It's wonderful to be here with all of you this morning.
We welcome you to the assembly here.
And seems like we have several of our number that are missing,
but we have a great crowd because you're here, as always
is the case. And I do consider it an honor to
speak concerning the Word of God today.
I want to talk about a subject that is interpreted a number of
different ways. It's often a subject that's
misapplied in our life today. It's a very serious matter
because Jesus said something so long ago.
He said there's actually a sin that is not forgivable.
Terry, is this loud? There's actually a sin that is
not forgivable and it's blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit. 15 years ago I taught a lesson.
In fact, you've all heard it. I preach it all over the country
on Christian certainties. And I spent 5 minutes on this
subject in passing, and I've always wanted to deep to dive
deeper into this subject and preach a whole sermon on the
unpardonable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
And so I'm going to do that today.
Our passage is found in Matthew chapter 12, beginning in verse
31. Jesus said this.
Jesus said, therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy
will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit
will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against
the Son of Man, that's Jesus, 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.
Again, this passage describes a very serious sin with a very
serious consequence. The sin is blasphemy against the
Holy Spirit, and the consequence is it can never be forgiven.
Wow. Very serious.
It's often called today, although the Bible doesn't call
it this. It's called the unpardonable
sin. It's important, though, that we
understand this passage, as you've heard me say many times,
and you know it's coming. It's coming in just about every
sermon I preach. You got to understand the
passages that we're going to look at in the context that they
were written, number one. And #2 we have to understand the
context and interpret the context in such a way that it
doesn't violate other scriptures.
And that's what we're going to try to do today.
But let me talk about some of the things and some of the
theories of people today that believe the unpardonable sin is
#1 some people believe the unpardonable sin.
Is this the sin unto death of first John chapter 5 and verse
16? And I'm not going to go very
deep into this because Wade has done that two weeks ago and he
did an outstanding job on this. I don't have a lot to say, but
let's look at the passage. I'll mention a couple things
that we'll move on. We want to know is the
unpardonable sin the sin unto death of first John?
516 John said this. If anyone sees his brother
sinning his sin which does not lead to death, he will ask and
he will give him life. For those who commit sin not
leading to death, there is a sin leading to death.
And I do not say that he should pray about that.
Remember, as he studied with us, the sin unto death is this.
It is any sin that you will not repent of and confess to God.
That's it. And death here is not physical
death. Death is spiritual death.
Death is a separation from God in your relationship.
OK, I got to make one really quick point.
Doesn't sin separate us from God?
Just in itself? Yes, sin separates us from God
absolutely. But a sin unto death is a sin
under spiritual death, meaning something that destroys our
relationship with God. Everybody sins every day.
It doesn't mean we stop. We lose our relationship with
God. Why?
We repent and we confess those sins to God.
We restore the relationship. So a sin that leads to spiritual
death is any sin that you will not repent of and confess to
God. That's number one.
And John says when you see a brother sitting a sin like that,
we don't pray for them to be forgiven in their unrepentant
state. But do we pray for them?
Oh yes, daily We pray that they come back.
We pray that God gives them time and opportunity that they might
repent and confess that to God in return, as our brother
mentioned in our prayer just a moment ago.
Absolutely. OK, so the unpardonable sin, is
it the sin unto death? No, it is not, because that sin
can be forgiven. When can the sin unto death be
forgiven? When you repent and confess that
sin to God. Let's move on #2 Some people
believe that the unpardonable sin of Matthew chapter 12 is the
apostate sin of Hebrews chapter 6, all because of one word in
that passage. Let's notice the Hebrew writer
says for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened
and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers
of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and
the powers of of the age to come.
If they fall away to renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put him to an
open shame. So because of this word
impossible, people interpret this passage like this and you
can find many commentators that actually support this and that
is this. If somebody turns their back on
what they know is right and somebody leaves the Lord, and
they become calloused and they become hard hearted and their
conscience no longer bothers them, there comes a point in
time when it becomes impossible for them to be restored.
That is one interpretation of this passage.
I like what EM Zur says about this.
This is a perfect explanation of what I believe the passage is
saying. Here it is.
