In
humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
James 1:21-22
They searched the Scriptures daily, to see whether these
things were so. Acts 17:11
Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you -
The Unpardonable Sin
Preface
In the marvelous book of the Spirit inspired Matthew in the 12th chapter, we are made to ponder these words, beginning with Vs. 22; --- "Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. [23] All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?" [24]But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons." [ 25]And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. [26] "If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?" [ 27] "If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. [28] "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." [ 29] "Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man" And then he will plunder his house.? [30] "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters." [ 31] "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven." [ 32] "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."
So when this Scripture comes up, many people from time to time deliberate and muse over the question; --- "Is there a sin or sins which are so utterly loathsome in God's sight that the person who dares to commit such a diabolically outrageous sin can never, never be forgiven?" --- And if there is such a thing as an "unpardonable sin", what is it?
First of all, blasphemy is a specific term and has a definite signification. None-the-less, many have given it a farfetched meaning which no New Testament writer would ever imagine. --- Now, having said that, I'm persuaded that a man can become so hardened in sin that he becomes unreachable by the gospel of our Lord, and yet not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. It is also true that those who have blasphemed the Holy Spirit have allowed themselves to become so hardened of heart that they are beyond reach concerning the word of God, so as to be saved. Nevertheless their blasphemy is only an evidence, or a indication of their ungodliness and depravity.
What we have before us here to consider is a somewhat complicated and sometimes confusing subject. The subject of the unpardonable sin we have reference to. Bearing in mind, the expression itself is nowhere to be found in the Scriptures, yet many folks keep running it through their mind, as to the explanation of it. Consequently, since certain statements in Divine inspiration have given grounds in the minds of good and honest people (and rightfully so) to want to know more about the meaning, we need to delve into a good study of the matter. --- Again, the question is; --- Does the Bible teach that it is entirely possible for one to be out of reach of God's mercy? Is there any sin or sins that are unpardonable or unforgiveable?
Now, lest I be misunderstood, the Bible clearly teaches that ample provision has been made for all men to receive forgiveness and salvation. The apostle Paul wrote in Tit. 2:11-13; --- "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, --- instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, --- looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus," --- The Savior Himself said in Mt. 11:28-30; --- "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. --- "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. --- "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." --- And just prior to His ascending back to the Father, Jesus instructed His apostles in Mk. 16:15-16; --- "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation, --- He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; (then He adds the warning), --- but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned." --- So it is God's fervent desire for all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:4)
But the question still remains; did not Christ say that there is a sin which cannot and will not be pardoned? --- If so, what is that sin? The Lord stated plainly that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall NOT be forgiven. --- So let's look at this statement in the context of Mt. 12:22f. --- Jesus had just carried out a triple miraculous cure. Demon possession, blindness and dumbness. The multitude of eye witnesses had in a tone of triumph expressed their faith in Jesus. (Vs. 23), --- "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?" --- The NKJV says;--- "Could this be the Son of David?" --- In addition, Christ's enemies could not and did not deny that a great miracle had been performed. But how could they eradicate the deep impression in the minds of the crowd? --- Angry and hardened by such a miracle, they said, --- "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons." (Vs. 24) --- In other words, they accused Jesus of performing miracles by the power and authority of Satan.
Then of course, Jesus shows the utter folly and silliness of their reasoning by saying in Vs. 25; --- "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. [26] "If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself;" --- This of course, the devil surely would not have done.
(Vs. 31-32) continues; --- "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven."--- "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come." --- Mark's account expresses it thusly in Mk. 3:29-30; --- "but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" (Why?) --- because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit ."
Now before we get down to the nitty-gritty of an explanation of just what constitutes the unpardonable sin, perhaps it might be expedient for us to come to an understanding of a few things that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit does NOT mean.
1. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not murder. May I call your attention to the fact that those who murdered Jesus were forgiven when they complied with the Spirit's terms of pardon. In that first gospel sermon on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, we find where the apostle Peter expressed the Spirit's terms to those Jews in Acts 2:36f; --- "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified."--- Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart (convicted), and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" --- Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." --- Then on down in Vs. 41, Luke tells us; --- " So then, those who had received (believed) his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls."
