"Analyze This"

By John Stallings


I recall a scene from the movie “Analyze this” where Billy Crystal plays a psychiatrist who against his better judgment takes on Mafia crime boss [Robert DeNiro’s character] as a client. We learn that DeNiro can’t control his emotions and starts to cry at odd moments.

There’s a scene when one of DeNiro’s henchmen comes to fetch Billy at a very inconvenient moment and Billy balks on him, saying “What, you think you can call me any time day or night?” The gofer let’s Billy know he’s part of the family now and “when the boss needs you, you come.” It so happened that the boss was on the verge of having another nervous breakdown. When Billy starts to protest again, the gopher cuts him off and says, “It is what it is.” Funny line. So it’s Billy to the rescue.

The thrust of this message will be to analyze some of difficult areas in the Bible that often confuse people. Some folk love to be confused. They wander around “in the misty moonlight” as it were, always hung up on some spiritual calculus. Some preachers will take a simple passage of scripture & so mystify it no one can understand what they’re talking about. I guess you could say that’s their “preaching style.” I bite my fingernails when I listen to these men.

As for me I’m just the opposite. I’m a simple kind of man so I like to take those things that seem shrouded in mystery and break them down, if possible making them easier to understand.

I’ve learned that when we find one of these areas that tend to confuse us, a good rule of the thumb is, take a deep breath, look at the problem or area of confusion and apply this rule –to borrow a phrase-“It is what it is." We might not like some of answers we get, still, it’s the Word of God and - "it is what it is."

Some people think that all sin can be forgiven. There’s a problem with that if we parse the Word of God in total honesty. So lets analyze; -SINS THAT ARE FORGIVEN -AND SINS THAT CAN’T BE FORGIVEN.

In Matthew 12:31 Jesus said--…every sin & blasphemy will be forgiven man but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

The first part of that verse is certainly good news is it not? God is willing to forgive all sin and even some blasphemies. What a wonderful promise that is.

Recently a mother placed her small baby in a microwave oven & killed It. “That’s unforgivable,” we might say, but God would say, “No. If she’ll humble herself & ask for pardon, I’ll forgive freely.”

A mother in South Carolina placed her three children in a car & rolled the car into a lake drowning them all. Some might say, “That’s unthinkable. Anyone who’d do that deserves no mercy.” But God would say, “My grace is sufficient for that woman. If she’ll repent, I’ll forgive her.”

A doctor in England a few years ago threw acid in the eyes of his wife because she cheated on him. He slashed her face with a knife telling her, “No man will ever look at you again.” We might think that sin beyond mercy but God would find it totally forgivable.

Though O.J Simpson was found innocent, many people still believe he practically decapitated his wife & another man. We might look at that sin & have no feelings of sympathy for O.J, but God would forgive him if he’d killed a dozen people; if he confessed & asked forgiveness.

There are people who’ll kidnap a pregnant woman, slash open her belly & steal her baby leaving her to die. There are also people who will drug their victim, place them in a bathtub filled with ice & when the person wakes up they find the tub filled with bloody water & realize one of their kidneys was stolen.

God sees all these sins as horrible & certainly expects individuals to pay for their crimes according to the laws of man. However, in the spiritual sense –All manner of sin & blasphemy shall be forgiven unto man…..

BUT THERE'S NO FORGIVENESS FOR BLASPHEMING THE HOLY SPIRIT

In the second part of Matthew 12:31 Jesus says--… but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

In Matthew 12:22-24 the Scribes & Pharisees were attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan. Then they brought Him a demon possessed man who was blind & mute & Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk & see. All the people were astonished & said, could this be the Son of David? But when the Pharisees heard this they said, it is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons that this fellow drives out demons.

The Pharisees attributed the works of Jesus to the devil himself. The sin was committed in full view of a demonstration of God’s power. Luke 4:18 says that Jesus went forth in the power of the Holy Spirit. Consequently the rejection of Jesus by the scribes & Pharisees constituted a rejection of the Holy Spirit’s witness of Jesus as the Messiah.