The impossibility is upon the part of the would be restorer
and not on the one who falls away.
I'm going to read that again. I got to read that again.
The impossibility is upon the part of the would be restorer
and not on the one who falls away.
It does not say he cannot repent, but it is impossible for
anyone else to induce him to. The reason is that the apostate
or one that falls away leaves, leaves on purpose, turns their
back, already knows as much about the subject as the one who
wants to renew him, and hence the exhorter cannot offer any
new arguments or reasons. If they come back to Christ, it
will be on their own change of heart, which will always be
possible for them. OK, somebody leaves.
Can they be forgiven? Yes.
When? When they repent and confess
that sin to God and return. OK, so the unpardonable sin of
Matthew 12 can't be the apostate sin of Hebrews 6.
What else? Some people believe it's the
willful sin of Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 26.
Let's notice what that says. For if we sin willfully after
we've received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer
remains a sacrifice for sins. And people look at that and say,
look, if you sin willfully, therefore you got no shot.
Not what that means. Context.
What's he talking about? These were words that the Hebrew
writer wrote right after he wrote the words in Hebrews
10/25. In Hebrews 10/25 it says not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner
of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as
you see the day approaching. Context Here, the writer of
Hebrews is writing to Hebrew Christians that were being
greatly persecuted just a few years before the destruction of
Jerusalem, which Jesus foretold they would be in Matthew chapter
24. And because of that, many of
those Hebrew Christians said, wait a minute, it's easier to go
back to the law of Moses. I'll just do that.
And they stop worshipping God, They stop following Jesus.
What the Hebrew writer says is don't do that.
As you see the day approaching encourage one another.
And I, as you know, I do believe the day approaching in context
is the destruction of Jerusalem. That's the context.
Then he says, because if you sin willfully, after you receive the
knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for
sins. What's that mean under the old
Law of Moses? And they would have understood
this because they were Jewish Christians.
There was always going to be a future sacrifice, another animal
sacrifice in the future. So if they sinned, OK, another
blood sacrifice is going to happen in the future.
Let me ask you this in Jesus Christ, how many times was Jesus
stricken? Bible says once.
How many times did he hang on the cross and die for the sins
of the world? Once that's the only sacrifice,
there's not going to be a future sacrifice.
It's already been made. Can that person come back from a
willful sin? Yes, when they repent and
confess that sin to God, because it goes back to the blood
sacrifice that Jesus already made.
That's what that passage means. So is the unpardonable sin that
no, it can't mean that #4 some people believe this.
Well, preacher is just rejecting the gospel.
Romans 10/17 So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God. OK, it's true that if somebody
rejects the gospel in their current state, they cannot be
forgiven. That's true.
But can they be forgiven? Sure, when they stop rejecting
the Gospel, believe in Jesus, and obey the gospel, being
baptized to their mission of sins, yeah, they can be
forgiven. Remember, Jesus said if you
commit the sin that he's talking about in Matthew chapter 12, it
can never be forgiven. All other sins are forgiven,
though. How do I know that?
First, John 1:00 and 9:00, if we confess our sins, he's faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. OK, so let's just go through it
really quickly. The sin unto death, is it that?
No, because all you got to do is, is repent and confess that
sin. You come back to God.
Is it the apostate sin? No, you got to confess it.
Repent and confess and come back to God.
Is it the willful sin? Nope, repent and confess to God.
Is it the rejecting the gospel? No, just accept the gospel and
obey the gospel and you can be forgiven.
OK, those are some of the theories of what it actually
means. What we want to know is this
though, does the sin that Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter
12, what was he talking about? To whom was he talking to and
does it apply today? Big stuff.
You know why I have had people come to me in tears wondering
have I committed that sin? Because Jesus said if I
committed I can't go to heaven. Jesus says I can never be
forgiven. So I'm going to ask you to do
something for me. Put aside any kind of
preconceived ideas of what you might think it means and let's
just go through it methodically and let's stay together and go
through it methodically. And I promise I'm going to do my
very best to explain what this passage means.
We have to understand it in the context that it's written.
