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Hello, this is Matt Slick from the Matt Slick Live Podcast, where I defend the Christian faith and lay out our foundations of the truth of God's Word. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. A daily program powered by the Truth Network.

This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Have you ever been called crazy for following Jesus?

Are Christians supposed to bind Satan? And finally, as though we're not controversial enough already, what is the unpardonable sin? It's Truth Talk Live, I'm Stu Everson, and welcome to the all-new Wednesday in the Word edition of Truth Talk Live. We're going to do this, this is a go, this is the first week of Wednesday in the Word on Truth Talk Live, where we dive deep into a passage of Scripture.

And today we're looking at Mark chapter 3, verses 20 through 30. And I've got a good friend in the studio, Caleb, say hey to the vast Truth Talk Live audience, will you buddy? Hello everyone, my name is Caleb, glad to be here, glad to see Stu, and the Lord bless you wherever you are. Who is, other than donning this amazing long-sleeve Truth Network t-shirt, who is Caleb Itterly? Tell everyone a little bit about who you are so they'll know who's talking. Well, you better watch out. No, my name is Caleb.

Come right into that mic, put your chin on the mic right there. Look out guys, the truth is that I was saved when I was very young, was blessed to grow up in a Christian home, and have been blessed to serve the Lord, he's given me 38 plus years of life, and the rest is history as they say. But today we find ourselves studying the Word of God, as Stu you already said, and Mark, and just glad to be here in the studio with you to do that today.

Well we're glad you're here, and we've got a passage of Scripture that we're going to dive deep into that covers these areas, you know, it's really fascinating. And I want to ask someone out there, have you ever been called crazy for Jesus? I think that, you know, I think of Steve Noble. That guy probably has everyone looking at him up and down. This guy's crazy, he's following Jesus, where did he come from?

I love his example of his enthusiasm, I love his passion for Christ. I think of other believers that are so on fire for the Lord that people are like, you're crazy. Well, that's exactly what happened to Jesus. His own family called him crazy.

Then the scribes came from Jerusalem and called him a demon. Isn't that wild? And so what about you? And are Christians nowadays so undisruptive and so bland, so homogenous, so vanilla, Caleb, that we've just kind of lost our fire? Like, you know, no one thinks we're crazy anymore. You know, what's going on, Caleb?

Talk to me. Well, I mean, as always, you're going to have someone in your life you think is crazy, whether that person's a Christian or not, it's up to you. But depending on the person, depending on the Lord's calling on your life, if you're obedient to him, you're going to stand out. You're going to be salt, you're going to be light. Darkness and light don't mix.

Oil and water don't mix. And at a certain point, if you have an opportunity to share your faith with someone, they're going to say, they're either going to receive it or they're not. If they don't, they're going to say something to the effect of, that's crazy or you're crazy or I don't believe that nonsense. And they move on. But we're called to share the gospel and not to convince someone or force someone into a confession of faith.

So that's ultimately what you're going to get. At some point, somewhere along the line, if you're serving the Lord, someone will call you that. Or someone. Right, and we're not saying be obnoxious for Jesus, or be angry or be over the top for Jesus, but we're saying at some point, you know, how is he so taken over your life that people that just think clinically, or people that, you know, natural mind does not understand the things of God. You know, 1 Corinthians 2.14. So Caleb, Jesus' family actually came to him in Mark 3, and they tried to do an intervention on Jesus.

Imagine that. Anyone ever had an intervention done on them? Imagine Jesus having an intervention done on him. If you want to call in and tell me how you've been accused of being crazy for Christ, or an example of testimony, 866-34-TRUTH, toll-free 866-348-7884, where you get into what it means to bind Satan and how this Scripture, specifically Mark 3.27, doesn't tell Christians to bind Satan. We're going to talk about that, or maybe you disagree, we want to hear from you at 866-34-TRUTH.

And then finally, what is the unforgivable, unpardonable sin? Some controversial stuff, nothing like today on Truth Talk Live on Wednesday in the Word. Thank you for listening, thank you for being here, the number again is 866-34-TRUTH. Caleb, read the Scripture, will you?

