The Unpardonable Sin (10/29/2023)

The Pharisees’ Plot and the Turning Point in Matthew

Let's turn to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12, and the title of this message is The Unpardonable Sin, The Unpardonable Sin. We're at a turning point in Matthew's Gospel. We ended last week in verse 14, which states how the Pharisees, who were a sect within Judaism, the Pharisees are now plotting to kill Jesus.

So things have gone from bad to worse. So really a line is about to be crossed here. At this point in the story, Israel's leaders are taking the position that Jesus must die, and not only must he die, they have decided, and they are now stating and spreading it around, that the miracles that Christ has been doing, and notice they don't deny that he's able to perform miracles.

I mean, they see the miracles, they know they're real, but they say that Jesus is working wonders by the power of the devil. So this isn't just a group of people who don't believe, or they're not really sure, or they just need more information.

No, this is an ultimate and utter rejection of the Son of God. And it's this that Jesus identifies as the unpardonable sin, or the unforgivable sin. He says, this sin cannot be forgiven, not in this age, nor in the age to come.

And those statements, I mean, this seems jarring to some people, depending on how it's been preached. There's been a lot of confusion over the centuries about the unpardonable sin. What specifically is the part that makes it unforgivable?

And then some people wonder, have I committed the unpardonable sin? Are people today able to commit this sin? So there's people that are worried about this, and I'll just say this at the outset. If you are worried that you may have committed the unpardonable sin, that's probably just proof that you haven't, okay?

But I'll explain that more later on. So let's start reading. Gonna comment as we go. Matthew 12, starting in verse 15, it says, but when Jesus knew it, that is how they were plotting to kill him, when he knew it, he withdrew from there, and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all.

Yet he warned them not to make him known. Okay, so now that they're plotting Christ's death, Jesus is being very careful. Now, it is true that Jesus came into this world to die. I mean, that is why he came.

But Jesus is not only going to die for a specific purpose, he's going to die really on his terms. He's going to die a certain way at a certain time. So because that time had not yet come, Jesus withdrew.

The Servant of the Lord and the First Advent of Christ

So that, verse 17, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, and this is from Isaiah 42, God the Father speaking, verse 18, behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well-pleased, I will put my spirit upon him, and he will declare justice to the Gentiles.

He will quarrel, he will, excuse me, he will not quarrel, nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. So really what's happening here, now that Jesus has enemies and people are seeing that, Jesus has many enemies.

The government, really, the Jewish government is now openly his enemy. Because of that and because of people's misconceptions, they're expecting Jesus to now rally his supporters to fight for him. That's what they're thinking.

In their minds, if Jesus is truly the king, which many were convinced he was, and that's the whole theme of Matthew's gospel, Christ the king. So if his followers are convinced Jesus is the king, what's left but for Jesus to take the throne?

So if the Jewish government is against him, and if the masses are against him, he needs to kind of lead a revolution, rally the troops together, replace the corrupt Jewish government, and then drive out the Romans.

I mean, in people's minds, this is what they're starting to expect. This is the way they're thinking. Because here's one thing all the Jews agreed on. When the Messiah came, he would be a warrior king, and he's gonna destroy all his enemies.

Now that's true at the second advent, but that was not why Jesus came the first time. At his first advent, Jesus did not come to fight. For it says, he will not quarrel nor cry out. Instead, look at verse 20.

Jesus, this is what he came to do, a bruised reed he will not break. In a smoking flax he will not quench till he sends forth justice to victory, and in his name Gentiles will trust. In other words, Jesus did not come to kill people.

He came to save people. He came to reveal the true nature of God. He came to restore people's lives. So a revolution was not Jesus's goal, not at all. That's what the people wanted. There's always people calling for that and thinking that's necessary.

That was not Jesus's mission, and he wasn't gonna allow people to sort of use him for their own political purposes. So a revolution was not his goal, and people who are of that mindset, who are always wanting to kind of stir up trouble and lead some sort of revolution, provoke an uprising, start a war, they're not interested with the weak, right?

The weak are a problem, and I'll just do away with them. People who are of that mindset only seek the strong. But what did Jesus do? He came to strengthen the weak. The bruised reed and the smoldering wick, that represents people.

So this is the lame, the sick, the poor, the common man, the people that think that nobody cares about them. Do you feel like that, maybe, in this country, that the people in power don't really care about you, that your interests are not being upheld?

