This morning I want to deal with a passage that I think is
one of the most difficult and troubling passages in all the
recorded teachings of Jesus. It's the passage in Matthew 12
where our Lord speaks of the unpardonable sin. Every time
we do a Q&A, someone will ask about the unpardonable sin.
What is it?; how do you know if someone has committed it?
Is it something that can be done unintentionally? and other
questions.
In a Q&A session, there's never enough time to cover the
subject in depth, so beginning today, I want to take three
sessions to look at what Jesus meant when He spoke in
Matthew 12 about the one sin that "will not be forgiven, either
in this age or in the age to come" (v. 32).
Back in December of 2006 a group of spiritual scoundrels
calling themselves "The Rational Response Squad" began
ridiculous campaign on the Internet to encourage people to
commit the unpardonable sin intentionally. This was a group
of angry, postmodern atheist zealots who despised the very
idea of God and decided to deliberately thumb their noses at
the idea of any blasphemy so base and so intentional that it
can never be forgiven. So they announced what they called
Matthew 12:31-32 2
"The Blasphemy Challenge." You may have seen their
campaign, because it went viral at the time, and it was
covered pretty thoroughly by the national media in early
2007. The atheist group promised a free DVD full of atheist
propaganda to anyone who took the challenge. Here's an
excerpt from the website they posted:
The Rational Response Squad is giving away 1001 DVDs
. . .
There's only one catch: We want your soul.
It's simple. You record a short message damning yourself
to Hell, you upload it to YouTube, and then the Rational
Response Squad will send you a free . . . DVD. It's that
easy.
INSTRUCTIONS:
You may damn yourself to Hell however you would like,
but somewhere in your video you must say this phrase: "I
deny the Holy Spirit."
Why? Because, according to Mark 3:29 in the Holy Bible,
"Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never
be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." Jesus will
forgive you for just about anything, but he won't forgive
you for denying the existence of the Holy Spirit. Ever.
This is a one-way road you're taking here.
Hundreds of people responded to that challenge, and for
awhile, Youtube was teeming with videos where people were
denying the Holy Spirit. They even managed persuade a few
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 3
celebrities to participate. Penn Gillette and Christopher
Hitchens made videos. But most of the people who posted
videos in response to this challenge were young people not
even yet out of their teens. Some were articulate and
purposeful, some were just doing what they perceived to be
the latest "cool" thingCselling their souls to atheism and
sacrilege and then sealing the deal with an oath against God.
In the "Frequently Asked Questions" section of the
"Rational Response Team's" website, this question is raised:
"Is it true that you are targeting young people with this
campaign?" Their answer: "Yes. As young people are the
most vulnerable to religious indoctrination, we feel it is
important to reach them with the concept of challenging
the doctrine they are told to unquestioningly believe."
Apparently they think manmade atheistic dogma is
inherently superior to divine revelation.
Anyway, hundreds of these blasphemy videos are still
there on YouTube, and it is heartbreaking to watch them.
Some of them feature faces that seem to reflect a kind of
innocent gullibility; others show an overt and deliberate
contempt for Christ and His lordship. Some reveal little
understanding of the Bible and its claims; others freely
testify that they grew up in and around the church and
profess to understand exactly what they are doing. Some
seem merely naive; others appear to be overtly evil.
Matthew 12:31-32 4
I've never seen a more appallingly ignorant campaign
carried out in the name of reason and knowledge.
Have these people actually committed an unpardonable
offense by making a verbal profession of denial towards the
Holy Spirit? More to the point, what, exactly, is the sin Jesus
called unpardonable, and how does a person know if he or
she is guilty of it? That's a question that frequently comes up
in evangelism or in counseling situations. From time to time
I even hear from long-time church members, professing
Christians, who are fearful that they might have committed
an unpardonable sin.
