Ephesians 4 and verse 18 is the verse that I want to read with you before we come to the message of God's Word tonight. As we announced there just this morning, we are dealing with a special subject tonight. I believe that the Lord would have us come and deal with current events. I think it was Charles Spurgeon who said that any preacher worth his salt should be a good reader of newspapers. Of course, that's wholesome newspapers, I believe, but it was Spurgeon who said that a minister must keep up to date with current affairs, current events as they unfold in the world around him. It's not that I find time to read newspapers, but I think over the past week and a half that as God's people, we cannot but miss the events that have unfolded in the United States of America. with the inauguration of President Barack Obama. I just want to put a disclaimer here tonight, as I did last week, that I am not a minister who delights in attacking men. I am not here to criticize the President. I am not here in any other agenda, but I am here simply to consider, in the light of God's Word, what has taken place in the United States. We are, as our confession requires of us, to pray for all men in authority. That includes the President, that includes our Prime Minister. How do we pray? We pray that God, by His grace, might regenerate them, might save them, give our nations godly leaders that they may, for Christ's crown and covenant, stand fast. But sad to say that is not the case, so we come tonight to look at God's Word, because God's Word is up to date in regards to these things. So Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18. Ephesians 5 and verse 18. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts. Amen. I think you, like I, as part of the worldwide fraternity, of God's people were shocked last Sunday, last Lord's Day, the 18th of January, to discover that the openly sodomite, and I make no apology for using that term, homosexual bishop, Gene Robison, the first practicing bishop of the New Hampshire Diocese of the Episcopal Church, USA, was asked by President-elect Barack Obama to give the invocation prayer at the We Are One concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on the Sabbath day, the 18th of January. As part of that inauguration ceremony, that man was asked to give his blessing or ask God to invoke from God. That's what the word invocation means, to implore God for his blessing upon the newly appointed president or soon to be appointed president. But that event greatly disturbed the hearts of God's people for many reasons. that a man who would be looked upon as one of the greatest leaders of this world at this time should request that a man such as Gene Robinson, an openly practicing, profligate bishop, should be asked to pray in the name of Christ and ask for the blessing of God upon the term, the four-year term of President Obama. I don't have a problem with men praying, but I do have a big problem whenever a man such as Gene Robinson is asked by such a man as Barack Obama, knowing full well for which and for what this man stands, in the name of Christ, to stand there and to pray before billions and to have his message set forth that our young people especially, the young minds of Americans, British citizens across this world, might hear a message whereby they will take that message and whereby they will feel that this is something that we have got to consider. I have heard Christians this past week saying, well, you know, I've heard men saying this man Obama, or not Obama, Robinson has created or has made blasphemous statements in his prayer. I would fully agree with that statement. But yet there have been Christians who have actually come to question that and say, well, was it really wrong that that man should be there? And yet the thing is, this man, his lifestyle, his whole theology is anti-God from beginning to end. That's the thing. And yet we have Christians, because of the mind conditioning that we have been subject to for many years now, and it will continue for many years, we will find it increasingly difficult to preach such messages and to declare such a message that this is wrong and this has got to be put right. Before that man, I hate to give him that title of a bishop because the word bishop comes straight from the scripture, which means an elder or a preacher. But nevertheless, there he is masquerading as a servant of Christ. And just before his prayer, he gave this interview NPR, National Public Radio. And he said that in his preparation for his invocation, as he would do, as any man would do, if you were privileged to take part in such an inauguration ceremony, you would take time to prepare your speech. Every dot, every comma, every breathing would be at least in place. But he said this on public radio that he was shocked As he read the past 30 to 40 years of inaugural prayers, men such as Billy Graham, and I'm not saying anything about Billy Graham, but I believe Billy Graham at that time being a professing evangelical, other men who would have been selected by the likes of Ronald Reagan, George Bush to pray in such events, evangelicals whom we perhaps would have no problem with. Yet this man comes along and he says, having read 30 to 40 years records of these prayers, I am shocked to find how aggressively Christian these prayers actually are. He's on record as saying that. He was shocked at seeing how aggressively Christian these prayers actually are. He goes on to say, my intention when I pray is not to invoke the name of Christ. In other words, my name or my intention is not to Sight is my authority, the name of Christ. He would not go and pray in the name of Christ. He says, I won't be doing that because that's too narrow minded for me. But I will make my prayer for Christians and non-Christians alike. And here's what he says. Although I hold the scripture to be the word of God, you