The Unforgivable Sin

Good evening, everybody. If you would, turn to Matthew chapter 12. We're just gonna read two verses for our text tonight. Matthew chapter 12, verse 31. Wherefore, I say unto you, this is the Lord speaking, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

So my subject tonight is the unforgivable sin. And even in writing that out in my notes as I was exploring this, something feels wrong with that because Christ forgives sins for his people. But yet he makes it a point to say here that there is a sin that will not be forgiven. There is a sin that is greater than what he will forgive. Now, he tells us that all manner of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, even against him, even against his name. But he goes on to say, but to sin against the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, it's the same word, that will not be forgiven, not in this world, nor the world to come.

That had my attention. I have read this many times, and every time I read over it, there's a part of you, your stomach turns a little bit and says, I don't want to commit that sin. I don't want to commit a sin where I find it's not forgiven. So this had my attention. So tonight, I want us to look at just two things.

Who is God the Holy Spirit, and what is it to blaspheme against his name? Because that is exactly what the Lord says will not be forgiven. So if we look here, I'm gonna ask you to turn to a few scriptures just to start with, and then try to stay in the text. Who is God the Holy Spirit?

Turn with me over to Acts chapter five. And there's no way we can cover all of the aspects of who God the Holy Spirit is, but I'm gonna ask you to look at a few to help us understand better who he is. When Drew was praying here standing before us, he was asking for the Spirit to be here with us. He was asking for the Spirit to be where our pastor is and where all those who are Christ's people are meeting in his name. So there's something to asking for him to be present and power present when he is there.

So Acts chapter five, verse three, Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, it was not thine own, and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart, that thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God? But in verse three he tells us, you've lied unto the Holy Ghost.

So the Holy Ghost is God. The Holy Ghost is part of the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. He is God. He was present, and you don't even have to turn here because you're familiar with the passage, he was present during the creation. It tells us In Genesis 1 verse 2, and the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. He was present even during the creation. The presence of God, he is never not part of it. So we see he was present during the creation, and I'll just read this one to you in 2 Peter 121.

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is what inspired men to write the scriptures. This wasn't just a collection of thoughts by people who had heard things from God or had been around the Lord Jesus Christ. He moved their hearts. He moved them to write this because this is divinely inspired. So he was, he is God. He was there during the creation. He's inspired the writing of the scriptures. But I think the one area, I think at least I can speak for myself, that I think of him most is the passage in John three, where we consider what he does in the act of giving life. So if you will turn over there.

And in verse three, familiar passage, Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto 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? And Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you that you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, where it wants. and you hear the sound thereof, but you can't tell from where it comes or where it goes. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit." So you see, the Spirit, His office is that which gives life. And the Lord makes a particular point here to say, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God apart from being born again, being birth of the spirit.

Without his work, there is no life. So it is imperative if I am someone who wants to enter into the kingdom of God, I must be born again. I must have the spirit do this for me. And there may be someone who's thinking, well, what can I do to get spiritual life? That's the wrong question.

Because if you turn over to John one, he tells us. As many as received him, verse 12, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, this is that birth again, not of blood, not for who you were, nor of the will of flesh, not because you willed it and wanted it. nor of the will of man, but of God.

This lets us know the working of the Holy Spirit is not a birth that I can influence. It's not a choice that I can make. If the Holy Spirit gives you life, you live. And it's not something that you can do to influence. Consider this, as I was making my notes that I thought, You cannot birth yourself by will. It's pretty clear here what's being said. So it's not a choice.

Were you aware of your person before you were born? Because we all sit here now and can read this and say, I'm someone who wants spiritual life. I am aware of my person in my flesh, but were you aware of your person before you were born? Answer is obviously no. Did you decide to be born? No. Could you do anything to influence your birth?

The answer's no. Yet here you are. You sit here tonight. You are the work of someone else. It had absolutely nothing to do with you. When you first were born, were you aware that you were alive? When you were a baby and first born, we have some newborns here in the church. Are they aware that they're alive? No. Of course not, then why would we presume that it would be any different with the workings of God?

I didn't choose to believe, but yet I found myself believing. I can remember as a teenager, you know, how many years my, you know, parents would bring me to the church and I would listen and I knew, I knew the facts, I knew what I was supposed to know, I thought, at least, but yet, I really had no love for it. I understood it, but I didn't love it. And I remember finding myself leaving one day and saying, hmm, something was different. I agree with what he says more than just it was the factual truth. I like it. I love what he said.

And that was that. It wasn't a choice that I made. It wasn't something that I arrived through massive amounts of study. I found myself believing through no effort of my own. We must be given ears to ear. Otherwise, these are just words. That's what we prayed for tonight, is for the Holy Spirit to actually be here, bless the words that you were hearing, that it might inspire life. I'm not the best speaker in the world. Even if we heard from the best speaker in the world, it cannot produce life.

There is no amount of life apart from the work of God, the Holy Spirit. Without God, the Holy Spirit, you will not believe. And without God, the Holy Spirit, you cannot believe. In John 5, the Lord tells us, he said, you won't come to me that you might have life.

You see, you search the scriptures, but they are they which testify of me. And as soon as they knew who he was and they understood what he was saying, he said, and you won't come to me. So who is God the Holy Spirit? There are so many aspects to him, but I think if we confine our time to this portion in John chapter 16, this I believe is one of the best ways to look at another aspect of his workings. The Lord says in verse 7 of John 16, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter, this is who God the Holy Spirit is, will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you.

And when he is come, he will reprove, he will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my father and you see me no more. And of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. So, you see, there are three things here we're told, the actions, the results of the acts of God the Holy Spirit. First, he says it's a sin because they believe not on me. Stop right there. It is a sin to not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We are commanded to believe everything that he said. And to not do it, the Lord says, is a sin. That alone is enough for any of us to spend eternity in damnation. If you did nothing else but not believe, this is the power of belief. The Holy Spirit gives life to see, to hear, gives the heart to believe.

In giving life, Things that, how many times in your own experience you've read the scriptures? And sometimes it feels just like words. We don't see anything other than the words. You read it another time and the Lord shows you something. The Lord shows you Christ, a picture of Christ in the scriptures. That is the work of God the Holy Spirit in giving you the eyes to see. giving you the ears to hear in that you hear the gospel, you've heard it preached, you see others rejoicing, but I'm sitting here and saying, I didn't hear anything today. But there's other times you sit there and you know.

There is no more powerful feeling in this world for someone to know that they are saved. And it takes God the Holy Spirit to reveal that to you. There is no feeling greater that we can have in this world than to hear the preaching of the gospel and to know that I believe that, and I believe the Lord did what he said he was gonna do, and because of that, I can count this as a promise from me. The Holy Spirit gives life to see, to hear, to believe. It says we are born in sin. It's our nature to sin. A tiger eats meat, a cow eats grass.

Now you can influence them to do something that they're not trained to do, but if you just leave them alone, they'll go back to doing what their nature is. This is what religion is for most people. It's trying to make them to do something that what their nature would tell them to do differently. don't drink this, don't do that, don't say this, do this over here. It's trying to make you do something that you wouldn't do had someone not said it to you otherwise. This is trying to force someone to do something that is against their nature.

So the scripture tells us we're dead in sins. That's all you can do. And so everything I touch has sin because I touched it. It's what, the problem is me, it's not the things. God has given his son, his death, and his life. And we say those words, but there's so much behind it. The Lord Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, had to die. He had to be spit on, to be beat, to be denied, to be humiliated, to be nailed to a tree, to die, to bleed out for me. That's greater than what even I can consider. I'm not worth that, but yet he did. He lived the life I could never live.

We have not kept the law one commandment one time. He kept it in full at all times, in word, in thought, in deed. You see me from the outside, you don't know what's going on in here and up here. And so we put on well for everybody, but the things that we think, the things we say, God says he looks on the heart. That's how he judges. He doesn't judge the same way you and I look at one another. He can look on the heart. He sees the intents.

But the son of God gave his life, he died, he gave a pardon for all who believe in him. He has given his people an incorruptible inheritance, an inheritance that will never grow old, it will never grow tiresome, it will be the most interesting, wonderful thing that we can experience ever, and it will never get old. He did this all for people who were counted as enemies, not as friends. He could count us as friends, but in terms of our, outside of him, we were enemies to God. He gave his word.

God saw fit to inspire men to write the words of this book so that we can read it, that we might have the means to see his son and believe. His providence, God has brought through you through every event in your life. How many events have you been in and you wondered, I don't know if I'm gonna get through this. But yet his providence brought you here tonight to hear the gospel preached. So God's providence in preserving his people.