Matthew 12 is the chapter where this issue is dealt with
most thoroughly. Turn there with me. The two key verses
that specifically mention the unpardonable sin are Matthew
12:31-32. This is Jesus speakingCand let's acknowledge at
the outset that these are urgent and frightening words of
solemn caution. Jesus says:
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be
forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will
not be forgiven.
32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will
be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit
will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to
come.
Let me start by saying once more with emphasis: it is right to
take Jesus' warning seriously. There's a fearful finality in
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 5
those words: "whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man
will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will
not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come." If you
don't come to a passage like that with the utmost sobriety
and a trembling heart, then I frankly wonder whether you
understand what it means to believe the Word of God. This
was a warning designed to provoke holy fearCthe terror of
the LordCwhich Scripture says repeatedly is "the beginning
of wisdom."
Now this morning (and for our next two sessions
together), I want to look at this passage and its immediate
context. We'll also observe the passages in Mark and Luke
that parallel this one so that you can see precisely what was
going on here. It's important to hear what Jesus was saying in
its historical contextCso this may be a little longer
introduction than you're accustomed to from me. And then
we'll outline three characteristics of the unpardonable sin
which reveal it's true nature.
I think this study will be a comfort to true believers, and I
hope it will provoke holy fear in any unbelievers who might
be listening. But either way, when we're done, I believe
you'll have a better grasp of what the unpardonable sin is and
why Jesus spoke of it at this particular point in His ministry.
In order to see the immediate context, we need to back up
a bit to the beginning of this chapter, Matthew 12. The
unifying theme that ties Matthew 12 together is the malice of
Matthew 12:31-32 6
the Pharisees against Christ. The chapter records a series of
acrimonious conflicts between Jesus and the Pharisees. The
Pharisees purposely provoked each of these conflicts.
Matthew describes how they followed Him around, looking
for opportunities to accuse Him.
In the first incident Matthew describes here (vv. 1-8), they
criticized the disciples for plucking grain to eat on the
Sabbath. Verse 2, they say: "Look, your disciples are doing
what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath." But they were dead
wrong. The Old Testament prohibited work on the
SabbathCdoing business to earn a profit or engaging in
pastimes that distracted from the spiritual significance of
entering into the Lord's Sabbath rest. There was no
restriction against plucking heads of grain to eat. But the
Pharisees, in their zeal to seem super-spiritual in the eyes of
other people, had amplified and added to the Old Testament
law, so that they forbade activity of any kindCincluding the
casual gleaning of grain for a simple snack as you walked
through a field. They took the Sabbath, which was designed
to be a day of rest and delight for people, and they made it
into a drudgery of quasi-spiritual tedium thatCfar from being
restful and delightful, was wearisome to people.
Notice: in verse 7 Jesus rebukes them for "condemn[ing]
the guiltless." Jesus was saying these Pharisees were an
abomination in the eyes of God, because Proverbs 17:15
says, "He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 7
righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD." Jesus
never pulls any punches or softens his criticism of the
Pharisees. He isn't bound by the postmodern rule that says
you have to negate every criticism with an even more
positive statement about whoever you are criticizing. He
doesn't commend them for their zeal or congratulate them for
their desire to obey the law better than anyone else. He is just
bluntly honest with them. He tells them they are guilty of
condemning the innocent, which makes them abominable in
the judgment of God.
Then Jesus leaves that place (v. 9): "He went on from there
and entered their synagogue." Inside the synagogue was a
man who needed healing, with a withered, useless, probably
paralyzed-and-shriveled hand. Now these Pharisees had
already dogged Jesus' steps enough to know that whenever
Jesus encountered disabled people like this, he always healed
them. Look at verse 15: "many followed him, and he healed
them all." So since these Pharisees were already worked up
about His contempt for their extrabiblical Sabbath traditions,
they decided to make this guy with the withered hand a
public test case. Verse 10: "And they asked him, "Is it lawful to
heal on the Sabbath?"Cso that they might accuse him."