Consider the apostle Paul's (formerly known as Saul of Tarsus) own testimony in Acts 26:9-11; --- "So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. --- And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. --- And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities." --- However, Paul himself, having obeyed the Spirit's conditions of pardon, had everyone of his filthy sins washed away by the precious blood of the Lamb of God, in repentance and baptism; and would later say in his epistle to Timothy in 1 Tim. 1:12-13; --- "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, --- even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy (why so?) because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;" --- So we can confidently conclude that murder does not in and of itself constitute the unpardonable sin.
2. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit contrary to popular opinion is not self murder, or suicide. Many people think this is what Jesus had in mind. They think since murder is wrong and sinful and that a person who dies by his own hand has no opportunity of repentance after the act, that individual must go into eternity with the culpability of this sin attributed to their soul. --- They fail to take into consideration first of all, that God knows whether or not this person was in his or her right mind when the act of suicide was committed. God alone must judge. --- But for arguments' sake, let's say he is accountable and therefore eternally lost in hell for this act; this does not confirm necessarily suicide is the unpardonable sin Jesus had in mind.
Now here's the point; although the Bible clearly teaches that any known sin un-repented of and un-forgiven at the time of death will keep a person out of heaven; once again, this is not the unpardonable sin our Lord has reference to. --- And not only that, we will be able to see that one can continue to live in this world after he has committed the unpardonable sin
3. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not "back sliding" or falling away from the faith. --- Some have mistakenly thought that only Christians can commit this sin, in as much as Christians are the only ones who possess the Spirit, thus come to the conclusion that the unpardonable sin is unfaithfulness. --- But please consider that Jesus was not talking to His disciples in the context, but rather to the wicked Pharisees.
4. And finally, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not postponing obedience to the gospel until death. --- Although obedience to the gospel is impossible after death, anyone who has not committed the unpardonable sin may obey and be saved prior to his demise. --- The person whom Christ had in mind however, is the one who after blaspheming the Holy Spirit has absolutely no hope of forgiveness. --- So we can readily see that the unpardonable sin is not mere lack of duty or obedience. --- The question remains; just exactly what did Jesus mean by blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
Lesson
The real sin of course lies in the condition of the heart of the person who speaks blasphemous words against God's Spirit. --- In similar form, men think of murder as a heinous act or sin; yet the Lord went behind the overt act and declared that murder originates in the heart. That's why the Spirit says through John the apostle in 1 Jn. 3:15; --- "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." --- Now again, we should be vigilant to point out; while blasphemy and hardness of heart are not one and the same; the blasphemy which Jesus had in mind came as a consequence of complete and utter hardness of heart.
So in Mt. 12:24, Jesus had reference to a particular class of blasphemy. Jesus issued a dire warning to the Pharisees because they said "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebub the ruler of the demons."--- These Pharisees, because their hearts were in such a state of willful, determined opposition to the teachings of God, were in immediate danger at best. Their hearts could become hopelessly hardened and absolutely impervious to Christ' teachings; fenced about with an impenetrable barrier of prejudice so as to become eternally lost.
2. Who was it that gave the gospel for man's salvation? The Holy Spirit did. --- Jesus promised the apostles He would send the Holy Spirit in order to guide them into all truth. The Spirit (through the apostles) was to testify of Christ and to declare God's conditions of pardon. Thus, we read in Acts two where the Spirit came to begin His mission on the Day of Pentecost. On that occasion, the Spirit offered full pardon to all those who had formerly rejected Christ; --- even those who murdered Him.
Prior to this time, however, John the baptizer (John the immerser) had been sent from Jehovah God in order to; --- "TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Lk. 1:17 --- But now, let's turn our attention to Lk. 7:29-30, where the Bible says; --- "When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God's justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John. --- But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God's purpose for themselves, (How?) not having been baptized by John."
Now, following the ministry of John, came the personal ministry of Christ, but as we well know, many also rejected Jesus and His teaching, even some of those same Pharisees. --- Then following the ministry of Christ, came the third person in the Godhead, the Holy Spirit Himself; working directly through inspired men.
Please note, that those who had lived during Christ?s short ministry could have sinned against Him and later have been saved under the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, and many were. --- But on the other side of the coin, if they rejected this final offer by blaspheming the Holy Spirit, there was absolutely no other way for them to be saved. They could never obtain forgiveness. So as Jesus would say, back in Mt. 12:32; --- "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come." --- That is, in the Christian age, nor eternity.
