3 Deadlines: Death, Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit & The Rapture Kathryn Kuhlman

For a few minutes today, you and I are going to have one of those heart -to -heart talks. And I pray that what we have to say today will mean much to you because it involves all of us. I'm going to talk about three deadlines. Three vitally important. deadlines. You will agree with me, and I say it to you without fear of contradiction, that all members of the human race have two things in common. You may be poor. You may be the richest man living today. You may be living in mediocre circumstances. You may have the finest the world has to offer. Regardless of your nationality. Regardless of what the world thinks of you this hour. All members of the human race had these two things in common. Each of us was born. And each of us must die. Most of us are not too concerned. With the circumstances of our birth, not really. We don't remember it. It lies far behind us, and we seldom speak of it. But the thought of dying is another matter. That's one thought that few people want to really concentrate on. There are some folk. who don't even want to discuss the matter. I remember well not too long ago, I was talking to a lady and she was the type that never wanted to think of death. She rebelled against it and I said to her, and I was so serious with her, I said, but it is appointed unto man once to die. And honey, you're... going to die. And she'd lit for money. It had been her god. I said, and remember something, you're not going to take it with you. And she turned on me in her black eyes, snapping. She meant it. And she said, Miss Kuhlman, I'm just not going to go. She felt their way about it. She'd gotten her way. in life about everything else. And so she felt that when it came that hour, when she'd have to go, she just wasn't going to go. But that's the one thing that each of us has in common. We're going to go is going to happen to us whether we like it or not. and the knowledge that our days on earth will come to an end is absolutely inescapable. It's a somber thought. It's mysterious and sometimes kind of frightening. But that one deadline, every man, every woman has in common. And Jesus said to the unbelieving, and I quote his words in the 8th chapter of John, If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Remember something. There comes that deadline in the life of every man and every woman. The destiny of your soul, my friend, whoever you are, is made final before your heart takes its last beat. It is not made beyond the grave. It is not made after the old heart takes its last beat. You can be the richest man in the whole world, and should you have the millions to offer, and if millions were offered to change the destiny of your soul after its heart has taken its last beat, The destiny could not be changed. Millions of prayers can be offered for you after the old heart has taken its last beat. But those prayers will never change the destiny of your soul. There is a deadline that every man and every woman, every human being must face before the heart takes its last beat. For when death has come to the body, that deadline has been crossed for the destiny of your soul. It's just like that. You can't change it. I know it's frightening. I know it seems very somber to some of you. But what I say? comes from the very Word of God. And the fool is the man or the woman who will take issue with the Word of God. We come to the second deadline. And no human being can take issue with the second deadline. It's the sin against the Holy Ghost. The sin that is called the unpardonable sin. Oh, I can't begin to tell you. The importance of the Holy Spirit. Sure, it seems that I have always been acquainted with the Holy Spirit. I've always known the importance of the Holy Spirit to a certain degree. But I do not believe that I have fully known the importance of this mighty third person of the Trinity until recently. Consider something. The Holy Spirit must be vitally important when you go back to the time when the three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were at that great conference table planning the redemption of mankind. There isn't one listening to me this very moment because it's the very first scripture that any child memorizes. When that child begins to go to Sunday school, John 3 .16, you know it well without having me quote it. Just giving you the scripture reference, you know immediately. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. But something happened before God gave his son. Jesus first. offered himself through the Holy Spirit, through the Holy Ghost, to be given to the Father that the Father was able to give him as a sacrifice. I cannot tell you I do not have the answer. If I had the answer as to why Jesus offered himself through the Holy Spirit to the Father, why he did not offer himself to the Father directly, but instead he went through the Holy Spirit to offer himself to the Father. If I had the answer, I would be perfect knowledge. I would have the knowledge of God. I do not have that answer. No man has it. But it shows me the importance of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus found it necessary to offer himself through the Holy Spirit to God the Father, and then God the Father was able to give his Son for the redemption of men and women. If you would have a hundred people before you, and they... had very little knowledge of the Word of God. And if you were to ask them against whom they thought the unpardonable sin would be committed, whether against God Almighty, against Jesus Christ, His Son, or against the Holy Ghost, I would dare say that the majority of them would say that the sin for which there is no forgiveness would be against God. God Almighty. And then the rest would say against Jesus Christ the Son. But do you realize that the sin