Jesus reveals the inhumanity of their rigid traditions by
pointing out that every one of them would pull a farm animal
out of a pit if it fell in on the Sabbath. Even their
traditionCrigid as it wasCpermitted that. So why not to good
Matthew 12:31-32 8
for hurting people, too, on the Sabbath? And when they had
no answer for that, He healed the guy right there. Verse 13:
"He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And the man
stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other." He
fearlessly made a public display of both His compassion for
the afflicted, and His contempt for the Pharisees' manmade
tradition. I love how Jesus didn't mollycoddle the Pharisees
or show them any false deference. He took every opportunity
to deflate their religious arrogance with simple applications
of the truth that exposed their error for everyone to see.
But notice the very next verse, because it is perhaps the
key verse in Matthew 12: (verse 14) "The Pharisees went out
and conspired against him, how to destroy him."
They decided not merely to ignore Him; reject him;
campaign against Him; or even simply discredit HimCbut
they were determined to "destroy him."
Notice: They have come to this point in the face of
insurmountable evidence that proved He was the promised
Messiah. They were expert students of the law, and they
knew full well that Jesus perfectly fit the Old Testament
description of the Deliverer who was to come and be both the
Messiah of Israel and Redeemer of the world. More than that,
Jesus had given them sufficient proof to establish His deity.
They hated Him anyway. In their assessment He had
come at the wrong time, under the wrong circumstances, and
now He was a threat to them rather than the kind of Deliverer
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 9
they wantedCsomeone who would increase their status. He
declared His opposition to them at every opportunity, calling
them (v. 34) "You brood of vipers!" evil men, (v. 39) "an evil
and adulterous generation," and telling them they were
condemned. They didn't like Him at all, mainly because He
rejected them as false teachers and thus undermined their
status in the eyes of people whose admiration they sought.
That was the one thing they were unwilling to relinquish,
even to the Messiah, the anointed One sent by God.
And so (v. 14), "the Pharisees went out and conspired
against him, how to destroy him." John 11 describes the
discussion that took place in that council, or another one just
like it. Put a marker here in Matthew 12 and turn to John 11
for just a moment. You need to see this, because it is a
window into the hearts of these Pharisees, revealing more
precisely what they were thinking. John 11:47:
47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the
Council and said, "What are we to do? For this man
performs many signs.
48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in
him, and the Romans will come and take away both our
place and our nation."
See: they didn't dispute the reality of the miracles He
performed. How could they? They had seen too many of His
signs and wonders up close to write it all off as fakery or
foolishness. He healed anyone and everyone, no matter how
Matthew 12:31-32 10
severe the affliction. He cast out every demon, no matter how
persistent. The Pharisees were not concerned because they
thought He was the wrong person claiming to be Messiah.
Precisely the opposite: He had the proper credentials, and if
not opposed, they said, "everyone will believe in him"Cand
that would jeopardize the little spiritual power-base these
Pharisees had built for themselves. They had a controlling
influence in the Sanhedrin, and that body was more or less
recognized by imperial decree under the Roman system as
the authoritative governors of the religious life of Israel. It
was a spiritual fiefdom which hung by a precarious thread
anyway, because of the political uncertainties created by
inevitable power struggles between Rome and the Herods
and the Pharisees' laws and traditions. But as long as they
could hold onto that little power base, they could feed their
egos and fill their purses through the exercise of their earthly
clout. Jesus was a significant threat to that status, and He
reminded them of that every time He opposed them publicly
like this.
In other words, they knew full well that He had a
legitimate claim as the Messiah of Israel, and perhaps they
were even beginning to understand that He was indeed God
incarnate (because that was the claim He himself made in
John 8). They had no cause for questioning His truthfulness;
they had no rational argument to suggest that He was false in
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 11
any way; and they had every reason to submit to His
Lordship. But they were determined to destroy Him anyway.