Let's look at the passage first. The passage is found in verse 31
and 32. I'll read it again and then
we're going to back up. Therefore Jesus said, I say to
you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the
blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
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. In order to understand this
passage in context, we have to go to the prior verses.
And by doing so, we got to back up to verse 22 and notice the
context. And we have a lot to cover.
So I'm not going to spend a lot of time on each individual
verse, but this will get the flow of what we're talking
about. Here we go.
We go back to verse 22. Then one was brought to him who
was demon possessed. He was blind and mute and he
healed him so that the blind and the mute man both spoke and saw.
OK, Jesus had already demonstrated His power over the
demonic world. He cast out demons before.
He also healed a mute man before in this passage.
You know what's added? The blind guy.
Now you got a triple miracle. The demon is cast out, the mute
can now speak, and the blind eyes can now see.
Jesus is performing His works over the satanic realm and
performing miracles of restoring sight and voice.
When He did that. Notice what happens in the next
verse. And all the multitudes were
amazed and they said, could this be the son of David?
You know, I thought this was interesting.
First of all, the son of David, the phrase son of David has
found in Isaiah and also in the book of Psalms is mentioned many
times, a very familiar phrase referring to the Messiah, the
son of David. So in our English translations,
as we read it, it looks like a really positive thing.
Here it actually reads like this, as you can see.
Could this be the son of David, like a ray of hope in a positive
way? But I thought it was interesting
that in the Greek it actually is mentioned or referred in a
little bit of a negative context like this.
In the original, it says this could not be the Messiah,
couldn't. In other words, they didn't
totally accept it, but there was a ray of hope that it might be
the multitudes, and this is huge.
Please get this because we're going to come back to this
later. The multitudes were on the brink
of making a decision of whether they're going to believe that
this Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of David, and therefore be a
follower of his. They're right on the cusp.
He just did something that was amazing.
He performed this triple miracle, right?
They said this could not be the Messiah, could it?
And yet, by the way, the evidence is powerful that Jesus
did. Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah
353035 and verse five that the blind eyes are going to see and
that the death, the death, their ears are going to be unstopped.
Notice what the Pharisees did. So that was the response of the
multitudes as they were amazed. Watch what the Pharisees do in
the very next verse. When the Pharisees heard that,
they said this fellow does not cast out demons except by
Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.
OK, see what they did right there?
They thought, wait a minute, this could be the son of David.
This could be the Messiah. The Pharisee says no.
He does this by the power of Beelzebub, the ruler of the
demons. Interesting.
In other words, they were attributing the miracles that
Jesus performed, which was by the work of the Holy Spirit.
They were attributing it to Beelzebub or the devil.
You know what they were doing. They just about called the Holy
Spirit the devil. They called the Holy Spirit the
devil. Why the word Beelzebub?
What does that mean? The word Beelzebub, according to
Ellicott, means this Lord of the Flies.
What the word actually means. The Jews scornfully corrupted
the name into a word called Beelzebub, meaning God of the
dunghill, filth, sewer, decay, etcetera.
Barnes says. The name thus altered by the
Jews by changing a single letter, was given to Satan to
express supreme contempt and aversion.
And this ludicrous charge is that Jesus is in the league with
Satan. That's what they did.
Can you imagine that telling Jesus what he did was in the
league of Satan? Can you imagine when he did so
by the power of the Holy Spirit, the wonderful power of the Holy
Spirit, which is also God, also God, the Holy Spirit, one of the
three in the Godhead, part of the original that exists all the
way back at the very beginning of creation and call the Holy
Spirit Beelzebub or the devil, that's what they did.
So that's pretty serious, doesn't it?
Notice what the Lord said though, because here's the Lord
being brilliant again. Here's the Lord being brilliant.
Like Don King used to say. Man, no wonder they called him
the Master. Here comes Jesus.
This is what they suggested. This is now the next passage.
But Jesus knew their thoughts, and he said to them, Every
Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and
every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
If Satan cast out Satan, he's divided against himself, How
then will his Kingdom stand? In other words, it's brilliant,
it's logical. And remember this, what is the
ultimate exhibition of Satan's power?
What is it? It is demon possession.