And yet I won't believe it. And yet I would esteem Christ as nothing. This is the crime. And this is the role of God the Holy Spirit in convincing the world of sin. He's saying, all these things God has done, yet you won't believe. That is the convincing of sin. He also, and this is the great sin of unbelief, so that is his role in that. His role is also that of convincing of righteousness.

Only the righteous can go to the Father. And the Lord also says, no man comes to the Father but by me. So what that tells me is that if I don't have his righteousness, I can't get there. convincing of the Holy Spirit shows us that His righteousness is the only righteousness there is, that we see that this is all God will accept, this is the only means by which I can come into His presence and be highly favored just as His Son, because I have the same righteousness as His Son. Therefore, we must conclude that only His righteousness, only the righteousness of Jesus Christ can come before the Father. And if I do not have it, I cannot come to God. Not my prayers, not even my person. I cannot come into his presence outside of his son.

He talks about in the first chapter of Isaiah of all the feasts and the new moons and the celebrations they were doing and supposedly on the behalf of trying to show God how faithful they were. He said, your feasts, your new moons, the things that you're celebrating, the things that you're sacrificing on my behalf, he said, they're a smoke in my nose. They're an offense. I will not accept them. So the only sacrifice that he accepts is that of his son.

And lastly, we're told of the Holy Spirit. He's convincing the world of judgment. It says, because the prince of this world is judged, Now, Satan knows more of God than any of us do. He has seen far more mysteries and things revealed that we can never know. So, what this tells us though, because he is the eternal enemy, it has nothing to do with knowledge. There are so many people that know more than me or you about the words in this book, but it's a closed book to them because it's something else.

This is not the power of God through the word. It's a history book. It's a guide book. It's a moral code. It's a lot of things, but it's not the word of God. So he hates God. Satan does. He knows this. And often, even when he was tempting the Lord, He was using scriptures to throw back at the Lord to tempt him, but he would twist them a little. And so do many in this world when they truly hear of him though, when they hear, and this is the judgment the Spirit makes upon the world when they hear of him that he's sovereign.

There's nothing you can do to influence him. There's nothing that you can do to control him or to make him do something because you want to. that he is omnipotent. That means he has all power to do anything. We don't understand that. There's no such thing in this world as omnipotence other than God. And so power always has limits, and that's a large part of what we see and do in our life. But God is omnipotent.

When we consider who the God of the Bible is, the Old Testament God, the one that the Hebrews would not even go up the mountain. They told Moses, we don't want to deal with him. You go deal with him because the thunderings, the lightnings, the trumpets that they would hear, the voice of God upon the mountain, they want nothing to do with him because what they realized, that God, we can't control him. We don't want anything to do with him.

And so, this is the God of the Bible. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. He said, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. It's the same God. The difference is we have an advocate. We have an intercessor between us so that we're not dealing with God on that level.

But this is the role, in some ways, of God the Holy Spirit is to expose the judgment against men. Outside of Christ, Proverbs 8, 36 says, all they that hate me, and the world hates Jesus Christ, all they that hate me love death. He says that you will die in your sins, and the Holy Spirit testifies against them. He is convincing them of the judgment against them. As I was preparing this, I realized also, judgment has two sides. It depends on what side of the law you're on. Judgment's one side, in this case, the world that does not know him, does not love him, is their condemnation.

But those who are his people, judgment says, you're not guilty. Judgment says, all is pardoned. Judgment says, you do not have to fulfill the law. The law's already been fulfilled. If Christ died for your sin, there is no sin. There is nothing that can be held against you. It's Christ that died, Paul said. The significance of it's who died and what did he accomplish. You are free and you owe nothing.

And that is something I don't think we fully can ever really know till we're on the other side what that means, but that should be the best news that we ever heard. Is it everything I've done, everything that I don't even know that I've done, that is a sin against God in my own heart, I've been forgiven for because of the blood of Christ? It says that He has removed our iniquities from us as far as the East is from the West.

Now, there is no further description of how far something can be removed from you, because as far as the East goes, it never stops. As far as the West goes, it never stops. There is no end. It's infinite. That is how far our sins have been removed from us. Even the memory of sin. God says, I remember your sins and iniquities no more. but yet I hold on to them here while I'm in this life, even present right now. But the way God sees me is not that way. He has removed the veil of separation, and what that is is in the temple that was built, that was the veil that separated where only the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies.