Because we're coming up on our break in a second. It is Mark what? It is Mark 3.20-30, and starting out in verse 20 it says, "...then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. But when his own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of him, for they said, He is out of his mind. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, He has Beelzebub, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.

So he called them to himself and said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds a strong man, and then he will plunder his house. Assuredly, I say to you, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation, because they said he has an unclean spirit." Wow, that's the Word of God, and we're going to jump into these verses.

We got a break coming up before we get to that break. The first question, Caleb, that hails to the context. Very important. Yes, this first question here is, why would his own people think he was crazy here being Jesus himself? So this is Jesus' family. His own people clearly indicates his family. Now we'll meet them a little more closely next week on Wednesday in the Word, on Truth Talk Live on Wednesday, and we hope you'll be with us in our journey through Mark. But Caleb, these are his family, his kinfolk.

They grew up with him. No one knows you better than family, yet they're coming to do an intervention that says the multitude was swelling so much that they couldn't even eat bread. So here Jesus' disciples in Capernaum, such a huge crowd, they couldn't even eat, and his family's concerned about him. Like, Jesus isn't even feeding himself.

He's letting himself go. Right. And then it has this statement that says that he's beside himself, where he's out of his mind, which literally in the Greek means he's losing his mind. We might modern-day translate that as he's lost his marbles, right?

Right, right. So, no, I mean, it's, they had... look, no one on earth had ever seen anything like Jesus, even his own family, especially once his ministry begins. I mean, he's the Son of God, right? Yeah, so his family's trying to do an intervention. The scribes are going to call him a demon. That's coming up next.

How could the scribes have worse theology than the demons who acknowledged that he was God? And so we're going to get into that, and have you ever been called crazy for Jesus? By the way, if you have, you weren't the first, because our Lord himself, his own family, called him crazy. 866-34-TRUTH. Don't touch that down. More coming up on Truth Talk Live. Okay, the lines are already lighting up.

I'm Stu Everson. This is Truth Talk Live, our special Wednesday in the Word edition, the inaugural Wednesday in the Word edition. And who better to join me than Caleb, one of my Wednesday in the Word colleagues, who loves the Lord, and we're talking about the unpardonable sin. You ever been called being crazy for Jesus?

And thirdly, what does it mean to bind the strongman and plunder his house? We're getting it all that. We're diving deep today on Truth Talk Live. Love for you to join us at Toll Free.

There is a line or two open, 866-34-TRUTH. Caleb, you're going to need this. I'm going to hand you this beverage.

You're going to need that to get through the rest of the day. You can see it says VineTastic on it. It's their new no sugar, no calorie, no carb drink that's, you know, just a real...it's just healthy. And we're thankful to our friends at VineTastic and MightyMuscadine.com for being underwriting partners of Truth Talk Live, and for their gracious support of us. And they love the Truth Network, and they've offered a little promo code, I think it's promo code TRUTH, for folks that, you know, want to learn more.

You can learn more at MightyMuscadine.com, and remember that promo code TRUTH when you go there and learn more about all their wonderful, wonderful products. They've been great friends of the Truth Network and of Truth Talk Live, and you're going to love that right there, buddy. And so, hey, when you're a guest, you get all the perks too, right? Something like that. Well, thank you, Stu, and look forward to having it.

Yes, sir. So Wednesday in the Word, Jesus' family tried to do an intervention on him. You know, when things are...you know, think about when did Jesus use the restroom?

I mean, he's a swelling crowd everywhere. How does he even move, right? How does he go to the restroom? How does he eat? And, you know, his family's worried about him.

And we, you know, scholars believe it was maybe a practical concern. Well, he's not taking care of himself, he's letting himself go. We've got to get in there and get him out of there. Say, what are you doing? All these miracles, all this. Or it could have been, like, they were annoyed by it. Maybe he's sullying the family reputation.

