This last week I was speaking with one of you on the phone and you asked me, Pastor, if I ever have a question about the Bible or theology or something like that, can I ask you and see if you can give me an answer? And I said, well, certainly, that's what I'm here for. And if I don't know an answer, I'll make one up. And I paused and I said, just kidding. If I don't know the answer, I won't make it up. I'll look it up and get you the answer as best as I can. But actually a few weeks ago, someone did ask me a hard question. Not only didn't I know the answer, I'd never even heard the question or thought about it. A young man in our church, a certain teenage boy, loves to come up to me after the church service with a question of the week, as it were, and I can see it coming. And those are good questions. I wish more of you would ask me by phone, email, or in person. Years ago, we had a large family in our church that later moved to another city, but they stay in touch with me by email. And, oh, every month or two, they send me a long email. I got one this last week. And they bring me up to date. And then they start asking a bunch of questions. Sometimes it's like stump the preacher, like name the fifth king of Israel or something like that. Other ones are very penetrating and practical ones. And then I, in turn, send questions back to them. And what touches me is that When they were here, they were all little children, and now they're teenagers and young adults, but they address me as Uncle Kurt. I like that. Then, about once a month, a well-known preacher that's a friend of mine is on a Christian talk show on the radio that I listen to from time to time, and they phone in questions for him, and he usually gives very good answers. But when I listen to those questions, as I do to yours and others, I realize you can learn a lot about the person asking the question by the question he or she asks. That'll tell you how much they know about the Bible or how little they know or how they have been wrongly instructed. Occasionally, I'll hear a good question. I say, now that shows that that Christian has reached a certain level. He's done a lot of Bible study in order to even ask that question. On the other hand, I hear questions, not only on the radio, but addressed to me, like prison inmates. People phone me, send me emails that I don't even know who they are. And some of them are so simple and basic, I'm thinking you're either a brand new Christian or you're not a very well-taught Christian after so many years. I can understand if it's a Christian that's been converted less than a year or two and he says things like, well, what happens after we die? I've heard there's reincarnation or purgatory. Well, I can forgive their immature ignorance. They're new to the faith. Maybe they were converted out of a totally non-Christian background. But when I hear someone that says, I was converted 10 years ago or longer, and they still ask very basic questions. I'm reminded of that verse at the end of Hebrews 5, where the writer says, by this time you should be teachers. And yet you need to be instructed in some very basic things. I have met people, say for many years, will ask, well who is Jesus? And I said, don't you really know? And so I'll turn it on them and say, now can you answer the Jehovah's Witness that denies that Jesus is God? Can you give me three scriptures that prove Jesus is God? And they look at me befuddled, they haven't a clue. And that's telling me that they haven't studied their Bible much. And I'm talking about basic ones, not intricate questions like predestination or who's the Antichrist. No, I'm talking about very simple ones, life after death, what is justification? I've seen Christians that have been saved for years and years, they don't have an answer to that. Or how does a person become a Christian? And so I urge them, read your Bible every day. And some of these answers are right there on the surface if you just keep reading it. And there are people that read the Bible every day for years, and they know the Bible, like that family that sends me the questions. They're very well instructed in the Bible. But then, this is what you call pastoral exhortation. There are people that dabble in the Bible, like a box of chocolates. They read a little bit here and there, usually their favorite parts, when they feel like it. They need to have a disciplined day-by-day reading of the Bible. And there are Christians that do this, and that after year, after year, after year, they've read through the whole Bible many times. such as some in this church. Other ones, sadly, have been Christians for years, and they've never read the whole Bible through cover to cover. Take the exhortation, read it every day, and then keep reading it over and over again, and you will be well instructed in the Bible, and also read some good books. Another thing, some people say, well, I'm trying to read the Bible, but I have a learning disability. I say, well, then listen to it. There are recordings of that. And then also, I guess here's where I step on toes, not people in our church, but others. Their questions and their ignorance of the Bible tells me a lot about the church they do attend. And often it's people that say, boy, at our church service, man, we sing and