In the Bible, the ultimate exhibition of satanic power is
demon possession. OK, so why then would Satan cast
out his own demons? Brilliant what the Lord says.
Why would he cast out his own demons as one man said it this
way, if there is inconsistency in a Kingdom there will be
weakness. So obviously the Pharisees
charge is absurd. OK then verse 27 Jesus says this
and if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons
cast them out? Interesting phrase here.
Who are your sons that the King James says your children, who
are they? Sons in the new King James,
Children in the old King James is referring to the students or
disciples of the Pharisees. And those sons or children who
were followers of the Pharisees also claimed among the
Pharisees, they claimed to be exorcists themselves.
You know, the Bible never says whether they were or not.
Acts 19 infers that they believe that they could and whether God
used them. Some commentators say God used
them miraculously or some say God did not use them
miraculously. That's not the point.
What the point is, Jesus is getting down to their
inconsistency, and he's saying this.
If I cast out demons by the power of the devil, then so do
your children or your sons who call themselves exorcist.
They're doing the same thing. You can't have it both ways.
Wow, what a great point. And then he says this, Oh, by
the way, therefore they shall be your judges.
Because if I cast it out by the power of the devil, then so did
they. He was showing their
inconsistencies. OK.
Then Jesus says this in the next verse.
But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, that's the Holy
Spirit. Surely the Kingdom of God has
come upon you. OK, so he exposes here the false
accusation that the Pharisees had made, and he gives a very
logical explanation. And the logical explanation is
this. The miracle that he performed is
by the Spirit of God. That's the only explanation.
House divided against itself cannot stand.
Satan wouldn't cast out demons by the power of Satan.
He'd be against himself. So he says, But if I cast out
demons by the Spirit of God, then he says this, surely the
Kingdom of God has come upon you.
This is a very important phrase. OK, the Kingdom of God in this
passage infers and Jesus saying has already come upon them.
I know your mind's going hang with me.
If the Kingdom of God has already come upon them, then
this cannot be the church because the church wasn't
established until Jesus died on the cross, was buried, rose
again, spent 40 days with his disciples, ascended to His
Father in Acts chapter 1 and in Acts chapter 2, when the Holy
Spirit came, with the baptism of the Holy Spirit coming on the
day of Pentecost, the Kingdom came, Church established.
So this couldn't mean the church.
What does it mean when it says the Kingdom of God has come upon
you? What Jesus is simply saying here
is this. The overall power of God is
already on them, even in the personal ministry of Jesus.
The power of God, it's already started and he's going to get
specific as we go through. The power of God is already come
upon them even before the Kingdom or the church has been
established yet. This is during the personal
ministry of Jesus. This is happening in his
ministry. Fowler said it this way.
God is taking over from Satan, and Christ's miracles are
tangible evidence of this overthrow.
In other words, Satan is being bound even now all the way back
in Matthew chapter 12. Isn't that great?
Satan is already being bound. The power of God is already
coming upon them, even in the personal ministry of Jesus
Christ. OK, then he says this in verse
29. Or how can one enter a strong
man's house and plunder his goods unless the first binds the
strong man and then he will plunder his house.
Notice 2 phrases really quickly. The strong man's house.
How are you going to enter a strong man's house and plunder
his goods unless you first you got to bind the strong man?
Who's the strong man? Yeah.
You know, it's Satan. It's the devil.
Luke Chapter 11 gives the parable of this.
But in this passage, that's what this is talking about.
In this passage, the strong man is the devil.
In other words, you can't plunder the goods and the House
of a strong man until you abide the strong man.
Yeah, the strong man is Satan. Jesus is stronger.
Jesus is mightier. Jesus had the Holy Spirit
without measure. Jesus had the power of the
miraculous Holy Spirit. And when Jesus was casting out
demons, he was doing what He was entering into the realm of
Satan's world and he was working toward binding the strong man,
which is Satan, even in the ministry of Jesus.
Wow. You know the purpose of Jesus is
coming into the world was twofold #1 to save the world and
#2 according to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, it was to bind
Satan. Bind Satan.
Obviously, that is ultimately fulfilled in the resurrection,
however, when Jesus rose from the dead and Satan, by the way,
is bound now, Satan has no control over you that you do not
allow. Satan is a vanquished foe.