Sometime a simple illustration can best express a thought. Just suppose that a man is floating downstream in a small boat, and farther on down are some dangerous rapids which would surely destroy him and his boat if he were to get into them. ---Some distance farther on along the way there is this man identified as, Mr. "A". Mr. A observes this man heading for certain danger and shouts a warning; but the warning is refused, and the man continues on oblivious to what?s in store. --- A little later on, a second man by the name of Mr. "B" calls out. But likewise his warning and offer of assistance goes un-heeded. So, this foolish man drifts ever farther downstream completely unaware that the current has become much swifter. The man is so filled with pride that he is even offended by those who tried to help his pitiful condition. --- Finally, just before reaching the brink of the falls, a third man, Mr. "C" shouts for him to turn back before it is forever too late. Alas, this final offer is also spurned and the man plunges to his death. Such a sad and preventable tragedy.
Three offers for help were sent out and acceptance of any one of them would have saved this foolish man from his fate. The doomed man might well have rejected the warnings of both Mr. A or B, then heeded Mr. C's warning and could still be saved, but his snubbing of that final offer completely sealed his fate.
In like manner, the Spirit's message is heaven's final offer of God's forgiveness; so to reject this last offer is to reject forgiveness forever. ---Again, we ask the vital question; what is this sin against the Holy Spirit that is so vile that it cannot be forgiven? --- Simply put, it is the disposition of one's heart which leads one to blaspheme or slander the Holy Spirit. The individual who is so dreadfully wicked as to be guilty of this sin, is already beyond reach of redemption. He is unable to come to repentance, so therefore his pardon is an impossibility.
3. So with these three thoughts in mind, let's venture to go a step farther, and ask; --- Can people commit the unpardonable sin today? Or to put it another way; --- Is it possible for people today to sin to such an extent that they will become unpardonable? --- We recognize these are rather grim and depressing facts, but none the less they are facts we must face, if we value our souls.
The Holy Spirit speaks to you and I today through the written word of God, the Bible, and by no other means. Every person who rejects the truth of the gospel of Christ, resists the Holy Spirit. --- This is what Stephen had to say in Acts 7:51 to his persecutors; --- "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did."
Today when an alien sinner refuses to obey the gospel, or when an erring child of God refuses to return from his wondering ways, he is resisting the Spirit of God by rejecting the Spirit's message to him. Man is a free moral agent, and as such he has the choice and ability to resist. Furthermore, every time a person refuses to obey the Lord, he hardens his heart more and more and obedience becomes more and more difficult, until finally, it he becomes incapable of obedience.
The Bible plainly teaches that one may so harden his heart as to become impervious to any possibility of obedience and salvation. --- Now, while immunity to God's word and blaspheming the Holy Spirit are not necessarily the same; the results are the same. No forgiveness. --- Jehovah God has always given people up who repeatedly spurn His offer of mercy. To those in Noah's day, God declared; --- "My Spirit shall not strive with men forever," Gen. 6:3 --- After the days of grace were over, God sent the flood upon those whose "every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Vs. 5)
Three times God instructed the Prophet Jeremiah not to even pray for certain individuals. Why? Because there was no hope for them. --- In Jer. 7:16-17, God told Jeremiah; --- "As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you. --- "Do you not see what they are doing---?" Vs. 20 continues; --- "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched." --- Again in Jer. 11:14; --- "Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their disaster." --- And finally over in Jer. 14:10-11; --- "Thus says the LORD to this people, "Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account." --- So the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for the welfare of this people."
You might say, "Why that's the Old Testament, therefore it does not apply today. "--- Dear friend, God's position toward sin and rebellion has never changed. --- The apostle Paul spoke of some whom God had given up on. For sake of space we won't cover all the text I would like to, but briefly in Rom. 1:24f; --- "Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them." Vs. 18 gives us the reason why, they had; --- "suppressed the truth in unrighteousness." --- The Lord God says in Isa. 45:5; --- "I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me, there is no God." And in Vs. 9; --- "Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker--."
In describing those who would fall away from the faith, Paul says in 1 Tim. 4:1-2; --- "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, --- by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron," --- Also in Eph. 4:18-19, Paul says some were; --- "being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; --- and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." In other words, they had become past feeling. What a terribly pathetic condition; seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. Callous, past feeling and beyond hope.
For a little more along these lines, please let me turn your attention to what the Hebrew writer had to say in Heb. 6:4-6; --- "For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, --- and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, --- and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame." --- This passage vividly describes a rather pathetic spiritual condition into which some Christians had gotten themselves into. It depicts the possibility and consequences of those who would abandon Christ; so much so that a return to Him becomes impossible. These people were in fact once in a covenant relationship with God and had enjoyed all the blessings as God's children.