Well, yeah, but the people that are kind of on the low rung of the pole here, that's who Jesus came to minister to. Jesus came to minister and to strengthen and to save the poor, the weak, the sick, the common man.

So salvation is now being offered. The kingdom is being offered. All of it is being offered as a free gift. Now, it's really just a matter of who's going to accept it, who's going to believe. And of course, believing in Jesus, you have to believe in his stated mission, to save souls.

But people don't understand that at this point. Okay, let's look at verses 22 and 23. And this is where we're gonna get into the unpardonable sin. The people of Israel, not only rejecting him, they're making one of the worst accusations they can.

The Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and the Accusation Against Jesus

Verses 22 and 23, it says, "'Then one was brought to Jesus, "'who is demon-possessed and blind and mute, "'and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man "'could both speak, and he saw. "'And all the multitudes were amazed, "'and they said about Jesus, "'Could this be the son of David?'.

So what are they asking here? Son of David is a messianic title. They're saying, could he be the Messiah? Could he be the one? Could he be the king of Israel we've been waiting for? And this so infuriates the religious leaders, it really drives them to commit the unpardonable sin, which they were willing to do that anyways.

But this is what, when they hear the people saying this about Jesus, that we think he may be the Christ, no, they're gonna say, he is in league with the devil. Not only should you not listen to this man, he is of Satan, that's what they're saying.

Look at verse 24, because Jesus is going to identify this as the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Verse 24, now when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.

In other words, the men, the religious leaders of Israel, the Bible scholars, that's what we would call them maybe, the ones who should have known above all people, should have recognized who Jesus was.

Upon seeing the evidence firsthand of him working wonders, healing the sick, instead of believing upon him, they said that he cast out demons and works miracles by the power of Satan. Can you imagine a worse charge?

I mean, that's really the worst thing that you could say about a religious leader, that he's of the devil. And yet, that's what they're saying about Jesus here. Incidentally, the term Beelzebub, who knows about this term?

Is you familiar with this term? Beelzebub comes from the Old Testament pagan god, Baal. Each nation had their own version of Baal. So Beelzebub, there's sort of a debate of whether or not this means one of two things.

Beelzebub has been translated Lord of the Flies. I think there's a book that was written, Lord of the Flies. So the children of Israel looked at the heathens worshiping Baal, Baal means Lord or master, and they're like, yeah, the god they're worshiping, he's Lord, all right, but he's Lord of the dunghill, basically.

So it was a way of the Jews mocking the pagan deities. So it either means that, or more likely, it's a reference. Baal, Beelzebub, that was one of the Philistines' chief deities. Beelzebub, well, long story short, over time, Baal, Beelzebub, Beelzebub, it developed into a name for Satan.

So Beelzebub is a name for the devil. He's the king of the demons. So understand what the religious leaders of Israel are doing. Again, it's not that they're just not convinced, or they don't really like Jesus, or they're going to take a different path.

No, they are saying the worst possible thing about him, that he is a minister of Satan. Now, before Jesus refers to this as the unpardonable sin, he first explains why their accusation is irrational. Look at Matthew 12, verse 25.

It says, but Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.

How, then, will his kingdom stand? In other words, Jesus is saying, your accusation doesn't even make sense. So if I'm really, Jesus is taking up their argument for a moment and showing how ridiculous it is.

If I'm really working for the devil, why am I fighting against his demons? Why would I do that? And then, of course, if I'm fighting against the demons and you're against me, what does that say? Look at verse 27.

Jesus says, and if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

And of course, the kingdom of God had come upon them, and they were willfully rejecting it. So in verse 27, you see this statement, the sons, your sons. He's talking to the Pharisees, and he says, your sons are casting out demons.

Well, the sons of the Pharisees were basically like their disciples, all sorts of people following after these leaders. So Jesus here is presenting an unanswerable dilemma. He's saying to the Pharisees, if your students are doing the same thing that I'm doing, I'm casting out demons, they're casting out demons, but you say my work is satanic, then how do you know their work isn't?

Verse 29, Jesus continues with his argument showing the folly of their statement. He says, or how can one enter a strong man's house or plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

And then he makes this statement. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad. You know, really this is the bottom line with Jesus Christ. And I realize there's people in the world who I think most have heard the name of Jesus.

They have some sort of idea of what he was about. So there's people that know about Jesus. They have some information. There's people who they know the Christian claim, and no matter who it is, the bottom line, you're either with Christ or you're against Christ.

