We’ve been looking at the hard sayings of Jesus for the past five weeks now. For the most part, Jesus has been addressing those hard sayings to those who are not yet His disciples. He is pointing out to them that becoming His disciple requires more than just saying the right words or engaging in the right religious rituals. He is looking for disciples who will make a serious commitment to allow Him to radically transform their lives as both their Savior and their Lord.
So Jesus consistently warns those who are following Him to carefully consider the costs before they make that commitment. Therefore it has certainly been appropriate for all of us to make a careful evaluation of our own commitment to Jesus to make sure we have entered into a relationship with God on His terms and not our own.
But at the same time, none of these hard sayings of Jesus should cause any of us who are His genuine disciples to question or doubt our salvation or our relationship with God. That was certainly not Jesus’ purpose so therefore we shouldn’t use these words of Jesus for that purpose either.
Unfortunately, because it is so often misunderstood, the hard saying we’ll look at this morning has caused many genuine believers to needlessly doubt or worry about their salvation and their relationship with God. So my primary goal this morning is to make sure we accurately understand these words of Jesus so that we don’t use them as the basis for unnecessary doubt or worry. Obviously that is going to require us, as always to put the words of Jesus in their proper context. So go ahead and open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 12 as we’ll be looking at a good chunk of that chapter.
The hard saying that we’ll examine this morning is found in verses 31-32:
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
(Matthew 12:31-32 ESV)
Before we go any further, I’d like to begin this morning with a few of preliminary thoughts that will be borne out as we proceed this morning:
A few preliminary thoughts:
• If I am worried that I may have blasphemed the Holy Spirit, I can be confident that I have not
As we’ll see this morning, those who engage in blaspheming the Holy Spirit, have deliberately rejected who Jesus is. So just the fact that I am concerned that I might have done something to offend Him pretty much guarantees that I haven’t blasphemed the Holy Spirit.
• God, by nature, is forgiving
We see that clearly here in these verses. Jesus claims that “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven”. Obviously, that promise is conditional upon that person repenting of his or her sin. But the fact is that God’s nature is to forgive. Let me just quickly read several passages that confirm that.
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…”
(Exodus 34:6-7 ESV)
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
(Psalm 86:5 ESV)
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
(Psalm 103:2-3 ESV)
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
(Micah 7:18 ESV)
God delights in forgiving our sins, so certainly He has not created or defined some obscure sin which we could accidently commit and which is incapable of being forgiven by God.
• There is no quality or quantity of sin that is unforgivable
It is not possible for us to commit some quantity of sin that is incapable of being forgiven by God. God never indicates that He’ll forgive 99 sins, but that 100 is one too many. Nor is there some sin that is just so heinous or horrific that God can’t or won’t forgive it. I can’t think of any sin that would be more offensive to God than crucifying His Son, can you? But what did Jesus pray for those who did that while he hung on the cross? “Father forgive them…”
So with those ideas in mind, let’s look at the larger context of Jesus’ words. You can follow along as I read verse 22-32:
Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
(Matthew 12:22-32 ESV)
This account begins with Jesus healing a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. This occurred shortly after Jesus had healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.
The people who had witnessed these healings were amazed because they recognized that what Jesus had done was supernatural. So in verse 23 they ask a question that could accurately be translated like this: “This couldn’t be the Son of David, could it?” The title “Son of David” was a well-known Jewish way of referring to the Messiah, but the people were not yet convinced that Jesus was indeed the Messiah since He didn’t really fit their ideas about what the Messiah should be like. But because they recognized that there was a power at work they couldn’t explain they at least held that out as a possibility.
But as soon as the Pharisees hear the people talking like that, they step in right away, knowing that if the people understand that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, their power and influence will be gone. So they accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul, another name for Satan.
It’s interesting here that with their accusation, the Pharisees are actually acknowledging that what Jesus is doing was beyond human capability so there must be some supernatural power behind it. And since the only two supernatural kingdoms that exist are those of God and of Satan, they only had two options. Obviously they weren’t willing to admit that it was God’s power at work so they had to claim that Jesus was doing these works by the power of Satan.
Jesus is quick to point out the absurdity of that claim. First, He points out how ridiculous it would be for Satan to cast out his own demons. While it might be true that there is chaos within Satan’s kingdom because he is utterly evil and that chaos means that there is sometimes inconsistency in the way his kingdom operates, Satan is not going to deliberately try to destroy his own kingdom.
That one argument was enough to easily prove His point, but in verse 27 Jesus gets a little more personal with the Pharisees. Some of their disciples, who Jesus calls their “sons”, were also casting out demons – or at least they either thought they were or were trying to convince others they were doing that. The Jewish historian Josephus described some of these people who were going around with strange incantations, spells and rituals in an attempt to cast out demons. In Acts 19 Paul deals with such a group of itinerant Jewish exorcists known as the sons of Sceva.