we sing and we sing and we even dance and we clap and we got the flashing lights and oh boy, we have a good time. And that usually tells me the worship service is all music and fun. and very little Bible teaching. Because those sort of churches minimize the most important thing and they emphasize the less important. And so it's that verse that I quote from Hebrews says, you need meat but you're still accustomed to milk. Some of these churches, it's not even milk. It's just sugar water and caffeine. and they come home and they know almost nothing about the Bible. Shame on those preachers, but shame on people that go to those churches. And I'm not just talking about Christians that wander into a liberal church or a cult or a Catholic church. Christians have no business going to those churches. But sometimes, like little children, they want the sugar and all the excitement of the church, but they don't want to be fed the meat of the word. Now, why do I say all that? That's my introduction. It's because, as I said, you learn a lot about a Christian by the questions he asks, and there are certain questions that keep getting asked to me and Christian phone-in radio shows and so forth. And today we're going to look at one of those questions that I've been asked I don't know how many times in my 48 years as a Christian. And the question is this, what is the unpardonable sin. Like questions in general, sometimes people are just curious about what the Bible says. Other times, it's because it has to do with them. Pastor, what does the Bible say about divorce? What does it say about conflict resolution within a marriage? What does it say about this practical thing we're witnessing? So some people are simply curious, what is the unpardonable sin? And other ones, they may read some of the verses we're looking at this morning and it hits them in the gut and they say, wow, what is this? Unpardonable will never be forgiven. And then they begin to wonder, maybe I've committed that. I've had people phone me up in the middle of the night saying, I did something, can God ever forgive me for that? In other words, it's no longer a theoretical question out of curiosity, but very practical. So we're going to look at the question, what is the unpardonable sin? Briefly, let me give you a short list of the wrong answers people give, and you've probably heard some of these. They're guessing. Some say murder. No. Moses committed murder. He was forgiven. Others say adultery. No. David committed adultery. He was forgiven. Some say homosexuality. I knew it. A doctor who is a church elder in another church, and he says that's proof that person has been forsaken by God, will never be forgiven. He didn't know his Bible. 1 Corinthians 6 says some of the Corinthian Christians had been homosexuals and lesbians, but they had been forgiven. Others say sacrilege, like burning a Bible or desecrating a church. No, that's not the unpardonable sin. Suicide. Some think is the unpardonable sin because they say you don't have time to repent. No, please do not jump to conclusions if you hear about suicide because of depression or extreme pain someone is going through. Everybody has his breaking point, so be very merciful to them and don't jump to conclusions. Others say, well, if you were in a cult and took a blood oath to Satan, well, that may be getting closer to the truth, and we'll address that later. Others say, if you were demon-possessed. No, Mary Magdalene had been demon-possessed and was forgiven, became a Christian. Some ultra-Arminians say if you have one too many sins, and they try to guess what sin that would be, or the Catholic Church says if you die in a state of mortal sin, you don't go to heaven, you don't go to purgatory, you go straight to hell, that's unpardonable. But the Bible doesn't make that difference between venial and mortal sin. In one sense, all sins or mortal, that is, would bring death. but I don't want to get into that, but the Catholic Church is wrong on what it says is a mortal sin. Others say any deliberate conscious sin. Well, the unpardonable sin is a deliberate sin, but not all sins we commit are that sin, because sometimes we go into a sin with our eyes wide open, and we will be chastened with our eyes wide open, but it is forgivable. Years ago I knew some people that were very much into the Pentecostal charismatic movement and they had the audacity to say that anybody that resists speaking in tongues or healings, they are committing the unpardonable blasphemy of the spirit. No. They are misinformed. Others say forfeiting salvation, such as you only have one chance and if you blow it and you lose your salvation, that's the unpardonable sin. No, we'll address that in this morning's message. Or cursing Christ. Karl Barth said that anti-Semitism is the unpardonable sin. I think he was simply exaggerating. Others say denying Christ's deity. Well, there are people that deny it and later come to believe in it, so they didn't commit the unpardonable sin. We'll also address that. Cursing Christ, or especially, here's the most popular answer, is, well, a person that fails to believe in Christ until the day he dies. Well, he dies unforgiven, but the unpardonable sin, as we shall see, is in a category all its own. We've just listed a number of sins that