Have I Committed the Unforgivable Sin?
Matthew 12:22-37
April 30, 2006
Introduction
As we continue our walk through the gospel according to Matthew, we come to an episode in which Jesus offers some of his strongest words yet in this book of the Bible.
But before we get into that, I just want to ask you a question: have you ever committed a sin that you thought you could never be forgiven of, either by God or by the person you hurt?
I have. I won’t go into details, but when I was a young teen I hurt someone horribly. And I wondered for years if this person had ever forgiven me.
Well, thank the Lord, he did forgive me, though few would blame him if he never did.
There are times when people wonder if they can ever be forgiven by God for whatever they’ve done. They live in guilt and fear, just hoping that God will see it in his heart to offer forgiveness.
Today, I want to offer you some hope. The Bible says there is only one unforgivable sin, and we’re going to look at it today.
And let me just say that I think I can offer you some hope.
I would invite you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew 12:22-37. If you are using the Bibles in the seats, this is on page 690.
This is a bit long, but we need to read the whole passage if we want to get the gist of the verses I want to focus on.
I’m of the opinion that it’s very dangerous to just grab a verse out of its context, because without knowing that context it’s easy to make a verse “say” something that it really doesn’t say.
So please bear with me as I read this passage out loud, while you follow along.
Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"
24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29 "Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.
30 "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. 31 And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
33 "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
Let’s pray.
Three questions that I want us to consider as we go through this passage:
What is the unforgivable sin?
The unforgivable sin is this: “Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”
What does that mean? Well, let me start by saying what it is not. It is not refusing to believe in Christ, as many would say.
Many believe and teach that if a person continues to resist the Spirit’s urging to put their faith in Christ, then there comes a point where the Spirit quits trying. That’s blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, according to them.
But there’s a difference between “resisting” and “blaspheming.”
I think that we need to go to our passage to get the definition, and the definition I just gave you does not find a place in this passage.
“Blasphemy” means basically “to speak against” or “slander.” And this is what Jesus is saying has happened. The Pharisees had spoken against and slandered the Holy Spirit.
How did they do that? Well, to get a grasp on what is being talked about, we need to revisit what was going on.
Jesus had just driven out a demon from a man who was blind and mute. But rather than rejoicing in the fact that the man was freed from this horrible condition, the Pharisees insulted Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
What do I mean? Look at their words in verse 24 –
"It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."
They were saying that Jesus was using demonic powers to free the man, and Jesus said that it was the work of the Holy Spirit.
So here’s the bottom-line definition of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit:
Identifying the work of the Spirit as the work of Satan.
Can you see why this would be such a serious offense? What kind of spirit is the Spirit of God? Holy!
And these guys were saying that the Spirit by which Jesus was driving out this demon was from Satan himself.
Satan, ladies and gentlemen, is the exact opposite of everything God is.
God is love, Satan is hate. God is compassionate, Satan looks to destroy as many lives as possible. God is holy and Satan is unspeakably unholy.
And to describe the Spirit in such terms is a huge deal. And Jesus was ready, willing, and able to defend the honor of the Spirit.
So much so that he said that it was unforgivable to speak against the Spirit. And specifically, when saying that the work of the Spirit was the work of the devil.
Well, let’s move on and look at the second question to address with this passage, and that is…
What is the “cause” of this sin?
In other words, what got them to the point that they would commit this sin?
I think it’s important that we understand something very quickly. It’s not just the words they spoke – it’s much deeper than that.
If it were just the words, then we couldn’t even read them aloud, because we would have actually said them.
Or think about how this would be handled in a movie. They’d get to this part, and when it came time to utter the words of the Pharisees, they’d have to put their hands over their mouths and mumble something else. Or there would be a few seconds of uncomfortable silence in the film, with the actors just kind of looking around while a note on the bottom of the screen says something like, “Naughty words that would cause the actors to be thrown into the eternal fire…”
That would be goofy, wouldn’t it?
It’s not just the words, and it’s important that we understand that.
Why is that so important? Let’s take a look very quickly at Romans 10:9 –
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
If it was just the words, then anyone who says, “Jesus is Lord,” is automatically saved.
But I can tell you that there are some people who will say the words just to aggravate someone trying to lead them to Christ, or to get them off their back.
What if a parrot learns to say, “Jesus is Lord?” Is the parrot saved? I don’t think so.
You’ve probably heard the story about A burglar broke into a house and began to steal all of the valuable. At that moment he heard a voice that said Jesus is watching you. He was so scared he froze for a second. He regained his composure and started stealing again, when the voice came louder Jesus is watching you. He just about lost it right there. After regaining his composure he began to steal again this time watching very intent around him when he heard the voice again this time he recognized a shape in the corner as he approached he realized it was a bird cage. He removed the cover to find a parrot. He was so relieved when he saw the parrot he said what is your name. The parrot replied "Moses". The thief then said what kind of person would name a parrot Moses? The parrot replied the same kind of person that named a Rotwieller "Jesus". (SermonCentral.com. Contributed by: David King)
I really loved how Mike Hagen shared the gospel message during the Strength Team’s crusade here.
He would lead in the prayer for everybody, and he would say, “Just like your Word says in Romans 10:9, that if we confess Jesus as Lord then we will be saved. I’m saying this with my mouth (“Jesus is Lord”), but I believe it in my heart.”