know those scriptures are holy to me and to Jews and Christians. But many other faith traditions have their own sacred texts. And so rather than insert Christ and exclude them from the prayer by doing so, I want this to be a prayer to the God of our many understandings and a prayer that all people of all faith can join me in. The message that comes forth from that man is this, that God is some kind of common denominator between all faith. Whether you be a Muslim, a Christian, whether you be a Roman Catholic, whether you be a Buddhist or a Hindu, or a Zoroastrian, or whatever you want to mention, God is not the God of whom Paul says, there is one God, there is one faith, one gospel, one Christ. Gene Robison says, no God is a God of all or many understandings. It doesn't matter how you understand God, whether it's the Hindu understanding, whether it's the Protestant understanding, whether it's the, might I say it, the Sodomite understanding. It doesn't matter. God is a common denominator to us all. He is tolerant. He is neutral when it comes to religion. And therefore, we don't cite, as other men have did in past years, Christ is the sole authority. I will be praying to the God of our many understandings. What a fool. If I could just step aside for a moment. He did go on to pray that. And he began, if any of you heard that prayer, O God of our many understandings. And he said he wouldn't be praying in the name of Christ, but yet when it come right to the end of that prayer, he says Amen. As you will know from Revelation 3.14, the word Amen is the title of Christ. So he did pray in the name of Christ. But the blasphemous thing is this, what he did pray was offered in the name of Christ. He prayed in the name of Christ whether he liked it or he didn't, but yet tonight we've got to consider what he did say and that God is not a God of our many understandings. The question is, are the young people of Great Britain, are the young people of the United Kingdom, or Europe, or the USA, Canada, Are they to accept this man's explanation of God? That it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe something? Because that's really what is encapsulated in his statement. God is a God of our many understandings. That God is a kind of a common denominator, as I say, irrespective of lifestyle, faith, religion, whatever comes under his umbrella. I want to say tonight, we cannot join with him in that prayer. And no Christian across the face of this world who owns Christ as their Lord and Saviour can never put their Amen to that prayer that was offered last Lord's Day by Bishop Gene Robinson. When I considered those words and I heard what this man had to say, I was drawn to Matthew 12 and verse number 30, where Christ makes this statement. There's a charge put to Christ here. If you go back to verse 24, the Pharisees here, they say, after Christ had healed the young man who had a devil, he was blind, he was dumb. They come, verse 24, and they say, Christ, we know that you work alongside Satan, don't you? You don't do this in your own name or the name of the Father, but Christ and Belzebub, or Satan, you're in a league together. You are working together and there's no real Christ. You're not exclusively God. You work with Satan. Now, you might say that's a very mind-blowing statement to make, but you read verse 24. When the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow, you can see the derogatory speech they use, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. Now, they certainly had got one thing right. Satan is the prince of the devils. As we said there, it's the Lord of the flies. I believe there was a film maybe a few years ago, maybe come out with that title. Well, now you know where the title comes from. Satan is the prince of the devils. He is the prince of darkness. He is the king of death. And the Pharisees understood that to be of him, but yet they say, Christ, you work with him. You are neutral. You and Satan, you can work alongside one another. And when you examine what Bishop Robinson said, that God is a God of many understandings, He's really saying that God is neutral. That there's no good. Whether you're a sodomite, or whether you're a murderer, whether you're a rapist, or whatever you are. God loves you. God is neutral. God is kind to you. He is the God of our many understandings. I want to say tonight, when that charge came to Christ in verse 24, Christ says to these men in verse 30, I am not working with Satan. And furthermore, if you are not with me, you are against me. And I am against you. Christ was not working with Satan. Christ was actually going forth continually plundering and overthrowing the house of the adversary. There is no common ground, believer, tonight. And should you be in this meeting tonight and know not Christ as your Savior, there is no common ground between That which is ungodly and that which is Christ-like. What communion has light with darkness? What fellowship has Belial with God? What has Christ with the world? I can tell you there is no common ground that you will find tonight. There are two thoughts I want to simply leave with you tonight. And it arises out of that prayer of that man Robinson. He says that God is the God of our many understandings. God is neutral. First point, there is no neutrality with God. And secondly, while men may profess to be with Christ when they are not with Christ, there is mercy with God. So there is no neutrality with God. And secondly, there is mercy with God. We'll keep it simple tonight. But let's think here, first of all, in verse 30 of Matthew chapter 12. He that is not with me is against me. God was presented by this man, Bishop Robinson, in his prayer as being a God who tolerates sin. A God who puts up with sin. Now, let's not misunderstand God. I preached a sermon here about two months ago, or a month ago, in regards to the long-suffering of God. It is