Mark 3:6 (describing this same event) even says "The
Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the
Herodians against him, how to destroy him." Now, the
Herodians were bitter political and spiritual rivals to the
Pharisees. They were Jews who had sold out their spiritual
heritage as pure Israelites to become political supporters of
Herod, the pagan ruler whose dynasty over Israel had been
established as a matter of political expediency by the Roman
emperor. The Herodians were a worldly political party, not a
religious group like the Pharisees. In fact, all faithful Jews
despised Herod's rule because his principles and his personal
character opposed everything the Word of God stands for.
(Remember that John the Baptist lost his head for pointing
out Herod's sin.) I suppose a kind of parallel situation today
would be if leading members of the evangelical intelligentsia
made a pact with a group of Episcopalians in the gay-rights
lobby to silence the preaching of the gospel in return for
some kind of political clout. This was an overtly wicked
thing to do, and in all likelihood, they did it as secretly as
possible. Back to Matthew 12.
Jesus nevertheless knew about this council they had
convened, because (v. 25) He "[knew] their thoughts." So He
withdrew (v. 15)Cnot because He feared them, but because
He still had ministry to do. He was not finished doing these
Matthew 12:31-32 12
amazing, miraculous works of healing and compassion that
were designed to confirm His Messianic credentials. Look at
the end of v. 15:
Many followed him, and he healed them all
16 and ordered them not to make him known.
17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet
Isaiah:
18 "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved
with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit
upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
19 He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear
his voice in the streets;
20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick
he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory;
21 and in his name the Gentiles will hope."
Matthew's point, again, is that Jesus perfectly fit everything
the Old Testament ever had to say about the Messiah. And
everyone knew it. The Pharisees, who had studied the Old
Testament more closely than anyone else, certainly knew
that.
But here the conflict reaches the boiling point, and the
Pharisees actually pass the point of no return in their
opposition to Christ. Verse 22:
Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute
was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man
spoke and saw.
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 13
23 And all the people were amazed, and said, "Can this be
the Son of David?"
24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "It is only
by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts
out demons."
This same incident is recorded by Mark 3:22 and Luke
11:14-15. It was one of Jesus' most important healings,
because the man who was healed was about as severely
afflicted by the misery of sin as it is possible for one person
to be without actually suffering in hell. He was
demon-possessed; he was blind; and he was mute. So he
suffered from demonic bondage as well as severe problems
that required physical healing. This was an extremely sad
case.
But Jesus healed himCinstantly, miraculously, and
publicly. No one could question this miracle. The demon was
gone, and (v. 22) "the man [both] spoke and saw." Matthew
says there were multitudes of witnesses, "And all the people
were amazed, and said, 'Can this be the Son of David?'" It was
dawning on all Israel who this amazing Man might be. And
that further exasperated the Pharisees. They became more
determined than ever to destroy HimCeven if it cost them
their own souls.
That's when they answered with the ultimate blasphemy
(v. 24): "It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this
man casts out demons." They had used this ploy at least once
Matthew 12:31-32 14
before, in Matthew 9:34, where "the Pharisees said, 'He casts
out demons by the prince of demons.'" That time, Jesus seems
to have ignored them, because the very next verse (Matthew
9:35) says, "And Jesus went throughout all the cities and
villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the
gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every
affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for
them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep
without a shepherd." And that's when he told the disciples to
pray for laborers for the harvest.
This time, however, (Matthew 12) he confronts the
Pharisees head on. First, He points out the absurdity of their
accusation. How can Satan cast out Satan, and why would
he? Verse 26: "if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against
himself. How then will his kingdom stand?" And in verse 27,
He asks, "If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your
sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges."
That was another public jab that humiliated them. There
were some exorcists among the Pharisees. Acts 19:13 speaks
of "itinerant Jewish exorcists," like the seven sons of Sceva
who professed to be able to cast out demons (and probably
had elaborate ceremonies, mostly based on sheer
superstition, just as we see in the exorcists of the Roman
Catholic church today). Mark 9:38-40 even describes some
exorcists who were not among the immediate followers of
Christ but who saw His power, believed in Him, and began
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 15
casting out demons in His name. Jesus told His disciples not
to forbid them.
