Several weeks ago, I asked for your help in your choice of today’s sermon. Your top choice was “When Will Jesus Return to Earth?” But a little analysis of the results led us to understand that it was really only this early service that asked for this topic. So … at 9:30, 11 and at Cross Church, our sermon will be on focused “What is the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?” Or, “What is the Unpardonable Sin.”
Anxiety comes in all forms. It’s the call from your child’s school asking you if you can come to meet with the principal. It’s the feeling you get when looking over your retirement savings and then you realize you don’t have that many more years left to work. Few things can cause anxiety like spiritual anxiety. The Unpardonable Sin is a particular teaching that has really haunted people for a long time. As a pastor, people often ask if they have committed the sin that cannot and will not be forgiven. Some here today have a paralyzing fear they have committed the “unpardonable sin.” The thought that there is something I might have done that would forever exclude me from the presence of God. So if this is you today, listen carefully.
“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. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” 25 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. 26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 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. 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 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)
What Would it Take to Convince You? Imagine with me the most skeptical person you know. Think of the most skeptical person when it comes to Christianity and Jesus. It might even be you. Now, hold this person in your mind for a moment. What Would it Take to Convince You? Miracles? Incredible Teaching? Magnetic Personality? Perhaps is has less to do with the evidence for Jesus and more to do with the eyes/heart of the one examining the evidence. Today, I want you to see What the Unpardonable Sin is Not, What the Unpardonable Sin is, and lastly, How Do I Know?
1. What It Is Not
Again, people are really haunted by the unpardonable sin. And there is so many “false starts” and myths that have grown up around Jesus’ statement here. It’s important to see what it is not.
1.1 Suicide
The Bible never tells us that suicide is unforgivable. This has come from the Roman Catholic Church and it is unfortunate.
1.2 “Big” Sins
When we consider a sin that God will not forgive, many of us think of “big sins.”
1.2.1 Sexual Sins
Is it a big sexual sin? Adultery? Homosexuality?
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9–11)
It’s not big sexual sins, because we see the Bible teaching us they can be forgiven. I think of David, who committed adultery, and I remember how he was forgiven.
1.2.2 Murder
Moses, David, and even Paul were complicit at some level in another person’s murder. No, it’s not murder. Every one of these “big sins” are covered by the blood of Jesus. The sweetest news for a sinner to hear is the news that God has forgiven you.
1.3 Denying Jesus
This is the most popular choice I have heard of inside our church. The Unpardonable Sin is simply denying Jesus. I want dissuade you of simply thinking the Unpardonable Sin is a simple denial of Jesus.
Think of Peter for a moment. He was closest to Jesus and yet he denied Christ not once, but three times. And yet we see in the Book of John that he was forgiven or this betrayal by Jesus Himself. Why was he forgiven? Because he returned to Jesus in repentance. Because Peter was so grieved by His lack of loyalty to Jesus that he wept, and returned to Jesus, and repented. Again, don’t think of the Unpardonable Sin as a simple denial of Jesus. Because all of us have denied Jesus at some point in our lives. Again, all of us have done this at some level. Maybe you denied Jesus because of ridicule at school or work. You gave in to the pressure of persecution and denied Christ. You told them, “I don’t really believe it. I don’t really think Jesus is God. I don’t really think the bible is true.” But deep down you know as Peter did, that you were lying to save your skin. If that is you this morning, then follow the example of Peter, and turn to Jesus in repentance.
2. What It Is
If the Unforgivable Sin is not sexual sin, or abortion, or suicide, or denying Christ, then what is it? In Matthew 12 Jesus clearly displays the power of God in casting a demon out of a man. Jesus also gives sight and speech to this formerly possessed man. In the middle of this miracle, the religious teachers see Jesus’ miracle-working power but feel Jesus has received His power from Satan. In so doing Jesus is communicating to Israel and the Pharisees that He is the Messiah, the chosen one, God’s Son.
“Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 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)
Never Means Never. When a human says, “I’ll never forgive you,” you may go on with life. There are others we can turn to. And “never” rarely means never. Yet, when God says, “I will never forgive you,” then there is nobody to turn to in all the universe to. And “never” really means “never.” If God says to you, “Never will I forgive you,” then a million ages from now his verdict will be like granite. His sentences are as unbreakable as His pardons. To reinforce the never-ending, eternal nature of Jesus’ warning here, listen to how the gospel of Mark records Jesus’ words:
“but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—” (Mark 3:29)
Now, if God withholds His forgiveness for eternity, then your guilt is sealed for eternity. Look at the spiritual escalator these religious men are on. Going down the path looks like this.
