What is the Unforgivable Sin?
In Christian parlance this is an act so grave that it is unpardonable.
Oh my... how frightening.
So what is it?
What is Blasphemy?
Blasphemy is disrespect towards something holy.
The Holy Spirit... is God.
The triune GOD.
GOD the Father.
JESUS... SON of GOD
HOLY SPIRIT... the power of GOD.
Which is the power of LOVE... magnified.
The power which created JESUS incarnate.
The power which raised JESUS from the dead.
The power which created the universe.
The power which lives within you...
If you have given your life to GOD.
Blaspheming the HOLY SPIRIT...
means...
insulting ...
showing contempt...
lack of reverence for GOD's power.
Deliberately.
Although it is a bit like climbing a mountain, parallel parking or having an affair... these things do not happen by accident.
And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
MATTHEW 12:31-32
Ouch.
JESUS was serious about this then.
Who was he talking to?
In context, he was talking to the Pharisees who had accused him of using the power of Satan to remove a demon from a man. As usual JESUS had the perfect response:
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.
But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
MATTHEW 12:25-29
But then the scary bit happened.
JESUS warned them.
Here it is again... with an extra warning:
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
MATTHEW 30-32
It means refusing to acknowledge the power of GOD.
It means undermining GOD's power.
It means ridiculing and rejecting GOD's power.
It means slandering GOD's power.
It means attributing GOD's power to demonic forces.
It means being an atheist.
Or worshipping other gods.
DELIBERATELY.
So you cannot blaspheme the HOLY SPIRIT accidentally.
If the Good News has not reached you...
then you cannot deliberately reject it.
Angrily.
Which is weird.
If someone said to you...
You will be condemned forever for not wearing orange shoes.
You would just ignore them.
But atheists get very angry when they are reminded that JESUS has warned them...
Witness the reaction to street preachers...
When the Police come to arrest Christians for reading Bible verses...
They should try reciting these verses instead of:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
JOHN 3:16
Which is probably the most famous verse in the Bible but lacks the killer force of eternal condemnation.
The reason GOD will not forgive is because it is undermining everything he is.
GOD let us torture, ridicule, blaspheme and crucify his Son.
GOD allowed us to inflict the most agonising death imaginable upon his Son.
What did JESUS say:
Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
LUKE 23:34
The Father and the Son both accepted this monstrous, sadistic, evil torture and were ready to forgive mankind.
For this and every other sin except...
Blaspheming the HOLY SPIRIT.
Rejecting GOD'S mercy and grace.
Rejecting GOD's LOVE.
Rejecting the omnipresent power of GOD.
REPENT.
Use current tense.
Blaspheming the HOLY SPIRIT means a deliberate refusal to acknowledge the HOLY SPIRIT.
If you change your heart, if you choose to accept GOD'S grace and forgiveness...
You are no longer blaspheming the HOLY SPIRIT.
Focus on GOD'S LOVE.
Seek an intimate relationship with GOD.
Genuinely repent and accept the guidance of the HOLY SPIRIT.
It is not that GOD refuses to forgive...
it is that we do not sincerely seek his forgiveness...
GOD longs for reconciliation:
Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to those who knock.
MATTHEW 7:7-8
GOD's mercy and forgiveness are accessible.
Desist from a persistent and unrepentant refusal to accept the divine source of GOD's power and grace, revealed through the HOLY SPIRIT.
Seek a genuine relationship with GOD.
LET US PRAY
HEAVENLY FATHER , YOU ARE MERCIFUL AND ALL LOVING. HELP THOSE WHO ARE UNCERTAIN TO TURN THEIR HEARTS TO YOU AND ACCEPT YOUR LOVE AND POWER IN THEIR LIVES. HELP THOSE WHO ARE STUBBORNLY TURNED AGAINST YOU, TO RECOGNISE THE PERIL THEY ARE IN AND TO TURN AND ACCEPT YOUR LOVE AND GRACE IN GENUINE REPENTANCE. IN JESUS MIGHTY NAME WE PRAY. AMEN