So exorcism was not an uncommon practice in that era.
But no one ever dominated the demons the way Jesus did.
That's why people marveled at His power. Matthew 9:33:
"When the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And
the crowds marveled, saying, 'Never was anything like this seen
in Israel.'"
The Pharisees' exorcists no doubt had a pretty dismal
record of failure when it came to helping people in bondage
to demons. So Jesus was needling the Pharisees when He
said (Matthew 12:27), "if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by
whom do your sons cast them out?" I'll put my record of
success up against your record of failure, and let's permit
your own exorcists to judge which of us has the power of the
Holy Spirit.
Verse 28: "But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out
demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." If
you're wrong, you're in serious trouble. How serious? Well
(v. 29) no one can consistently cast out demons unless He is
more powerful than themCpowerful enough to bind Satan.
And who can do that but God alone?
There's the strong hint of Jesus' deity in verse 29. He is
not giving us instructions for demonic warfare or talking
about binding Satan with magical incantations, the way a lot
of people in the charismatic community today suppose. He
Matthew 12:31-32 16
was pointing to His power over demons as proof that He was
absolutely sovereign over them. Satan may be the strong one,
but Jesus was stronger still. And that magnified the
seriousness of the sin the Pharisees had just committed.
Now that's the end of my introduction. That brings us to
our text for the day. Notice a few things here: First, it's clear
that the sin Jesus was speaking about is the very sin these
Pharisees had just committed. He is formally announcing
that they had passed the point of no return with Him. Their
rejection of Him was final, and their doom was sealed.
Second, He is warning others against pursuing that same
path of deliberate rejection.
Third, the fact that three gospels record this warning for
us indicates that it's important, and it is as applicable to you
and me is it was to everyone in the crowd that day. Some
people teach that the unpardonable sin is one that could only
be committed in the physical presence of Jesus, and therefore
no one today needs to be concerned about it. I'm not so sure
about that. It's impossible to support that view from the text
itself.
On the other hand, both the tone and the context make
clear that Jesus was not warning us about a sin that's easy to
commit accidentally or in ignorance. He was describing a sin
that is uncommon and unlike any other.
And fourth: Some of the specific questions people the
unpardonable sin are not answered for us here or anywhere
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 17
else in Scripture. Some things in the Bible are deliberately
left in the realm of mystery. And regarding the unpardonable
sin, Jesus gives no more explanation than we have right here
(and in the cross references) about the nature of the
unpardonable sin. It's not a lot, but it is enough to put us on
guard and keep us watchful.
And what I want to do in the rest of our time this morning
is outline what the passage does tell us about the
unpardonable sin. I think you'll be surprised at how much is
made clear for us. I also think it will both comfort you
(especially if you are someone plagued with the fear that you
might have unwittingly committed this sin); and give you a
healthy, holy fear (especially if you are the type who thinks
this warning is nothing you should be concerned about).
Here are three vital characteristics of the unpardonable sin
that we can glean from the text:
Matthew 12:31-32 18
1. IT IS EXTRAORDINARY, NOT COMMON
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 19
Now, pay careful attention to the text here. Despite the
solemnity of the warning Jesus is about to issue, and with the
gravity of this particular offense in full view, He nevertheless
opens this statement with a vast promise of forgiveness:
"every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people." That part is
sweeping, comprehensive, and unqualified. "Every sin and
blasphemy"Cincluding all the sins that seem most scandalous
to our human senses: murder, fornication, and even
perversions such as homosexuality and al the evils that
currently plague our society. All of those things are
forgivable on the condition that the sinner repents and seeks
forgiveness. God's pardon can always be obtained by the
genuine confession of a repentant heart. "He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Jesus stresses that truth.
Notice: even blasphemyCa sin committed directly against
the Person of God and the holiness of His NameC"Every sin
and blasphemy will be forgiven." That's the starting point, and
it is a clear message of reassurance to the
publican-and-sinner types who followed Jesus. God's
mercies are inexhaustible. Lamentations 3:22-23: "His
mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning."
