Saturday, July 11, 2015

GOD HAS HAD JUST ABOUT ENOUGH!

Scripture tells us that in order for a Jew to get saved, he needs to see a sign; he needs evidence or proof that what is being said, is in fact, from God and therefore true (1 Cor. 1:22).  Because Jesus wanted His brethren, the Jews, to accept Him, He was constantly doing signs and working miracles.  John wrote:  "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him" (Jn. 2:11). In Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, he said, "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know" (Acts 2:22).  And the writer of the Book of Hebrews wrote:  "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will?" (Heb.2:3-4).

But what happens when the Jews ascribe the working of miracles meant to convince them that Jesus is the Son of God, to the power of Satan himself?  The answer is simple:  they are without hope!  In the passage below, Jesus healed a man through the power given Him by the Holy Spirit (Mt. 12:28).  When the religious leaders refused to admit that they were convinced Jesus was the Messiah, they literally called the Holy Spirit a liar!  Even worse, they called Him Satan!  Matthew 12:22-24 says,

"Then was brought unto Him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.  And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?  But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils."

Since it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convince man of his need for Jesus as his Savior and Lord (Jn. 16:8-15), and provide him with the new birth (Jn. 3:3-8), by rejecting the evidence that produces faith, the individual is guilty of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit!  Jesus said, "...All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.  And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come" (Mt. 12:31-32).
      
Later, when the religious leaders asked for still another sign, Jesus had had enough!  "...He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:  for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Mt. 12:39-40).  They would get no other sign than His death and His resurrection!
 
"My spirit shall not always strive with man..." (Gen. 6:3)!

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