God Wants To Help Us Avoid The Unforgivable Sin Series

God Wants to Help Us Avoid the Unforgivable Sin

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 12:22-37

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared April 11, 2022)

BACKGROUND:

*Here in Matthew 12, Jesus was in the second year of His ministry. By this time, bitter hatred had poisoned the minds of the Pharisees who rejected the Lord. They were looking for any possible way they could find to accuse Jesus of breaking God's Law. (1)

*In vs. 9-14, the Lord went into a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand. After that, the Pharisees went out and took counsel against Him, how they might destroy Him." Luke 6:11 tells us that the Pharisees were filled with rage to the point of madness that day. And they were determined to find a way to murder Jesus. That's how much they hated the Lord.

*Next in vs. 22-29, Jesus miraculously healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. At that point some of the Pharisees boiled over with such raging hatred that they committed the unpardonable sin: They blasphemed the Holy Spirit of God. And they did this by accusing Jesus of casting out demons by the ruler of the demons. But vs. 22-29 also showed us three great reasons why Christians can always rejoice in the Lord. Thank God, Church! No matter what is going on in our lives, we can always rejoice in the Lord!

*Now we will take a closer look at the one and only unforgivable sin. Please think about this as we read Matthew 12:22-37.

MESSAGE:

*Have you ever worried about committing the unpardonable or unforgivable sin? And what is the unforgivable sin? A lot of people think it's suicide, but that's not what the Bible says.

*Some people think that the unpardonable sin is murder. When James McCullen was a pastor in St. Louis, Missouri, a young man came Sunday after Sunday. He was not a Christian, and even though he showed signs of interest, he would never talk about accepting Jesus as his Savior. Finally, he told the men in the church that he could never be a Christian because he had committed the unpardonable sin. But the sin he had committed and served time for was the sin of taking another life. One night he got into a terrible fight with his drunken father, and killed him. (2)

*I hope that man got saved, because murder is a terrible sin, but it is not the unforgivable sin. Moses was a murderer, and he is one of the heroes of Heaven.

*Many people also think that rejecting Jesus as your Savior is the unforgivable sin. That's what I thought for many years. But when we look into the Word of God, we see that this is not the case.

*Please don't misunderstand me, because yes, you are as lost as can be until you trust in Jesus. But here in vs. 32 Jesus specifically said, "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him." And think about the Apostle Paul. Surely Paul rejected Jesus and spoke against Him many times before he met the Lord on the road to Damascus. But those sins and all of Paul's sins were forgiven when He trusted in the Lord.

*There are other sins that people consider to be unforgivable, but the Bible mentions only one, and the Lord tells us about it in today's Scripture. The unpardonable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This means evil, abusive speaking against the Holy Spirit of God in a way to slander or injure Him. And God wants to help us avoid the unforgivable sin. How can we do it?

1. FIRST: WE MUST RESPECT THE HOLY SPIRIT AS GOD.

*God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not 3 separate gods. There is only one God existing as three eternal persons. Each person in the Godhead testifies for the other two. And here in Matthew 12 Jesus stressed the importance of the Holy Spirit.

*So, we must understand and respect that the Holy Spirit is God. "Christian Life Master Outlines and Study Notes" explains that "The Holy Spirit is God, and is equal to God the Father and God the Son. He is God the Holy Spirit, and is distinct from the Father and the Son."

*We clearly see the Holy Spirit's divinity in Acts 5:3-4. There, Ananias and his wife tried to deceive God and His church about their giving.

3. (And) Peter said, "Ananias, why has the Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?

4. While it remained was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."