THE UNPARDONABLE SIN

-{Matthew 12}

-So, on Wednesdays I am doing a different theme for each Wednesday of the month, and on the fourth Wednesday of the month we are looking at Difficult Bible Passages. And what I mean by difficult Bible passages are passages of Scripture that we might say have caused some confusion or even some controversy in their interpretation. These are passages that even biblical scholars might have some disagreements over what they fully mean or entail. Or we might say these are passages that are sometimes just hard to get.

-So, tonight I want to talk about the topic of the Unpardonable Sin or the Unforgivable Sin. The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) all record Jesus saying something to the effect that all sins are forgivable by God except this one. And this has caused some people no small amount of worry and anxiety as people are very concerned that they have committed this sin and God will not forgive them, even in Jesus Christ.

-So, let me just start out tonight saying that if your heart is burdened or you have any concern that you may have committed the unpardonable sin sometime in your past, please let your heart be at ease, because that is proof that you have not committed this sin. The fact that you are burdened and concerned demonstrates that you have not. Along with the fact that some scholars believe that no one can commit this sin right now because it was specific to the time of Jesus’ life and ministry. But we’ll discuss that a bit further in a bit.

-What is important is for us to study the context in which this statement is found in order for us to understand what Jesus said and why He said what He said. Matthew and Mark locate this saying within a very specific incident in Jesus’ life, while Luke has it in the midst of some teachings of Jesus. I want to look at the Matthew version of the story and find the context and discuss what this unforgivable sin might possibly could be.

Matthew 12:22–32 ESV

22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” 25 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

-{pray}

-There was a man who had a demon that made him blind and mute. Jesus cast out the demon which in turn healed the man from the infirmities so that he could see and speak. The general populace was amazed at what Jesus did. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they believed, but it got them asking the question—could this actually be the Son of David (meaning, could this really be the Messiah we’ve been waiting on).

-While the crowd was pondering this important question, the religious leaders of the day wouldn’t even consider the implications of what they saw. They didn’t think that there was any way that Jesus could be the Messiah, probably for several reasons. One, He wasn’t the conqueror they were expecting. And two, they didn’t want to give up the power and pleasure from their supposedly important positions.

-But neither could they deny that a supernatural occurence had happened. Everyone there witnessed that something supernatural occurred, so they couldn’t just deny it. The crowd saw it—they were eyewitnesses. But the religious leaders sure didn’t want to give any legitimacy to Jesus’ ministry, so they had to come up with some way to spin this thing in their favor.

-So, this is the spin that they put on it—the only reason Jesus was able to cast out the demon is because Jesus Himself has the power of the demonic at His disposal. Jesus was a secret agent of the devil, and the devil helped Him do this supernatural work. It says that they attributed it to the power of Beelzebul. Beelzebul was the name of a deity in Ekron, related to the name Baal. While the name meant prince of Baal, the Jews would often change the name to Beelzebub meaning lord of the flies, maybe a way of disparaging. But, whatever the name, eventually that title came to refer to Satan himself, possibly knowing that any other supposed god is merely a demon in disguise.

-That means that the religious leaders were attributing Jesus’ miracle to Satan. They were accusing Jesus of being an agent of Satan—it is by the power of Satan that Jesus was able to cast out demons. They didn’t necessarily say it out loud else the crowd turn against them, but they were making that accusation amongst themselves—whispering in the background, trying to justify themselves (the only reason Jesus is able to do this stuff is because he’s in league with the devil).

-It says that Jesus knew their thoughts, demonstrating that He is divine because nobody knows other people’s thoughts other than God. And so Jesus answers their accusation by questioning the logic behind it—it just doesn’t make sense that He would be using Satan’s power against Satan.

-It doesn’t make sense, first, because if Satan is working against himself he wouldn’t be able to accomplish what it is he wanted to accomplish. He’d be working against himself—why send out demons to possess someone and in turn cast those same demons out? It’d be like digging a hole to get somewhere, but whatever dirt you take out you put right back in again. You make no progress. If Satan cast out Satan, he’d be working against himself.

