The Point Of No Return

The Point of No Return

Mat 12:22-32

Mat 12:22-32 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. (23) And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?" (24) Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons." (25) But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. (26) If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? (27) And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. (28) But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. (29) Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. (30) He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. (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.

The unpardonable sin. That word is scary, isn’t it? Unpardonable! It’s not something that you normally hear in connection with God, is it? Not today. Our world, our society, our 21st century Christianity doesn’t speak much about “un” anything when it comes to Christianity, for nothing is “un” with God, right? God forgives anything and everything. Many have come to believe that since nothing is impossible with God, and He forgives even the worst of sins, then it just stands to reason that everything is forgivable, and so they go along in their lives thinking that just because they “apologized” to God at some point in their lives, and asked to be forgiven, then they’re good for all eternity. They believe can live however they want, do whatever they wish, hanging onto that past “apology” as if it’s a “Get Out of Hell Free Pass.” They treat God as if He’s a wishy-washy chump they can manipulate with some imagined technicality. Apologize once and you can do whatever you want and it’s all good. There is no need to live a life that demonstrates any sort of change in behavior or thought.

But friends, God is no chump. He’s not wishy-washy in the least. He has given us very specific instructions in how to behave, how to live, and what to believe, and those instructions are found in His Word, the Holy Bible. They are not suggestions, they are commands that we are to live by, and throughout the Bible there are examples of people who failed to live in obedience to God, and their outcome was not good. Nadab and Abihu were consumed with fire, Korah and his followers were swallowed up by the earth, Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt, Sisera had a tent peg hammered through his temple, Absolom was hung from a tree by his hair and killed by sword and spear, Jezebel was tossed out a window and eaten by dogs, and Herod was eaten up with worms.

Folks, when a person decides to live contrary to God’s Word, there will be consequences. Take for example these Pharisees that Jesus was dealing with in our text today. They had been in opposition to His ministry practically from the beginning. They started out asking Him some basic questions to see where He was coming from theologically and philosophically, but as time progressed, their opposition only increased. Jesus wasn’t going to play ball the way they wanted, so their animosity grew. Instead of simply questioning Him, they began to openly oppose Him. Because they could never trap Him in His words, and they always failed miserably when debating Him, so they turned to slander and lies. Twice, Matthew records that they were publicly connecting Him with Satan.

In Matthew, chapter 9, He healed the woman who had been suffering from an issue of blood for 12 years, He raised a synagogue official’s daughter from the dead. He healed 2 blind men and then He freed a mute, demon-possessed man from his demonic tormentors. The crowds who witnessed all of this were amazed and commented that Mat 9:33 …"It was never seen like this in Israel!" But the Pharisees began to spread the rumor around that Mat 9:34 …He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons."