The Sin of Blaspheming the Holy Spirit

Mark 3:22-30

The sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is one the Lord wants the world to be aware of.

It is in three of the four gospels.  Matthew 12, Mark 3, Luke 12

It’s alluded to in Hebrews 6

1 John 5:16 says “There is a sin that leads to; I do not say that one should pray for that.”

What Mark writes here is not an isolated idea. There’s a lot of confusion about this sin. I hope to correct any misunderstanding you may have and give you a Biblical definition of this sin.

1. This sin was committed by some of the religious leaders in Jesus’ day (22-27).

A. They purposely insulted Jesus.

“He is possessed by Beelzebul”

A false god of the Philistines originally called Baal-zebul (meaning “lord of life”).

The Hebrews changed -“baal-zebub”= “lord of flies”.

This was a mockery of the false god. The Hebrews were essentially saying that Beel-zebub was a pile of manure and his followers were like the flies that are attracted to it. The name eventually became to be symbolic of Satan. Now put that together and you can see what an insult this was to Christ.

Couple of things to consider:

1. They could not deny the miracles of Jesus. No one in history ever did. There were too many witnesses.

2. Their hatred of Jesus was so great they became unreasonable.

Even when Jesus rose from the dead, they paid off the guards to tell a lie- body was stolen (Matt. 28:13).

They can’t deny the miracles so they distort the truth.  

I don’t even think they believed this. Their heart is so hard they’ll do anything to discredit Jesus.

B. Jesus revealed the absurdity of their claim.

“How can Satan cast out Satan?” (23)

A kingdom divided against itself will fall- civil war (24)

A house divided against itself cannot stand – family (25)

If Satan fights against himself, he will destroy himself - Counterproductive for Satan to do this (26).

If you are going to go into another mans home and take what he has you have to be stronger than he is (27).

Jesus has come into Satan’s home and is setting those he has taken captive free. Therefore, Jesus must be stronger than Satan.

C. The actions of the religious leaders define blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (30).

They saw the work of the Holy Spirit and said it was the work of the devil.

God could not have made it more evident for them that Jesus is the Messiah. They willfully rejected the Spirit’s revelation and attributed it to Satan.

Some believe that this sin could only be committed when Jesus walked the earth. I don’t think that’s true. Later I will show you how this sin is committed today.

But for now let’s consider the gravity of what Jesus is saying about these men.

They are hopeless.

They will never be forgiven.

They have crossed the line, and they will not be coming back.

2. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is distinct from other sins (28-29). 

A. There is good news in this passage.

“All sins will be forgiven”

We should be surprised that we can be forgiven of any sin! God is full of grace!!

1 Cor. 6:9-10 says that the sexually immoral, idol worshipper, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, drunks are all forgiven!

Matthew 12:31 says:

All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven.

You can blaspheme the Father and be forgiven.

You can blaspheme the Son and be forgiven- Paul did this.

Illust. There are some folks we won’t talk to because we heard what they said about us.

God’s mercy is wide!

Murder is not unpardonable.

Suicide is not unpardonable.

Adultery is not unpardonable.

Homosexuality is not unpardonable.

B. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven (29).

It’s an eternal sin that leads to eternal damnation.

Never is a scary word. Why will this sin never be forgiven?

1. It’s not because of any insufficiency in the atonement. The blood of Christ is powerful enough to wash away any sin. 

2. It is because those who have committed this sin will never come to Christ for forgiveness.

3. It is because of the role of the Holy Spirit in our salvation.

The Father’s role- We are chosen by the Father

The Son’s role- We are purchased by the Son.

These are things that have already happened.

The Spirit’s role- He applies our salvation.

This is in the here and now.

You can reject the Father and the Son, and the Spirit will open your eyes to the truth. If you reject the Spirit salvation cannot be applied to you.

To reject the promptings of the Holy Spirit is to reject salvation.

The Holy Spirit was saying to the religious leaders:

Here is the Christ! Jesus is the One! He is the way, the truth, and the life!

They rejected the work of the Spirit.

C. It is easy to know if you have not committed this sin.

If you repent of any sins, you have not committed this sin.

If you are worried you have committed this sin, you have not.

If you love Christ, you have not committed this sin.

If you love the Word of God, you have not committed this sin.

If you are saved you have not and will never commit this sin.

Were these religious leaders bothered at all? Was there any remorse?

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is unique in that only people who have not committed it worry that they have.

3. It is a sin we should be warned about.

A. Jesus didn’t mention it merely to pass judgment.

What good did it do for those who had committed it?

I can think of one who should have been listening. His name is Judas.

He saw the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus.

He heard the wisdom of the Holy Spirit through Jesus’ teaching. 

For three years the Holy Spirit showed Judas who Jesus is. Judas lived in this state of indecisiveness.

Think of everything he must have known about Jesus. He still rejected Christ. I believe he committed blasphemy against the Spirit and that’s why he betrayed the Lord.

There is a difference in how a believer and an unbeliever sins. Think of Peter and Judas. They both left the Lord.

Judas planned to leave Peter leaving was a spur of the moment thing.

Judas was deliberate in his actions. He made a deal with the devil.

Peter made no deal. He just got scared.

Judas left Jesus because he thought Jesus was unworthy.

Peter would not return to Jesus because he thought himself unworthy.

Judas had remorse that led to suicide.

Peter had remorse that led to repentance.  

Blasphemy of the Spirit leads to a settled rejection of Christ and acceptance of sin.

B. It is a sin that some in this church could potentially commit.

Some of you think you are saved but are not.

Illust. I have known many who believed they were saved but were not. Normally they had an experience when they were young. Thankfully they recognized they were not born again and came to faith in Christ. I have baptized many like that through the years.

These people were in danger of committing this sin. Thank God they were saved.

C. Some of you know that you are not saved.

If you are not born again come to Christ. You come to church and see the works of the Spirit.

You hear the Word.

You see the worship.

You know the people. 

There are only two options for you: Be saved or grow hardened to the truth.

What else does the Lord need to do?

You might think “I’m not like the religious leaders. I’m not calling Jesus the devil.”

If you are not giving your life to Him, what are you calling Him? You are not calling Him Lord and that is who He is.

You live in a place of indecisiveness and it’s dangerous. It is the soil that blasphemy grows from.

Hebrews 6:4-6

 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Has the Holy Spirit shown you your sin?

Has the Holy Spirit pointed you to Jesus?

Has the Holy Spirit revealed the Word to you?

How have you responded?

Blasphemy is seldom immediate. It is normally a process. You reject the Spirit for so long you begin to resent Him. He no longer matters to you.

You no longer care.

You are no longer moved.

You no longer believe.

Because of this you will never come to Christ and therefore never be forgiven.

Mabry Hart illust.