Mt#30 Two Warnings Mt 12@31-37

Intro:

The last time we looked at Mat, we saw 2 kingdoms presented (kingdom of God and Satan) but only 1 choice can be chosen.

Today in this passage, we see 2 warnings from the Lord to the Pharisees to be careful with their words as they affect their salvation.

Matthew 12:31–37 KJV 1900

31 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. 32 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. 33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

31-37

Two separate issues are involved: one is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and the other is one’s words reveal one’s character and are accountable to God.

Regarding blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, you can see in v32 that it involves words spoken. And the passage that follows that is all about words spoken and the subsequent judgment.

Jesus’ warning to the Pharisees appears to be directed at those who may be born again like Nicodemus. So Jesus warning is to born again Pharisees not to do the same thing as their fellow Pharisees who are still in darkness.

I. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit

Matthew 12:31–32 KJV 1900

31 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. 32 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.

In the Law of Moses, whoever blasphemes the LORD shall be put to death.

Leviticus 24:16 KJV 1900

16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.

Now in v31 we hear Jesus say that all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven (except against the Holy Spirit which He will qualify next). We’ll just focus on this first statement now.

How does the first part of v31 harmonize with we just saw? is talking about physical death and not spiritual death. Hence it is more of a civil law.

The purpose of the civil law is to deter people from doing something.

If we understand Moses’ law this way, then there’ll be no contradiction with because in Jesus is apparently talking about spiritual death. You can see it more clearly in v32.

Matthew 12:31–32 KJV 1900

31 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. 32 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.

Look at the last part of v32, it says “neither in this world, neither in the world to come.”

Now we come to the difficult meaning of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. v32 says that you can blaspheme the Son of man and you can be forgiven but if you blasphemed the Holy Spirit you are eternally damned. Why?

First, the distinction between blaspheming the Son of Man and blaspheming the Holy Spirit does not mean that the Holy Spirit is more important than Jesus. I think we don’t have a problem with that.

So what’s the difference between the two? We’ve to look at Scriptures for some clues. There are 3 other passages that say that some sins can’t be forgiven: ; and . does not tell us the circumstances of the sin and thus not helpful at all. So we only have the 2 Heb passages.

Hebrews 6:4–6 KJV 1900

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

These Heb passages are very difficult because they make losing one’s salvation appear possible. I’ll not go into detail in these passages for the sake of time.

We just want to note that the sinners in refers to Christians who partook of the Holy Spirit. This passage is talking about re-crucifying Christ.

Hebrews 10:26–29 KJV 1900

26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot 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?

In , the sinners also refer to Christians “received the knowledge of the truth” or in v29c “Spirit of grace.” This passage is talking about Christians sinning against Christ and specifically His blood.

Apparently, the unforgivable sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is a blasphemy committed by Christians who are enlightened. Therefore blaspheming against the Son of Man would refer to a blasphemy committed by unregenerated people.

In other words, blasphemy by unregenerated people can be forgiven but blasphemy by enlightened Christians can’t be forgiven. Because a Christian would be rejecting God knowingly and willfully.

The Pharisees are people educated in the Scriptures and hence there is a high possibility that some were born again. Nicodemus was definitely born again after talking to Jesus. The born again Pharisees must not follow their unregenerated fellow Pharisees to blaspheme God. That would be a declaration that they are against God.

Or Jesus could be just warning the Pharisees not to go any further because they are on the verge of eternal hell.

From a theological perspective, no born again or true Christian will blaspheme God because he has a ongoing relationship with Christ.

II. Revelation and Judgment of One’s Words v33-37

A. One’s Words reveals One’s Character

Matthew 12:33–35 KJV 1900

33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

v33 is the principle behind v34-35. And the principle is that a tree is known by its fruit. In the context seen in v34, the fruit refers to the words that one speaks.

This may be the reason why many Christians don’t want to talk in group meetings. But talking is one good way to know your own heart. Sure, we may offend other people but that will humble us and make us examine our own hearts.

A quiet Christian may be very immature and doesn’t have the slightest clue that he is so. Since he didn’t offend anyone, he thinks everything is fine with him.

We need to encourage our people to interact more often so that they’ll grow by learning about their heart and learn from their mistakes.

v35 is another way of saying v34. Both say that one’s words reveals one’s character.

B. One’s Words will be Judged on the Final Day

Matthew 12:36–37 KJV 1900

36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

v36-37 is a warning that judgment will take place if there is no repentance even for an unbeliever.

So when an unbeliever blasphemes God, he will be judged on the Day of Judgment if he does not put his trust in Christ’s redemptive work.

But v36 appears to be more general than just blaspheming God. It says that every idle (or careless) word will be held accountable in the day of Judgment.

So the next question is how not to be careless with your words. says:

James 3:2 KJV 1900

2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

And tells us our words come from our hearts.

Matthew 12:34 KJV 1900

34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Matthew 12:35 KJV 1900

35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

So we need to grow in our sanctification as we’ll all one day give an account of our words before the Lord. If our hearts are not sanctified, neither will our mouths be.

Conclusion:

Our words are a good indicator of our spiritual life. At worst, it can be blasphemy against God.

But our standard to not avoiding blasphemy. Our standard is to build up the brethren in our church and even to win souls for the Lord.

To do this, we must grow in our faith.