As one scholar said, he was whipped at the cross.
And if you have the blood of Jesus and you've been baptized
for the remission of your sins, a faithful child of God, do you
know what you have? You share in that victory over
the devil, and he does not have power over you that you do not
allow him to have. James 47.
Submit yourself therefore unto God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Yes, we triumph over the devil too.
Wow. OK, so the ultimate fulfillment
was at the resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus, though, was binding Satan.
Even now in Matthew chapter 12, then he says this, and this is a
great axiom and this is a great idea.
Here He who is not with me is against me.
Isn't that true? We use it today.
If you're not for me, you're against me.
Sometimes people in our life act like they're our friends, but
we're up against it and we're in a difficult situation.
Maybe there's a conflict between US and somebody else and we're
right and somebody says they're your friend with a chicken out
and they won't stand with you. You know what Jesus says?
You're not. If you're not for me, you're
against me. You don't stand with me, you're
against me. All right, That's from a
perspective of today, from a spiritual perspective.
Let's talk about that for just a moment.
Some people try to casually ride the fence when it comes to
spiritual matters too. I'm just going to ride the fence
from a spiritual perspective too.
I'm not going to really stand up for Jesus.
I'm just going to kind of ride the fence.
No, Jesus says if you're not for me, you're against me.
There may came a time in your life when you have an
opportunity to stand up for Jesus and speak the truth.
And you know what? You may get kicked in the teeth
for it. So what?
The Lord's proud of you. When you stand for what is
right, the Lord is proud of you. Now we do that.
We season our words with salt. We speak the truth and love.
We do all that stuff. But sometimes with our life, we
have to make a stand and we have to stand up for things that we
know are true and right. It's called standing up for the
Lord. I wonder sometimes when you look
back, I've had people say, man, if I was back there with Peter
and the and all the rest of the guys there, I would have, I
wouldn't have turned my back on him and forsook him and fled.
I stood right in there. Come on.
Yeah, you would have. Yeah, you'd have bailed too.
And sometimes we think, man, you know, here we go.
You got, you know, I'd stand in there.
I'd be like Peter. When Peter was in the garden,
garden of of Gethsemane, I'd have taken that sword and cut
off Malchus ear trying to cut his head off.
I'd have stood in for Jesus. But I think most of the time
we're like the way Peter was when that girl came up to him
and says, I know you were one of them.
Your speech betrays you, and he says cursing and swearing, I
know not the man. Sometimes we're ready for the
big stuff. We're not ready for the girl.
We're ready for the sword. We're not ready for the girl
standing up for Jesus. Jesus says if you're not for me,
you're against me. If you're not with me, you're
against me. There's no middle ground.
Then he makes this reference right here.
He who does not gather with me is scattered abroad.
Now he's going to refer to sheep.
I said this before. I said, remember when I said
what the multitude said? Could this be the son of David,
as our English translations render it?
Or this couldn't be the son of David, could it?
Either way, there was an inquiry.
Could this be the Messiah? You know what they were?
They were potential sheep. Why did Jesus come?
To take lost sheep and put him in the fold?
That's why Jesus came. He was trying to take sheep and
put him in the fold. And the Pharisees stood in the
way. And Jesus says if you're not for
me, you're against me. If you're not with me, you're
against me. And if you don't gather with me
the sheep, then you scatter them abroad.
And that's exactly what they were doing by what they said
when they said Jesus performed this miracle by the power of the
devil, not the Holy Spirit. OK, OK, that's the context.
That's the context. We got the point, call the Holy
Spirit the devil. They said Jesus was connected to
the devil by performing miracles by the power of the devil.
This is what Jesus says finally, and then he rolls into the next
passage. That's the context.
And then he gets into verse 31 and then he says, therefore I
say to you. In other words, he already
refuted the notion that he was in a league with Satan, and now
he goes on to pass judgment on the wicked men that made the
accusation of saying that you did this by the power of the
devil, attributing your works to the devil, and calling the Holy
Spirit the devil, which is the unpardonable sin.
OK, and now comes the condemnation.