Examine the context of this powerful passage with me:
1.They had become enlightened; that is, they had been taught and understood the truth concerning the Christian way of life. These people had become enlightened, unlike those unbelievers of the world what Paul referred to in 2Cor. 3-4; --- "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, --- in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
2.They had tasted the heavenly gift; meaning they had fully experienced the new life in Christ. Jesus told the Samaritan woman in Jn. 4:10; --- "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, "Give Me a drink," you would have ask Him, and He would have given you living water. "
3.They had been made partakers of the Holy Spirit; They had enjoyed the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which is promised to all who obey the Spirit?s terms of salvation through repentance and baptism into Christ. The great apostle Paul explained partaking of the Holy Spirit thusly, in Gal. 4:13-14; --- "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, --- who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory."
4.They had tasted the good word of God; meaning they had feasted on the spiritual food of the soul and have also tasted of the powers of the age to come. --- That is, they had witnessed miraculous demonstrations of the Holy Spirit for the revealing and confirming of all New Testament truth. Peter sheds a great deal of light in this matter, in 1 Pet. 2:2-3; --- "like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, --- if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord." --- And by faith, these Christians saw the eternal blessedness and joys of the world to come. Perhaps, even some of these under consideration had themselves performed miracles.
Can you just imagine how that after experiencing all these marvelous blessings, these Christians turned their back on it all. They fell away and repentance for them was totally impossible, having in their hearts crucified all over again the Son of God putting Him to open shame. They had committed the unpardonable sin. --- Understand this; it is not that God is unwilling to forgive, but some have gone so far and become so calloused that they cannot be brought to repentance. Thus, the impossible act is not God?s forgiveness, but rather the rebellious sinner?s inability to repent.
The point is, as long as repentance is possible, forgiveness is achievable. But is repentance always possible? No sir! For the Bible says; --- "and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance." Beloved, let us not for one minute deceive ourselves into trying to fool God. --- The apostle Peter had stern warnings for those who refused to cease from sin, comparing false teachers to the ungodly of the world, he says in 2 Pet. 2:4-17; --- "{4.}For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell (Greek word for hell here is tartaros (tartarus), the deepest abyss of Hades according to Strong's) and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; {5} and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; {6} and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; {7} and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men {8} (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds)," Vs. 9 says; --- "the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, {10} and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, {11} whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. {12} But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, {13} suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, {14} having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; 17 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved." I realize this particular passage is a bit long, but dared not omit any of it.
I now draw your attention to the inspired words of John in 1 Jn. 5:16-17; --- "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. --- All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death." --- John expressly says, that just as surely that there is certain sin or sins that do not lead to death, likewise, there is a sin leading to death (eternal separation from God), and advises Christians not to pray on behalf of those who commit such sin. --- Not to pray for him so far as pardon is concerned. For to ask God to forgive such a one, is to ask God to forgive an impenitent and rebellious sinner.
When a person (Christian or not) cannot repent because he has a seared conscience and has become calloused to the gospel; (by the way, this is a disposition which can be perceived), there is simply no need to pray for his forgiveness. Why not? --- Because a soul hardened like steel by sin and the love for this world, is a soul that has sinned unto death; the unpardonable sin. --- This "unforgivable sin" is not so much any particular act or sin such as, lying, stealing, murder or drunkenness, but rather a condition of heart, or attitude. It's a state of bitter denunciation or rejection of the Holy Spirit. One who says; "Let go of me, I don't care!"
I heard this so called preacher who once said; "Thank God, that no one is ever too far gone, or too far hardened in his sin God will not forgive him and take him back". Beloved, all these Scriptures are utter nonsense if this is true. --- But then on the other hand, I suppose we could safely say, that no man ever goes too far away from God, no man ever lives so long in sin, but that if he will return to God with a contrite heart in humble repentance, God will receive him and will grant him abundant pardon. Oh yes, one can commit the eternal sin or else Jesus would not have warned against it.
5. Three categories of sinners: There are three categories of sinners mentioned in the Bible. (a) Sinners that are pardoned or forgiven. (b) Sinners that are pardonable but unforgiven. And (c.) Sinners that are unpardonable. We might just mention here that ALL sins are unpardonable so long as one refuses to repent.
So once again we pose the question; --- what exactly comprises the unpardonable sin? --- Basically it is the deliberate and final rejection of Christ and His Holy Spirit inspired word. And this would be applicable to a Christian or an alien sinner, one outside the body of Christ. We must come to the conclusion then, that one's complete and final rejection of the Holy Spirit's teaching spells eternal doom and damnation.
6. Again, I ask you to bear with me as we make another illustration. Suppose I were to set you in a chair and tie you up with a small string; why, you wouldn't have any trouble at all. You could simply break the string and get up and run away, wouldn't you? --- But now, suppose I wrap this string around you many, many times, round and round and round. Now we've got a horse of a different color, don't we?
The effect of sin are similar. Sin is a cord which binds one more and more each time he sins; until finally he becomes completely and hopelessly bound. --- The wise man Solomon put it this way in Prov. 5:20-22; --- "For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress And embrace the bosom of a foreigner? --- For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He watches all his paths. --- His own iniquities will capture the wicked, And he will be held with the cords of his sin." --- Likewise, it has been said; --- "Habit is a cable, we weave a thread of it every day until, alas, we cannot break it's bonds." --- The unpardonable sin is a cruel malignant state of heart and disposition if mind which renders a person unwilling, yea unable to do the Lord's will and be saved.
Now, let's just say that you might be worried and ask; --- "Have I committed the unpardonable sin?" --- Since final repudiation of the Spirit constitutes the unpardonable sin, it would seem logical to conclude that the one who demonstrates genuine concern over this question has NOT sinned unpardonably. His worry or fear is evidence that such is not the case. --- However, the one who is guilty of this sin; he?s not even interested in his soul's condition, let alone anything the Spirit has to say in regards to his deplorable circumstance. No penitent individual can be guilty of this sin and neither could he be so long as he maintains that desire to repent.
7. You see, the unpardonable sin is not committed suddenly, but rather as we notice in Bible terminology one reaches that condition in three different stages. The first step is the sin of grieving the Holy Spirit. Paul said in Eph. 4:30-32; --- "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." --- What grieves the Holy Spirit? --- "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor (screaming and yelling) and slander (maligning insults) be put away from you, along with all malice. (spitefulness and cruelty) --- What brightens and cheers up the Spirit? --- Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."
The second and more serious step is resisting the Holy Spirit, which is the stage where Stephen's tormentors were and even Saul (Paul) digressed to as we notice in Acts 7:51 where Stephen cries out; --- "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did." --- Later, in giving the account of his own conversion in his defense to King Agrippa, the inspired writer Luke says of Paul in Acts 26:14; --- "And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, `Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." --- That's another way of saying, "why are you resisting the Holy Spirit?" Saul had been like an unruly stubborn ox. That's what oxen do when they're goaded. And Saul was just adding to his own pain and misery while persecuting the Lord's church. But thanks be to Almighty God, the sinner Saul repented, obeyed the terms of the Holy Spirit and became the apostle Paul. --- For indeed, Saul was paving the way for the ultimate tragedy, that of quenching the Holy Spirit; which is the third and final stage.
Later on, Paul would be in a position to warn others as we read about in 1 Thess. 5:19-20; --- "Do not quench the Spirit; --- do not despise prophetic utterances." --- To quench the Spirit means to suppress, stifle, or snuff out; thus when the Holy spirit has been quenched, suppressed or snuffed out, the eternal sin has been committed, but not until then. So let us be warned; any step away from the Lord is most dangerous, is a step toward irrevocable and eternal separation from God. Every invitation rejected will only harden one's heart.
A short distance before the crest of Niagara falls there is an ominous and foreboding sign which reads; "Past Redemption Point". The boatman drifting down stream knows he must not drift beyond this sign, because beyond it the river begins its raging swirl over the precipice and he is totally helpless to turn back and sure death awaits him on the jagged rocks far below. --- Likewise, a similar condition prevails when a person commits the unpardonable sin, or when he or she spurns the Spirit's call to obedience until death.
Have you drifted past the point of no return? Have you ventured past Redemption Point? --- Since no one has a lease on life, or knows what tomorrow may bring, there is one way for you to make your salvation sure so that it will not become impossible. Isa. 55:6-7 says; --- "Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. --- Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon." --- And one final admonition from the apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 6:1-2; --- "we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain --- for He says, "AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU." Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME," behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION." --- Not tomorrow and not next week.
Humbly submitted,
Earl Wilburn