Now isn’t that cool? I really liked that – and I’ll probably be stealing it for my own use as I share the gospel with people.
Look back at verse 34:
“For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Often this verse is used to discuss things like cursing and swearing, gossip, and whatever. And it’s a very appropriate verse to use in those situations, because let’s face it – if your heart is full of malice and bitterness, that’s what’s going to come out of your mouth.
If you harbor gossip and backbiting, or spreading rumors, then that’s what comes out of your mouth.
But the context here tells us something. These guys weren’t just saying stuff to be mean. They really meant it – they believed it to their core.
Folks, it’s an issue of the heart.
These guys had a heart condition that either didn’t recognize or refused to recognize the work of the Spirit through Christ.
So here’s how we can tie this section up.
The “cause” of blaspheming the Holy Spirit is a hardened heart - one that cannot recognize or refuses to recognize the working of the Spirit of God.
I hope that makes sense. It’s not just the words, it’s an issue of the heart.
Let’s turn to the last question I want us to look at today when we look at this question, and that is:
How can I know if I’ve committed this sin?
This is a heart-wrenching question, because most people understand most sins. They know that murder is sin, they know that lying is sin, they know that cheating on their taxes is sin. At least they SHOULD know that, right?
But a surprisingly high amount of people wonder if they have committed this sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
And given Jesus’ words about it being unforgivable, it makes sense that there would be a sense of fear and dread when considering this, because no one wants to miss out on heaven because of this.
I’m going to address it here in just a second, but before I do, I want to share that there are some who say this sin cannot be committed anymore, because it could only happen when Jesus was on earth.
They get that because Jesus was on earth when this was written. But I think that’s reading into the text in a way that the text doesn’t support.
Just because something happened when Jesus was on earth, doesn’t mean it can’t happen today. Otherwise, we would have no hope of things like forgiveness and healing, since he did those things on earth, too.
This is kind of a tough deal here, but here’s what I think and you can take it for what it’s worth.
Just don’t tell me if you think it’s not worth much!
I’m of the opinion that if you are worried that you have committed this sin, then you have not committed it.
Why do I think that? Well, I can’t point to chapter and verse, but I think that Scriptural principle dictates that the Spirit won’t convict someone of a sin that God won’t forgive.
In fact, I would venture to say that the Holy Spirit would stop convicting people of any sin – since repenting would have no point, and that is the purpose of the Spirit convicting someone.
Now again, I can’t give you a specific place in Scripture to back that up, but I’ve asked around, done research, and whatever, and that is the answer that comes up all the time from people I respect and who I know are much wiser in the Scriptures than I.
And I would also venture to say that if you are really a believer in Jesus, you won’t commit this sin, because the Spirit of God lives in you.
Jesus’ words were specifically directed at the Pharisees – who were very religious but had no real spiritual understanding regarding the Messiah who stood before their very eyes.
Some of them did get it as time went on, but I think that these particular Pharisees were so far gone in their heart that there was no hope for them before they made this comment to Jesus.
So if you’re here today and you’re wondering if maybe you’ve committed this sin because you’re scared and worried that you have, I want to assure you that I don’t believe you have.
Now the fact that you are worried shows me that you are fighting with the guilt of some kind of sin, but not of this one.
You should ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what sin you have committed, so you can confess it and find forgiveness for it.
In the beginning of the message I mentioned that some people have committed a sin that they think is so huge that wonder if they can ever be forgiven by God.
I just want to say to you that forgiveness is absolutely available to you. This whole message was about the one sin that cannot be forgiven.
And if you’re worried about committing it, then you haven’t.
So I want to assure you that if you are feeling the guilt of some sin, or maybe even a whole bunch of them, forgiveness is available to you.
If you have never put your faith in Jesus to forgive you through his sacrifice on the cross, then calling on him for that will bring forgiveness.
The Bible says that if we confess our sins to God, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness.
If that’s what you want, it’s available. And in fact, I would like to pray right now if there is anyone who would like that kind of forgiveness, then we’ll finish up the message, okay?
Conclusion
Okay, I said there were three questions, but as you no doubt noticed by now, there are actually four. Can you handle that? Will you forgive me? Thanks.
So what can we take away from this? What should we do with this information?
I think that we can find a clue by going back to verses 34-35 –
“For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him…”
So in light of those verses, I want to offer you two actions to take to help us be people who won’t make the mistake that these Pharisees did.
1. Guard your heart.
Proverbs 4:23 (not in note-taking guide)–
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
You need to check your attitudes, your emotions, your priorities, and your affections.
2. Examine your words.
Are they Christlike or worldly?
Why is this important? Again, it’s because our mouth reflects what’s in our heart.
And if our words are filled with unbiblical and unclean language, according to Biblical standards, then we need to allow the Holy Spirit renew our heart so that it will be filled with the Spirit of Christ rather than the spirit of the world.
So in my prayer for you today, I want to pray for these two things specifically – that you would guard your heart and that you would examine your words so you can make sure that the Holy Spirit is the one running the show in your life.
Because when he’s running the show, then stuff like we talked about today isn’t much of an issue. Your life will be led by the Spirit of God rather than the spirit of the world, and the Bible says that that is the way to lead a life that is both pleasing to God and personally fulfilling and significant.
Let’s pray.