I researched this a little bit, and at least Jewish scholars have described this veil It's 60 feet tall, so you figure whatever the height is of this room, it's at least three times taller than this room. It's 30 feet wide, so about two thirds as wide as this room. So, massive veil, four inches thick. It was made of many different things that made up the veil, different materials and skins. So they estimated that it took 300 people to be able to manipulate it as they were hanging it and moving it. This is huge.

This is not something that was not. meant to be a permanent fixture. But yet, when Christ died on the cross and he cried, it is finished, that veil tore from the top all the way to the bottom. It was not man making a way to God, it was God making his way to man. It ripped from the top all the way down. Because this is us being able to come to God the Father through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has removed the veil of separation.

There's no judgment on me. If you stepped into the Holy of Holies outside of that, you were dead. The judgment against you and people that even touched the Ark to try to do something good, to keep it from falling off a cart, killed him dead instantly. This judgment against us proclaims us to be worthy, just as worthy as his Son, that we can come into his presence.

He's removed the veil of separation. And then I'll just read you this passage in Colossians chapter one. He says, having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, now hath he reconciled.

He's brought back. in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight." And what that means, if he is presenting you as holy, that means you cannot sin. That is one attribute of holiness. Holiness means other, it's what we're not, and if all we are is dead in sins, holiness is the opposite of that. That means you cannot sin. If He makes you unblameable, you can bear no sin. There is no guilt to be warranted against you. There is no guilt. You're unblameable. You cannot be blamed for it because you didn't do it. And lastly, unreprovable, you never did it. There's nothing to correct your behavior for.

Let's just say that we wiped away your sins, we made you holy from this point on, we'd still be able to point back to what you did. But with the work of Jesus Christ, all that is wiped away. His history is my history. He never sinned, so I never sinned. Holy, unblameable, and unapprovable, and this is the best part about it, it's in his sight. Because every part of me, there's some doubt in my heart, because I live in a sinful body, but it doesn't matter what I think. What matters is it's in his sight. And if he says I'm clean, he says you're clean, you're clean. If he says you're holy, then you are holy. How can this be?

The passage in 2 Corinthians 5.21, where the Lord is said to be made sin, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. See, if He was made sin, He took what I am. He was made to be what I am, that we might be made the righteousness of God, that which we are not in Him. In being in Him, I can be seen just as He is before the Father. This is a judgment that I want to be convinced of. This is a judgment I want rendered to me.

So this is the role of the Holy Spirit, to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The Holy Spirit, just looking at quick words here, He's God, He was present during the creation, Holy Spirit inspired the scriptures. It says that he has empowered God's servants. The Holy Spirit is the giver of spiritual life. The Holy Spirit is described as a teacher, as a guide. As we've read, he's the comforter. The Holy Spirit produces godly fruit.

Whatever things that I work in my body in this life, it has nothing to do with me. Because Ephesians 1 tells us these works were foreordained. He foreordained it, so then how can I take credit for it if I do it? I'm not worried about it. He's the one that set it forth to be. But the Holy Spirit produces godly fruit in believers. It says He helps us to pray.

And I think this groaning and utterances of what are... I think about how feeble my prayers are. And, you know, there's times you might think you're more given to be able to pray, like I was really able to pray there. I really poured out my heart there more than maybe another time when I didn't feel the same way.

Our feelings don't matter in this. The Holy Spirit is interceding on our behalf. Because your prayers are weak, because my prayers are weak, intercedes on our behalf with the Father. Because the Lord knows what we need so much more than what we do. We think we do, and I think the older I get, the more I realize I don't know what's best for me. And the things that I would ask for, those things probably are gonna hurt me. And I don't see it at the time, but I'm thankful not only for the things that he does for me, but the things that he keeps from me. And I'm thankful that someone far wiser, holy, and true than me can speak to him on my behalf to tell him what I need.

So that lastly, the Holy Spirit seals the Lord's people unto the day of redemption. If He has done a good work in you, in giving you life, in giving you the Holy Spirit, it's described as a down payment, basically, in the first chapter of Ephesians. It's a down payment on what's going to come later. The Holy Spirit, your evidence of belief, your ability to believe, is the first step in Him giving us what's to come.

And so that's pretty amazing when you can see, and that's not even all of it, those are just some ones I wrote down about it. So this is who God the Holy Spirit is. What is it? to blaspheme his name, because that ultimately is this unpardonable sin. We've seen who he is. We've seen what he does and works in the Lord's people's life.

