Well, good morning to everyone.
If you would, open your Bibles with me to Matthew 12. Our lesson
will be taken from Matthew 12 this morning. And before we begin,
let's go to our Lord in prayer. Our Father, Lord, we bow in Your
presence this morning. We bow humbly. We bow reverently
with a heart of worship and thanksgiving. Thankful that we can bow. before
a throne of grace, that because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
do not have to come before a throne of justice, but we come before
a throne of grace, pleading the obedience of Christ as our only
righteousness, pleading His blood to cleanse us from all of our
sin, to pay for all of our sin, and how thankful we are that
we can come boldly and confidently knowing that we are accepted
in the Lord Jesus Christ because of who he is and what he has
accomplished for his people. And Father, we're thankful. We
thank you for such a full and free salvation in our Lord Jesus
Christ. We thank you that you've provided
every spiritual need in him. And Father, we're thankful. And
on top of that, how you've blessed us materially and In every way,
Father, we're thankful, knowing that everything we have has come
from thy hand. We're thankful. And Father, I
pray this morning that you would give us an hour of worship, that
you'd give us a spirit of worship, that you'd be with me in this
hour, that you would enable me to rightly divide the word of
truth and to declare the glory and riches of our Lord Jesus
Christ and the power of the Spirit. And Father, cause your gospel
to run well. to bring glory to your name and to reach the hearts
of your people, to reveal Christ, to comfort and strengthen the
hearts of your people. And Father, we pray a blessing
for those who are sick and hurting, those who are in deep waters. You know their need. You know
the need of your people before we ask, but Father, you've told
us to ask. You've told us to lay our cares
at thy feet and we bring them to thee. Pray that you'd comfort
the hearts of your people, that you'd heal, that you'd give them
a fulfillment of your promise that you would not leave nor
forsake your people. Oh, Father, bless us, we pray. Bless us as we look into your
word. Let us see more of the glory of Christ our Savior, that
we might trust him more fully. For it's in his precious name
we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, Matthew chapter
12. I've titled the lesson this morning,
The Unpardonable Sin. Our text begins in verse 30,
Matthew chapter 12. The Lord says, he that is not
with me is against me. And he that gathereth not with
me scattereth abroad. Wherefore I say unto you, 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 the 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. Now, people are scared
to death of what men have called the unpardonable sin. The Lord
says it shall not be forgiven them. I can understand why people
are scared of that, can't you? But it's good for us that we're
taught what God's word has to say about this subject of the
unpardonable sin. I don't want to know what different
men think about it and think, you know, what it could be, what
it could not be. I want us to be taught from God's word. what
God says this sin is. And I don't want to use this
subject this morning to scare you to death. I want to use this
subject to point you to Christ so you'll have comfort and confidence
for your soul by trusting Him. Now first, let me tell you what
the unpardonable sin is not. It might relieve some fear that's
in your heart by telling you what this unpardonable sin is
not. Now the Lord says, blasphemy against the Holy Ghost will not
be forgiven. Now people try to figure out
what does that mean? What is the Lord saying there?
What is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost? How is it that a
person could speak against the Holy Ghost? And they just try
to figure it out by taking what the Lord says right here and
try to figure out what He means. They say, some say, that the
sin against the Holy Ghost is saying that the Holy Ghost is
not necessary for salvation. That the new birth is not necessary
for salvation. but that the flesh could get
some light and life and believe on Christ without the gift of
the Holy Ghost. And they say, well, if you think
that, you don't think that you must be born again, God will
never forgive you. That's blaspheming the Holy Ghost.
Others say this unpardonable sin, blaspheming the Holy Ghost,
is speaking against the gifts of the Spirit that the apostles
had, some of the early church had. the gifts of speaking in
tongues and gifts of healing and so forth. And they say, now,
if you see those miracles, they're gifts of the Spirit, and you
still do not believe on Christ, then God will never forgive you
because that's blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Others say this unpardonable
sin is the willful, obstinate, continual refusal to believe
on Christ, even though the Holy Spirit keeps sending the gospel
to you. They say this unpardonable sin is to hear the gospel, to
hear it over and over and over again and still refuse to believe
on Christ. They say if you do that, you'll
be like Pharaoh. You'll harden your heart and then eventually
God will harden your heart and he will never forgive you. Then
others say this unpardonable sin is willingly sinning. You
know, you think about a sin, you want to commit the sin, you
know it's wrong, the Holy Ghost whispers in your ear, that's
wrong, don't do that. and you do it anyway. Well, they
say, God will never forgive you for that, for sinning, even though
that you know that it's wrong. Now, let me assure you, none
of those things are the unpardonable sin. What believer has not committed
all of those sins? We've committed every one of
them, haven't we? Saul of Tarsus committed all those sins, and
we know that the Lord saved him. Now, when you know a sin is wrong,
well, you know all sin is wrong. You don't need me to tell you
that. You know sin is wrong. What sin have you ever committed
then that was not willful, that was not intentional? They're
one of them. The people who crucified our Lord did it intentionally.
