What if I commit the unforgivable sin?

Sometimes, asking questions terrifies us. Some people are afraid of looking like they don’t know what’s going on so they just sit there and “go with the flow.”

Others are afraid people will find out they aren’t as knowledgable or competent as they think others think they should be.

Still others are sometimes afraid of the answer - they are afraid of what the answer might mean to their lives.

But, I think that we are at our best as humans when we ask questions. Questions are the natural outflow of humility - a virtue that is at the heart of Christianity.

Proverbs 11:2 (NLT)

2 Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Questions are the gateway to growth. Would you like to grow closer with your partner, your spouse, or your friends? Ask questions. Would you like to become more competent and efficient at work? Ask questions. Would you like to grow more intimate with God? Ask questions.

One of my favourite quotes from the TV show Ted Lasso is when he’s playing darts against the former owner of the football team he’s coaching. Ted quotes Walt Whitman and says, “Be curious, not judgemental.” In our desire to protect ourselves and our interests, culturally, we have moved from curiosity to judgmentalism.

In this series, we are going to reclaim the wondrous power that comes with asking questions and ask some tough questions about parts of our faith.

Today, we ask, “What happens if I commit the unforgivable sin?”

In chapter 12 of Matthew, Jesus says,

Matthew 12:31 (NLT)

31 “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven.

Wait, what? There is a sin that God won’t forgive? Doesn’t that contradict every other passages about forgiveness and everything Christians believe about forgiveness?

Colossians 2:13 (NLT)

13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.

And look at what Jesus says a few chapters later in Matthew:

Matthew 18:21–22 (NLT)

21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” 22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!

The number 7 is often used to mean perfection or completeness. So 70 times 7 is a way for Jesus saying super complete forgiveness. Every time someone sins against us, we are to forgive them. When we put these two passages side by side, it seems to say that we have to forgive completely, but God doesn’t. That doesn’t seem right.

These are great questions for us to wrestle with. And the primary reason we must ask these questions is so that we can live by faith, and not by fear.

The idea of an unforgivable sin has filled many Christians with a deep sense of fear. They are afraid that they may have accidentally committed it and therefore God can’t forgive them and they won’t go to heaven when they die.

And while we are to fear God - in that we are to live in holy reverence for Him - God does not call us to live in fear.

1 John 4:16–18 (NLT)

16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

The Christian life means we can forsake our fear and boldly approach the throne of grace - we can live in the perfect love of God. So if we want to forsake our fears about being rejected by God because we committed this unforgivable sin, we had better understand what Jesus is talking about.

In the passage in Matthew 12, a man who was demon-possessed, blind and mute was brought to Jesus to be healed. And Jesus does it - which is amazing! But when the Pharisees, who hated Jesus and considered him a heretic, a blasphemer and a sinner heard about it, they rejected the source of Jesus’ authority and power.

Instead of seeing God working through Jesus to bring the kingdom of heaven, they said that Jesus got his power from Satan.

So Jesus goes off on them, dismantling their argument and stating that his power comes from the Spirit of God. And then Jesus talks about this unforgivable sin.

So what is it? The unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Okay. Got it? Glad we cleared it up. Have a great day and we’ll see you next week.

If you want to go a bit deeper, maybe we need to ask another question: What does Jesus mean when he talks about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?

Blasphemy of Holy Spirit is the willful, persistent and final rejection of Jesus.

It is willful - the person has been taught or shown the truth of who Jesus is. It’s not that they haven’t heard of him, it’s that they are choosing to reject him despite what they have been shown.

It is persistent - They don’t change their minds after a time - the person who commits this sin is one who never repents (which means to change our minds in a way that changes our actions)

It is final - They have rejected Jesus all the way to their death.

Pastor and author R. Kent Hughes defines the unforgivable sin like this

First, let us note what it is not. It is not cursing the Holy Spirit. It is not taking the Lord’s name in vain, though that is certainly a vile sin. It is not adultery or sexual perversion. It is not murder, even multiple murders, or genocide. Very simply it is is the ongoing, continual rejection of the witness of the Holy Spirit to the Divinity and Saviorhood of Christ. It is the perversion in the heart which chooses to call light darkness and darkness light. It is continuing rejection of the witness of the Holy Spirit, whether that witness be a quiet witness in the conscience, the rational witness of the Word, or even miracles and wonders. - R. Kent Hughes

It is the Holy Spirit who validates Jesus’ identity as both Messiah and God. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals God’s truth to us. It’s the Holy Spirit who gives life to our souls. It’s the Holy Spirit who empowers people to be living testimonies of God’s love. It is the Holy Spirit that seals us for the day of our redemption. To blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to reject the one he points us to - Jesus.

And remember who Jesus is directing this to: the Pharisees. The Pharisees had been mounting charges of blasphemy against Jesus for saying he was the Son of Man or the Son of God. But now Jesus shows that all of their charges are actually blasphemy themselves because they are refusing to recognize Jesus for who he is. Jesus is condemning those who condemn him.