What is it to blaspheme his name? When you break that word down, it means to slander. So how would one slander God the Holy Spirit? When you break down the word slander, it breaks into two words. The first word is harmful. The second word is report. So it's to create a harmful report on God, the Holy Spirit.

It's to tell men and women, if you will accept his offer of forgiveness and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord, it's that message. the one that makes what Christ did an offer. It leaves it up to you to accept it or not. This robs God the Holy Spirit of his glory in giving spiritual life. If you are dead in sins, that means you cannot believe, you cannot come, you can't do anything. The Lord said, without me, you can do nothing. The Holy Spirit has to give life. It robs God of His glory in giving spiritual life. It negates the power of His work. If you're dead, how can you do these things? How can you believe? How can you love Him? How can you accept Him? You can't.

It's a denial of man being dead in sins. It makes man his own Savior, because had you not done it, you would not be saved. Religious people don't like when you talk this way because the reality is you are making yourself your own God. Because you are saving yourself. Had you not make a choice, had you not given something in your life to God to be able to have him come to you and give you all these great things that you want, that is salvation by works. To believe this message, or to preach this message is the unpardonable sin. To make it very clear, to believe that salvation is in some way dependent upon what you do, did, accepted, anything that you did or you would not have had it, this is the unpardonable sin because you are robbing God, the Holy Spirit, of His work, of His glory, of everything that sees man as dead in sins. What do the four nones in Scripture say? Paul gives us those in Romans chapter three.

He says, there is none righteous, no, not one. That means you can't come into God's presence. I can't come into God's presence because of who I am and what I've done. There is none that understandeth. This is a closed book apart from the work of God, the Holy Spirit, in revealing himself in the word. There is none that seeketh after God. You cannot seek God for who he is. Once you learn who he really is, not the God that is preached in here that you can influence to do all these things for you, once you learn who he really is, men hate God. Men hate the God they cannot control. There is none that seeketh after him, and there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

So what are you saying, is everything I do bad? Yes, that's what the scripture says. I'm not saying anything. If you don't feel that way, then you don't believe the scriptures. It's as simple as that. There's none righteous, none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God, and there's none that doeth good, no, not one. And in light of this, to say that I choose or I accept anything, this is the blasphemed God. Because you're denying what the scripture says that you and I, as sons and daughters of Adam, are.

We rob God of His glory. his work in predestination. Why did he have to do that? Because if he had to look at what you or I did now in this life to choose to do anything for us, what would he find? Nothing. It robs God of his glory in redemption. He bought us back. We were on death row. We were destined to destruction. And apart from the work of Christ in living for us, dying for our sins, we're robbing Him of that work to say that we accepted it. He's the Savior, not you, not me. That's why we don't choose or accept anything.

And we rob the God, the Holy Spirit, in the giving of life to someone who is dead. No different than Lazarus could not get up out of that tomb apart from the Lord saying, Lazarus, come forth. We robbed God the Holy Spirit of this work. And if you will turn with me to the last scripture, Luke chapter 11, and we'll end there. And... We'll just read verse 13 for time's sake.

If you then, this is the Lord talking to the apostles, if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Now, in Matthew's account, he says, how much more will God give good things to them than ask him? Luke takes it a step further and tells us what he's actually talking about. The good thing is God the Holy Spirit. Give, not buy, not earn, not merit, not influence, not bargain. You give a gift, and a gift is free. How then, if I'm someone Who wants this gift? How can I obtain it?

Well, it tells us right here. This is a prayer that will always be answered. We don't know. Every prayer is answered, but we are certain of the results of the request. Very few times does God show us exactly what asking for something gives us. And right here, he shows us a prayer that will be answered for certain this way.

How much more? Shall your Heavenly Father give, what? The gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of spiritual life to them that ask Him. Is anyone seeking Him? Ask. Is there any among us that needs faith? Ask. Is there any that doesn't know whether you have Him? Ask. Is there any who needs Christ to save them by His power through His name? Ask. Our Heavenly Father tells us, this right here, the surety of this promise is massive. Ask. Need faith to believe? Ask. He will give to those who ask Him. Now, may the Lord deliver all of us. from this great unpardonable sin, because this is scary to read, scary to center, scary to see, and the only way to respond to this is exactly what's written right here, to ask the Heavenly Father to give the great gift of His Holy Spirit that we might have life. I'll leave you there.

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The Unforgivable Sin

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