You know, what's he doing? All these miracles and all this, and all these people, and maybe he's lost his mind. And literally it says they said they thought he lost his mind.

Elevator's not going to the top. They thought Jesus was crazy. You know, they thought Jesus was a...you know, all my life, all I've ever believed as a follower of Christ, that he is the solution.

He is the way. But his family thought he was the problem. They thought he's the biggest issue here. We got to get him out of here.

We got to intervene. So then the next verse, in verse, I believe it's 22, it says the scribes show up, right? Yes, the scribes show up from Jerusalem. Yeah, and what do they accuse him of?

Listen to this. They have a pleasant statement here, so as you said, they upped the ante. They says, uh, he, that is Jesus, he has Beelzebub, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons. Yeah, so Jesus calls...Jesus is called crazy by his family, now he's called a demon by the scribes. Now, you know, what's fascinating about this is the scribes, if anyone should have gotten it right, these are the erudite scholars of the land, you know, likely dispatched by the Sanhedrin and the spiritual hierarchy in Jerusalem to come and check out what's going on in Capernaum, this miracle-working, demon-exercising guy, Jesus, this new rabbi, what's he doing? And they say, rather than say, hey, the Messiah's here, hallelujah, hail King Jesus, the one we've prayed for every day for centuries has come.

No! And rather than recognize his deity like the demons did in chapter 1, they deny him and they call him a demon. It's just horrible. Rather than recognize his deity, they call him a demon, and the question that you and I thought both thought was humorous is what? Read it to us real quick. Yeah, so the second question here is, why would demons call him Holy One of God while religious leaders called him a demon? Yeah, so how could religious people get the identity of Jesus wrong? How could demons have better theology than religious people? Churches under the sound of the Truth Talk Live coverage and signal right now have worse theology than the demons of hell.

How can that be? Wow, the toll-free number is 866-34-TRUTH. If you want to weigh in on Truth Talk Live, we want to have a conversation.

We want you to disagree with us. We want to talk, and you're not bad if you do. We'll be nice to each other, we'll agree to disagree, and then we're going to get into what it means to bind Satan, bind the strong man, and then what is the unpardonable sin. But right now, we've got to hop over to Jamal. Jamal, you are our first caller on the show.

Let's bring him on the air. Welcome to Truth Talk Live, and the number, again, if you want to jump in, is toll-free 866-348-7884. Jamal, welcome to the program. Thank you, Stu. Good to talk to you.

Good to talk to you also, Caleb. I just wanted to comment on about being called crazy for Jesus. So not a real big major story, but something that I thought about, and something that probably some people can relate to, is when I was having this discussion with somebody who wasn't quite a believer. I would rather say they were agnostic. They were saying, man, Jamal, you actually believe that stuff in the Bible? You believe every word? You believe that's, you know, written by God? You believe Jesus existed and all that? I said, yeah. I mean, why wouldn't I?

As a matter of fact, I used one of your lines, Stu, and I use it on a regular basis. I said, well, tell me about the empty tomb. You know, that's a hard comeback right there. No scientist today, no historian, no intellectual can answer the questions about the empty tomb. Then I came back and said, well, yeah, I believe the Bible, I believe in creation. As a matter of fact, to use Frank Church's line, I don't have enough faith to be an atheist. He wrote a book about that, and that's a good book. So when you look at creation versus evolution, you can't tell me you mix up all these building blocks, all these elements, throw them in a cosmic explosion, and now we have such precision, and we have life that co-exists with other life and all that, and we can think about ourselves, our Creator and all that. You know, again, as you said, I don't have enough faith to be an atheist. So yeah, he called me crazy, but as you said in Wednesday in the Word today, I don't mind being called crazy for Jesus. That's right. Yeah, you know, it's interesting, Caleb, to Jamal's point, and very good, very good point, Jamal.

I love that, and I love the Lee Strobel stuff. But to his point, let's make sure let's make sure we're being called crazy for Jesus. Not crazy because we're mean to people, or because we're hyper, or we're spastic, or offensive. You know, make sure, am I the one giving offense, or is it the cross? The preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that are perishing, right? As opposed to my own propriety and my own demeanor.