There is no neutral ground. I mean, people might say, and they might even be convinced themselves that, you know, when it comes to God and Jesus, I don't, you know, yeah, I'm neutral. I have no feelings strongly for or against.

Listen, Jesus is saying that's not true. You're either with me or against me. Because if there is a God and he created all things and he says, you shall worship me and you don't do that, I mean, by default, you're against him.

So this is really a claim. You either believe, you're either for me or you're against me. People don't like that today. You know, in our culture, we live in kind of a postmodern age where you don't really have to take a position.

There's no such thing as absolute truth. You can kind of be in between. Well, that's not the teaching of Christ, certainly. Matthew Henry, who is one of the great commentators throughout church history, here's what he says about verses 29 and 30.

He writes this, Satan blinds the eyes by unbelief and seals up the lips from prayer. The more people magnified Christ, the more desirous the Pharisees were to vilify him. It was evident that if Satan aided Jesus in casting out devils, the kingdom of hell was divided against itself.

How then could it stand? And if they said that Jesus cast out devils by the prince of the devils, they could not prove that their children cast them out by any other power. There are two great interests in the world.

And when unclean spirits are cast out by the Holy Spirit in the conversion of sinners to a life of faith and obedience, the kingdom of God is come unto us. All who do not aid or rejoice in such a change are against Christ.

So either you wanna see people saved or come to Christ or you're part of the problem. Now, again, that's the opinion of Matthew Henry, but Matthew Henry is only expanding on the words of Christ. Okay, so, and I would just add, if there's someone sitting here this morning and maybe you have sort of been on the fence, you've been wondering, do I wanna serve Jesus?

Should I, should I not? I would just plead with you, put your trust in Christ. There is no middle ground. Okay, so now starting in verse 31, what's the title of the message? The unpardonable sin. Okay, so Jesus says, starting in verse 31, therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, that is, if you speak a word against Jesus, it can be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

And people read that and they think, wow, I mean, this is a strong statement. It's actually struck fear in the hearts of many people. Sometimes this is how this passage has been preached, that there is people in Jesus' day, the Pharisees who committed the unpardonable sin, and people are still doing this today, and that there's all these people in the world who have crossed the line and there is no longer hope for them.

Well, nobody wants to hear that. And some people, you know, some are kind of hard on themselves and they feel that I feel like I've done things that cannot be forgiven. So we want to address that question.

Can someone even commit the unpardonable sin today? So what was the unpardonable sin? Who committed it? You tell me, we've read it. I've gone over some of the details. Who committed the sin? Okay, the Pharisees.

So who are the Pharisees? Again, this is a sect within Judaism. They were religious leaders. They were Bible scholars or Old Testament scholars. They, of anyone, knew the scriptures. And they weren't always wrong in their interpretation.

They had all sorts of problems, but they knew so much truth that they were held responsible. And yet, what do they do when God incarnate stands in front of them? What do they do? Yeah, they deny him. They hate him.

They say he's in league with the devil and they're plotting his death, okay. So this is very serious, to say the least. So here's one reason why I do not believe this is repeatable today. This idea of Jesus coming into the world and being rejected by his own people, Israel, this was kind of like a unique event.

This was a one-time thing. Also, Jesus isn't here on earth today. Work in wonders. So no one can see Jesus, see him work a miracle by the power of the Holy Spirit, and then say that was done by Satan.

Like, that can't even happen today because Jesus isn't here. So it's the people who rejected Jesus and ended up crucifying him nearly 2 ,000 years ago. They are the ones who have committed the unpardonable sin.

Now, there is an application for us today because there actually is a sin that won't be forgiven. And I'll get to that at the end. But as far as the unpardonable sin here, I don't personally believe that a person can even commit this today.

It's not repeatable. So does that mean that we breathe a sigh of relief? Well, look at verse 31. "'Therefore, I say to you,' Jesus says, "'every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, men.'". Do you see that statement?

What's Jesus saying? Any sin, no matter what you have done, no matter who it is in the world, no matter how wretched they might be or how wretched you think they are, every sin can be forgiven. Do you realize that?

That's what Jesus is saying. Every sin can be forgiven. Well, not like the really bad ones, not like murder. No, every sin can be forgiven. When Jesus shed his blood on the cross, his blood is so powerful.

