The Unpardonable Sin (Matthew 12:22-32)

We Find that Jesus had just healed a man who was possessed with the devil was blind and was mute. He is here demonstrating indisputable evidence of the fact that He was the Messiah. And faced with this indisputable evidence those Pharisee’s that have been rejecting His claim as the Messiah had to offer to the people some explanation for this miraculous work that He had done. Traditionally they had believed that the Messiah would cast out devil, cleanse lepers, and would cause the mute to speak, would open the eyes of the blind. So here is a man that was blind was mute He is now speaking he is now seeing and the people are saying surely this is the Messiah. And so the Pharisee’s were faced with giving to the people some kind of explanation for there continued rejection of Jesus. And thus they offered that He was doing these things through the power of Satan. That he was in league with Beelzebub. The prince of darkness. Jesus showed them the fallacy of such reasoning He said if Satan’s kingdom is divided against itself it will surely fall. He pointed out that He was doing these things through the Power of God which demonstrated to them that the kingdom of God had come to them.

But in facing the charges of the Pharisee’s that He was doing this in the power of Satan Jesus said, (verse 31)”Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and Blasphemy shall be forgiven unto man but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the son of man it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world and neither in the world to come.

Now Satan often likes to torment people with the thought that they have committed the unpardonable sin. Many times people come to us in deep distress. Their minds are tormented because they believe they have committed the unpardonable sin. I have many people who have told me that they have felt they have committed the unpardonable sin. I have never have yet met one who told me that, that I believed actually did commit the unpardonable sin. In fact, I like to say to you today if you are afraid that you have committed the unpardonable sin, if you are worried about that, You Haven’t! Had you committed the unpardonable sin you wouldn’t be worried about it. You have come to a place where you are beyond feeling for spiritual things. So, the very fact a person is worried about it is indicative that they haven’t yet committed that sin. They may be on the way, they may be close but they haven’t committed the sin because once that sin has been committed there is no interest, no thought, no heart for the things of God at all.

Jesus declares that when a person has committed this sin there is neither forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come. If there is a sin whose consequence is so great that there is no forgiveness now or later. If I as a minister of Jesus Christ, did not seek to show what that sin is to warn you against that sin I would surely be derelict in my responsibilities before my master and thus this morning I would like to show to you what I believe the scripture teaches concerning the unpardonable sin. And how you can avoid committing it.

God said to Jeremiah the prophet “Therefore pray not for this people, neither, lift up cry nor prayer for them, and neither, make intercession to me for them for I will not hear thee.”

God said don’t pray for them anymore Jeremiah don’t cry to me, don’t intercede because I won’t hear you.

God said to the prophet Hosea concerning Ephraim He said they are given over to their idols leave them alone.

In Romans chapter one it speaks of a group of people whom God has given up. How tragic it is when God says of a person leave them alone don’t pray for them anymore. I’ve given them up.

First of all I like to share with you what the unpardonable sin is not. Many times we read of some horrible atrocity, someone who has viciously sexually abused a child. Tortured that child. And as they give us the gruesome details our hearts and minds recoil and we say, ”That’s Unforgivable” not so. According to the scripture’s if that person would confess there sins and ask God’s forgiveness He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.

The unforgivable sin is not adultery. David the King called a man after God’s own heart was guilty of adultery and when he confessed to the prophet Nathan “I have sinned” The prophet said “And God has forgiven your sins”. It caused David to later write in Psalms 32 “Oh how happy is the man whose sins are forgiven”.

The women who was taken in the very act of adultery and brought to Jesus in order that He might condemned her and allow them to stone her to death. When He had suddenly driven off the crowd that was condemning her He stood up and looked and said “Woman, where are your accusers?”

She said “well Lord, I guess I don’t have any.”

And He said “neither do I. Condemned thee go thy way and sin no more.”

So the unpardonable sin is not adultery. The unpardonable sin is not murder. David after he committed adultery with Bathsheba in trying to cover his sin only compounded it because he had her husband put to death. This is so true, sometimes in seeking to cover our sins only make things worse and we only compound the whole issue. The Bible says that he who seeks to cover his sin shall not prosper but whoever will confess his sin he will be forgiven. David tried to cover it with a murder. And yet the prophet said “God has forgiven your sin.”

Paul the apostle his hands were red with the blood of the saints of the early church. He was there voting for Stephens death. In fact, he was participating in the stoning of Stephen because he held the coats of those who were doing the actual stoning. And he watched Stephen, as he was the first martyr of the church. And yet, as Paul later wrote concerning his conversion He said, “This grace of God was manifested unto him who is less than the least of all of the saints because I persecuted the church of Christ.” But Paul was forgiven.