He begins by saying this. Every sin and blasphemy will be
forgiven, men. All right here.
Jesus makes the distinction between sin and blasphemy.
Now I got a question. Isn't blasphemy a sin?
It absolutely is a sin. Why do you think Jesus made a
distinction between sin and blasphemy?
He said this. I'm going to say this to you.
Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, man.
I think the answer is very simple.
He's making a distinction here, or separation, because he's
going to make a strong distinction between this kind of
blasphemy here and the blasphemy that's never forgivable.
That's why he's doing it. What is sin with reference to in
this passage? What does sin represent?
Sin represents all immoral and ungodly thoughts and actions.
OK, All right. What's blasphemy?
Blasphemy represents conscious denunciation and rejection of
God. The Pharisees were guilty of
both. They had ungodly thoughts which
led to ungodly actions. OK, they also were guilty of
blasphemy. They had complete denunciation
and rejection of God because they rejected Jesus and they
rejected the miracle that He did to the power of the Holy Spirit.
They were guilty of blasphemy because they called the Holy
Spirit the devil. Oh, but there's so much more.
What is blasphemy? By definition, blasphemy is
irreverent speech or action against that which is holy.
It is making light of defaming or mocking that which God deems
sacred. It's a serious matter.
Do you know in the Old Testament, in the Old Testament,
in the book of Leviticus, if you were guilty of blasphemy, it was
grounds for the death penalty. I'm glad I don't live under the
law of Moses. The other day, I'm sitting at a
restaurant and I was invited over to a table of some people,
and there was about 15 of them, I think.
And there were some Jewish people there.
And I was just minding my own business, just sitting over
there eating lunch. And this one Jewish fella turns
around. He's a Jewish believer in
Christ. And he turns around.
He says, hey, why don't you join us?
He has no idea who I am. OK, I joined them.
Got to talking about this, got to talking about aspects of the
old law, got to talking about things from the old law.
There's a whole bunch of Jewish people there that actually
believed in and wanted to continue in aspects of the old
law. Why would you want to do that?
And if we're justified by the law, this passage came up.
If you're justified by the law, the law of Moses, Paul said you
are have fallen from grace. I think it's wonderful that a
Jewish person now believes in Jesus.
But listen, turn loose of the old law.
Notice what happened under the old law according to blasphemy.
And I'm going to show you what Jesus said under the new law
when it comes to blasphemy. Old Testament, here we go.
Leviticus 2416. And whoever blasphemes the name
of the Lord shall surely be put to death.
Wow. All the congregation shall
surely stone him, the stranger, as well as him who was born in
the land. When he blasphemes the name of
the Lord, he shall be put to death.
Man, that's what happens. That's what happened under the
old law of Moses. When you blasphemy, you know
what Jesus said in the New Testament.
It's forgivable. There's mercy.
It's forgivable in the New Testament.
In fact, Paul was actually one who obtained mercy.
First Timothy chapter 1, verses 12 and 13.
I'm talking about general blasphemy here, OK?
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me because
he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I
was formerly a blasphemer, formerly a persecutor, and an
insolent man. But I obtained mercy because I
did it ignorantly, in unbelief. That's what Paul did under the
new law of Christ. Peter blasphemes Jesus Christ.
I already mentioned that cursing and swearing.
I know not the man. He was restored.
John assures up that assures us again.
Here's that great passage. If we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness so we can be forgiven absolutely be forgiven
of every sin and every blasphemy.
However, then Jesus says but the blasphemy against the Spirit
will not be forgiven. Men in the NIV Mark chapter 3
and verse 9 calls it the eternal sin Mark 329 but he who
blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness,
does the new King James, but is subject to condemnation, never
forgiven. And again, because Jesus made
such a finality here and such a harsh condemnation, it's caused
many people to believe in fear that maybe just maybe they've
committed that sin to. I remember as a little boy I
wondered that man, I can't make sure I don't do that one.
Got to make sure I don't slip up and do that one because if I do
that one, Jesus says I can't, I can't, I can't be forgiven.
It is eternal condemnation if I commit that sin.
All right, here's the question. Two things, What was Jesus
referring to? And #2 we go back to this.