Correct. The reality is that Jesus is the Savior of the world. He's the Word of life, and we all need him. So the world divides divides over him, but he's the dividing line.

If something else is in the way, then that may be a legitimate reason to call somebody crazy, and have a basis for that. But if it's Jesus, it's Jesus. And that's what, I mean, Jamal, from what you laid out, that's what you did. You gave that gentleman Jesus, and he shared with you what he thought of that, but that's what we're called to do. That's a good word. I think Jamal might be a little crazy for calling a national radio show and talking about the Lord, you know, publicly to everyone. Jamal, I don't know, what do you think, man?

Maybe so, I'll be called crazy for that as well. What a blessing. Talk to you guys, and God bless you. Thank you, man, appreciate you. God bless you. Yes, sir. You know, that's interesting that, you know, and you could contend along those lines, Caleb, that you're not rejecting me.

Call me crazy, call me whatever. You're not rejecting me, you're rejecting him. And so am I proclaiming Christ, and, you know, I'm not making much of me, and I don't want to be that off-color or inappropriately behaving, you know, that's why I don't want to do anything for Stu Epperson to be in the way of someone else finding Christ. So we're to be introducing people to Christ, and not the other way around. So we'll jump into what is the unpardonable sin, and can you commit that today?

Have you committed the unpardonable sin? Love your thoughts on that one at toll-free, 866-348-7884. That's 866-344-TRUTH on our special Wednesday in the Word episode of Truth Talk Live.

Don't touch that dowel, we're coming right back after this. So who in their right mind would call Jesus a demon, or Beelzebub, which literally means Lord of the Flies, could be a reference to Baal, who was the the demon god of the Old Testament, very prominent there, but a common reference to devil. And so they say, basically the scribe said about Jesus, I'm Stu Epperson, this is Truth Talk Live, it's our special Wednesday in the Word edition.

I have given a bottle of this new vine-tastic drink to our special guest as a thank you for being on. Caleb, that'll keep you going through the show, Caleb Itterly's with me. We're going through Wednesday in the Word, we're going through Mark chapter 3, verses 20 through 30. We've already gone over how Jesus' family called him crazy, and we've asked the question, have you been called crazy for Jesus? And we've had a great testimony from Jamal earlier, great caller, wonderful to hear from him. And then we've got other folks that are calling in at 866-344-TRUTH.

We want to weigh in. We're getting into this sin that is called the unpartable sin by many. That word's not in the text, but it's, you know, called the unforgivable sin by Jesus. And basically the scribes telling him, you know, that he's casting out demons by the power of demons. Jesus gives a couple parables and a couple questions, which he does throughout all of his ministry. It's like, how can Satan cast out Satan?

If a kingdom divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. So the one thing that the demons do is they have two things going for them. And this is not an all-compliment demon hour, but their theology is accurate. Demons do believe, James 2 says, and they tremble. They call Jesus the Holy One of God in chapter 1, and number two, they're united. And Jesus is like, why would Satan cast out Satan?

How is he going to destroy good if he's beaten up on himself? So he says that as a rebuke through a parable to the hardened hearts of the scribes and the Pharisees that came down to question him. So we're talking about what is the unpartable sin, because later he says, all the sins will be forgiven of the sons of men, whether even blasphemies they may utter. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation, because they said he has an unclean spirit. So some scholars think this is isolated to the first century when this actually happened in the Bible, and that there's some plausible evidence for that. Others think that you commit the unpartable sin when you have a divorce, or you commit an abortion, or suicide is the unpartable sin.

But that's not necessarily biblical. You've got to be careful you start throwing that out there, and that's why we're talking about today on Truth Talk Live on our special Wednesday in the Word edition. And let's see what Rusty says. Rusty, we're going to bring you on, my friend, if I can do that here. Rusty, you're on Truth Talk Live. Welcome to the program.