can be forgiven, but we're now looking at the one that can never be forgiven by its very nature. Having said that, let's look at three passages in the New Testament that address this, and then we'll conclude with three very practical applications. So please open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 12. verses 31 and 32. Now this is found with a little bit variations if you want to check out Mark 3 29 and Luke 12 10. So look at Matthew chapter 12 for our first of three scriptures. Chapter 12 verse 31. Jesus speaking, 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's Jesus, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. Now this is in the middle of Jesus's ministry and some are being converted but also the opposition of the Pharisees and Sadducees is mounting and they want to do away with him. They want to murder him and so their opposition to him is growing and growing and they're saying that Jesus is evil. In the context, they see Jesus casting out demons. And so I'm sure some of the Jews went to the Pharisees, just like people come to me with questions, they went to the Pharisees and said, how do you account for this? Who do you think Jesus is? And the growing virtually unanimous opinion of the Pharisees was this, Jesus is casting out these demons by the prince of demons. In other words, he is in conspiracy with the devil. He's doing this by the power of the devil. And elsewhere they say not only is he casting out demons because he's in league with the devil, they even said he is Beelzebub, which is another Hebrew name for Satan. So they were saying Jesus is Satan himself, here in the flesh. So they were saying he's not the Messiah, he's the anti-Messiah, or what we would call the Antichrist. And they didn't deny the miracles, but they wrongly identified the source. They said Jesus is evil, he is the Antichrist, and this supernatural power he's using to cast out the demons, that is Satan's power. And they were cursing not only Jesus, but this supernatural power that we know is the Holy Spirit, they said is the ultimate unholy spirit. So they were not only blaspheming Jesus, But the Holy Spirit, and they were cursing the Holy Spirit and say, He is Satan himself, the unholy spirit. Do you see the irony of this? They accused Jesus of the worst possible sin. They were the ones committing the worst possible sin. And that's the context in which Jesus turns it on them. You look back at verse 25, or 24, they're saying he's casting out demons by Beelzebub. And then Jesus said, Satan's not going against himself. Verse 26, I'm not casting them out by Beelzebub. Who are your sons casting them out by? And he says, if I cast out demons, verse 28, by the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God has come upon you. So they were cursing the Spirit of God. That's the context in which he says, verses 31 and 32, where he identifies this ultimate unpardonable sin. It's blasphemy. Blaspheme means to insult, to curse, to denigrate someone in an extreme manner. More than simply someone that gets drunk and starts cursing and swearing. And people that don't get drunk, they do that. That's all wrong. It's either profanity or obscenity. This goes beyond that. This is blaspheming, not a friend or an enemy, but God and specifically the Holy Spirit. Now notice Jesus breaks it down to two parts, 31 and 32. He says, those that blaspheme Jesus can be forgiven. Those that blaspheme the Holy Spirit will not and cannot be forgiven. Blasphemy against Jesus Christ can be forgiven. Paul, for example, 1 Timothy 1.13 says that he had blasphemed Jesus before his conversion. He was opposing Jesus in early Christians, but he says he was forgiven because, quote, he did it in ignorance. Other people do this, and they later repent, and they come to love Jesus. That proves they have been forgiven. The great Martin Lloyd-Jones told a story about a Mayanish church that had been converted. and loved Jesus and was faithfully following him, and then he had a tender conscience. When he remembered an event before his conversion, he was in a pub, that would be a bar, and he got drunk, and he stood up on the bar, and everybody laughed, and he publicly insulted Jesus over and over again, says he was illegitimate, and he was this, and he was that, and he used a certain word of Jesus, and everybody laughed. And now this man, years later, is a Christian, he comes to Lloyd-Jones weeping and saying, I fear that I committed that unpardonable sin by cursing Jesus and I've never been saved and I'll go into and Lloyd-Jones addressed this passage to him and said you've already been forgiven of that great sin against Jesus. Blaspheming Jesus can be forgiven and my friend you have been forgiven because that man had committed to blaspheme against Jesus. but not against the Holy Spirit. There's a difference. Jesus says in verse 32, this unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven in this age or in the age to come. That's the hereafter. Not now, not ever. From the very moment a person commits this sin, no forgiveness from then on for the rest of his life and into all eternity. There's no second chance. And of course this does away with the idea of purgatory. Nor will, of course, nor will any other sins be forgiven in hell. If a person dies unrepentant