It can forgive the worst of sins and it can forgive every sin that's ever been committed. So let's remember, it's the Pharisees, it's the elders, the scribes of Israel. Some of them, here's another thing to consider.

Some of them did end up believing in Christ. Do you realize that? There were Pharisees who got saved, right? Name one. Nicodemus. Okay, we're pretty confident Nicodemus was one of them. And there's like the obvious one, right?

Yeah, the Apostle Paul. So Paul was a Pharisee. Do you think Paul hated the name of Jesus? Oh, you better believe he did. The Apostle Paul, before he became the Apostle Paul, he was Saul of Tarsus. He was a notorious persecutor of the church.

I am sure Paul or Saul blasphemed the name of Christ many times. He had Christians arrested. And when the first martyr, Stephen, was killed, there's a Bible that says Saul was there consenting unto his death.

People were kind of laying their coats down at his feet as they stoned him. So it looked like Saul was sort of the ringleader. So here you have Saul or Paul possibly blaspheming Christ and killing Christians.

And he ended up not only getting saved, he was arguably the greatest apostle who ever lived. So what does that tell you about the grace of God? Nobody is beyond hope. If there are people in this world who have crossed a line, I don't know that.

God would know, but as far as I'm concerned, as far as I know, if you're still living and breathing, you can be forgiven if you want to be, if you want to receive the grace of God. But here are some theories I've heard, because in all this talk about the unpardonable sin, and I've heard many pastors throughout the years accuse people of committing the unpardonable sin.

Here's what some have said. I've heard some people say that murder is so bad it can't be forgiven. I think we know that's probably not the case, or it isn't. Others have said suicide. I mean, this was a common idea throughout history.

The Catholic church had the idea if someone committed suicide, I mean, there's no hope for them. Even if they lived a faithful life, if that's how you ended, there's no hope. Does the Bible ever say that?

Bible never says that, so some people have theorized about that. Some people have said, okay, if you continue to sin against Jesus, or if you deny him after you came to saving faith, then that's unforgivable.

So if you trust in Christ, you get baptized, you're serving him, but then if you do something really bad after coming, and then they'll twist verses in Hebrews six, or misunderstand verses in Hebrews six or 10, and the list goes on and on.

Here's what I'm most familiar with. The modern-day charismatic Pentecostal movement, they believe that miracles are being done all the time, every Sunday, local churches, that Pentecostal pastors and just average church members are performing miracles, and it's just happening all over the place.

And sometimes there are abuses within that movement, and there's some wild and crazy things that go on. So some people have said, in these churches where someone might, they say, well, he's in the spirit, and they're kind of on the floor writhing and rolling on the floor, and I'm not saying this to put any church tradition down.

This is a manifestation that's common within Pentecostalism, sort of bizarre behavior, throwing yourself on the floor, they call it being slain in the spirit, stuff like that. Some pastors have said that's demonic, or what you're doing here is not of the Holy Spirit.

So the Pentecostals will say, you just blasphemed the Holy Spirit, because this was a true miracle, and you're saying it's not, or you're saying it's of the devil, right? You see how, in their mind, that's blaspheming the spirit.

But on the other side, they'll say, well, some of these things are clearly not of God, and I think even they would admit that not all of them are of God. Some people are just in the flesh, or it's a counterfeit sign, whatever.

They would say, by you claiming that this is the Holy Spirit when it's not, you are at least running the risk of blasphemy of the Holy. The point is, there's people on both sides saying the other side is guilty of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

Now, if that were true, then either this group couldn't be saved, couldn't be forgiven, this group can't be. Is that really what the unpardonable sin is? I don't believe so. I don't believe so. All sorts of people have said all sorts of things.

You know, everyone has an opinion. What do we base the truth off of? The words of Jesus? We base it on the Bible. So there's all sorts of accusations, bad teachings, and it can really weigh some people down.

You know, what if you were in a church, maybe you're carrying guilt in your life, and somebody really piles up the guilt. We probably all met people. I'm thinking of one individual who used to attend this church years ago, and he stopped attending.

He felt like God wouldn't forgive him. And no matter how much we told him, Jesus is willing to forgive you of all your sin. He couldn't forgive himself, is really what it was. But people, through different things that have been told, whether it's they themselves, they have this in their mind that they have committed the unpardonable sin, and then it leads them to despair.

