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."
*In vs. 3 Peter said, "You lied to the Holy Spirit." Then in vs. 4 Peter said, "You lied to God," so the Holy Spirit is God. He is co-equal, co-eternal, and co-existent with God the Father and Son.
*The Holy Spirit's deity is also seen in the fact that He has divine qualities. For example, the Holy Spirit is everywhere. King David made this truth clear in Psalm 139:7. There he asked God, "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?"
*Luke 1:35 declares the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit, and His essential connection to the birth of Jesus Christ. The Virgin Mary had asked how she would be able to have a baby. And in Luke 1:35, the angel answered and told her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."
*We also know that the Holy Spirit is God, because He has all the knowledge of God. This truth is highlighted in 1 Corinthians 2:9-11. There God's Word says:
9. . . "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.''
10. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
*The Holy Spirit has all of the infinite knowledge of God, because He is God! But we also know that the Holy Spirit is God because He is eternal. Hebrews 9:14 mentions this fact when it asks Christians, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the ETERNAL SPIRIT offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (3)
*Church: The Holy Spirit is not just some heavenly force or power. The Holy Spirit is God! And since He is God, we must respect Him as God.
2. WE ALSO MUST UNDERSTAND BLASPHEMY AGAINST GOD'S SPIRIT.
*Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is a horrible sin that brings irreversible condemnation from God. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is unforgivable. As Jesus said in vs. 31-32:
31. "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
32. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."
*Jesus said this because of something the unbelieving Pharisees had just said. It was after Jesus healed the blind and mute man who had been possessed by demons. Because of that miraculous healing, the multitudes began to wonder if Jesus was the promised Messiah. And of course He is!
*But in vs. 24, "When the Pharisees heard it they said, 'This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.'" By saying those words, the Pharisees were blaspheming the Holy Spirit with no hope of forgiveness.
*B. H. Carroll was a great preacher and the founder of our Southwestern Seminary over in Fort Worth. He explained the unforgivable sin with these 3 key points:
1-"Outside of grace, -- no salvation.
2-Outside of Christ, -- no grace.
3-Outside of the Spirit, -- no Christ."
*Dr. Carroll also said:
-"If we sin against the Father directly, the Son remains. We may reach the Father through the Son.
-If we sin directly against the Son, the Spirit remains. We may reach the Son through the Spirit.
-But if we sin against the Spirit, nothing remains. Therefore, that sin is without remedy." (4)
*James McCullen said, "To slander the Holy Spirit or use abusive speech about Him involves the unforgivable sin. You cannot disrespect the Holy Spirit and ever be drawn to Jesus for salvation. The person who commits this sin never comes to a place of repentance. In my opinion the person who can commit this sin doesn't know it and couldn't care less." (2)
*Think about it. If you blaspheme the Holy Spirit of God, you are rejecting the Word of God, because the Holy Spirit gave us the Bible. As 2 Peter 1:21 says: "Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."
*On the night before the cross, Jesus made sure His disciples knew that after He rose again from the dead, and returned to Heaven, God was going to send His Holy Spirit in a brand-new way. Jesus called His Holy Spirit the "Comforter" or "Helper," and in John 16:7-14 the Lord said:
7. . . "I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
8. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9. of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10. of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;
11. of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
14. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you."
*But if you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you are rejecting the one who gives us spiritual truth, the one who brings us under conviction, the one who warns us about God's judgment, the one who points us to Jesus Christ.
*James McCullen told of an evangelist friend who was preaching a revival meeting in Arkansas. He was preaching about the Holy Spirit. Two young men (who didn't believe what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit) stood up near the front. They began to call the Holy Spirit like you would call a dog. They said, 'Here Holy Spirit. Here Holy Spirit. -- Okay Holy Spirit, where are you?' When they saw how much their actions upset the deacons, they quickly left. (2)
*It really seems like those men were blaspheming the Holy Spirit, and God knows for sure. But everyone who truly blasphemes the Holy Spirit is hopelessly doomed. Why? -- Because they have committed the unpardonable sin. So, we must understand blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
3. BUT WE ALSO MUST RECEIVE GOD'S HELP FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT.
*We must receive the Holy Spirit's help for salvation. Verses 33-37 point us to this truth. Here Jesus said:
33. "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.
34. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
35. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
36. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
37. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
*Talking about our lives, Jesus said, "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit." But our problem is that by ourselves, we can't make our "life tree" good.
*Then Jesus said, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things." But again, the problem is that by ourselves, we can't turn a bad heart into a good heart. Only God can do that.
*Everybody in this world needs a spiritual heart transplant that only Jesus can give. And the Lord wants to give us this new heart, but it must come through the Holy Spirit of God.