and has never sought forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ, he dies with all of his sins on his record. They will stay on his record for all eternity. There's never forgiveness for unrepented sins that you take with you to the grave, but this sin is in a different category. A person can commit many, many different sins, but even at the last moment before he dies, he can repent and be forgiven, like that thief on the cross and others. This sin is in a different category entirely. Mark 3, 29, talks about this same sin and says that person never has forgiveness but is subject to eternal condemnation, meaning never forgiven, ever, not in a million years, not for eternity. Now that's a summary of what he says here. Some people take this at face value without comparing scripture with scripture, and they say, well, that was addressing the Pharisees seeing Jesus do miracles. Jesus was in the flesh. Jesus is not here anymore. He's up in heaven. He's not doing miracles. And so this sin, they say, cannot be committed today. That sounds true. If it was not for two other places in the New Testament, that address this same question, that tell us this unpardonable sin can be committed today. So let's look at those two places. Turn with me next to Hebrews chapter 6. Now this, and the third passage we look at, usually hit us very strongly when we're a new Christian and we say, I'm going to read through the Bible. And you get to Hebrew six and you read this and you breathe hard and you swallow and you say, wow, that is strong medicine. This sounds like that thing Jesus was talking about. So look at Hebrew six. And I'll start with verse four. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, put them to an open shame. For the earth, which drinks in the rain, that often comes upon it and hears and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God, but if it bears thorns and fires, it is rejected and is near to be incursed whose end is to be burned. Beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you. Yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. The context is the writer, inspired by God, is writing to Jews that are following Jesus. Some of them had been truly converted. Other ones were only going along with the crowd, thinking Jesus may be the Messiah. And now they do an about-face and say, well, we're not so sure about this. What about all our good works? Maybe Jesus wasn't all we thought he was. And they want to go back. to their pre-Christian Judaism and to the sacrifices. The temple was still standing at that time. And so they're going to cash in their chips and say, I don't want Jesus or Christianity. I want to be a Jew again and so forth. So over and over again, the writer warns them about going back. And so these people are in danger of doing what the Pharisees did. Not just forsaking Jesus, but opposing Jesus. Notice it says that they're putting him to an open shame. It's as if they're crucifying him again, and they're insulting him. In other words, now they're not just forsaking Jesus, They're blaspheming Jesus. But as we shall see, they're also blaspheming the Holy Spirit. We see from those first few verses here that, like the Pharisees, they had some personal contact with the Holy Spirit in a supernatural way. Now, not everybody that says he's a Christian that's not a Christian goes that far. They go to a church, they get religion, they finally get bored and say, I'm going back to the bar. but they weren't in any direct contact with the Holy Spirit. This is talking about people who were amongst Christians, and the Holy Spirit was moving very freely in their midst, and they sensed the supernatural, and they had seen lives change, just like the Pharisees saw people that had demons cast out, and they were healed. In other words, they were in touch with the Holy Spirit and a supernatural display. Next it says that they knew that this was true. It says they were enlightened. Not everybody that tags along in Christian circles are simply enlightened. They just, they have no idea what's happening. They just like going to church, makes them feel good. These people, their eyes are open and they see this is true. This is from God. Also says they taste the powers. In other words, they experience something supernatural just short of conversion. Maybe they were convicted of their sins. By the way, this has nothing to do with baptism. It's people that are convicted of their sins. They know they're lost. They know Jesus is the only Savior. They know the Holy Spirit is real and supernatural and has saved other people. And then, They radically and violently turn away from Christ and the Holy Spirit and their work in such an extreme way they commit this unpardonable sin. It's like a certain law of physics, you know, for every action there's an equal but opposite reaction, but sometimes there's a greater reaction. For example, there's what's called the slingshot effect, when a comet is pulled into the gravitational orbit of the sun, and it goes around the sun, and like a slingshot, it gets back out of the orbit, stronger than ever, and it shoots it back into space. Now, that's a comparable analogy to these people. They are drawn into religion, they get close to Christ, they get very close to the Holy Spirit, like