All right. Okay, so with the priests and the scribes saying that they didn't know who Jesus was, was that them being blinded by a demon? Because was this them with their own free will?

And that's why the demons knew who God was, because there was one in heaven. That's a good bet. There's a lot of insight in his question, isn't there, Caleb? There is, a lot.

A lot there, yeah. Yeah, Rusty, I think you're spot on. They're definitely blinded. You know, 1 Corinthians 2.14 says, the natural man, the unsaved man, does not understand the things of God. They're foolishness to him. But they weren't just not recognizing who Jesus was, they were going further.

And this is where you get into the unpardonable sin category. They were calling the works of Jesus, which were truly done by the power of the Holy Spirit, they were calling those demonic works. So they were, in effect, calling Jesus a vessel of Satan. Right. You know, so it's like, wow!

That's like the highest form of blasphemy, to attribute the works of the Holy Spirit to the devil himself, you know? Wow. Right, right. And that's when he said, a kingdom that's divided cannot stand it.

I know that was in there too, he said, as a response back to them. That's right, yeah. He's talking to them, Caleb, isn't he talking to them about how irrational their whole argument is about Satan, right? Yeah, the element is, Satan has a kingdom, and why would Satan destroy his own kingdom himself?

Just as any man would, a king is not going to wake up one day and say, I'm going to destroy my kingdom myself. You know, the idea, that's nonsense. Yeah.

Right, right. So you know how people say, a lot of people that don't believe, they might say, how can you believe in a white man, God, which I don't listen to that nonsense. But they say Jesus is a Jew, so is that considered, like, do it say that he was blonde-haired and blue-eyed?

No, definitely not. Yeah, I agree with you on that too. Yeah, Jesus was Jewish, he was Middle Eastern. He probably looked, by the way, he probably looked a lot more black than he looked white, but he was probably somewhere in the middle of that, because that's what, yeah, yeah, that's what, right. Like, they don't understand to a point, I don't even try to argue with them no more, but I know how to defend my Lord now. There you go, but right, but remember, when we're defending Jesus, we're not defending his racial ethnicity. Okay, right, right, right. It's what he did for us. It's what he did. It's who he is, and the fact is, he was born in the fullness of time, he was born, you know, he came into his own, the Jews, he was born of a Jewish woman, and he was born of a virgin, and he was crucified, you know, in my place, right?

So that's the essence of the gospel, and I think a lot of this racial stuff in the Renaissance artists got it all wrong, you know, you know, they paint a blue-eyed, blonde-haired Jesus, that's hogwash, he wasn't some, yeah. Well, God bless you, man. Well, now you're calling from South Carolina. Are you listening on the new 96.9 FM? Yes, I am. Ah, yes, we're being called, we're getting calls from the upstate, man.

What a great area. Yes. God bless you, man. I can hear y'all all day long. Praise the Lord. Awesome.

Well, listen, tell all your friends about the new 96.9 FM. I will. God bless you, Rusty. Good to hear from you, man. Yes, sir.

You take care. So this was very much a, and I appreciate Rusty's call, and I think, you know, again, people get on all these tangents about the race of Christ, you look more like this, I think, old of me, I say, look, bottom line is, the most important color is the color red, the color of the blood, right? By his stripes were healed, you know, so we've got to get it to the main thing. But I think the scribes came in there, they called them this, and Jesus hits them with this unpardonable sin, which is the unforgivable sin, which is not divorce, which is not suicide, which is all these things. Now, Caleb, we made a very big point, you know, in Wednesday in the Word on this special Wednesday in the Word edition of Truth Talk Live today.

I'm Stu Everson, my friend and colleague at Wednesday in the Word, Caleb Iderle is with me. We have to make a very point that sin is an affront to God. Any kind of sin.

Yes. So just because there's this unpardonable sin that's horrible and terrible and unforgivable, which is blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which is this hardened heart that completely denies, deflects, and apostates against everything the Holy Spirit does, okay? Just because we're talking about that sin doesn't mean that all sin is wrong and egregious and affront to God, and you will die in your sin if you don't trust the Savior and his finished work on the cross to pay for your sin, correct?

No, that's right, Stu. And that's the God, I mean, in essence, that's where we are without the Savior. And back to Rusty's point, I mean, in Christ there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither Jew nor Gentile, we're all one.

We're one family in God, born of God, children of God, brothers and sisters of God. Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, and that's because he died on the cross in our place, because the wages of sin, sin is death, and in Adam we all have sin, and we all do sin. The person who says, I've never sinned, it says 1 John, you know, the Father is not in him, he's not a believer, but the fact is that for the Christian, one who does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous, and we confess our sins as a Christian, he's faithful and just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But the fact is, if you say, you know, I've never sinned, and then the question is, okay, have you ever lied?

Well, yes, I have, well, that's a sin. You just sin twice. But the point is there that that's, again, who Jesus is. He's the one, he's the Messiah. So the Messiah is the anointed one for the Jews, but he's also the one, he's the perfect Lamb of God. He never sinned, he was tempted, he never sinned, but nevertheless, he dies in our place so that he can redeem us from really the kingdom of Satan, if we're honest about it. Yeah, and we've got to really be frank here, those listening, everyone listening right now, we're talking about Christ. We're talking about how to be saved. This is very important, very sacred ground here on this radio show, and we want to make it very clear, you're going to be accountable for what you hear.

Yes. And so, you know, John MacArthur said it this way, I just pulled this quote in my study from him, he said, the hottest hell is for those who reject Christ while having the most knowledge of him. What a staggering, what a sobering statement, Caleb. Yeah, well that's what they would call a hard word in some places.

It's a hard word, yes, yeah. But I mean, that's the world that we live in. I mean, in man's fallen nature, that was the original temptation, you shall be as God, Satan said to Eve, you know, knowing good from evil, and part of that in our world today is I know what's right and wrong. I understand it, but in man's fallen world, he doesn't. That's why Jesus comes on a rescue mission from the Father to die in our place, to save us from our sin that we can't save ourselves from.

Amen. So we're going to jump into verse 27 right now, because I know folks may want to call in, and this is going to spark some good conversation. What does it mean to bind Satan? What does it mean to bind the strong man? No one can enter a strong man's house, 27 of Mark 3, and plunder his goods unless he binds the strong man first.

What does that mean? And are Christians really able to bind Satan? Is it okay to pray to Satan in that way, or do we pray to Christ? Is he the one who can bind the strong man?

That's what I would contend, but tell me I'm wrong at 866-34-TRUTH on Truth Talk Live. More coming up right after this. Hang on.

So if you think it's controversial thinking someone might call you crazy for Jesus, or as Keith Green used to say, I'm bananas for Jesus, what about the idea of the unpardonable sin? Now we're going even deeper. And then this idea of binding Satan. Now I want to read to you a couple things, and then I'm going to jump on the phone lines, because we've got Daniel calling in. You can join the conversation at toll-free 866-34-TRUTH.

I'm Stu Epperson, this is Truth Talk Live in our Wednesday in the Word edition here. Caleb Italy is with me. Caleb, you're doing a great job, you're hanging in there, man. Well thank you, Stu, glad to be here. You got your seat belt fastened in one hand, you got your vine-tastic, thank you to our friends at mightymuscadine.com and vine-tastic for being underwriting partners of Truth Talk Live.

Great folks. And we got Daniel in, we're going to jump to Daniel. But first let me just read this quote from the Jeremiah study Bible on binding Satan in this verse 27 of Mark chapter 3, which talks about where Jesus says, you know, you have to go in, you can't go in, no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man. Then he will plunder his house. David Jeremiah says, this verse is cited to encourage, this verse, this verse is cited, this is not to encourage the practice of binding Satan. But the story, people use this verse to say you can bind Satan, but the story gives no justification for this idea. Instead, Jesus simply states that he is stronger than Satan and therefore will continue to cast out demons by the power of God. So folks, so folks take this verse and say, well I'm going to go bind Satan here and bind Satan there. A couple of important things to understand, Satan's not omnipresent, Satan's not concerned with you, he can't be everywhere at once, he's not omnipotent, he's not all powerful, and all those things. And we are not to pray to him, we know that for a fact. The one that can bind Satan is the Lord Jesus Christ. Michael the archangel didn't even bind Satan in the book of Jude. He said the Lord rebuke you.