It was for this reason that Jesus said,--all sin & blasphemy shall be forgiven but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven men…whosoever speaks against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

If the question of blaspheming the Holy Spirit has ever personally troubled you, here’s a little test;

# Do you know when you do wrong?
# Do you feel conviction after committing a sin?
# Do you feel sorry over such an offense?
# Do you feel the Spirit drawing you to repentance?
# Do you have a desire to worship & serve the lord?
# Do you ever consider God?

Christians can sin, but they have a hard time doing it. If God has closed the books on a person & written them off, they would be hardhearted; they’d have turned against Jesus, reviled Him & become so depraved that they could gladly consign the works of Christ to Satan.

This sin cannot be committed accidentally & it’s unlikely a person who does it would feel bad about doing it. It really boils down to this; it’s not what God does or is going to do to a person, it’s what the person does to their self. They would much rather continue to slander God & His name than to repent. In so doing they have shut off the only way to grace—Jesus Christ & His Holy Spirit. In shutting Him off, they shut off His conviction, drawing power, and His work of nudging them to repentance. Next,

TAKING THE MARK OF THE BEAST DURING THE GREAT TRIBULATION IS UNFORGIVABLE.

Revelation 13:16-18 notes, He also forced everyone small & great rich & poor free & slave to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead so that no-one could buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.

Revelation 14:9-11 says,--If anyone worships the beast & his image & receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand he too will drink of the wine of God’s fury which will be poured full strength into the cup of His wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels & of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever & ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast & his image or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.

Revival will flourish during The Great Tribulation & many will be saved, but they will have to seal their testimony with their blood. People will be told to worship the beast & if they don’t comply they’ll be beheaded. As the verses above tell us, there’s no forgiveness for anyone who takes the mark of the beast.

Exodus 20:3-5 tells us,--You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to worship them…..

People won’t be able to buy or sell during the tribulation without the mark of the beast - 666. There’s no good news to talk about during this time because without the mark there will be no food, no shelter, no medical care etc. Worse, if the mark is taken, the individual will face the eternal judgment of an angry God.

Salvation will still be available but only through martyrdom. Next;

NO FORGIVENESS FOR UNBELIEF

In a Christian’s life there are times when our faith grows weak. James tells us that if we have wavering faith—“Let not that man think he shall receive anything from God.-James 1:7

A Christian who has saving faith, from time to time can experience wavering faith. This isn’t good but it does happen. But when it comes to salvation, -- to believe on The Lord Jesus Christ is the only basis for salvation. Christ didn’t die for the sin of unbelief nor is it covered in the atonement.

Listen to 1 John 5:10—He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God- hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not in the record that God gave of His Son.

John 3:36 says……he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Roman 10:9 says……if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Listen to Jesus in John 16:8-9….And when He has come He will reprove the world of sin & righteousness & of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on me……Here we have the words of Jesus saying unbelief is sin.

Hebrews 2: 12 says---Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

God won’t override unbelief & save an individual on “credit.” Unbelief must be flipped & turned to belief in order for a person to be saved. “Little faith” would still be enough to allow the person to call on the name of the Lord, but unbelief would never do it, so there is no path to salvation for the person who through unbelief refuses to make that call.—Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

There is no provision made for one who doesn’t call on the Lord during their lifetime, & death, without receiving Christ is irrevocable doom.

THE SIN OF APOSTASY IS NOT FORGIVEN

Following is what I believe to be one of the clearest descriptions found in the New Testament of what it means to be a Christian, --but ironically it’s wrapped in a serious warning. Hebrews 6:4-6 says;

It is impossible for-- those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, Who have tasted the goodness of the word of God & the powers of the coming age,-- if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again & subjecting Him to public disgrace.

In that passage there are five distinct expressions which elsewhere in the Bible are used to describe TRUE BELIEVERS…..The person has;

# “Been enlightened”—[This indicates they have received the truth of God’s Word in their lives.] # “Tasted the heavenly gift” [often a reference to receiving the free gift of eternal life.]
# have shared in the Holy Spirit—[who except Christians shares in the Holy Spirit?]
# have tasted the goodness of the word of God
# & the powers of the coming age-- [Sinners aren’t spoken of here. These are blessings associated with salvation, & the resurrection.]