that comet coming very close to the sun, and it's there for a time, and it's in the gravitational pull, and then for some reason, like that comet, this person breaks away from Christ and the Holy Spirit in a vehement and violent, antagonistic way. And in so doing, they turn on Christ. Says here, they recrucify him for themselves. As if they're saying, if I'd been at Calvary, I would have held the hammer in the nail. And says here, they put him to an open shame. And they agree to his death. And thus, there's no second chance for them. There's no opportunity for repentance because they're turning their back on the only one that could save them. But it gets worse because they are also insulting the Holy Spirit. Now you need to read this in conjunction with our third scripture, turn to Hebrews 10. So as a word, this is talking about it in part two. These two sections go together. Look at 10, 26 to 31. Again, a strong warning. The writer says, if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, Like he said in chapter six, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. You've rejected the only sacrifice, Jesus, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment like a man on death row waiting for the news. and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries." Hebrews 6 talked about being thrown into the fire. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment do you suppose? Will he be thought worthy who was trampled the son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, a common thing and insulted the spirit of grace. Same context, parallel warning, but I call your attention to that phrase, they've insulted the spirit of grace. That's the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. They're directly blaspheming him consciously and deliberately. And so it says there's no sacrifice. Numbers 15 talks about two different kinds of sins. Some that are unwitting and a person can offer a certain sacrifice and be forgiven. And it says there's certain extreme sins back then that there's no sacrifice for them. They've gone too far. Just like it says here, you know, if you've died without mercy at the hand of Moses, that's bad, but how much worse for this sin. No sacrifice. No forgiveness. It's as if they literally, quote, trampled again the blood of Jesus, grinding it into the dirt, considering it filthy, blaspheming Jesus and his holy blood. Now this tells us that there is some relationship between blaspheming Jesus and the Spirit. And yet, as we saw Jesus himself say, you can blaspheme Jesus, later repent and be forgiven. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit ends it right there. There's no opportunity for repentance nor for forgiveness. Notice it also says willfully. deliberately, consciously, or what they'd say in jurisprudence, with malice aforethought. And in both these cases, those that did this horrible sin are acting like the Pharisees in Matthew 12 and committing this unpardonable sin. This is how it can be committed today. Now let's explain what it means. It's conscious and deliberate, insulting the Holy Spirit right there at point-blank range. It's intentional. And it's in the context of seeing or experiencing something supernatural and miraculous, involving some knowledge of the Bible, knowing that the gospel is true about who Jesus is, For example, a person, this is committed by a person that knows the truth. Not somebody out there that's never been to church, never heard the gospel, never read the Bible. He's never committed this. And this is by someone that is well taught. For example, someone that's been raised in a Bible believing church. Like the Pharisees, they knew their Bible inside and out. And they'd also tagged around hearing Jesus. So it's conscious, deliberate, and involves knowledge. A few years ago, late one night, I was watching the news and weather on television and I walked into the kitchen to wash the dishes and I left the television on. And this news program, Nightline, came on. You've seen the show. And they said, there's an interesting phenomenon going on on the internet. And I said, yeah, what is it? So I was kind of curious. And they showed these clips from YouTube and other such things, saying this is kind of a new fad that people think it's cool. These are kids that were raised in evangelical churches, and now they're cursing that. I'm saying, what? And so they showed these little clips of these teenagers and young adults, both girls and boys, and they had this glassy look on their face and this evil smile, and they took turns, I tremble to say this, saying things like, I hereby consciously and deliberately blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Another one says, I blaspheme God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Another one, probably a Catholic, said, I blaspheme the Virgin Mary. And they thought this was cool. You know, I've seen some pretty evil things in my life. I've seen drug abuse, child abuse, drunkenness, drug abuse, suicide, murder, attempted murder. But when I saw that, I had to sit down. And I breathed heavily, I said, and I thought, how dare they show this on television? They're advertising. Some youngster is going to look at that and say, yeah, that's cool, man. Those young people may have been committing