Key Life Network

Guest (Male): Have you blasphemed the Holy Spirit? No, you haven't. I'll tell you why, on Key Life. God's grace changes everything: how we love, work, live, lead, marry, parent, evangelize, purchase, and worship. This is Key Life with practical Bible teaching to get you home with radical freedom, infectious joy, and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. We're talking about the awareness of the reality of a fallen world. And how we sometimes have a kind of Disney World view of what it means to be a Christian. If I'm good and pure and obedient, then God will do good things for me, and I'll live a long time, and I'll be wealthy and healthy, and everything will be right in my world. That's not true.

And believing that's true, we set ourselves up with false expectations that destroy our faith and make us feel guilty and ashamed and afraid. They cause regrets. And so we're talking about the importance of awareness of things the way they really are.

We saw yesterday that awareness is the soil in which forgiveness grows. But awareness of the nature of a fallen world is where God gets glorified. It's what Jesus said in the Ninth Chapter of John when a man was healed of his blindness. And the disciples, because they had believed in the lie, said, "Whose sin was it? His parents, or was it him? Something bad happened." And Jesus said, "No, that's not the reason for his blindness."

Jesus pointed out that the world's dark side is where God is seen and glorified and praised. I often get questions at Key Life, and if you're a regular on this broadcast, you know that on the Friday broadcast, my friend and former pastor, Pete Hawlinson, and I devote the entire broadcast to questions and answers.

And interestingly, one of the questions we get as much or more than any other is the question on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. It's in Matthew 12:31. Jesus said that all sins are forgiven except one, and that's the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. That scares the spit out of a lot of Christians.

And the answer we always give is one in one form or another, is that there is no sin that God won't forgive. The problem with the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is that the work of the Holy Spirit is God's methodology of convicting us and showing us the areas where we've sinned.

If we reject that long enough, there's a point where we can no longer hear the Spirit's voice. We won't be forgiven, listen to me, not because God won't forgive us, but because we simply won't ask. But a part of our answer to the fear of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is this: if you had committed that sin, you would have never asked your question. You wouldn't even give it a thought.

There is a principle in that answer. When it gets dark enough, you can see the light. And if you can't see the light, there is either no light or your eyes have gone so dim you can't see it anymore. That's one of the reasons why awareness of the darkness, of a dark world, is so important. It's because it's there that we see the light.

I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm going to say, but before you jump to false conclusions, listen to all that I'm going to say. Sometimes I'm thankful for my sin. You know why? If I had never sinned and wasn't aware of that fact, I never would have looked for and found the Savior. Actually, He found me because in Romans 5:20, the word says, "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."

Real freedom from guilt and shame is never a reality for those who think they are good and righteous. It's one of the reasons self-righteousness is so very dangerous. So don't waste your sin. And then there's one more thing about a fallen world and the ignorance of being aware of its fallen nature. It gives you a safety net when the darkness is almost unbearable. This is John 16:33. Jesus said this: "I have said these things to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulations, but take heart, I have overcome the world."

Just before I wrote in my notes what Jesus just said, I came out of the studio with my friend Dr. Jerry Perris, and I recorded a week of these broadcasts and if you're a regular, you're aware of them. Jerry's one of Key Life's voices. And on that particular broadcast, we discussed how to deal with the hard and dark places in our lives.

When Jerry came into my study, and we always talk before we sit down and record programs, I asked him how he was doing. And he said, "I'm doing well because I'm favored by God." Then Jerry told me that he'd been to see his doctor the day before and had been diagnosed with cancer. "What?"

I had a hard time computing the "great favor" thing and cancer. The broadcasts we recorded were not theoretical theology. They became the existential truth applied to the teacher and the listeners. We were being taught how a Christian dealt with the dark. Doesn't deny it and sees the light of a loving and sovereign God whose light can't be seen until it gets dark enough.

Just so you know, Jerry is on the other side of the cancer and he's doing fine. But I'll tell you something, I know him, he is a beloved friend, and if he had not gotten better, if the cancer had gotten worse, and if he was terminal and facing it right now, he would say the same thing he said to me in my study, "I'm doing well, well, I'm favored by God."

When Jesus said after pointing out the darkness of the world, "I have said these things to you that you may have peace." Jerry illustrated that peace. Jesus is always present in the dark places. And the darker the place is, the more Jesus will be there.

My late friend, the Christian psychologist, Larry Crabb, often taught that when the pain is great, a Christian shouldn't run from that pain, but face it and probe it because that's where Jesus meets his followers. M. Scott Peck, and I quoted him earlier, wrote this: "The attempt to avoid legitimate suffering lies at the root of all emotional illness." That's because Jesus has not been invited to be a part of the pain.

This morning I responded to someone who wrote Key Life. He was concerned about not fully surrendering his life to Christ. He'd gone through some very painful experiences and he thought, he thought it happened, those that happened to him because of his lack of surrender. But even more than that, he was afraid he wouldn't ever be acceptable in heaven and was lost eternally.

Let me share with you what I wrote to him. Someone has said that the trouble with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar. So welcome to the club. Let me tell you a secret that every Christian has experienced, but few Christians admit. Nobody this side of heaven can pull off total surrender. The sacrifice really does crawl off the altar. It's the nature of a fallen world.

If we could be as good and obedient and surrendered as we think we should be, God would have sent a book. He wouldn't have sent his son. You think about that. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Steve. That'll do it for this week's teaching in our new series. And friends, some cool news for you next week. Our friend Jerry Perris will be teaching us here on Key Life about unveiling the extraordinary power of Jesus' love. You do not want to miss that. And of course, tomorrow we'll have Steve and Pete here for Friday Q&A. That's when they'll answer the tricky questions you've sent in, including one about Satan's former job. Tune in for that one.

Hidden Agendas. We pretend they're just for politicians, but we all have them. We're phony, afraid, sinful, and frankly, the pressure to act like we're okay is killing us and hurting those we love. In his book Hidden Agendas, Steve invites us to drop our masks and discover the depth of God's love and grace. We created a special booklet based on that book, and we would love to send it to you for free. So call us right now at 1-800 Key Life. That's 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at keylife.org to order that booklet, or go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, ask for the booklet called Hidden Agendas.

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