Micah 7:18-19: "Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and
passing over transgression . . . ? He does not retain his anger
forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have
compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will
Matthew 12:31-32 20
cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." As we are
reminded in 2 Corinthians 1:3, our God is "the Father of
mercies and God of all comfort."
Think of the gross sins we know were forgiven in
Scripture: David committed adultery and fomented a
conspiracy to murder a man who was both a friend and
faithful warrior under his command, and yet God forgave
him. Saul of Tarsus persecuted the church and approved the
murder of Christians, and yet he found not only forgiveness
but honor and influence as one of the leading voices in the
early church. In 1 Timothy 1:13, Paul said, "Formerly I was a
blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received
mercy." Peter denied the Lord with an oath after boasting that
he would never do such a thing. Christ implicitly promised
Peter forgiveness before he even committed the sin.
And wasn't the worst act of sin that was ever committed
the murder of Jesus on the cross? But Jesus expressly prayed
for His killers' forgiveness. It was one of his final sayings
before He died (Luke 23:34): "Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do."
All kinds of sin are forgivable, no matter how dark or
ugly. That is Jesus' starting point in this statement, so what
we have first of all is a vast promise of abundant pardon to
anyone and everyone who will repent and lay hold of God's
mercy. It's a powerful echo of Isaiah 55:1-7: "Come, everyone
who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money,
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 21
come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and
without price. . . . "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; let him return to the LORD,
that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will
abundantly pardon."
All the common sins of humanityCincluding the most
abominable, repulsive, and even unmentionable evils that
have ever been perpetratedC"All manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven unto men."
Except for one particular, unique, very specific sin. We
know from the language Jesus used that He was describing
an extraordinary sin, not an ordinary one. What was it? Verse
31: "the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven."
Notice the definite article: "the blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit"Cnot just any form of disobedience or sin or speaking
against the Spirit of God, but a particular kind of
blasphemyCan unusually egregious form of blasphemy. And
the context makes clear that it was the exact sort of
blasphemy the Pharisees had just committedCattributing
Jesus' power to Satan when they knew He was working in
the power of the Spirit. If there were really any doubt about
this, Mark 3:29-30 settles it for us. Mark records that Jesus
said this: "whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never
has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin." Then Mark
adds this comment in verse 30: "[Because] they were saying,
Matthew 12:31-32 22
'He has an unclean spirit.'" So that was the specific blasphemy
He was warning against: By knowingly attributing Christ's
power to Satan, in effect they were calling the Holy Spirit a
devil. They looked at Jesus' messianic credentials and
pronounced them the credentials of a demon-possessed
person. It was the consummate blasphemy. When they
blasphemed the Father by "making void the word of God by
[their] tradition," Jesus could rebuke and instruct them, as he
did in Mark 7:13. When they blasphemed Jesus by saying in
John 9:16, "This man is not from God," the Holy Spirit could
convict them of the truth about Him. But when with their
eyes wide open, knowingly lied about the Holy Spirit,
insisting that it was not He but Satan who empowered
JesusCespecially while deliberately trying to dissuade other
people from believing in HimCthat was the kind of
blasphemy for which there is no remedy or forgiveness, ever.
Now, I've already hinted strongly at the second
characteristic of the unpardonable sin, and it's this:
2. IT IS DELIBERATE, NOT ACCIDENTAL
Remember what the Pharisees were doing and what
Scripture tells us about their motives, and you'll see that their
sin was calculated, intentional, and premeditated in the most
evil and voluntary sense possible. They committed this sin
with their eyes wide open.
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 23
Why was their attempt to dissuade people from following
Christ unpardonable? Because when Saul of Tarsus, also a
Pharisee, likewise tried to dissuade people from following
Jesus, and even punctuated his evildoing with an act of
murder in the martyrdom of Stephen, Saul still found
forgiveness. The apostle Paul himself tells us why. First
Timothy 1:12-13 again. Paul writes: "I thank him who has
given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me
faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a
blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received
mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief."
