The World's Strongest Man Series

You may be thinking, “Pastor if the devil is a defeated foe, he sure is causing me a lot of misery.” He’s like a wounded animal. He’s going to fight to the end, although his defeat is sure. It’s like when the Nazis realized the war was lost, Hitler issued the Nero Decree. He told his retreating armies to destroy everything of value. Satan is doing the same thing. He continues to steal, kill, and destroy. But he no longer has any authority over you. He will try to kill your joy, steal your peace, and destroy your testimony, but his power is broken. You can say to him, “Get away from me, Satan, because greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world!” You’re strong, but I have the strongest man living in me!

So that’s the parable. But because these religious leaders accused Jesus of being in union with Satan, Jesus responded with a stern warning about their spiritual blindness.

II. THE WARNING: Jesus will forgive every sin except persistent rejection of the Holy Spirit’s conviction

Confusion about the “unpardonable” sin has caused a lot of needless confusion and guilt. When I served as pastor of a church in North Alabama during the early 1980s, there was an usher in our church named John. He was a sweet man who was always present in his regular spot to greet people and hand out bulletins. But John was a very troubled man. On several occasions I met with him and he began to weep as he told me that during World War II he had done something he thought was so evil that he was certain he had committed the unforgivable sin. I tried to help him by telling Him God could forgive every sin except the sin of unbelief, but that didn’t change his mind. John never told me what he had done, but he was convinced he would never go to heaven. He attended church and served the Lord faithfully. His family was active in the church, and his children were talented singers, but he was tormented with the belief that he had committed the unpardonable sin and that he would never make it to heaven.

A few years ago I heard from John’s daughter that he had died. From everything I knew about John and his life I believe he’s in heaven. But he missed out on so much peace and joy in this life because he was tormented by the belief that his sin was unforgivable.

John isn’t the only person who has told me they fear they committed the unforgivable sin. I’ve had dozens of people tell me the same thing. Maybe you’ve even wondered if you’ve committed the unforgivable sin yourself. Let me start by saying what I tried to tell John: If you are concerned that you have committed the unforgivable sin, the fact that you are burdened about it means you probably haven’t!

So, what is the unforgivable sin? Let me tell you what it is NOT. It is not murder. Moses was a murderer and he’ll be in heaven. The unforgivable sin is not adultery. King David committed adultery and God forgave him. It’s not divorce. The woman at the well had multiple divorces and she was forgiven. It is not suicide. Suicide is self-murder and it is no different from homicide—both are forgivable. You may say, “Well, a person who commits suicide can’t repent of that sin because they’re dead.” If that’s your attitude, then you don’t understand salvation. Once you are a Christian, you don’t have to confess every single sin you commit in order to go to heaven. We confess our sins to stay in fellowship with God, but when you surrender your life to Christ, every past sin you’ve committed and every future sin you will ever commit is covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.