So it's important, ground rules to know as we get into this. Now Daniel may disagree, and I want to talk to him, and you can call in at 866-348-7884 as we wrap up on a very light topic of binding Satan. Daniel, are you going to help us out here, man? Thanks for calling in.

Yes sir, thank you for having me, I appreciate you giving me an opportunity to speak. I believe you're a hundred percent right in that Christ was speaking for God, the scribes and Pharisees essentially were bringing the point of view that the devil would hold, therefore Christ would be sufficient to bind Satan because he's got the keys to death, hell, and the grave at his resurrection as Revelation talks. So I called the end of the verse before, and I want to say this about the unpardonable sin, because a lot of people are like, oh Lord, there's this sin that I could do that God wouldn't forgive. All right, these guys, the scribes and the Pharisees, they were denying two parts of the Godhead, Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit. Now I don't believe that that sin is something that we can have now, because Christ is not physically present.

The Spirit's present in our hearts and in our world, when people will get saved and accept the leadership and the prompting of the Spirit, his presence is still here. But Christ ascended, therefore the two persons that they were denying of the Godhead, that's not physically possible right now. So I don't want people to think, well good night, there's a sin that Christ won't pardon, because he died for all sin, and that was essentially what he was saying there in the verse as well.

But great topic. Well yeah, I think Daniel makes a great point. You know, Caleb, to his point, a lot of scholars really believe that this sin is taken out of context by many people today, trying to make a modern application, but it was in fact very much what was going on right there and right then. And so they try to make all these sins up that are real bad to be the unpardonable sin, but it was very specific.

Now, you know, there is no forgiveness in hell, and that's a very sad thing. Which, by the way, that's why we're still here. That's why Daniel still follows Jesus, and that's why he hasn't gone to heaven yet, because God's still using him to encourage a lot of other folks to follow the Lord, to be salt and light in this dark world. And so I love your point, Daniel, and I do believe there's a lot to that.

And I also, you know, I think that when we get into the sin of the scribes, I think it's very important to identify one thing that's really fascinating, that shows you're on the trajectory of this hardness of heart, and that is something that's employed today. Some of the, if you'll notice, some of the most racist people in our culture call other people racist. Have you noticed that? Some of the most lying, deceptive criminal people in our culture are calling good people criminal, and lying, and deceptive. In fact, Christians who are loving and compelled to be gracious and invite people to come to Christ, no matter who you are, the invitation is open to everyone. It's the most tolerant of any belief system, because anyone can be saved, right?

No matter your sin. Christians are called bigoted, prejudiced, intolerant, hate-mongers, homophobic, all these things. You know, so it's interesting, the scribes call Jesus the devil, the world calls us the devil, when in fact the world is run by the devil, and programmed by the devil, and doing exactly, it's creating the division that the devil is masterminding. And we see it played out in politics, we see it played out in culture, we see it played out when Nero, who'd he blame for when he set fire to Rome? He blamed the Christians!

And then he set out to murder and exe you, the Christians. So a great word from Daniel. Daniel, thanks for calling in, man.

You have a blessed day. Thank you. Appreciate you. Yes, sir.

Appreciate it. Um, so let's go to Dan. Now it's another Dan. Dan, you're on Truth Talk Live, I'm Stu Epperson, and you're on the air. It's our Wednesday in the Word edition, and you're on with my, also my friend Caleb Itterly.

Welcome to the show. Hey, Dan, jump on in here. Okay, we can't hear you.

