will in no wise cast out”. “Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out”, that’s John 6:37, perhaps you know it. And so, this person said, “I I’ve committed the unpardonable sin”. Well, have you come to Jesus”? “Oh yes”. “Well, read this verse, “Him that cometh up to Me I will in no wise cast out”. “Well, I’m afraid I’ve committed the unpardonable sin”. “Well, read the verse again”. “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out”. “Have you come to Him”? “Yes. I’ve prayed. I’ve tried to come to Christ. Oh yes”. “Well what does He say”? I will in no wise cast out, and Mel Trotter used that verse over a period of minutes, until finally the truth of it dawned upon the dear person, and there was faith then, instead of despair. The unpardonable sin, and now I’m going to turn to John 3, is rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, “He the believeth on Him”, this is John 3:18, “He the believeth on Him is not condemned, but he the believeth not, is condemned already, because he is not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God”, and this is the condemnation of the essence of what we sometimes call the unpardonable sin. What is the essence of it? Verse 19 in John 3, “This is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil”. He the believeth not, and then you go over to the 36th verse of John 3, and you find John saying “He that believeth on the son hath”, H-A-T-H, present tense, hath, “everlasting life and he that believeth not the son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth, abideth on Him”. When you reject the Lord Jesus Christ, you are committing the unpardonable sin. God is not going to judge you for some chance word you may have said 50 years ago, or 25 years ago, or last week. God will determine your eternal destiny based upon whether or not you have opened your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, and allowed Him to become Lord of your life. Rejection of Christ is the sin that cannot be pardoned.
Cliff Barrows told in my hearing a story years ago, concerning a crusade that Billy Graham and Cliff, and Bev, and the rest had, some place in the southland, and they’d already retired for the night when there came an urgent request that a gentleman wanted to see them, and so they hastily dressed and got up. Cliff Barrows and Billy together there in a drawing room, where they could receive people, and the man came in. He was very well-dressed, a rich man in the community there, he said, “You know, years ago”, he said, “I was in a revival meeting that was being held in a tent”. He said, “I was greatly convicted in my soul”, and he said, “I knew that I should receive Christ as Savior, but I didn’t want to, and I remember saying out loud, ‘God leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone the rest of my life’”, he said, “I sort of made that that decision there, that night and he said, “Gentlemen, try as I may, I just, I have no desire for God, I have no desire to pray, and that I just thought maybe I ought a come and talk with you fellas about it, to see whether I’m mistaken”. Well, they opened the Word of God to him, and they prayed earnestly for him, both of them. Finally, he excused himself from their company, and took his hat, and his coat, and his gloves, and went on to the door, and as he went out the door, Cliff said, he turned around, looked sadly at them, and said gentlemen, “You’re looking at a lost soul”, and went on out. Now, not everything is as dramatic as that, but I can tell you the world is full of people who have made their decision that they will not, period. They will not have anything to do with the Lord Jesus, and that beloved, is the one sin that God cannot forgive because, there is none other name under Heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. Now, do you understand what I’ve been saying to you? The unpardonable sin is rejecting Jesus Christ. These people were using a statement about Christ to reject Him, and in so doing, they were indeed blaspheming the Holy Spirit of God, but the essence of what they were doing is, they were rejecting Jesus Christ, and that my friend, is the unpardonable sin. See to it will you, that as God speaks to your heart, you open your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, and let Him be your Lord and Savior.
Somebody listening to me right now is not a born again person. You’re not a Christian, you’ve always thought about becoming a Christian. You intended to sometime or other, but never did. Do you know, if you ever decided to be a Christian, do you know how to become a Christian? It’s very simple really. First of all, you have to know the bad news. The bad news is the fact of sin. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The penalty for sin, the wages of sin is death. The penalty must be paid. It’s appointed onto man, once to die, but after this the judgment. You do the best you can, don’t you? But if you keep right on doing your best and failing, what are you going to have to look forward to? Death and the judgment of God. That’s the bad news. The good news is, that the Lord Jesus Christ already paid the penalty. Romans 5:8, “God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. Hallelujah, the price’s paid, the penalty’s been paid, He died for us.
The second thing about the good news is that salvation is a free gift, “By grace are ye saved, through faith and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast”. There isn’t a thing you can do to make yourself look any better to God. You come to Him just as you are, without one plea, and you receive His salvation, His gift of salvation. And the third part of the good news is that God’s gift turns out to be a wonderful person, the Lord Jesus Christ, wants to enter into your life. He says, “Behold, I stand at the door”, that’s the door of your life, “and knock, If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with me”. “And as many as received Him”, John says in John 1:12, “To them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name”. You open your heart by faith right now, to the Lord Jesus Christ. Invite him in. Talk to Him. Say, “Lord Jesus come into my heart. I want to be a child of God. I am sorry for my sins. I repent of them. I turn away from my sins. I asked Thee to forgive me and I do by faith receive Thee into my heart”. Do that right now. I can promise you that when you pray that prayer, God will indeed answer you and you will know, for certain, that you’re forgiven that you’ve been made a child of God.
Well, that’s quite a passage there in Mark 3, isn’t it? Let’s go on a little. I have a moment or two left in this broadcast, let’s go on in Mark 3. “There came then”, this is verse 31 in Mark chapter 3, “There came then His brethren and His mother, standing outside, sent unto Him, calling Him, and the multitude sat about Him and they said unto Him, ‘Behold, Thy mother and Thy brethren outside are looking for You”. Small thought here; Whenever you’re busy for the Lord, there will be some outside interruption that tries to get you off the track. Will you remember that? Whenever you’re busy for the Lord, there will always be some outside interruption trying to get you off the track. Refuse it. Keep your mind on what God has told you to do and stay at the task until it’s finished. See, they were outside, “Come on out, we want to talk to you.” Now, notice what was happening. They were so busy they couldn’t eat, that was what triggered the concern of the folk around Him. First, it was His friends, and that is translated in the margin of your Bible, kinsman. Some of the 42nd cousins, you know, in that small community, when they heard of it, they went out to lay hold on Him, they said He’s beside Himself, He’s gone crazy, He’s too busy. He doesn’t even eat. People accuse you of not having both oars in the water, if you dare to be busy for the Lord. Strange isn’t it? A workaholic can work 18 hours a day at his business, making money, and people rather admire him, but if a person gets busy for the Lord, they say, well, he’s flipped now, he’s off his rocker, he doesn’t even stop to eat, he’s so busy with serving God. Well now, the people who came down from Jerusalem, they just and rejected Him and ascribed His wonderful words and works to Satan, and in so doing they were committing, what Jesus called, the unpardonable sin, because he rejecting Him. Now, you have another approach, “His brother and His mother”. This is people from the immediate family.If there were ever anyone who could have a deep effect upon our Lord Jesus, it would be Mary and the brothers. Well, they said, “Come on out.” Well, He didn’t. He looked around and He said, “Who’s my mother and my brethren? Whosoever shall do the will of God, that person is my brother and my sister and my mother”. There He established the real priority in serving God. The real priority in serving God is to do His will regardless of interruptions, criticisms, or even the gentle pressure of those who know you best.
Dear Father today, make as victors over Satan, make us concentrated upon the will of God as we live hour by hour, in Jesus’ name I pray this, Amen.
Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!
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