So, do you need to be afraid of committing the unforgivable sin? Probably not. In fact, commentator Charles Cranfield says,

“It is a matter of great importance pastorally that we can say with absolute confidence to anyone who is overwhelmed by the fear that they have committed this sin, that the fact that they are so troubled is itself a sure proof that they have not committed it.” - Charles Cranfield

Let not your hearts be troubled, beloved. You can’t accidentally commit this sin. You have to permanently and willfully deny the calling of the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus.

So while Jesus was directing this teaching to the Pharisees who saw his miracles, which Jesus said came from the Holy Spirit, and still rejected him, what can we take from this teaching on the unforgivable sin?

1. It means we have the fullness of forgiveness

If the only sin that cannot be forgiven is the willful persistent and eternal rejection of Jesus, then all our other sins can be forgiven. We can have the fullness of forgiveness.

1 John 1:8–9 (NLT)

8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Sometimes people see themselves as unworthy of God’s forgiveness. “If God only knew what I have done, he wouldn’t forgive me.” Christians can easily fall into this trap as well. Because we still sin but we feel like we should know better and that guilt can make us feel like we’ve let God down too much for him to keep forgiving us.

But there are no limits on the grace of God towards those who repent. You can come back every day and receive the fullness of forgiveness and be reconciled to God because he is faithful to forgive us for everything we have done.

The second thing this teaching on the unforgivable sin means is that…

2. It means we can come to Christ with confidence

There are a lot of things you can learn in the boy scouts. You learn how to tie knots, how to camp and make fire, and basic first aid. You can also learn confidence as you earn those merit badges.

A man who was a noted neurosurgeon was walking in a park on his day off when he saw a boy on a bike smash headfirst into a tree. Realizing that the boy was seriously injured, the doctor told a bystander to call an ambulance. As he proceeded to administer first aid, a boy not much older than the injured one pushed his way through the crowd that had gathered and said to “I’d better take over now, sir. I’m a Boy Scout and I know first aid.”

While some people have a more natural confidence than others, we can all be confident in our prayers and in our worship because of what Jesus has done on the cross. Because all our sins are forgiven, because all our barriers between us and God are broken down, we can boldly claim the promises of God and worship him with a confidence fuelled by our faith.

The author of Hebrews says,

Hebrews 10:19–22 (NIV)

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

The third thing our teaching on the unforgivable sin teaches us is that

3. It means our evangelism is essential

21st century Canadian Christians don’t love the word evangelism. It invokes the idea of colonization, of manipulation and guilt. And I get that. But evangelism, at it’s core, is simply sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the world. And this work is essential because without Jesus, there is no hope, there is no salvation. If the unforgivable sin is the rejection of Jesus as Lord and Saviour, as testified by the Holy Spirit, then, as an expression of our love for God and for others, we need to share with them the good news so they can be saved. Amazingly, a major part of how the Holy Spirit draws someone to faith is us, loving our neighbours and telling them about what Jesus has done for us.

Paul the apostle says it like this:

Romans 10:13–17 (NLT)

13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? 15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” 16 But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

In 2006, an English climber by the name of David Sharp stopped to rest during a climb up Mount Everest. Before long, his body froze in place. Though Sharp was still alive, he sat unable to move as over 40 climbers passed him by—they believed he was the body of a man who died ten years earlier on the mountain. When some of the climbers heard Sharp quietly moaning, they raced to render him aid. Their assistance was, however, too late. Sharp soon died. What’s interesting is all the hikers who passed him by did so because they didn’t realize he needed help. It was only those who stopped to listen to his faint moaning that realized something was wrong.

Evangelism is our stopping and listening to the quiet cries in the people around us and then showing them how Jesus has come to meet their needs. In our lives, we must listen closely to those who are hurting around us. Often, people who are spiritually lost won’t come to us begging for the love of Christ. Instead, we must seek them out, actively looking for ways to share our faith.

Our evangelism is essential because people’s lives are on the line.

Conclusion

Janez Rus was a young shoemaker when he went into hiding at his sister's farmhouse in rural Slovenia in June, 1945. He hid for 32 years fearing punishment of from some of his pro-Nazi wartime activity. He said he used to cry when he heard happy voices outside, but he dared not show himself even at his mother's funeral. He was found years later after his sister bought a large supply of bread in the nearby village of Zalna. "If I had not been discovered, I would have remained in hiding. So I am happy that this happened," Rus told a reporter. Throughout those years he did nothing. He never left the house, and could only look down at the village in the valley.

Fear imprisons us while repentance and faith free us. For some people, their fears that God won’t forgive them have imprisoned them spiritually but God wants us to live in freedom. Paul the apostle said of God

Ephesians 1:7 (NLT)

7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

When we ask questions, we can find spiritual freedom and we can grow closer to God. For those who have asked, “What if I commit the unforgivable sin?” my hope is that you see that if you haven’t permanently rejected Jesus after learning all he has done, then you are good. The only sin God doesn’t forgive is a person’s final rejection of his Son. So, if you follow Jesus, you don’t need to live in fear of committing that sin, but instead can enjoy the freedom of full forgiveness that Jesus offers you through faith in him.

Pray.