The writer bends over backward to show that the folk he’s referring to are born-again Christians. And yet these people fall away & lose out with God to such an extent that --it is impossible for them to be brought back to repentance. That puts some “pepper in the gumbo” does it not? This is a very troubling passage.

Most of us know of individuals who for one reason or another have left the faith. They may not have actually denied the faith, but are certainly not practicing the faith.

Is this another incidence of a situation where people cannot be returned to repentance? Can a person have shared the Holy Spirit & then be lost? Are these good folk really lost? Is this really a description of a former saved person? Why can’t they find Christ once again? Why are they hopelessly lost eternally?

ANSWER; -- THESE PEOPLE COMMIT A SIN KNOWN AS APOSTASY—THEY ARE THEREFORE APOSTATES!

We know this is true because-They are crucifying the Son of God all over again & subjecting him to public disgrace.

They once confessed that Jesus was Lord & Messiah & that the crucifixion was unjust. Now in rejecting the faith their actions testify that the crucifixion was correct after all-Jesus was a blasphemer & not Messiah. If they had been there two thousand years ago they too would have cried, -Crucify Him, crucify Him. Such a witness exposes Jesus to public disgrace.

One of the sins of the end time is the sin of apostasy; people rejecting the true faith of Jesus Christ & embracing error.

1 Timothy 4:1 says, But the spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will fall away from the faith… A person can’t fall away from the faith or depart from it if they were never in it.

70% to 80% of those who are in cults today were at one time a part of classical Christianity. Nonetheless they fell into grave error & ultimately rejected the faith that they once held dear.

DELIBERATE SIN IS UNFORGIVABLE

Hebrews 10:26-30 [Living Bible]—If anyone sins deliberately by rejecting the Savior after knowing the truth of forgiveness, this is not covered by Christ’s death; there is no way to get rid of it. There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible punishment of God’s awful anger, which will consume all His enemies. A man who refuses to obey the laws given by Moses was killed without mercy if there were two or three witnesses to his sin. Think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God & treated His cleansing blood as though it were common & unhallowed & insulted & outraged the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to His people. For we know Him who said,--Justice belongs to me; I will repay them; who also said,--the lord Himself will handle these cases.

Verse 26 now from the NIV, --If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left…

If we’re completely honest we will all have to admit that none of us is perfect & have committed sin. It may not be a frequent or flagrant sin, but none of us has lived a perfect life, or Jesus wouldn’t have had to die on the cross.

We all do things, maybe we didn’t set out to do them, but we end up in some deed or activity we know is wrong yet we go against our conscience & do it anyway. We get angry, blow our cool, lie to get out of a jam, we speed, this kind of stuff. Now which kind of sin is the verse above talking about? Is it the accidental & unknowing sins or the other kind, the deliberate sins?

I believe the passage speaks of deliberate sin; sin people choose-- sin that is willful & premeditated, --sin that the individual knows is sin in the eyes of God when they commit it. It is a state of willful, known sin that a person embraces with no thought of giving it up. This is the sin spoken of in Hebrews 6:4-6 where apostates –trample underfoot the Son of God. They have also treated the blood covenant as something common &--insulted the spirit of grace.

These folk had known Christ as their personal savior & had-received the knowledge of the truth. For such people there is no forgiveness, no remaining sacrifice for sin. What remains is the judgment of God.

DOES THE NAME SAM KINISON RING A BELL?

Sam serves as a vivid illustration of an apostate. Sam was born in 1953 in Yakima Washington & became one of the loudest & rudest comedians of the 20th century. Sam grew up in Peoria, Illinois & he & his brothers followed in their father’s footsteps by touring the Bible Belt as evangelists.

Sam became one of the great stand-up comedians of the 1980’s & later his life became the classic image of drugs, sex & rock-n-roll. Hard-partying & hard-drinking became a major part of his act.