And remember Jesus' prayer from the cross: "Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do." Now, obviously,
on the level of sentient knowledge, the people who put Jesus
to death did know they were killing an innocent man.
According to Luke 23:47, one of the centurions at the cross
even said, "Certainly this man was innocent!" But unlike these
Pharisees in Matthew 12, they were not guilty of turning
away from the settled, Spirit-wrought conviction that He was
indeed their rightful Lord. So there was still something in
their evil deed that was done out of ignorance and
unbeliefCas opposed to pure, undiluted, intentional,
premeditated blasphemy against the Holy Spirit like these
Pharisees had done.
As a matter of fact, if you check the cross-reference in
Mark 3:21, you'll see that "when his family heard [about Jesus'
Matthew 12:31-32 24
public ministry], they went out to seize him, for they were saying,
'He is out of his mind.'" Then it's the very next verse that tells
us, "The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying,
'He is possessed by Beelzebul,' and "by the prince of demons he
casts out the demons."" So Jesus' own family accused Him of
being crazy in the very same context where these Pharisees
accused Him of being demon-possessed. Why was the sin of
the Pharisees unpardonable, when Jesus' own family
(including James and Jude, authors of the epistles that bear
their names) were forgiven and even became leaders in the
church?
First of all, it was the deliberate, willful knowledge of
what they were doing that made the sin of the Pharisees in
Matthew 12 unforgivable. Their eyes had been enlightened.
They had witnessed, and investigated, and perhaps even been
beneficiaries of Jesus' miracles, and yet they spurned Him
with full knowledge of who He was.
This, I think, is where Jesus' warning about the
unpardonable sin intersects with the warning passages in
Hebrews. If you read Hebrews carefully, you will see that it
is dotted with warning passages throughout. These usually
come as interruptions in the flow of the text, and each time
there's a warning, it is stronger and more shrill. They are
warnings against falling away from Christ, and some
Christians find them theologically troubling. I don't.
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 25
Are these warnings that a true believer might lose his
salvation? Of course not. Scripture is full of promises that
God Himself will keep us from falling. He guarantees that
we will persevere to the end. He saves us to the uttermost. So
I hope you know the Hebrews warning passages are not
suggesting that someone might have salvation for a time and
then lose it.
But Hebrews was written to Jewish people who had
shown an interest in following Christ but had fallen short of
embracing Him with a whole heart. They were being tempted
by their own religious tradition and tantalized by the error of
the Judaizers. In their confusion, some of them were
retreating from Christ and going back to Old Testament
Judaism. So the epistle was written to encourage such people
to go on with Christ and enter into his restCthe Sabbath rest
of genuine saving faith. In other words, the warnings were
written to people who were not true Christians at all, but
people who had been enlightened so that they had seen the
truth. They associated with the church and followed the
gospel with interest and understanding, but not with real
faith. They knew the truth. They had been awakened by the
Holy Spirit, and in that sense were partakers with Him, too.
Their eyes, like the Pharisees in Matthew 12, were wide
open. But they were halting and faltering about publicly
identifying with Christ, because that involved a step away
from their religious comfort zone. It might mean persecution
Matthew 12:31-32 26
and isolation. So they held back, and some even turned away.
(Just like some people who are nominal Christians today do.)
And those warnings caution them of the dangers of turning
away after seeing the truth. Listen, for example, to Hebrews
6:4-6: "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, and have tasted the goodness of the
word of God and the powers of the age to come, 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." The stress is on the deliberate
nature of this sin. Listen to Hebrews 10:26-27: "If we go on
sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth,
there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful
expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the
adversaries."
That, I believe, is the very same unpardonable sin Jesus
was talking about. It is willful. It is a deliberate, calculated,
and final turning away by someone with full knowledge of
what he or she is doing. It is a calculated, intentional act of
blasphemy, not merely a sin of ignorant unbelief.