one of those mind-blowing attributes of God. I told you about the evening we, there was a number of us young people, stood outside Trax nightclub in Port Rush. We were there giving out Trax, at Trax, giving out gospel leaflets. And a tremendous time every night we would have discussed these things about doctrine and the gospel and church. And I remember looking at a young man one night as I witnessed the dress of the young woman and the language and the behavior. Open, immoral. immorality in the street. I used to say, I can understand many things about God. I can get my head around the doctrine of election somewhat, but I can never understand why God is so long-suffering to us. But we are never to misunderstand God and say, well, you know, God, because He puts up with sin for a season, He is tolerant. He is not tolerant of sin. He is not neutral. He is not a God or neither is the Son or the Spirit. They are not tolerant of sin. And we've got to see that tonight, irrespective of what one of the most celebrated celebrities, Bishop Robinson, for what he might be, taking part in the inauguration of President Obama. No matter what he may say, the Bible points us in a completely different direction. We do acknowledge that God is long-suffering. But it simply means that He is only withholding His hand for that time, and yet we are not to trust, we are not to dare put our trust, and you better not, and anyone who heard that man pray that last week, dare not say, well, if God understands the way I think about Him, that's enough for me. We dare not put our own trust in our own understanding. Proverbs tells us, lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him on the basis of our own knowledge of God. I speak to you on save tonight. What do you know of God? You may not know very much, but upon what you do know, is it safe to assume or dare you put your whole soul in that and say, well, God will accept me for what I know of Him? Let's look for a moment at Ephesians 4.18. You dare not put your trust in your own understanding. No matter how many those understandings might be. And this comes out in Ephesians 4.18. Ephesians 4.18. What is man's understanding? What Paul tells us here. Before we read the verse in a moment, We need to consider, at least you would need to consider, one of the first things, that any understanding that man has of God is completely corrupt and is utterly wicked. That is man's condition. His understanding is completely debased in regards to God. Look at verse 18. Having the understanding darkened. Being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of the heart. Man's understanding here is said to be dark. It is said to be deathly dark. It is a darkness that can only be equated with death. In chapter 2 of Ephesians, Paul says that man is dead in trespasses and sins. But you see, men have only been caused man as a sinner. And every man, irrespective of who he is born into this world, is born in trespasses and sins. He is dead in trespasses and in sins. Which means his understanding is not, is incapacitated, is not able to understand God and to comprehend God. Now can I simplify this for a moment? What I want you to see tonight is that because of sin, Your mind is completely incapacitated to understanding God, which leaves you not in a state of neutrality, but in a state of separation. And that's why Paul goes on there in verse 18, and he says, You have been alienated. You have been separated from God. Your understanding is dark. It is dead. And therefore, you are separated from God. But let's look here, first of all, at the understanding of man before we look at the separation of man from God. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, where it says there, "...the God of this world hath blinded their eyes." In other words, the Prince of Darkness, Belzebub, of whom the Pharisees said, Christ, you are working with Him. Christ gives light to men. Satan blinds the eyes of men. So how can you say that there's neutral ground? There's no neutral ground between Christ and Satan. One loves to keep men in darkness, the other delights to bring men into light. And yet, Paul here says, the prince of darkness, the angel of death, hath blinded their eyes. As I said a few moments ago, they're unsaved and asthmating. Do you see the darkness that you have? It is a darkness that over encompasses your mind, your whole understanding. And you cannot rightly understand God. So why would Bishop Robinson say that God is our God of our many understandings? Whenever the only understanding singular that man has is one that is corrupt, and one that is wicked, one that is debased, and one that leads him to sin continually, And one that will damn his soul if he's not brought out of that darkness. That's why we move down to verse 18 again, Ephesians 4. Man's separation from God. Verse 18 of chapter 4. It says there that man is alienated from the life of God. Now, Paul is emphasizing here the effects. The effect of this darkened understanding. We are aliens. We are separate from God. We cannot know God. God is there. He is pure. He is holy. He is undefined. He is separate from sinners. Yet, where are we? We are corrupt. We are dead. We are stinking corpses. Yet, dare a man say, I understand God. Man is estranged from God. There is no common ground. And this is brought forth especially by Paul in Romans 8. Now please turn with me to Romans 8 and verse number 7. You know, how tragic it is that you have a man like Gene Robinson who can stand and can pray and can attribute those things to Christ. and yet not fully understand what he's doing. I believe he does understand what he's doing. He knows the truth and he is turned away from it. And God has given him over to a reprobate mind. But how sad it is that a man can do as the Pharisees did. They knew who Christ was. Do you remember that man who came by night to Christ and said, We know. We know that thou art a teacher come from God. For no man can do these things which thou doest." And yet they turned around and said, you're working with Satan. But all the while he knew it. How can a man say that? We will see this in a few moments. But if you look with me at Romans 8 and verse 7. And there's a man, Bishop Gene Robinson, he actually stood as an ambassador of Christ, at least professing to be. Professing to love Christ and love his people, yet all the while in his heart that is unregenerate, there's hostility, there's anger, and may I say it, there's intolerance for God. There's intolerance for the gospel. You know that there's another preacher who took part in the inauguration ceremony, Pastor Rick Warren from Saddleback Community Church, USA. That way we would not agree with Pastor Warren in any shape or fashion in regards to his theology. Yet he's from the other camp where he would take a stand against the rights of what you might say the sodomites, homosexuals. And I'm not saying it's not dealing with human rights there, it's dealing with what God says. And as a preacher, he does take a stand in that sense. And of course, whenever the news came out that this man would be taking part, Pastor Warren would be taking part, at the inauguration ceremony in Capitol Hill, this guy blew up. And says, how dare you have this man here? He's against us, sodomites, do you not know? There was no support, you see, coming from that camp. And why I say we wouldn't agree with Rick Warren in any way, yet there was this man Robinson, when he heard there was going to be a man there who was not with him, he got on the news, he got on the television, and he let blow, as we might say. And of course, he got his position. But why is that? Well, Romans 8 and verse 7 gives us the answer. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the mind of God or the law of God. And neither indeed can it be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. This man is in the flesh. This man is not a child of God in any way. But yet here he is praying, professing to love Christ. Yet his heart burns with anger and hatred for the Christ of God, for the gospel of God, and for the people of God. How then can he say that God is a God of many understandings, when he himself does not understand God? Because God is light, God is holy, God is pure, and in Him is no darkness at all. What about Isaiah 44 and verse 18? They have not known nor understood, for he that is God has shut their eyes that they cannot see, and their hearts that they cannot understand." Please, congregation, understand this tonight. That a man devoid of the grace of God is unrestrained by anything else. He cannot be restrained in his heart by morality. If grace does not reign in his heart, the flesh reigns. That's why I want you to turn now to Romans 1, verse 22. They do not want to retain, that is, ungodly men, God in their knowledge. In chapter 1 of Romans, verse 22, they profess themselves to be wise, but they are fools. And in verse 23, what does this tell you what happened last Sunday without mentioning names? They changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to a corruptible man. They present that which is pure and holy and they pass it off as that which is unholy. God has no communion with that which is unholy. And yet in that prayer we find a unification of that which is spiritually unclean with God who is the epitome of holiness. You know something, congregation, if you would only tonight forget everything I say, but understand one thing – the holiness of God. And if the holiness of God were to impress upon your heart and your mind that I am in the presence of a holy God, that, I believe, would be enough to smite you with conviction. Of course, God gives faith. He gives repentance. But if you've ever been, as I often say from this pulpit, had a confrontation with the law of God, Paul says the law of God is holy. Why is the law of God holy, the Ten Commandments? Because God who gave it is holy. And in the Ten Commandments, as we teach our children from the earliest days, the law of God is summarily comprehended in the law of the Ten Commandments. But what is the law of God? The law of God is a reflection of who He is. What He has done. Everything about His character. Holiness. And if a man would see the holiness of God, it would drive him to Christ. Because when he sees holiness, he is condemned and he flees from the wrath that follows that holiness that comes from the Lord. So man is separated from God. does not understand God. There are many other verses we can leave with you tonight, such as James 4, verse 4, that really say the same words as Christ. That ye are not, or know ye not, that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. The human heart is hell-bent, dead-set against Christ. And only grace can change the mind. Only grace can change the heart. Was it old John Newton who penned the words to that poem, Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound? Grace that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I am found. I was blind. I understood not. But now I see. Grace makes a man to see. But you know, there is something Finishing that point, we want you to briefly look at this. That is, well, how does God view man's sin? We don't understand God, but how does God understand us? Well, let's go back to what I said there in that final statement. If we understand that God is holy, we will find that we only then can understand that God sees us according to Himself. God is holy. That means that His understanding of everyone in this meeting tonight is governed by His own nature. It's governed by His own character. He is pure. He is holy. He is just. As Peter tells us, as Paul tells us in Hebrews 12, 14, without holiness no man shall see God. But yet His holiness is unchanging. And if God is unchanging in His knowledge of man, It means that he is then inflexible. There is no flexibility with God in his dealings with men. If God is holy and God is just, God then must remain holy. He must remain just. He is holy. On the other hand, Satan is a liar. He is a murderer from the beginning. But I bring this in to enforce the argument that when we understand who God is, that God is inflexible, He cannot change the rules for any man. He cannot adjust his own character and let people into heaven and bar others from heaven. That's not how God works. That's why we preach against a worked religion that if God is pleased with how you perform, He will let you in. And if you don't perform as well as that other person will, you won't be allowed in. And you know the caricatures in the newspapers You always see the two pearly gates. And there's St. Peter. And there's some poor critter coming up to those gates begging, you've only let me in. How blasphemous! What a slight, may I say, upon the character of our God. God alone, as we often sing, cannot lock the doors of heaven. God alone can let a man in. But it is never according to how that man lives or how that man... Now, understand me. Not upon the basis of how a man lives, but upon the foundation of what Christ has done. Faith in Christ alone is the criterion for a man being in heaven. Faith and repentance. But yet, if we listen to this man pray last week, There was one statement that did grab me when he said this, Lord, bless us with anger. Bless us with anger at discrimination at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people, colour, gay. Dare I say anything more? He uses words that are maybe not even fit for this pulpit. But can I say this? There was no mention of Psalm 7, verse 11, when he said, Bless us with anger, Lord. There was no mention of God being angry with the wicked every day. God hates the wicked. He detests their works. How can God bless the wicked? Lord, bless us, he says with anger. No mention. He went on then to pray, Lord, bless us with freedom from mere tolerance. Listen to this. Freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences and an understanding that in our diversity we are stronger. Genuine respect. Bless us with tolerance. Again, there was no mention of Romans 2 and verse 11. When God says there's no respect of persons with me. No respect of persons with God, men and women. There is no difference. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And you see, when we come to bring this together, there is no favoritism. There is no impartiality with God. God does not show favoritism to one man above another. God is not a God of many understandings. Christ, going back to Matthew 12, verse 30, He says, if you're not with Me, You are against me. Christ said that. The Father agrees with that. And the Spirit agrees with that. If you turn with me to 1 John 5, verses 7 and 8, we mention these words this morning where it mentions the members of the Trinity and goes on to say there that they are in perfect agreement. These three agree. The Father agrees with the Son. And when Christ says, if you are not with me, you are against me. You are my enemy. The Father says, you are my son's enemy. And the Spirit testifies and says, you are against Christ and you are against the Father. These three agree. There is no dissension among the members of the Trinity. There are many things that we could mention here, but we must move on. I just want to mention that that sin, and it was a sin that was mentioned in that prayer. If you would go home and study the larger catechism or the shorter catechism, Question 83, you will find there that the old divines say this, that some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. Some people say all sins are the same. It's not. And what are the reasons for that? Well, the reasons there, if you read your catechism, you'll find that, or at least the larger catechism, It depends on the nature of the one offending. If it's a minister who's offending, or an elder, or some prominent person, that adds to the transgression. It depends who's offended. Sodomy is a sin that strikes at the heart of God. God is offended. The nature of the offence is against the seventh commandment. It's against God's law. The nature of the offence, the time of the offence, it was all committed on the Lord's day. And yet we find that this is a great sin, but yet a man can stand and say, Lord, we have called this man to do the work. If you listen to that prayer, he actually says that. O God, we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe, that is President Obama. Hold him in the palm of your hand that he might do the work which we have called him to do. What have they called that man to do? I personally believe that the United States, a bit like Israel, when they said, Lord, we want a king to reign over us, to give us the things, let us do what we want to do, the Lord has given them a man. The Lord has brought him to the kingdom For such a time as this, not a good time, might I say, but he's there appointed by God because God, like the kings of Belshazzar and the kings of the Old Testament, Darius, he raises them up, he brings them down. And yet he is more or less saying when he prayed, Lord, with all this man to do, in other words, to pass laws to protect profligate, debauched men like me, We will not have this man to reign over us. You can go on to the White House website and you will find that it is the very day that he was brought into office, the whole website was changed and the agenda was published freely for the world to see. And you find that the things there, it's the most pro-abortion, sodomite, liberal agenda that the United States has ever seen. One of the first things that he and his lady friend, Mrs. Clinton, intend to do, and that is to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. In other words, marriage is not going to be something that is really seen to be