He who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit... The Holy Spirit will teach you...

Luke 12:8-34 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

“And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; ⁹ but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. ¹⁰ And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. ¹¹ When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; ¹² for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵ Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” ¹⁶ And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. ¹⁷ And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ ²¹ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

²² And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ²⁴ Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! ²⁵ And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? ²⁶ If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? ²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. ²⁸ But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! ²⁹ And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. ³⁰ For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. ³¹ But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. ³² Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.

³³ “Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

In John 16:7-15 Jesus says:   “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.  “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”    In Today’s text He says:  “And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God;  but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.”    It is the Holy Spirit who convicts the world concerning sin and righteousness. If someone denies God or Christ, the Holy Spirit can convict them of their sin, causing them to repent. If someone denies the Spirit they no longer have the conviction which leads to repentance and so without the Spirit they are not forgiven. The Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of Truth. To deny the Spirit is to deny truth. Conversely to deny truth is to deny the Holy Spirit. That is why so many people are deceived and live under a delusion, because they have denied the Spirit of Truth. They are left then to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. Even with good intentions, man cannot be trusted or trust in his own ability to decide what is right. Jeremiah 17:9 says:  “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”   Our own hearts will deceive us, but God is truth and His Spirit cannot lie.

Without the Holy Spirit we could not be saved, because without the conviction of sin we would have no need of a savior. It is though the Spirit’s job to convict the world concerning sin and righteousness. As believers, we cannot convict sinners. Instead we are to be a demonstration of God’s love and light. In today’s text Jesus says:  “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”    The same thing is true as we live and interact with people throughout our days. We do not need to practice a method of convincing the world that they need a savior. We don’t need to worry about what we will say to defend the gospel we believe. The Holy Spirit will teach us in that very hour what we ought to say. The Holy Spirit will give us the words which align with what He and the Father are doing at that moment. We cannot rehearse and prepare one thing to say to every person, since each person has a different experience and is at a different place. There are times we may be used to sow the seed of God’s truth into the lives of others. There are times when we may be called to water and nurture seed which has already been sown. Other times we may be used to help remove the weeds and the thorns form a seed which has begun to grow but is being choked out by the world. There are still other times when we may be privileged to participate in reaping a harvest where others have sown, watered and nurtured. We need the Holy Spirit to teach us, to guide us, to lead us to do what God is doing so that we can join Him in His work. Again we cannot prepare a structured way to reach the world, but we must prepare. In John 14:26 Jesus says:  “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”     We need to know what Jesus said for the Holy Spirit to  bring it to our remembrance. So we prepare not rehearsing the words we will say, but meditating on the words Jesus and the Father have said.  

Jesus says:  “seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”  It is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth who will guide us and cause us to seek God’s kingdom. It is the Holy Spirit who will lead us in taking the kingdom to others.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit thank You for all that You have done for me, for all that You are in me and for all that You want to do through me. Teach me, guide me, show me what You are doing so that I can join with You in Your work for the kingdom.   Amen.