Jesus is essentially saying to the Pharisees, “Your own disciples are claiming to do the very same things I am doing. So are you saying that they are also doing that by Satan or are they doing it by the power of God?” Then Jesus challenges the Pharisees to let their own disciples judge them: “Why don’t you ask them if they are doing what they are doing by the power of Satan or by the power of God?”
Jesus knew they couldn’t admit that their own disciples were casting out demons by the power of Satan because that would condemn them, too. But if they claimed they were doing that by the power of God, they would have to admit that Jesus was doing that as well. And, as Jesus points out in verse 28, if they admit that, then must also acknowledge that the kingdom of God has come upon them because the King is in their midst.
In verse 29, Jesus makes one last argument. He points out that He has demonstrated His power over the strong man - Satan – by binding him so that He can then enter his kingdom and plunder it by casting out Satan’s demons. Jesus is confirming that He is indeed the King and that He has proved it by His ability to control Satan’s kingdom. That is a power reserved for God alone – a fact with which the Pharisees knew well.
In verse 30, Jesus wraps all this up by pointing out that these Pharisees have to make a choice. They can either say “Jesus is of God” or “Jesus is of Satan.” Those are the only two options. The same is still true today. Every person has to choose one or the other. There is no middle ground. It’s not possible to merely say Jesus was a nice person, or a moral teacher, or a religious leader. He is either of God or of Satan.
And Jesus makes it clear here that those who refuse to acknowledge that He is of God are against Him. So rather than gathering people into His kingdom, they are scattering people away from it. Those are the people He is addressing in verses 31-32 when He spoke the words we looked at earlier:
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
(Matthew 12:31-32 ESV)
Based on everything we have learned so far I think we are now in a pretty good position to identify this “unforgiveable sin” of blaspheming or speaking against the Holy Spirit:
The “unforgiveable sin” is:
• a deliberate rejection
• of the deity of Jesus
• when you know it is true
Don’t worry if you didn’t get all this written down because we’re going to go through this definition phrase by phrase.
First of all this “unforgiveable sin” is a deliberate rejection. It is not something that is done out of a lack of knowledge or engaged in by accident. So you don’t need to go around worrying that somehow out of ignorance you unwittingly blasphemed the Holy Spirit somehow.
The Pharisees had observed what Jesus had done. They knew the power to heal was supernatural. And Jesus had made a great case to prove that the only possible source of power for what He was doing was God, not Satan. But because that threatened their own power, influence and wealth, they chose to deliberately reject that fact.
The life of the apostle Paul is the best illustration of the fact that for blasphemy to be unforgivable it has to be a deliberate rejection of the truth. Before meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul was zealously serving God in the manner He thought God wanted him to – by persecuting and killing Christians. But once the Holy Spirit revealed to him that Jesus was God in the flesh, his life was radically transformed. As Paul later tells Timothy, he had blasphemed out of ignorance and so God was willing, even eager, to forgive that blasphemy when Paul repented:
I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
(1 Timothy 1:12-14 ESV)
Most, if not all of us in this room, probably rejected Jesus in some way at some point in our life. But because we did that out of ignorance before the Holy Spirit revealed the true nature of Jesus to us and before He drew us to Jesus, God delights in forgiving us for that kind of blasphemy because it was not done deliberately.
The second element in our definition of the “unforgiveable sin” is that the deliberate rejection involves the deity of Jesus. This is very clear from verse 32. There Jesus said that anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but that anyone who speaks a word against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Jesus used the title “Son of Man” very deliberately here. That was a title that referred to His humanity.
And Jesus says here that you can speak a word against Jesus as a human and still be forgiven if you repent. People did that all the time in Jesus’ day didn’t they? They said things like “He’s only the son of a carpenter and we know his mother and his brothers and sisters” or “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” They accused Him of associating with sinners. But for the most part those words were spoken against Jesus as a man because His deity had not yet been revealed to those people.
For the Pharisees, there was still hope for them that they could be forgiven for the things that they had said against Jesus as a man. Had they merely claimed He was a drunkard and glutton who violated God’s law, there is no doubt God would have forgiven them for that if they chose to repent. But once they crossed the line and denied His deity by claiming that His works were powered by Satan, there was no longer any hope for them.
That leads us directly to the third and final element of our definition. Committing the “unforgiveable sin” requires that a person deliberately rejects the deity of Jesus when he knows it to be true. As we saw earlier with the example of Paul, rejecting Jesus out of ignorance is not unforgiveable. But these Pharisees could no longer claim ignorance. They had witnessed the miracles Jesus performed and they had heard Jesus’ words that proved that what He was doing could only be done through the empowerment of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit had revealed the truth to them, but they still chose to reject that truth.