2.1 Willful Unbelief
“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. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” (Matthew 12:22-24)
The crowd of people saw the same miracle the religious teachers did. They were amazed at Jesus’ power. Their natural question was: “Can this be the Son of David?” (Matthew 12:23b). The on-lookers begin to wonder if Jesus is the predicted Messiah. Yet, the most informed people – the religious teachers – go an opposite direction. “Beelzebul” (in verse 24) is another name for Satan. Instead, of thinking Jesus’ power is from God and is a source of good, they go the opposite direction. They whisper, “His power is from Satan.” Note very carefully: Jesus does not say that these religious teachers have committed the Unforgivable Sin. He hears them attribute His power over demons to Satan instead of to the Holy Spirit and He says, “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 12:32). Jesus issues a warning. Maybe they have committed the Unforgivable Sin, maybe they haven’t. But when they see the work of the Holy Spirit and call it the work of Satan, they are at least on the brink of never-ending guilt. Perhaps they have even fallen over the edge.
Willful Unbelief
2.2 Persistent Rebellion
Watch these religious teachers closely now, for they move down the path of the spiritual escalator. Like stages of a rocket that fall off the higher it ascends into space, they move downward in their pride. Mark them as they dig in their heals. See them and note that nothing, absolutely nothing with change their minds. No clear piece of evidence as to who Jesus is will make them reconsider. It as if they are saying, “Don’t confuse me with the facts.” Look again at verse 31: “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31). Read the first clause as if it is talking about external reality and the second clause as if it’s talking about internal reality
2.2.1 External
Let’s read that externally. “…every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people …” What he’s saying there is no particular sin, no particular deed, no particular word, no particular action that in itself, intrinsically, automatically is unpardonable. That’s what the Bible says everywhere. The Bible, over and over, says there is no particular, specific deed. There’s nothing we actually do that would be somehow off limits and now God can’t do anything to save us.
2.2.2 Internal
However, if you resist the work of the Holy Spirit to lead you to repentance, no sin is forgivable. In other words, on the one hand, speaking externally with regard to action, there is no sin that is unforgivable. On the other hand, speaking internally with regard to motivation and attitude, if you resist the leading of the Holy Spirit to lead you to repentance, no sin is forgivable (not just this one or this one, not some incredible one, but no sin).
Why the Holy Spirit? If you look to God the Father and embrace sin, that’s bad. If we look to his Son Jesus Christ and embrace sin, that is doubly bad. The Father has planned redemption and the Son has accomplished redemption. But in either case, there is hope. Yet, it is the unique and special role of the Holy Spirit to apply the Father’s plan and the Son’s accomplishment to us. The Holy Spirit’s job is to show you where you’re wrong. “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment…” (John 16:8). Again, no clear piece of evidence as to who Jesus is will make them reconsider.
Willful Unbelief
Persistent Rebellion
2.3 Final Denial
Here’s our last stage. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is willful, wide-eyed slandering of the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s where you attribute to the devil what is undeniably God. These men had seen as well as anyone could see and had known as clearly as anyone could know that Jesus performed His miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit… … yet they defiantly insisted, contrary to what they knew to be true, that it was Satan who empowered him.
“Jesus charges that those who perceive that his ministry is empowered by the Spirit and then, for whatever reason - whether spite, jealousy, or arrogance - ascribe it to Satan, have put themselves beyond the pale (of forgiveness). For them, there is no forgiveness, and that is the verdict of the one who has authority to forgive sins.” D. A. Carson
These men resisted the Holy Spirit to the point they entered the place where they were beyond repentance.
3. How Do I Know?
It’s not about big sins or little sins. For even if you are a nitpicker… … a griping, faultfinding person who continues to resist the Holy Spirit’s movement that He withdraws forever and you are not able to repent and be forgiven.
If You’re Worried, Don’t Worry. Don’t worry if you’re worried. If you are worried about having committed this sin, you are showing by your concern that you have not fully and finally rejected the Spirit’s testimony in your life.
DIAGNOSTIC QUESTIONS
Since this is an issue of the heart, let’s check under the hood and see where our heart is this morning. Here are some diagnostic questions for your spiritual health... Is it a big deal that God offers you forgiveness? Do you thirst for God? Do you grieve over sin? Are you quicker to forgive others? Are spiritual disciplines increasingly important? Are you for Jesus or against Him?
Conclusion
For a thief like Jacob, an adulterer like David, a murderer like Moses, there is hope! The message of the gospel causes them to cry out, “O God be merciful to me, the sinner.” But when a man has become hardened, so that he has made up his mind not to pay any attention to the promptings of the Spirit… …not even to listen to His pleading and warning voice… …you have placed yourself on the road that leads to perdition. You are nearing the cliff marked off with a warning, “Point of No Return.”