Looking at the scriptures in the first book of the Bible we get a hint of the unpardonable sin. During the days of Noah the wickedness of men was exceedingly great upon the earth. And God saw that the imagination of man’s heart was only evil continually. And God declared that He was going to destroy man from off the face of the earth. And God when He spoke to Noah said unto him “for my spirit will not always strive with man.”

There comes a time when God spirit will cease to strive with man with and individual when God say’s “that’s it. Pray no more for there good I will not hear you. Leave them alone I have given them up.” God spirit does strive with man and for that we are so thankful. And it may sort of needle you a bit that God’s spirit is striving with you. You may try to silence the voice of the spirit in your heart but believe me if God’s spirit is striving with you be thankful it means you haven’t yet gone to far. It is possible to go over the line to go so far that God’s spirit will no longer strive with you. God warned Noah of this “My Spirit will not always strive with man.”

In John 12:39 John speaking of the Pharisee’s said, “Therefore they could not believe” He did not say they would not believe He said they could not believe. What brought them to this place where believing in Jesus was now an impossibility. When Jesus first began His public ministry He came to synagogue in Nazareth they handed Him the scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah He opened it to the place where it was written (chapter 61) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. To heal the brokenhearted, to open the prison doors to those that are bound, to set the captive free, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” And then as Jesus closed the scroll He said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your eyes.” Having read the prophecy of the Messiah he then declared I’m Him. This day this scripture is fulfilled in your eyes. A very shocking statement, very radical statement. That immediately caused them to have to determine is this man speaking the truth or not. Is he the Messiah or not. And I imagine that it was quite a mental wrestling match that they were going through as they were weighing this radical statement. Arguments no doubt erupted Because some of them were saying “How can he be the Messiah we know who He is we know His parents His brothers are around here. After all doesn’t the scripture say the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem.” And so they ultimately rejected His claim to be the Messiah. But as the days went on He began to accomplish more of the works of the Messiah. He began to heal all manner of sicknesses. He was cleansing the lepers. He was opening the eyes of the blind. And every fresh miracle of Jesus brought to them fresh proof He was the Messiah which then necessitated a fresh rejection in their heart of His being the Messiah. The denial of the evidence because they had determined in their mind that He could not be the Messiah. Until finally on this day when they brought this man who was possessed of a devil, blind and mute and Jesus healed Him insomuch that he was able to see and able to speak now with this kind of indisputable evidence and the people once more saying surely this is the Messiah. They to confirm the position that they had taken because they could not believe were forced to somehow explain these miracles apart from God and they said He’s doing it through the powers of Satan. He’s in league with Beelzebub the prince of devils that’s what caused Jesus to warn them fellows your close.

There is a sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit attributing it to Satan. That manifest the fact that you have gone to far. You have committed the sin for which there is no forgiveness neither in this world nor the world to come.

You see this wasn’t just a spur of the moment kind of a explanation. This was over a period of time. It was something that progressed to this point where God finally said I’ve given them up Leave them alone.

When Jesus promised the Holy Spirit He said, “When the Holy Spirit has come He will testify of sin. Of sin, Jesus said, because they do not believe in me.” The rejection of the spirits witness to your heart that Jesus is the Messiah, that He died for your sins. Your rejection of that truth is the beginning or the starting of the path that will lead to the unpardonable sin. The continued rejection of Jesus as your Savior will ultimately bring you to the place where God’s Spirit will no longer strive with you. It is possible for you to reject Jesus for the final time. Where God will give one final call to your heart and when you have rejected that God will say pray no more for their good I will not hear you leave them alone I’ve given them up.

If you die rejecting Jesus Christ as Savior there is no forgiveness for your sins neither in this world nor the world to come. But as the book of Hebrews says only that certain fearful looking forward to fiery indignation of God’s wrath by which He will consume His adversaries. Of sin Jesus said because they don’t believe in me. Jesus said that God did not send Him into this world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. And He said he who believes in me is not condemned but if you don’t believe in me you are already condemned. And this is the condemnation that light has come into the world but you won’t come to the light. Of sin because they do not believe in me. This is the condemnation, you won’t come to the light.

You see, If it should be, God forbid, that one day you are standing before the great white throne judgement of God and the books are open that you might be judged out of the things that are written in the books. There is only one charge and one indictment that will be brought against you. You don’t have to worry about God revealing every little sin, every little lie, and every time you cheated someone and going through that long list of perversity. There is only one issue and that is your rejection of Jesus Christ and God’s provision for your sins through Him. Of sin because they don’t believe in me. This is the condemnation Light has come into the world but they won’t come to the light. Your refusal to come to Jesus Christ is the only issue you will have to face.