Oh, we lost him. Okay, now he said, the note said he had a question about John 14 12, and as I'm, as my chubby little fingers are turning in the Bible to John 14 12, I'm going to read it out loud on the air. I'm going to take a risk here, because he may have us trapped, he may have us, he may have our minds boggled here, Caleb.

All right. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. Great verse. A great verse. Would I apply that verse, and maybe Dan's trying to connect that verse to the binding of Satan? Possible.

I mean, he could be connecting that. Here's where Jesus Christ, Michael the Archangel, wouldn't even bind Satan. He said, the Lord rebuke you. So we are under the authority of Christ. We also are given authority, kingdom authority to some degree, but we are not Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the serpent crusher, and Jesus Christ is the one who can bind the strong man. I cannot set you free from your addiction.

As hard as I try to rehabilitate you, no matter whatever intervention I do or whatever camp or whatever clinic I take you to, I cannot get rid of your addiction. But Jesus Christ can, Caleb. He sets the captives free. So I think the greater works here is we have the Holy Spirit of God with us, in us, and the Holy Spirit of God, by the power of Jesus, has all power over darkness, and the gospel message is now being proliferated more ever than even Jesus. We are talking to more people, arguably on this radio show right here right now, than Jesus ever talked to his whole lifetime.

Think about that, the gravity of that. So we're doing, in a sense, greater works, we have the Holy Spirit and all that, but we are not to pray to Satan and to go around binding Satan. Doesn't mean that, of course, greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world, but you just got to be careful, because there's a whole thought out there that we are, you know, out here going around Boston and Satan around, and that is not our place, especially if Michael the Archangel didn't do it, and especially if the strong man bound is Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ's whole ministry is the fulfillment of Mark 3.27.

He not only bound the strong man, but he plundered his house. Isn't that cool? Yeah, so think about that. He gives us everything in Christ. Jesus, you know, we have everything. Yes and amen, Hebrews says. We have the fruit of the Spirit, a bountiful fruit of the vine of him, right?

We have all the blessings in Christ. We have this great privilege and state of being from Ephesians chapter 1. Read your identity, Christian! Your identity is Ephesians 1. You are bought, you are redeemed, you are predestinated, you are foreknown, you are blessed, you are gifted, you have been. God has lavished his love upon you, right, Caleb? So again, we can argue about that, and there are still people that are going to bind Satan in the name of Jesus, and I'm not going to necessarily condemn that, but we don't want to take this 3.27 too far, or even John 14.12, to say, well, now I'm going to do more than, you know, I'm going to do more than Jesus did, because I'm not Jesus.

I am not. I am a Son of God. I'm joint heirs with Christ, but I am not God the Son. Right.

So anyway, you want to add to that? Well, I mean, look, I mean, Jesus is the Son of God, as you rightly said, and if we are his sons or his daughters, and the Great Commission Jesus says, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, and then he sends us out, that is, those he's commissioned to go out and preach the Gospel, and we are the inheritors of that good work, that they were obedient to, we're the fruit of that ministry, if you will, but at the same time, you know, we interact in a fallen world, and if the Lord puts us in a situation where we need to present the Gospel, or if there's a demon possession going on, and we rebuke a demon, I mean, the power is in Jesus, as you rightly said, the power is the finished work of the Son of God. He's the one who saves. I don't save anybody, and it's by the work of the Holy Spirit that it's done. I mean, that is John chapter one in a nutshell. You know, he came to his own, his own didn't receive him, but to as many as who do receive him, to them he gave the right to become the sons of God, and that's a work of the Holy Spirit. So, I mean, ultimately, that's who we're going to spend eternity with. Ask the final two questions, Caleb, as we get out of here. We've got 30 seconds left. Quickly, those final two questions on the sheet.

Read them out loud. Yes. When have you been called crazy because of Jesus? And how has Jesus plundered the strong man in my life?

Wow. So have you gone to Christ? Are you getting help? Are you going to him for whatever assails you, whatever holds you? He alone, casting down all imaginations, every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive. Two Corinthians chapter... This is the Truth Network.