*Speaking to Israel in Ezekiel 36:26-28, but also to us, God said:
26. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
28. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God."
*The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to the truth of the cross: That God the Father loved us enough to send His only begotten Son into the world to die on the cross for our sins, that Jesus took the full punishment for our sins, that He rose again from the dead, and that He offers eternal life to all who will trust in Him.
*And when we do believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit gives us a new spiritual heart. It's the new spiritual birth of eternal life that Jesus talked about in the third chapter of John. There Lord was talking to Nicodemus, and in John 3:3-6 Jesus said:
3. . . "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.''
4. Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?''
5. Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
*"You must be born again," Jesus said. The reason why is because physical birth can only give physical life. Horses produce horses. Dogs produce dogs. And mortal people produce mortal people. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh."
*But "that which is born of the Spirit (or that which is given birth by God's Spirit) is spirit." The Holy Spirit produces a new kind of person by a new kind of birth, the spiritual birth that gives us God's eternal life.
*Every true Christian in the world literally has two birthdays: A physical birthday and a spiritual birthday. That's the day we were born again by receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. 1 John 5:1 confirms this truth when it says, "Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."
*All Christians are born again by the Holy Spirit of God working through the Word of God to bring us to faith in Jesus Christ. That's why 1 Peter 1:23 tells Christians that we have "been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever."
*God's Holy Spirit is also the primary source of the personal contact we can have with God right now. God the Father is in Heaven, and as far as I can tell, He always has been there. But what about God the Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Well, Jesus certainly ascended back into Heaven, and He is certainly coming again. In the meantime, Jesus has also appeared to people, mostly through dreams and visions.
*But God the Holy Spirit is always present in our world right now! He is present everywhere. And through God's Spirit, the Father and Son are here with us too! This is why in John 14:15-18 Jesus said:
15. "If you love Me, keep My commandments.
16. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper (or Comforter), that He may abide with you forever,
17. even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
18. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."
*Then in John 14:23 Jesus said, "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."
*Church: This is just part of the wonderful work of God's Spirit in our world today. And you can be sure that He is still at work in the world, many times in spite of preachers like me.
*Pastor Jeff Simms gave this testimony: "The first sermon I ever preached was in Yerington, Nevada in 1988. It stands as the worse sermon in recorded history. There were about 20 people present in that little desert church to hear me.
*I said everything I intended say in about 5 minutes. Then, I said it again and looked back down at my watch, and only 5 more minutes had gone by. I went on for another minute or two and then went back to my seat and sat down feeling completely worn out tired. I felt like I had been wrestling with the devil himself.
*I remember the pastor coming up to me afterwards and saying, 'You said "uhh" 57 times.' I thought he was going to be mad at me for such a bad sermon. Then he told me about two teenage girls who were touched by the Holy Spirit. They were under so much conviction that they had left the room crying. I thought they were crying because my sermon was so bad.
*God had worked despite me. They were in foster care and were going back to their own parents the next day. They had been lied to by the devil, but God's Word had spoken directly to their need. (5)
CONCLUSION:
*Church: That's just a taste of the great work of God's Holy Spirit. And He wants to work in our lives too!
*But there is an unforgivable sin. There is one and only one unforgivable sin: Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It would shock me if anyone here ever wanted to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, because if you ever seriously did that, there would be no hope of forgiveness for you.
*But there is hope for everyone who will allow God's Spirit to lead them to God's Son, Jesus Christ. Let the Holy Spirit have His way in your heart, as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) Adapted from:
-BELIEVER'S BIBLE COMMENTARY by William MacDonald - Edited by Arthur Farstad - Thomas Nelson Publishers - Nashville - Copyright 1995 - "Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath" - Matthew 12:1-8 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
-BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition (C) Copyright 1975 William Barclay - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Introduction to Matthew 12 - "Crisis" - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/william-barclay/matthew/12
(2) Cross & Crown sermons - "The Unforgivable Sin" by James McCullen - Matthew 12:31-32
(3) Adapted from The Christian Life - MASTER OUTLINES & STUDY NOTES - Compiled by Porter Barrington - 4. The Holy Spirit - https://www.christianwitnessingtools.com/uploads/3/4/0/0/3400790/porter_barrington_-_bible_study_outlines.pdf
(4) AN INTERPRETATION OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE by B. H. Carroll - "The Four Gospels Part One" - p. 394 - Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan - Source: Cross & Crown sermons - "The Unforgivable Sin" by James McCullen - Matthew 12:31-32
(5) SermonCentral illustration contributed by Jeff Simms