Is it possible to commit this sin today?
When we understand any Bible passage, we understand the
context, and the context is this.
It's the Pharisees, and it's the accusation that Jesus, his
miraculous power was attributed to Satan.
If the Pharisees are successful in doing that, it would thwart
the gospel purpose, wouldn't it? If people started going around
saying when Jesus performed miracles, it would destroy the
work of the Kingdom, It would have destroyed all the things
that Jesus did, all the things that Jesus taught.
It would also have destroyed everything the apostles did, all
within the age of miracles when they performed miracles.
If they were accused of performing miracles by the power
of Satan, it would have ruined the gospel message.
Jesus had to cast down this terrible, terrible condemnation.
One man put it this way. Future generations, dependent on
the testimony of eyewitness accounts, would lack the firm
evidence that authenticates Jesus's ministry.
Remember the reason for miracles?
Why were there? Why was there miracles in the
New Testament #1 Authenticate the messenger, authenticate the
message #2 and prompt a response #3 When people understood that
the miracles came from God or in particular the Holy Spirit, it
caused people to believe and prompt the response.
If people would have thought that it came from the devil,
people would not have believed. And Jesus slams down this
condemnation on that sin exclusive to the age of
miracles. OK, since miracles are no longer
in existence today, then by conclusion, the sin the
Pharisees commit is not, as one scholar said, in the strictest
sense replicable. Jesus's words are aimed at a
specific set of circumstances at a specific time in his ministry.
Furthermore, let me just say this too, in all the New
Testament, I don't know of one other example where this sin was
committed, but I find other examples where there's all kinds
of sin committed, and sometimes it's the same sins repeated over
and over and over. Are they forgiven?
Yeah. Some people even blasphemed
Jesus. Some people even blasphemed God
by their actions and demeanor and behavior.
Is it forgivable? Jesus says all manner of sin and
blasphemy shall be forgiven except this blasphemy against
the Holy Spirit. So this is a sin that does not.
This is a sin that we cannot commit today.
All sins in the Bible are forgivable, as we said, by
repentance and confession to God.
Let me just say this too, I have to add this.
If every sin is forgivable to God by repentance and confession
to God, then please understand this.
Any sin you will not repent of and any sin you will not confess
to God will not be forgiven. That's the condition.
Then the flip side is you can't be forgiven with what you won't
make right in the eyes of God. OK, all falls into that category
except blasphemy. The Holy Spirit in this passage
in the age of miracles. Now some people do this though.
Maybe you're thinking this too? Some people make a modern day
application. I understand Preacher, I
understand that's the context of the passage.
But here's the modern day application of how we can apply
that sin today. And they say it's just simple,
100% rejection of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, anytime a person completely rejects the overtures
of the Holy Spirit, whether in the 1st century by way of
miracles or whether today through the Word of God, it is
never forgivable. That is the modern day
interpretation of trying to make a modern day application.
Here's my problem with that. Granted, if you reject the Holy
Spirit or the Holy Spirit through the Word, if you reject
the Word, OK, in that regard, yeah, you can't be forgiven.
But impossible, No. Remember, when you reject the
gospel, you're forgiven. As soon as you quit reject the
gospel, and you obey the gospel, everything's OK again, right?
A Christian then, therefore, that has already been baptized
and rejects the teachings of the Word of God, in their
unrepentant state, they're not forgiven.
That's true, absolutely. That's true.
They're rejecting the dictates of the Holy Spirit.
Yes, that's true, but it doesn't mean they can't be forgiven.
And I'm going to tell you this, I've known people.
I knew a lady one time from another state that was out for
20 or 30 years. I mean, turned her back on the
Lord for 30 years. Is it improbable that she would
come back? Maybe impossible.
No, she came back and you know what?
She lived faithfully and then died going to heaven.
How about that? Remember Jesus says when you do
what He said in that passage, you can never be forgiven.
Then Jesus concludes with this and verse 32, our last verse,
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. Again, the Lord's point is even
that even speaking a word against Jesus is forgivable.