-Second, it makes no sense because the Pharisees had people in their own ranks that were supposed exorcists casting out demons. Jesus asked them by what power their own people cast out demons—was it by God or by Satan? Jesus was implying that if they accused Jesus of casting out demons by Satan’s power, they would have to accuse their own people of the same thing. But if their own people cast demons out by the power of God, then it would only make sense that Jesus was doing the same thing.

-A third point that Jesus makes is that the only way for someone to be able to cast a demon out is if they are connected to a power that is stronger than the demon they want to cast out. You can’t rob someone’s house who is stronger than you—you can’t cast out demons unless you have a power that’s stronger than them.

-And therein lies the crux of the problem—Jesus was casting out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit, and if anyone did not believe in that, they were against Jesus. And here is where the issue lies with the problem of the unforgivable sin. Jesus says that any sin can be forgiven. Any blasphemy can be forgiven—meaning any sort of speaking out against God can be forgiven. Even if it is sin or blasphemy against the Son can be forgiven. Think about this, maybe the most heinous sin and crime that ever occurred was crucifying Jesus—that might could be the biggest sin anyone could ever have done. But what did Jesus pray—FATHER FORGIVE THEM, THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY’RE DOING. So, someone could even find forgiveness if they crucified Jesus.

-But Jesus says that the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, speaking against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, not in this age or the age to come. Does that somehow put the Holy Spirit above the Father and the Son? No, it’s talking about what is going on in this particular context. The Pharisees were attributing to Satan what was the work of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is looking at the work of the Spirit in Jesus but attributing it to Satan—in essence accusing the Holy Spirit working in Jesus as being demonic and being so hard of heart that you will never change your mind about that.

-Thus, I would say that the unforgivable sin is not something that anyone in our day and age could do because we are not witness to Jesus’ work and ministry and cannot attribute the work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus to the work of Satan. As one author says, “They committed the unpardonable sin when they called the highest manifestation of holy labor by the most offensive [reproach/criticism]—the work of Beelzebul.” Another said, “In the face of indisputable evidence that in Jesus, God’s Spirit was establishing God’s kingdom and defeating Satan’s, they hardened their hearts to a point of no return.”

-But it is not merely a hard heart, but the hard heart that attributes to the Spirit in Christ as the work of Satan. Not merely a hard heart, because if you think about it the apostle Paul had a hard heart, and he himself admits in 1 Timothy that he as a blasphemer, and yet he found forgiveness. God can turn any hard heart to a heart that is moldable and teachable and open to belief. Hard hearts can be softened. So, it’s not about merely having a hard heart—even believers have hard hearts in some ways.

-Some might say that the unforgivable sin is unbelief, but that doesn’t really become unforgivable until you die and your eternity is set. Yes, it is sin, but it is a sin that can be overcome and forgiven by believing in the truths of Christ, the gospel. If you die in unbelief, yes you are unforgiven. But as long as you are alive it can be forgiven by believing in Jesus. Everyone is an unbeliever until they come to Jesus.

-The most heinous crimes on earth can be forgiven. Supposedly before he was killed in prison, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer became a believer. And you know what, if he really believed in Jesus even his crimes could be forgiven. But for the religious leaders who were so against Jesus that they said that He and the Holy Spirit were the agents of Satan, that could not be forgiven because at that point they were too far gone.

-So, I don’t want any genuine believer in Jesus Christ to fret over whether or not they committed the unpardonable sin—you couldn’t have. And your faith in Jesus now is proof of that. If you are in Jesus, you are forgiven, and nothing you do or say can change that.

-But this should also give pause to some people to consider whether they have believed in Jesus or not. While you still have breath you can believe that He died for you and rose again. While you are still on this earth you can find forgiveness, but once you are taken from this earth it is too late. So, don’t wait another day to believe in Jesus.