So if you want to prepare your defense you better start working on it. That’s the only issue you will have to worry about. And don’t try to give Him that baloney that you had too many intellectual difficulties. Because He will blow that one write out of the water. He said the reason you didn’t come to the light is because you loved darkness rather than light because your deeds are evil. It is not an intellectual problem that’s keeping you back from Jesus Christ. It’s a love for sin, it’s the evil heart that you have. Your desire to persist and continue in your evil perverse way. That’s what keeps you from coming to Jesus Christ.

From a physical standpoint there is a phenomena that is known as atrophy the Loss of the use of a muscle or an organ of your body as the result of nonuse. If there is a set of muscles in your body that you don’t use those muscles will begin the process which is called atrophy. If you will bind your arm to your side and just leave it bound tightly to your side over a long period of time, when you remove that rope or whatever it is that bound your arm. You will find that your arm will not move that muscle had all atrophied they have actually through nonuse become unuseful.

They say that if person stayed in total darkness where there was no light to excited the nerve cells of the eye . That if you stayed in a place of total darkness long enough you would become blind. That atrophy of the organ of the body not allowed to function in its God ordained fashion.

In the same token as God has created your heart to yield and surrender to Him that you might live in fellowship with God. If you refuse to allow that organ of your body to function in its God given capacity there will come a day when you can’t. the atrophy in the spiritual sense. Therefore they could not believe. They had hardened there hearts so long, so continually, that there was no turning back.

From a metaphysical standpoint every action or decision that you make creates a pattern of connections in your brain. A repeated action begins to make such a pattern that the functions are soon done almost in an reflex action or a conditioned response. You watch some ladies as they are knitting and they can just be sitting there talking to you and there hands are going a mile a minute as they are knitting. It’s just that the brain has been so conditioned and the grooves are so deep that their hands can just move responsively without them even having to think about it. They can be deeply engrossed in conversation with you and the whole while that little sock is coming together. And it is possible that the repeated actions create this kind of a groove in your brain.

Now the first time you were faced with the claims of Jesus Christ it was a heavy duty experience. You had to determine whether or not you wanted to surrender your life to Him. Whether or not you wanted to be forgiven of your sins. To begin to walk a life of purity and love, holiness. And when you finally came to a negative response and you said no! There was a certain connection of little neurons in your brain a pattern that was created. So that the next time you faced the decision concerning Jesus Christ it was easier to say no because you had already established a pattern. But every time you said no that pattern actually became even deeper. Until now when any one brings up the subject of Jesus Christ you find your whole body almost recoiling. You get angry, you get upset, Because you created such a response in your brain that your whole body recoils and the thought of Jesus Christ. You’re awfully close to the unpardonable sin. To that place where God has said I have given them up. Don’t pray anymore for there good.

Nine-tenths of the decisions to receive Jesus Christ as Savior are made while in the teen years. Nine-tenths of those that accept Christ accept Him when they are teenagers. The average length of life is seventy years. What does that mean? That means if you are twenty-five years old today you have rejected Jesus Christ up to this point there is only one chance in five thousand that you will ever be saved. It means if you are thirty-five years old and you have been rejecting Jesus Christ these thirty-five years there is only one chance in a hundred and twenty five thousand that you will ever be saved. And so it goes, until you are sixty-five years old and you have been rejecting Jesus Christ as your Savior, to be saved now is to defy the odds. It is a miracle of God’s Sovereign grace.

That is why the prophet said, “Call upon the Lord while He is near, seek Him while He might be found and again today if you hear His voice harden not your heart.”

It is so important for you if you have been rejecting Jesus Christ you’ve established that brain pattern,. You’ve been refusing to allow that organ of your body to function in it’s God ordained capacity your losing power. It’s so important that today you break that pattern and that you receive Jesus Christ. For you see another rejection only brings you that much closer to the point of no return to that place where you can not believe that place where God says, “I’ve given up, My spirit will no longer strive.”

There is a time we know not when a line we know not where but it marks the destiny of men twixt sorrow and despair. There is a line though by man unseen once it has been crossed even God Himself and all His love has sworn that all is lost. It is possible for you to say no once to often. To cross that line and once you do you will never again feel the tugging of the Spirit. You will never again feel that pang of conscience, You will never again be drawn toward Jesus Christ.

Today if you hear His voice harden not your heart. Lest you come to place that God declared in the scripture we read where God swore in His wrath “They shall never enter into my rest!”