This sermon delves into the concept of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, which involves attributing God's work to the work of Satan. It emphasizes the importance of discernment in recognizing true works of God and not dismissing them as emotionalism or the work of the devil. The speaker highlights historical examples of revivals where genuine moves of God were misunderstood and criticized by those who were not open to experiencing God in a powerful way.

Blasphemy, we read about in the New Testament, of the Holy Spirit. I know there's different arguments on this, but I'll just lay out both. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is, number one, is to attribute God's work to the work of Satan. That's blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. For example, if the Holy Spirit were to move in a powerful way, and this church would just be hit with the power of God. And people would be healed. I couldn't even get through a sermon. I couldn't even finish because I'm just broken and weeping. And God's hitting this group. There would be people who would leave, and they would mock that. That's emotionalism. That's, I don't know, what happened to Pastor Shane. What happened to Pastor Shane is he experienced God at a deep revival type level. But they attribute those works of the Holy Spirit to Satan. Now we have to be careful, right? We don't just allow crazy things to go on. You use discernment. But if a true, and I've noticed when a true work of God hits, when a true work of God hits a person, a place, or a thing, those who are not close to God, those who don't want to get emotional experience, God, often refer to that as Satan, Satanic. That's the work of the devil. Now this isn't even in my notes. I hope this is beneficial because this is going to be a long rabbit trail, maybe. I just thought of this. Every single, every single revival book I read, I can go back to probably the 1700s. I think it was in Wells. People like Hal Harris, Griffin Jones, Daniel Rowlands. Now we just, we love them. We read their, I have their volumes. It's called the Calvinistic Methodist Fathers of Wells. These two big volumes. And talk about God moving. I mean, just, and not weirdness, just going into a town and people begin to weep before even getting to church. Bars are closed down. God's moving. But in every single case I read, there were those in established churches that were against these people. That's of Satan. Anytime, that's of the devil. Then you go into the first great awakening. George Whitefield was having trouble with what was happening at his services. These people are, I don't know what to do. I don't remember this, it was actually a woman who gave him advice. And she said, George, five minutes with God, with God like that is going to do more than a year's worth of your sermons. So George Whitefield caught criticism. John Wesley caught criticism because of God moving powerfully. You get into the second great awakening. Charles Finney, he's called a heretic to many people who don't agree with those types of revival things. And even Azusa Street, you know, I don't know, I wasn't there, 1904, 1905 in LA, you have the Welsh revivals of 1950s, you have Duncan Campbell on some islands, and just huge moves of God. You always had those coming against it that were in biblically sound, strong churches. And there are some today, it's interesting, that would call what I'm talking about heretical, or they would mock it from churches close to here in LA, they would mock it. But yet they quote George Whitefield in their sermon. They'll quote Jonathan Edwards in their sermon. But had they lived when that revival broke out in Massachusetts under Jonathan Edwards, they would have called him a heretic, or they would have said the devil is moving. But see, now they quote him. See there's always, they're always attributing the works, here's why, because they themselves have not experienced revival of the heart. They are hard, they are rigid, and they are arrogant. So when God breaks a church, breaks a group of people, you know what revival is, God reviving His people, and then when it hits, it's like Christmas times ten, people are just broken before God, and people do get upset because they're not comfortable with that. So it's interesting, any book I read, people now they say, oh man, man, amen, that was great. But back then, if they lived in that time, they would attribute often the works of God to the works of Satan. I mean I remember I spoke somewhere, and it was about 300 men, 320 men, and 150 I think I mentioned, like half of the whole thing was at the altar and down the sides, and it was like an hour. I just spent an hour down here praying with the guys, and a couple of the older gentlemen, you know like, well later, that's just, man, that's just emotionalism. I mean that's, really? Men all tatted up, out of prison, crying at the altar, wanting to go home and be better fathers, that's better, that's emotionalism? We gotta watch that? What are we allowing, Shane? I don't know, but this is called God. This is called God, because see, when an earthquake shakes your home, you're gonna run out outside, right? If you see, there's a fire, kids, there's a fire in the house, let's get outside. So when you experience God, how is that any different? Tell the blind man to be quiet, who cried out, Jesus, oh son of David, would you heal my eyes? Yes, you're healed. Now be quiet. No, no, no, don't get carried away. Or the demoniac who was freed of a legion worth of demons? You just sit down, sir, quiet. Jesus is here. Be quiet. No, no, no, no, don't get excited, that's not correct. See, it's okay to get excited about all other things. The reason often is God has not penetrated their heart to such a degree that they cannot rejoice in that same experience, because they themselves have not or are not experiencing it. So I often say I'm not a fan of just experience, but when you experience the birth of a child, you get excited. When you experience the new birth, you will get excited. When you experience God, God gave us those emotions, thank God. Thank God for that. People get up, that's just emotional worship. Well, what other kind of worship is there? Boring worship? What's the other? What is that? That's just emotional worship, Shane. Because people will critique this kind of worship that you're hearing this morning. And groups that play this, that's just emotional worship. Okay, what's the opposite to that? Dead, dying worship, where we just stand and sing a few hymns and sit down. And I'm all for hymns. To me, it doesn't matter what it is, it's the heart is engaged. I mean, if God truly touches you, aren't you emotional? I guess, I hope so. I hope so. You express anger real well. Is anger not an emotion? Oh, I can stay camped out here for a little while if you'd like. You express lust real good. Isn't lust an emotion? We have all these emotions, but when it comes to worshiping God, we've got handcuffs. And we often attribute the things of God to either Satan or that's not real, that's not genuine. And this is a big passion for me because I see it a lot. Any church that is alive, alive and on fire for God, worship, any time you get somebody who's not feeling that, they might know their Bible. They might have sound doctrine, but they walk in and they're like, oh, that's just too emotional. That's not of God. These people are lunatics. They're out of their mind. Wait a minute, we're fasting, we're praying, we're loving our spouse, we're loving our kids, we're changing. Our hearts are changing, we're becoming united, we want more of God. That's not of the devil, sir. You might have the wrong spirit in you yourself.