And just in case there's anyone listening, and that's you, and you feel like you have committed the unpardonable sin, I'm confident in saying that you haven't. But if a person continues throughout their life in unbelief, what if a person goes to the grave in unbelief?

See, that's when it's too late, when a person dies. So it's incumbent upon everyone to put their faith in Jesus while they have that opportunity. I would argue today, if you've never trusted in Christ.

Tomorrow is not guaranteed. But as far as committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, again, I do not believe it is repeatable today. Here's, and you say, well, that's just your viewpoint, and you're just one man.

Well, that's true, okay. But if you look into this, this is the consensus of most Bible-believing ministries. Here's, I just wanna read an article of one reputable ministry. They say this, the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day committed the unpardonable sin by accusing Jesus Christ in person, on earth, of being demon-possessed.

They had no excuse for such an accusation. They were not speaking out of ignorance or misunderstanding. The Pharisees knew that Jesus was the Messiah sent by God to save Israel. They knew the prophecies were being fulfilled.

They saw Jesus' wonderful works. They heard his clear presentation of the truth, and yet they deliberately chose to deny the truth and slander the Holy Spirit. See, they didn't do it by accident, is the point.

They knew what they were doing. Their hatred towards God was so strong, this is what they did. Standing before the light of the world, bathed in his glory, they defiantly closed their eyes and became willfully blind.

Jesus pronounced that sin to be unforgivable. The article continues, the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, specific as it was to the Pharisees' situation, cannot be duplicated today. Jesus Christ is not on earth, and no one can see personally his miraculous powers and then attribute that power to Satan instead of the Holy Spirit.

The only, here's the thing to remember, the only unpardonable sin today is that of continued unbelief. There may be someone sitting here, you know Jesus is the Son of God. You know the Bible's true, but for whatever reason, you're just not willing to submit to him.

You're just not willing to put your faith in him, whatever the reason is. Can you be forgiven of that? Well, tomorrow you could be forgiven. A year from now, you could be forgiven. But if somebody persists in that and they die in that state, that is the only thing that will never be forgiven.

The scripture says, Romans 10, 13, for whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Shall be saved, not might be, or you will be if you do enough good things. No, it's about calling upon the name of the Lord, placing your faith in Christ.

Are you willing to do that? You know, there's all sorts of sins that people commit, things that people have done. People walking around with guilt. The world doesn't care. You know, the world has their agenda.

People, they have their friends, the causes they care about. Here's the cause that Jesus cares about. A bruised reed he will not break. A smoking flax he will not quench. If there's anyone here today who is ridden with guilt, feel like my family can't forgive me, my friends can't forgive me, I don't even have any friends, or you just are weighed down.

You think that God doesn't love you. The message of Christ, not only does he love you, God sent Jesus to die for your sin. You can be forgiven, but you must trust in him. One last thing. I think if you were to take a poll of what sin is the worst.

I mean, if you ask the average person on the street, what's the worst thing a person can do? What are they gonna say? Nine out of 10, murder. They'll say murder. Can murderers be saved? We've already talked about Paul, who may or may not have been in that situation.

But going back to the thing that they said about Jesus, could this be who? What do they call Jesus? The son of who? Could this be the son of David? Reference to King David. You realize King David had someone murdered?

His name was Uriah, and David had him killed because he wanted his wife. David didn't just commit adultery with another man's wife, he had the guy killed. And David was the king. He was in a high position of responsibility, and at the time, David knew the Lord.

David knew exactly what he was doing, and he did it anyway. Did David deserve to be forgiven? No. Was he forgiven? Yes. Now, it's true he didn't get away with it because he paid in other ways. There's consequences in this life for our behavior.

But why do you think a story like that is in the Bible? If I were David and I had control over what was going around out there, you would think this is something people would want to be removed from the Bible.

David is a hero of the faith. Let's cut this part out. You know why it's in the Bible? As a testimony to the amazing grace of Almighty God. He can forgive you of anything if you are willing to ask. Let's turn to the Lord in prayer.

The Only Unforgivable Sin Today Is Continued Unbelief

And Lord, I just pray thanking you that you are willing to forgive us of any and all our sin. This is what you have said in your word, that if we would confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that you have raised him from the dead, we will be saved.

Lord, help people who are in need. Lord, save the lost, heal the sick, strengthen the weak, and restore the backslider. Lord, encourage your people, stir their spirit unto charity and good works, I pray.

It's in Jesus' name. Amen.