They spoke a word against him, didn't they? They lied about
him. They bore false witness against him and they cried, crucify
him, crucify him. They did that intentionally.
And the Savior prayed that their sin be forgiven. Aren't you thankful
that God forgives willful, intentional sin? We couldn't be, we couldn't
be saved if he didn't, could we? And what about this thing
of hearing the gospel and refusing to believe it? Well, you know,
few people hear the gospel the first time and immediately believe
it. Most often people get angry when they first hear the gospel
and they spend their time trying to prove the gospel wrong before
they finally, eventually submit to it and believe it. Many, many
people grow up hearing the gospel preached. They hear it for years
and years and years. And they still do not believe
and they don't believe on purpose. It's intentional that they do
not believe on it. And then eventually, finally,
the Lord performs a miracle. He gives them faith to believe
Christ. He forgives their sin. Aren't you thankful that the
Lord forgives the sin? of unbelief, even willful, long
lasting refusal to believe on Christ. Aren't you glad that
God forgives that sin of unbelief? Because we're all born in unbelief.
This unpardonable sin, it's not a sin of ignorance. You know,
you did something wrong and you didn't know that it was wrong
or you didn't believe on Christ because you didn't know who he
was. I like what Pastor Chris Cunningham has to say about this.
He said, God's not going to get you on a technicality. God's
not trying to do that. He's not trying to trip you up
and damn you because of a technicality. But those are the things that
people think this unpardonable sin is. You could have committed
this unpardonable sin not even knowing what it was. And that's
what you'll come up with if you try to figure out what God's
word means by your own thoughts and your own ideas and not comparing
scripture with Scripture. People take this as speaking
against the Holy Ghost just means saying, well, the gifts of the
Spirit aren't real and I don't need the Holy Spirit. When we
try to figure out what God's Word says and what God's Word
means by our own thoughts, we'll always be wrong. Always. Because
what did God say? He said, my thoughts are not
your thoughts. So whatever we think God's Word means, we'll
always be wrong. If you want to find out what
the unpardonable sin is, I told you what it's not. If you want
to know what the unpardonable sin is, we've got to see what
the rest of Scripture says. We've got to compare Scripture
with Scripture. We've got to compare what our
Lord says here with other places that this subject is talked about.
So here's the second thing. Here's what the unpardonable
sin is. It's claiming to believe Christ. It's claiming to believe
the gospel and then rejecting it for something else. The unpardonable
sin is the sin of apostasy. where you claim to believe the
gospel and then you leave it and say that it is not so. Now
let me show you that from scripture. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. The
only place we're going to get the right answer for this, what
is the unpardonable sin is by looking at scripture, comparing
scripture to scripture. Well, Hebrews chapter 10, the
writer talks about this sin of apostasy. Hebrews 10 verse 26. For if we sin willfully, after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for
of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries."
Now the previous verse, the writer tells us, don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together as the manner of some is. This sinning
willfully is rejecting the sacrifice of Christ. You know, the only
unpardonable sin is a sin for which there is no sacrifice.
So to sin willfully is the sin of apostasy. It's to claim that
Christ is your Savior. It's to claim to believe Christ
and then to willingly leave Christ as your only hope of righteousness,
as your only hope of salvation, as your only hope of eternal
life. Apostasy is to hear the gospel. It's to claim to believe
it and to stay with it for a pretty good while probably. and then
to willingly leave the gospel of Christ, to willingly leave
the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace to believe some
other message, to claim some other Savior, to go after what
the Apostle Paul called another Jesus. Now this is not to have
been deceived. It's to willingly reject the
gospel after claiming to believe it. That's what the writer here
is talking about. That's what sinning willfully is. And he
said, if you do that, after you've received, you claim to receive
the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for
sin. Apostasy is to turn your back
on God's grace and return to the law, return to the ceremonies,
return to all the religion of the fleshly activity and trying
to mix grace and works. Now hold your place here in Hebrews
10, we'll come right back to it. Look here at Romans chapter
11. This sin of apostasy is to turn
your back upon the sacrifice of Christ to say there's some
other way, there's some other way that we can be saved in addition
to Christ. Well, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sin because Christ is the only sacrifice for sin.