And its deliberate nature is one of the main factors that
makes it unpardonable. Such a sin closes and hardens the
heart with absolute, irreversible finality. Having knowingly
spurned the Holy Spirit's convicting ministry (which is the
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 27
only thing that might ever have converted them) these people
are left without any possibility of salvation.
But there's more. Here's a third, and final, characteristic of
the unpardonable sin from Matthew 12:
3. IT IS A SIN OF THE HEART, NOT MERELY OF THE LIPS
It is frightening to watch those YouTube videos from
people who answered the Blasphemy Challenge when you
realize that what you are seeing is a premeditated attempt to
commit the very blasphemy Jesus rebuked these Pharisees
for and the writer of Hebrews cautioned his readers against.
Many of those people on the videos could indeed be
deliberately damning their own souls without any possible
remedy or restoration. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). It is an even more
frightening thing to subject yourself to His judgment out of
arrogant, willful, deliberate unbelief.
Still, I don't think a person necessarily commits the
unpardonable sin merely by professing to deny the Holy
Spirit and mouthing those words. My hope is that some of
those people on those videos, like the apostle Paul, are guilty
only of ignorant unbelief, and that there is still hope for
them.
And the determining factor one way or the other is the
state of their hearts, which only God can see clearly. Look at
verses 33-37:
Matthew 12:31-32 28
Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the
tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.
34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when
you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaks.
35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth
good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings
forth evil.
36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give
account for every careless word they speak,
37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your
words you will be condemned.
Jesus' point is that our words are important because they
express what's in our hearts. In fact, the real problemCthe
source of our wickednessCis not merely in the words we say,
but in the wicked heart that is the incubator of the words.
Words are vitalC"by your words you will be justified, and by
your words you will be condemned"Cbut the reason words are
vital is because they are the undeniable evidence of what's
really in the heart. And the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
is first of all a heart-sin before it ever gives birth to spoken
blasphemy. And that is another good reason to guard our
hearts.
Now, I think the reason Jesus puts so much stress on the
expression of blasphemy and the speaking of words here is
that in addition to the willful, premeditated evil behind this
What is the Unpardonable Sin? 29
act, the one factor that makes it the most heinous,
indefensible, divinely-intolerable evil of all is that it involves
a purposeful attempt to undermine the faith of others. If these
Pharisees had kept their unbelief to themselves, who knows?
there might have been some potential in the infinite grace of
God for them to be converted and find true forgiveness. But
they deliberately attacked and tried to destroy the faith of
people who were still under the Holy Spirit's conviction and
had not yet come to full faith. They gave voice to the evil
that was in their hearts, and God withdrew His grace forever
from these men. Jesus in effect pronounced them
irredeemable.
Now, there's a lot more left to say about the unpardonable
sin, and we will get there in the next few weeks, but let me
wrap up this morning by giving some words of
encouragement to those who struggle with fears that they
might be guilty of an unpardonable sin:
Remember, this sin is a very specific and extraordinary
one. It's not the sin of careless, thoughtless blasphemy. It's
not any sin like fornication, murder, or even suicide. It is a
deliberate, purposeful blasphemy that closes the heart, sears
the conscience, and intentionally, knowingly turns away
from the Holy Spirit henceforth and forever. That means if
you're truly concerned enough that you might have
committed it so that you pray to God for forgiveness, you
Matthew 12:31-32 30
haven't committed it at all. You can still turn to God for
forgiveness and find Him eager to forgive and abundantly
pardon.
And let me make this invitation: If you're someone who
struggles with this fear and you cannot find peace in that
struggle, come see me, or Don, or any of the GraceLife
leadershipCespecially our Bible study leaders. It would be
our privilege to pray with you and help you seek forgiveness
and salvation, and to plumb with you the depths of this vast
promise that Jesus gave: "Every sin and blasphemy will be
forgiven people." And we will give thanks with you "unto the
LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever."