Blasphemy
Most of us know what blasphemy is; it is using God’s name as a curse word or saying Jesus Christ in anger, also using His name as a curse word. I dare say most of us know this. Even atheists and agnostics who use God’s name as a curse word, know this is wrong. God has written His law upon our hearts. Each and everyone of us have a God-given conscience, even professed God haters. But is blasphemy more than saying a curse word? Is there more to blasphemy than this?
Please note that I’m not minimizing or excusing using God’s name as a curse word. This is actually very serious. When you do this, you are breaking the 3rd Commandment. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain (Exodus 20:7). God will not hold you guiltless for doing this.
But folks, you need to know that blaspheming God includes more than using God’s name as a curse word. Please listen to Nehemiah 9:6-21: “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.
The Lord Is Righteous
You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.
“And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, 10 and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters. By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go.
You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.
Acted Presumptuously
“But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.
Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go.
You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
Committed Great Blasphemies
Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies. The Israelites didn’t curse God with their lips so much as they cursed Him with their actions. They attributed the great wonders, the miracles that God performed in Egypt, to a golden calf that they had made. They were attributing the glory that rightly belongs to God, to a man-made idol. That was a great blasphemy.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines blasphemy as: the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God or the act of claiming the attributes of a deity. The Israelites blasphemed God in both ways when they made the golden calf and claimed the golden calf that they literally had just made brought them out of Egypt. No wonder the Bible says they “had committed great blasphemies.”
Does this describe you tonight? Have you used God’s name as a curse word? Have you insulted God in other ways, showing a lack of reverence toward Him? Maybe you have attributed something to someone or something else instead of glorifying God. Have you committed great blasphemies against Almighty God?
Blasphemy Against The Holy Spirit Will Not Be Forgiven
Jesus also spoke about blasphemy. Matthew 12:22-32 says: Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him (Jesus), and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”
Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
Greatest Blasphemy Of All
And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Oh folks, have you committed the greatest blaspheme of all? Have you blasphemed the Holy Spirit? The Pharisees saw the miracles that Jesus performed through the power of the Holy Spirit and they attributed the miracles to Satan. Now that’s satanic! They blasphemed God in both ways, just like the Israelites did in the wilderness, thousands of years earlier.
When Jesus said that blasphemy would be forgiven (except for blaspheming the Holy Spirit), He was referring to all sin that is forgiven when anyone repents and surrenders their life to Jesus. God casts your sins as far as the East is from the West, when you truly repent from your sins and put your faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
I Was A Blasphemer
The Apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:13-14: though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Think about this, Paul killed Christians before He became a follower of Christ Jesus. He hated Christians with a vengeance. But he did so in ignorance. He thought that he was doing God’s work, but he wasn’t. He admits that he was a blasphemer, but God forgave him when he repented and submitted his life to the Lordship of Jesus.
The Israelites committed great blasphemies against the Lord when they made a golden calf, claimed the glory that belonged to God and credited their own invention. The Bible calls this great sin great blasphemies against God. Oh, I ask you tonight, are you committing great blasphemies against God? Have you seen your sinfulness? Have you seen your need for a Savior? Has God revealed His Holiness to you? If so, have you blasphemed the Holy Spirit by rejecting the salvation found in Jesus Christ alone?
Do Not Reject The Holy Spirit
If so, please know that God will not always strive with man. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3). And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not right (Romans 1:28).
Oh, are you listening tonight? You can reject the call of the Holy Spirit, you can allow your conscience to get a little more seared over time and time again until you reach the point where God turns you over to a reprobate mind. You can blaspheme the Holy Spirit and God will quit convicting you over your sins. That’s right, you say, No God, I will not have this man Jesus Christ reign over me and God says have it your way. Go ahead, die in your sins and spend eternity suffering the torments of Hell.
Do Not Reject Such A Great Salvation
Folks, if you have any ounce of conscience left, do not reject such a great salvation. Quit committing blasphemy against God. Cry out Oh God, have mercy on me a sinner. Recognize your sinfulness and God’s Holiness. Confess and forsake your sins. Cry out for God to save you. Repent from your sins and surrender your life utterly and completely to Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Bible says now is the time to get right with God. Today is the day of salvation. Don’t blaspheme the Holy Spirit by rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord for the very last time. Instead, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus and be saved. Repent and believe the Gospel. Be saved today and blaspheme God no further. Submit your life to King Jesus before you commit the unpardonable sin and God turns you over to a reprobate mind.
(A rain-soaked shortened version of this message was lifted up on August 2, 2019 in downtown Springfield, MO)