Then apostasy is to turn your back upon God's grace to do something
in man's fleshly activity or religion that's full of fleshly
activity, mixing grace and works. That's to leave God's grace because
salvation is either all grace or all works. There's no in between,
there's no mix. Look at Hebrews 11 verse six,
or I'm sorry, Romans 11. Romans 11 verse six. And if by
grace, then is it no more of works. Otherwise grace is no
more grace. But if it be of works, then is
it no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work. Now you know what the apostle's
saying there. It's either all of grace or all of works. That's
what he's saying. So if somebody leaves the gospel of Christ,
they leave the gospel of God's grace, well then they have no
hope of salvation left. Because they've rejected Christ
the Savior, he's the only way of salvation, so they'll be damned.
They've rejected God's grace, and the only way a sinner can
be saved is by grace. If you've rejected God's grace,
there's no more sacrifice for sin. Well, how is rejecting Christ
blaspheming the Holy Ghost. And the Savior said, you can
say things against the Son and you'll be forgiven, but you can't
blaspheme the Holy Ghost. Well, how is rejecting Christ,
rejecting His gospel, rejecting God's grace, how is that blaspheming
the Holy Ghost? Well, apostasy, turning away
from Christ, turning away from God's gospel, does what the writer
to the Hebrews calls despite to the work of the Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 10, turn back there in verse 29, Of how much sorer punishment,
suppose ye, should he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite
unto the Spirit of grace." Now to turn away from Christ, to
turn away to another sacrifice other than the blood of Christ
alone, the writer here says does despite to the Spirit, to the
Holy Spirit, to God's Spirit of grace. And that word despite
means to insult. The work of the Holy Spirit is
to reveal Christ to us. What to refuse to believe on
Christ then is to insult God, the Holy Spirit. It's to refuse
to believe the message of God, the Holy Spirit. And when we
refuse to believe it and turn to something else, that's insulting,
blaspheming the Holy Spirit. To say, I'm not saved by grace
alone, but I'm saved by grace, but grace that makes up for what
I can't do. You know, like I can contribute
something and then God's grace does the rest, you know, of what
I can't come up with. Well, that's to insult God the Holy Spirit.
God the Holy Spirit teaches us that salvation is in Christ alone.
Through grace alone, received by faith in Christ alone. And to say otherwise is to insult
God the Holy Spirit. To say that the evidence of the
Holy Spirit, it's signs and wonders and miracles. If those are the
things that you're looking for, do you know you're actually insulting
the Holy Spirit? A person who needs signs and
wonders and miracles, they're looking for something other than
Christ alone. And that person is insulting
the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit's message is that salvation
is in Christ alone. Christ plus nothing. To look
for something else, to add to Christ. That's insulting, blaspheming
the Holy Ghost. And if a person leaves the Gospel
for that fleshly activity that the flesh loves, that the flesh
thinks makes it more holy, more righteous, more religious, something
that God will be more likely to accept, that person is apostate. They've left the Gospel of God's
free grace and God's wrath will surely must come upon them. That's
what he says here in verse 30 of Hebrews 10. It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So God will
punish the person. He must punish the person. who turns away from Christ, who
claims to believe Christ, who claims to believe that his hope
of salvation is in Christ alone, but they turn away from Christ.
They turn to something else, Christ plus something else. God
must punish that person with a vengeance, with eternal damnation,
because if he didn't pour out his wrath against your sin on
Christ, your substitute, then he must pour it out on you. All
right, now look at the book of 2 Peter. Peter talks about this
matter of apostasy as well. 2 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter 2 verse 20. For if, after they have escaped
the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome,
The latter end is worse with them than the beginning, for
it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness
than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment
delivered unto them. But it has happened unto them
according to the true proverb, the dog has turned to his own
vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in
the mire. Now this is what Peter's saying.
You know exactly what he's saying when I read those verses to you.
Apostasy, is worse than ignorance. It's worse to hate the gospel
than it is to hate the law. It would be better for a person
to have never heard the gospel and claim to have believed it
than to have heard the gospel and turned away. It would have
been better that they'd never heard the gospel rather than
to hear the gospel, claim to believe it, claim to believe
Christ, and then turn away from Christ to the beggarly elements
of the world, to some man-made religion that depends upon the
flesh. Now why is that true? Why would it have been better
for a person to never heard the gospel than to hear it, claim
to believe it, and turn away from it? Because if a person
turns away from Christ and they reject Christ, there's no other
way that their sin could be put away. The only way sin could
be put away is by Christ. And if we've got to stand on
our own, we'll be damned. And the punishment will be worse
because we've sinned against greater light. Right now, look
at the book of 1 John. John talks about this sin of
apostasy as well. 1 John 5, verse 16. If any man see his brother, sin
is sin, which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give
him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto
death. I do not say that he shall pray
for it. Now this is talking about the
sin of apostasy. And I know this sounds hard to
some people, but the Lord says, do not pray for it. Now John
here is talking about a time when we see a brother sin. This
is, he's talking about a safe person, someone who knows Christ
and we see them sin. You're going to see that all
the time because the best of believers, the strongest of believers,
all they are is a sinner saved by God's grace. Still yet, everything
we do is sin. So we need forgiveness every
day, and we should pray. We should pray that we personally
be forgiven, and we should pray that our brethren, when we see
them sin, we should pray that they be forgiven. But John here
says when somebody commits this sin of apostasy, when they claim
to believe the gospel, and then they reject it. Then they go
back to their works religion. They go back to the law. When
they go back to wallowing in the mire of man's religion, they
go back to wallowing in the mire of man's righteousness, which
is nothing but filthy rags. When they go back to that, you
can't expect God to forgive their sin because they've rejected
the only means of forgiveness. You see that? The means of forgiveness
is in the sacrifice of Christ. It's not in our works of the
law. It's not in us trying to obey the law. The way God forgives
sin is in the sacrifice of Christ and only in the sacrifice of
Christ. Well, if we reject the only means
of forgiveness, we say, Christ alone is not enough. I need something
else. I need to add to it. Then we've rejected the blood
of Christ. We've rejected the only way of salvation and you
cannot expect God to forgive us. And the Apostle John says
here, we're not to pray for it. Now that sounds very harsh, doesn't
it? We're not to pray for it. I want you to listen to what
John Calvin said about this. He said, we are not rationally
to conclude that any professed believer has apostatized. Love
should make us believe the best. But if one has departed, if they
have departed, let's not just rationally say somebody's apostatized,
we're not going to pray for them. Let's assume the best. Let's
pray that they come back. But, John Calvin went on, if
one has departed, let us not contend against the justice of
God or seek to be more merciful than he is. Now let's not seek,
let's say, well, you know, I know God says not to pray for this.
I'm going to pray for it anyway. Let's not seek to be more merciful
than God is. Let's not argue against God's
justice. We're told not to, not to pray
for apostates. So we should be very, very careful
about saying that someone is an apostate. You know, the apostle
Paul did that. He listed me. like Alexander
the Coppersmith, Hymenaeus and Philetus. The Apostle Paul did
that. But I'm not the Apostle Paul,
and you're not either. We don't have that kind of insight
and wisdom that God gave that apostle, so we should be very,
very, very careful to call someone an apostate. Now look here at
verse 17, 1 John 5. All unrighteousness is sin. And
there is a sin not unto death. There is a sin that should be
forgiven. We know whosoever that is born of God sinneth not. But
he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one
toucheth him not. Now this is what John says here
in verse 18. We know that whosoever is born
of God sinneth not. Whosoever is born of God will
not commit this sin of apostasy. This is the one and only sin
a believer cannot commit. A believer cannot commit this
sin of apostasy for two reasons. Number one is this. A believer
cannot commit this sin of apostasy because the new nature that God,
the Holy Spirit gives in the new birth can't believe anyone
or anything else. The new nature that God, the
Holy Spirit gives in the new birth can't trust anything or
anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ. So that new man born
of God, if he's truly born of God, He'll never believe on anything
other than Christ. And number two, a believer cannot
commit this sin of apostasy because God will not let them. God will
not let his children leave him. He will not let his children
believe on anyone or anything other than Christ alone. You
know why God's not going to allow that to happen? Because Christ
did not die in vain. If Christ died for you, God will
not let you leave Christ and trust something else. He won't
let it happen. So when a person claims to believe the gospel
and then they leave it, then they say, well, no, that's not
true. There's another way of salvation.
There's a better way than salvation. They try to tell you there's
something better. There's something else other than Christ alone.
When they do that, all they've done is make it obvious They
never believed Christ in the first place. They went out from
us because they were not of us. They never were of us. They never
believed Christ in the first place. Anyone who truly believes
Christ with God-given faith can never leave Him, can never quit
believing on Him. Now look back here in our text
in Matthew chapter 12. So the unpardonable sin is apostasy. Salvation is either all by Christ
or not by Christ at all. It's one way or the other. You
either love Christ or you hate Christ. You either love the gospel
or you hate the gospel. And the Lord makes it clear here
in our text, there's no neutral ground where believing Him is
concerned. Verse 30, Matthew chapter 12,
He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not
with me scattereth abroad. See, there's no neutral ground
here. If you don't gather with Christ, you're scattering. If
you don't love Him, you hate Him. There's no neutral ground.