Here are a few “Kinisonisms” as they are called.

# I used to be a preacher & people think I changed overnight. I didn’t. It wasn’t like I woke up one morning & said, “Hey, forget the Bible, where’s the party?” It was a little more gradual than that. It took a lot of women to disillusion me.”

# People are going, -- hey aren’t you afraid to tell jokes like that? Don’t you get a small chill that runs through your blood when you tell a joke like that? Aren’t you afraid of going to hell? No, I’m not worried about hell. Because I WAS MARRIED FOR TWO YEARS! HELL WOULD BE LIKE CLUB MED!”

# I’ve lived a carnal life. My view of life is “If you’re going to miss heaven, why miss it by two inches? Miss it! I don’t have to go through the thing of paying for it in the next world. I know I’m—in the next life.”

On April 10th, 1992, on the way to a sold-out gig in Laughlin, Nevada, Sam’s Pontiac Trans-Am was struck head-on by a pick-up truck driven by a 17-year old driver. Sam who wasn’t wearing a seat belt died on the scene. A 27 year old female riding with him was knocked unconscious but suffered only minor injuries.

I’ve heard through several sources that Sam, while he was lying on the side of the road dying, was having a conversation with someone not visible to anyone but him. He was resisting death & making it clear to whoever he spoke to that he just couldn’t go. But finally he gave up & said, “Oh, well, yes I guess I’ll just have to go.”

There’s a photo going around of Sam & a group of women making mockery of the Lord’s Last Supper. I’ve heard it also hangs on the wall of a bar/restaurant owned by Sam’s brother Bill. Bill used to preach with Sam & is committed to keeping his memory alive.

I’ve read that Sam’s gravestone reads; - “In another time & place he would have been called a prophet.”

Could a person like Sam find Christ? Theoretically yes, if he would truly turn to the Lord. But Sam was an apostate & he wouldn’t turn to the Lord. He had;

# “been enlightened”
# tasted the heavenly gift”
# “had shared in the Holy Spirit”
# “Tasted the goodness of the word of God”
# “& the powers of the coming age.”

Sadly, none of that was good enough for Sam. He wanted more. He wanted booze, women, & song. He wanted fame & fortune. He wanted to worship another God besides the One True God—he wanted to worship the god of self.

Years ago a pastor friend told me the story of a small church that was praying for a young unsaved man in his mid-twenties. He had a wife & three children. The man worked with a group of other men on a construction job.

Revival came to the church & one night the young construction worker committed his life to the Lord.

Word of the man’s conversion reached the other men where he worked & the next day they mocked & made fun of him. At mid-morning they came around & said, “Hey, “preacher,” We heard you got religion last night.” At two o’clock they came around again to chide him saying, “Preacher,” we heard you got religion last night- Are you a holy-roller now?” At four o’clock there was more mockery of the young man, with his fellow workers putting all the pressure on him they could.

As the work day was ending the newly saved young man asked a friend for a piece of chewing tobacco. Then, in plain hearing of his buddies, this young man spit out tobacco & loudly said,--“There’s no more to God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit than there is to that tobacco I spit on the ground.”

The workers saw they’d really gotten to the young guy & they all laughed & left the construction site to go home. The young man got in his truck & drove around for a while, finally pulling up in front of his house.

He got his double-barrel shotgun off the rack of his truck, got some shells, walked into his home & shot dead his wife & three children & then killed himself.

Few people really knew the back story of this terrible tragedy. My minister friend said, “John, when he spat on the ground & uttered those words of blasphemy, he opened the door to a demonic invasion into his life & it was tragically fatal for him & his precious family.”

Listen to 2 Peter 2:20-22 regarding the terrible fate that awaits unfaithful, backsliding Christians;

If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ & are AGAIN ENTANGLED IN IT & overcome, they are WORSE OFF AT THE END than they were at the beginning.

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR THEM NOT TO HAVE KNOWN THE WAY of righteousness, than to have known it & then turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.


Pretty well spells it out, doesn’t it?


Blessings,


John