for which there is no forgiveness in this world or in the world to come is not against God the Father. Any sin that you commit against God the Father will be forgiven. Any sin that you commit against Jesus Christ, His Son, will be forgiven. But there is a sin against this wonderful third person of Trinity, the Holy Ghost, for which there is no forgiveness in this world or in the world to come. There is literally a deadline that man can cross. for which there is no forgiveness, the unpardonable sin. Therefore, Jesus said, I say unto you, and I am reading from the twelfth chapter of Matthew, the thirty -first verse, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. And whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. It's a deadline. Any person who attributes the work of the Holy Ghost The work of the third person of the Trinity. The person through whom Jesus offered himself to God the Father to be given. There is a sin that one commits for which there is no forgiveness when that one attributes the work of the Holy Ghost to Satan. to the devil, to satanic power. Now, we have seen two deadlines. Death, remembering that the destiny of our soul is determined before your heart takes its last beat. Your destiny is made final. You cross that deadline. Second, the sin against the Holy Ghost, man can cross a deadline. And there is in this sin a sin that is unpardonable in this world and in the world to come. But now we come to the third deadline. I've been talking to you about the rapture of the church, the great catching up. And as surely as God made a way of escape for Noah and his family before judgment struck this old world, he's also made a way of escape for his church, for his bride. For those who are members of his body and he has made a way of escape before the great tribulation through the great catching up. We call it the rapture of the church. God is merciful. Oh, if you'd pause just one moment and think of the mercy of God. I tell you very frankly, I still don't think of the wrath of God. And I'll tell you why. It's because I personally am not afraid of his wrath. I'm afraid that I might grieve him. It's because I think of him not in the term of one who sends judgment, but to me he's my heavenly father because I've been born again. And it's just like that. In exactly the same way. I seldom, very seldom think of hell, so far as I personally am concerned, because I don't expect to go to hell. I'd rather talk about hell, but heaven is my home. That's where I'm going, and it's just like that. Let's just pause and think of the mercy of God. Do you know that God has never sent a judgment to this old world? without making an escape for his own, never. You turn back the pages of history. You read the word of God. And you'll find out that it's the truth that I am speaking. Never has God ever sent a judgment to this earth. without making some means of escape, some way of escape for his own. He loves his own. He loves his adopted children. Literally. If we've been born again, those of us who've had that experience of regeneration, we have been adopted of the Father. He's our Heavenly Father. were joint heirs with his son. And he has made a wonderful way of escape for his church, for his own, for those who are members of the body of his son. Go back, if you will, please. And this, to me, has always been very thrilling. The way of escape that he made for Noah before the world was... Struck with judgment. And he told Noah. He warned Noah. And he always warns his own. When the great population comes upon this generation, remember something. There is not a question of what we'll be able to say. He warned us. Through his word, he has warned men and women. of the great tribulation that is about to strike upon this earth. He could not have made it clearer than he has made it in his word. But somehow, we have closed our ears, we have closed our eyes, we have closed our mind to the warning, but the warning is still there. After the great catching up, And men and women who will be left to go through the great tribulation, turning to the word of God, will see very clearly that the warning was there the whole time. And yet they had refused to hear. They had refused to see. They'd closed their mind to the preaching of the gospel. God gave forth his warning through Noah. To a lost generation. Before judgment struck upon the earth. Before the floodwaters came. And Noah cried out. Noah warned the people. And he thinks that many a man scoffed and laughed. And called him an old fool. Called him an old fanatic. Said he went off on religion. He's losing his mind. He has become a little senile. Uh -huh. Yeah, but the day came when God kept his word, and he'll always keep his word. That's one thing you can stake your very life on. He will keep his word. And the floods came. And methinks that just before the floodwaters began to rise, And I read it, the seventh chapter of Genesis. And they that went in, that's into the ark. I dare say not a drop of water had fallen. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. There was no sign of rain when Noah began to build that ark. Humanly speaking, so far as the natural was concerned, I do not believe that there was a cloud in the sky. But Noah believed the word of God, and he started to build the ark, and he built it on dry ground. He believed God. He believed God's word. And they that went in, went in, male and female of all flesh, and the Lord shut. In other words, God shut the door. The lock, methinks, was on the outside of the door. Not inside. Outside. And God himself shut the door. And when God shut that door, no man could enter. into that ark. Oh, methinks. They were screaming. They were crying. Noah, let us in. Noah, let us in. The floodwaters are rising. Noah, let us in. No, my friend. He couldn't. For God himself had shut that door. The deadline had come.