But when you spurn the miraculous work of the Holy
Spirit in the age of miracles, OK, by attributing it it to the
devil, it is never forgivable. And in this, it's not going to
be forgiven in this age or in the age to come.
And I'm going to tell you what people say that this means
because the King James, the old King James says neither in this
world or in the world to come, they say this.
Here's the interpretation. I've read commentators that have
said this. The word world by the way does
mean age, its properly translated age.
And people say if you commit blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, it
is not forgivable in this life or in the life to come in
heaven. And that's how some interpret
that. I got a question, why in the
world would you ever need forgiveness in heaven?
Why would you ever need to be forgiven in heaven?
The word world is not a good translation of this word.
The word age is. Let me give you some.
Let me give you a scholar on this.
Let me give you what Zur says. The original word for world is
that word right there, however you pronounce it, and one
meaning of it is age. When Jesus spoke this passage,
the Jewish age was enforced and the Christian age was to come.
The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would not be forgiven
under either dispensation of time.
To say that the world or age comes means the life in heaven
would imply some sins will be forgiven at that time, which we
know is not true. All sin, whether pardonable or
not, will have to be have been forgiven before the Judgment Day
for any person to enter into that life at that time.
The status of every intelligent being will be as described in
Revelation 22 and verse 11. You know what that means?
The spiritual classification of every one of us is not going to
change after this life. So if I get forgiveness, it's
not going to be in the world to come.
It's going to be now. Or I guess what?
Or I don't get to go to the world to come.
I don't get to go to heaven. I got to be forgiven now.
Simply put, I'll just put it like this.
What this means is this So what he was saying is let me just
back up what he was saying is this sin is not forgivable in
the Jewish age which Jesus was living under currently then in
the age of miracles exclusive the age of miracles in the
Jewish age. And it's not going to be
forgivable in the Christian age during the time of miracles too,
when the apostles performed those miracles.
It's not going to be forgiven in either age.
In other words, it's not talking about after this life,
Revelation 22 and 11. He who is unjust, let him be
unjust still. He who is filthy, let him be
filthy still. He who is righteous, let him be
righteous still. But he who is holy, let him be
holy still. You know what that means right
here. The lost will have no hope and
the same will have No Fear. OK, blaspheming the Holy Spirit
in the context that Jesus says as an unpardonable sin is not
replicable or committable today because we do not live in the
age of miracles. Every other sin can be forgiven
with repentance and confession to God.
And before somebody becomes a Christian, they're all forgiven
when they're baptized for their mission of sins.
Contact the blood of Jesus. I'm finished.
I hope this makes sense. We never close a time that we
assemble, teach from the word of God without extending an
invitation. It's the greatest invitation in
all the world. I don't know how it is with
anyone that is here, but the steps of obedience are simple.
Romans 10/17 says you got to hear the word of God.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
You got to believe with all your heart.
Hebrews 11 and 6. Without faith it's impossible to
please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and
that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Then what do you got to do? He got to repent of your sins.
We've said that word many times today.
You got to repent. You got to change.
And by the way, when you confess your sins to God after you are
Christian, it's a matter of saying the same thing God says
about that sin. That is repentance and godly
sorrow with your confession. Confession, but it's all about
changing repentance. Truly these times of ignorance
God overlooked but now commands all men everywhere to repent.
Now what you got to be willing to say the greatest thing you
will ever say. Then Peter said if you believe
with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Upon taking these steps, you're a fit candidate to go to the
waters of baptism, the point of salvation, be baptized for the
remission of your sins. Mark 1616.
He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does
not believe will be condemned. Maybe you've taken these steps
of obedience. Actually, there's one more
passage I want to put on here. First, Peter 321 the like figure
we're in the even baptism death also now save us.
Not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of
a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. That's what puts you into
Christ. Maybe you've taken those steps
and maybe you've drifted away. What you all you got to do
Again, we talked about how you do that first, John 19 confess
our sins. He's faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
That is repentance and godly sorrow with your confession.
James 516 says confess your trespasses to one another and
pray for one another. It may be healed.
The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much
There be one here today that is either not a Christian or you
are a Christian and you've drifted away or there are things
in your life you need to correct.
You can do that today. You want to be the class, Come
forward.