The writer to the Hebrews said in chapter 10, verse 29, that
to turn away from Christ is to trod underfoot the Son of God.
So this is serious business. This is a matter of apostasy,
of turning away from Christ, claiming to believe Him, but
then saying, I found something better than Christ. That's serious
business. That is to trod underfoot the
Son of God. It is to reveal you're not with
Him, but against Him. That you don't love Him, but
you hate Him. All right, that is the unpardonable sin, the
sin of apostasy. Now here's some good news, the
good news of the gospel, and I've said everything I've said
up to this point to get to right here. This is what I want us
to get today, is the third point. Sin is forgiven in Christ. Now when we read passages like
this and we come across this unpardonable sin, I know we begin
to worry and think, you know, have I done that? But when we
read passages like this, what should get our focus, what should
get our attention is Christ and forgiveness of sin in Him. If
we begin to focus on this unpardonable sin, you know what we'll do?
We'll start looking at ourselves. We'll start looking at other
people and we'll become judgmental only thinking about the flesh
and what we can see people do, when what we really need to be
focusing on is Christ and trusting Him. Because listen to me now,
the issue is not whether we have committed what men call the unpardonable
sin. That's not the issue. The issue
is, do you believe Christ? That's the issue. Anything else
you can think of, that's not the issue. The issue is, do you
believe Christ? Do you believe the Christ of
this book? That's the issue. The Savior
tells us all manner of sin, all manner of blasphemy shall be
forgiven. So there is hope for sinners,
isn't there? Because all sin, I don't care what you think it
is, how vile it is. I don't care whether it's intentional
or you think it's unintentional. I don't care how old it is or
how new it is. I don't care how secret it is
or how open it is. All sin is forgiven under the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from what? All sin. That's what scripture
says, all sin. Now that should make us want
to trust Christ, that my sin is forgiven in His blood. He
forgives all sin. There's no sin so great and so
heinous that the blood of Christ cannot wash it white as snow
and be forgiven in Him. All sin. is cleansed in the blood
of Christ. Completely, eternally cleansed
so that the stain of sin, the stench of sin is gone forever. Look at the book of 1 John. 1
John chapter 1. See, this is what we should be
focusing on. That all sin is forgiven, cleansed, sanctified
in the blood of Christ. 1 John 1 verse 9. If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, to be cleansed from all unrighteousness
in the blood of Christ, no matter how vile or how deep we think
the stain could be. God is both faithful and just
to forgive us of our sin because of the blood of Christ. The blood
of Christ pays for that sin. The blood of Christ cleanses
that sin. The blood of Christ blots that sin out. so that God
cannot see it. It is the blood of Christ that
makes it right for God to forgive our sin and to show mercy to
sinners. It's the blood of Christ. See,
that's where our focus should be. See why I'm saying that's
why our focus should be. God forgives all of the sin of all
of his people because of the sacrifice of Christ. The father
made his son sin for his people. All of the sin of all of God's
elect was transferred to Christ. It was charged to Christ. It
became His. And then the Father gave the
Son everything that sin deserved. He gave Him all the wrath, all
the fury, even the death that that sin deserves. That's how
God can be just to forgive the sins of His people. Because He
already punished Christ for it. Justice has already been satisfied
in the death of Christ. So God is just. He's right to
forgive the sin of His people. because it's been put away by
the sacrifice of His Son. And may God be pleased to give
us, you and me this morning, faith to believe Christ. Oh,
to win Christ and to be found in Him. May God be pleased to
keep us, not just from the evil one, but from our own evil, sinful
nature, and keep us believing, keep us trusting, keep us relying
upon Christ and Christ alone. And that's exactly what He'll
do. if Christ died for us. Now that's the way God saves
sinners. God saves sinners in Christ by Christ's obedience
to law, not your obedience to law. God saves sinners by the
sacrifice of Christ. And the sacrifice of Christ fully,
completely removes the sin of God's people. Completely. Why
would you ever want to leave that? That's the question. Why
would you ever want to trust anything other than Christ alone? Why would you ever want to leave
the full, free forgiveness of sin in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, you won't. You won't if you've truly seen
Him and believed on Him by God-given faith. And that's why I said
may God be pleased to give us that faith in Christ and to keep
us ever near His side. All right, I hope the Lord will
bless that to you. Until next time, I pray the Lord bless you
and keep