proper. You can live as you please. He intends to revoke the a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, giving rights to men, sodomite men and women to have freedom to adopt children without any kind of opposition. We could go on and on here tonight. He plans to expand the adoption rights for those kind of couples and expand, may I say, hate crime statutes at the federal level. which means preachers of the gospel will not be able to oppose, not be able to open their mouth without finding themselves up on a charge of hate crime and possibly being imprisoned. That's the agenda that Gene Robinson was asking God to bless. Can you pray? Could you say amen? I don't think you could. But I must close and I know the time is gone. But there is mercy with God. Go with me to Matthew chapter 12, verse number 30. Matthew 12, verse 30. Where it speaks there, there is no neutrality with God. He that is not with me is against me. He that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Verse 31. Wherefore, I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. It doesn't say every man will be forgiven, but it says, all kinds or all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven. Now that is a good theme. That God is a God who forgives. That there is forgiveness with God for all manner of sin and blasphemy. And that includes men the likes of Gene Robinson. Men who do need conversion. And God is saying, here you know, I can convert. I am gracious. I am merciful. But I want to say something here. This is the section in God's Word that you as a Christian and I as a preacher need to handle with care. We're dealing with the section that falls into what we often call the unpardonable sin. Because Christ goes on to say that not every sin shall be forgiven. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. It's not that That sin of speaking against the Holy Spirit, what is that sin? There are many Christians, you know, and they really beat themselves up because they go around wondering, have I committed this sin? I remember a young man. He didn't come to me, but speaking to another pastor, he went very troubled and he said, you know, preacher, I'm a member of this church, I take communion, but I believe I've committed the unforgivable sin. I use the Lord's name in vain. I want to say tonight, God is not the unpardonable sin. The unpardonable sin, as we understand it from God's Word, is when a man who knows the truth, knows the truth in his heart, and can preach it as well as I can, and yet with boldness can stand in the same pulpit and say it's nothing but a lie, it's the work of Satan. How can a man do that? As a man who has no trouble saying it, he's not burdened in his heart, whereas the Christian who believes in his heart that he has somehow grieved the Holy Spirit, you can grieve the Holy Spirit, you can quench the Spirit, you can do many things, but that is not unpardonable. There's mercy, there's forgiveness for that. But if you look here at the context, verse 24, and it brings us right full turn. These Pharisees had come to Christ and said, see that work that you have done, the healing of that young man? It's the work of sin. When it was, and they knew it to be, the work of the Holy Spirit. And Christ tells them, you know what's going on here, but for that very sin you will never be forgotten. On earth, or in the judgment to come. No forgiveness. As I say, I emphasize, it is not because the guilt of this sin transcends the merits or ability of Christ to forgive. And that's a very important statement. But it's because the person is beyond the power of the Holy Spirit to save. Or because of that, but it's because this man has sinned in degrees. He's harmed his heart. And God has just given him over. Given him over to himself. I say it's not because this man is beyond the power of the Spirit to save, but because this man has declared in his soul, I won't have Christ to rule over me. Don't want him. When you look at Matthew 13, you find that frightful condition being demonstrated. You know, these Pharisees were faced with positive proof of who Christ was. They knew who Christ was. And they knew that he was doing it by the Spirit of God. But rather than believe what their speech, they began to ascribe the work of the Spirit to the devil. From a heart that was convinced of the truth, they spoke against it by their speech. And Christ says, you will never be forgiven for that sin. But the Lord includes that word to encourage those men who are sinners. Encourages them that there is forgiveness with God. When He says, all manner of sin shall be forgiven. No matter what that sin might be. I don't know your background tonight. Quite a number of visitors here tonight. Young women. Young men. I don't know your background. I don't know where you come from. Or how you stand before God. But I will say this. that if God is speaking to you regarding the redemption of your soul, there is no sin that is beyond the merit of Christ to forgive. Which means you must flee to Christ and you must throw yourself wholly upon Him. The Word of God encourages you to do that. To feel the weight of your sin. Not to despair, but rather to plead for salvation and say, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. be propitious towards me. In closing, can I say, God is not a God of many understandings. There is one God. There is one faith. There is one Christ. There is one Gospel. Anything outside of Christ, outside of the Gospel, outside of faith, leaves a man's soul in great peril. Would it not make sense tonight for those who know not the Saviour to understand what Paul says in Romans 10, 12, 13? For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. May God bless His Word tonight. And we pray that he will do so for his namesake. And I just say for those who want them, there are notes available of this message tonight. I know there are visitors with us.