While it is certainly true that no one is beyond the ability of God to save and forgive, what this passage shows is that it is possible for a person’s rejection of Jesus to be so ingrained that it becomes a permanent state. As long as a person only knows a little about Jesus, it is always possible for that person to learn more about Jesus until they finally understand the truth of His deity. But once a person concludes that the supernatural works of Jesus are of the devil and not of God, then the situation becomes hopeless. Since forgiveness is received by repentance and faith in Jesus, once a person gets to that point, it’s no longer possible to put his or her trust in Jesus as the basis for salvation.
Pastor John MacArthur sums up this idea like this:
So it isn't as if God is simply arbitrarily saying, "I don't like the way you're treating My Son; I will never forgive you, even if you come to Me." No, what He is saying is, "You have had so much evidence and you have drawn your conclusions, therefore it is obvious you will never come to Me. So you will never be forgiven." God couldn't have done any more.
That’s really the essence of the “unforgiveable sin” isn’t it? God couldn’t have done any more. And once the Holy Spirit has enlightened a person to that truth and he or she chooses to reject what God has done for him or her through Jesus, then there is no longer any hope of forgiveness.
Let’s close by looking at some of the…
Implications for us:
If you are not yet a disciple of Jesus:
1. Don’t put off that decision
The hearts of these Pharisees were not hardened overnight. But because they had continually rejected Jesus, there came a point where their hearts had become so hardened that even when the Holy Spirit revealed who Jesus was, they could not accept the salvation He offered.
That is why the Bible is filled with exhortations to respond immediately to the revelation of God so our hearts don’t become hardened. This passage from Hebrews 3 is particularly relevant:
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion…
(Hebrews 3:7-8 ESV)
This is such an important concept that the writer of Hebrews repeats these same exact words again in verse 15 and then again in chapter 4, verse 7.
Perhaps today for the first time, the Holy Spirit has clearly revealed to you the deity of Jesus and now you, like the Pharisees in the passage we looked at this morning, have to make a choice. You can either acknowledge that Jesus is who He claimed to be – the Son of God as well as the Son of Man, and repent and ask Him to forgive your sins or you can deliberately reject that truth, in which case your heart may become so hard that it will one day become impossible for you to do that. As Jesus pointed out clearly, those are the only two options. You either choose to accept and receive Jesus or you choose to reject Him. There is no middle ground.
If you are a disciple of Jesus
1. Be secure in your salvation
If you have become a disciple of Jesus by placing your trust in Him alone and committing your life to Him as Savior and Lord, then there is never any need for you to ever think that you have possibly committed the unpardonable sin. As I pointed out earlier, the fact that you are even concerned you may have done that proves you have not.
But even beyond that, I want to use this opportunity to reinforce the idea that because salvation is all the work of God and not based on anything you have done, if you are indeed a genuine disciple, then there is also nothing you can do to lose that salvation. Let me share just a couple of the many passages that confirm that truth:
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
(John 10:28-29 ESV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
(1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV)
Over the past several weeks, I’ve encouraged you to use these hard sayings of Jesus to make an honest evaluation of your decision to become a disciple of Jesus. I think it’s important for all of us to make sure we’ve made that decision for the right reasons after carefully considering the costs. It’s important to understand that becoming a disciple of Jesus means living a radically transformed life in which we choose to put Jesus in control.
My prayer is that by making that careful evaluation, you can have complete confidence that you are indeed a genuine disciple of Jesus and that therefore you can be confident and secure in your salvation.
2. When God reveals, I need to respond immediately
Although our passage this morning deals primarily with becoming a disciple of Jesus, it also has tremendous implications for the level of intimacy we will experience with God. Because the Pharisees were more concerned about their own power and wealth than they were with their relationship with God, they rejected the Messiah who could have provided them with a great intimacy with God that far surpassed anything they had ever experienced.
The Bible consistently teaches us that the path to intimacy with God involves obeying that which God has already revealed to us. Jesus summed up that concept like this:
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
(John 14:23 ESV)
If I really love God, then I will do my very best to immediately respond to what He reveals to me by obeying Him. And in return, Jesus promises that when we love God like that, both He and His Father will come make their home with us. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
3. Constantly give thanks to God for His forgiveness
We must not forget that Jesus promised here that “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven.” So that means that there is one sin God won’t forgive and an infinite number that He will. And since we’re not in any danger of committing the one sin He won’t forgive, it seems to me that our primary focus should be on being grateful for the multitude of sins that He has forgiven and will forgive because of what Jesus has done on our behalf. So let’s close our time by taking a few minutes for all of us to do that individually and then we’ll do that corporately.
[Individual prayer time]
Corporate prayer:
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
(Psalm 32:1-5, 10-11 ESV)