this sin. I'm not a prophet, but I would not be surprised if one day we see more of that. People raised in churches that are not converted and then later they grow up and they do that slingshot effect against everything holy that they were taught by their parents and by their preacher and they viciously turn on Christianity. Some of the worst atheists and anti-Christian unbelievers grew up in Bible-believing churches. And we may see more of this in the future. It's possible those young adults were more than cool. They may have been committing this unpardonable sin. There are various other sins against the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4.30 talks about grieving the Spirit, but that's something that a Christian can do and be forgiven. This is worse than quenching the Spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5.19, which again Christians can do and be forgiven. It's also worse than resisting the Holy Spirit, Acts 7.51, which an unbeliever always does. But then when he's converted, he no longer resists the Spirit. He can repent like Paul. This is a unique sin. And it's the most extreme sin of all. And I'd caution you, it is an extremely rare sin. Those that do it never repent about it. It's as if their conscience is turned off. They know what they're doing and they just don't care. And if you say, do you realize what you're doing and you're going to hell? They say, I don't care. In fact, they want to go to hell if there is such a place. This confirms that they were never saved, of course. This confirms that they were never elected to salvation. This person that's unforgiven at this point confirms in this life that he was reprobated in eternity, and now he is experiencing what theologians call judicial permanent hardening. Read about that in Romans chapter 9. It's as if God sees that he's committed this unpardonable sin, God, the Spirit backs off, and then the Holy Spirit, as it were, brands him in his conscience. Reprobate! You will never be forgiven. You have gone way too far. And something now dramatically happens in that person. God has hardened his heart and his conscience permanently, guaranteeing that he will never ever be saved. This is not what all unbelievers do. Unbelievers maybe later become Christians. Praise the Lord. Every Christian was once an unbeliever. This is a rare case that rarely happens to an unbeliever. Most unbelievers never commit this, but some unbelievers die lost because they never repent. This is in a different category. Once a person has committed this, there's no turning back. It's like what we would call the point of no return. For example, If you take a jet plane from Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii, once you pass the halfway point, you're closer to your destiny than the place that you left from. That's the point of no return. They're not going to turn around and go back because they know it's shorter to go to your ultimate destiny. Now, that's like what happens in this person's life. He is past the point of no return. That's why it says in these two passages, there'll never be forgiveness. There's no place for repentance anymore. A non-Christian that hasn't reached that point of no return can still turn around. He can still repent and be saved. Not this person. He is past the point of no return, no forgiveness, no repentance. Now someone will object at this point and say, but Pastor Daniel, What if he does later repent? Is God going to say, sorry bud, you've gone too far? No, you missed, you missed the whole point. The point is, he will never repent. If he did, he would be forgiven. That's why these verses say there's no more repentance for this person. Why? Because God has branded him reprobate. It's God that gives repentance. At this point, God says, I will never give that person repentance. There's mystery in this, but it's awesome. So this person will never repent, and God will never give them repentance. It's a sin that begins in a moment, but it continues thereafter. Just like when a person truly repents, he continues to repent and believe in Jesus. He follows through. We call that the perseverance of the saints. You could call this the perseverance of the apostates. They will never repent. They continue to commit this sin to the day they die and even into the next life. It is a repeated sin. And it's worse than if they had never even heard of Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Go look that up in 2 Peter 2. It would have been better if they had never heard the way of life than to hear it and turn on it. There are degrees of punishment in hell. The person that's never heard the gospel will die lost and be punished for his sins. The person that hears and rejects it will be punished more. The person that will be punished the most is this person. He knew that it was true and he violently turned on Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And the classic example of this is not just the Pharisees, but Judas. This is the sort of person that imitates Judas. You see, Judas traveled with Jesus for three years. He was there to witness all these miracles, even more than the Pharisees did. He knew it was true. He was given a temporary endowment of the Spirit in order to do miracles, just like a couple of the false prophets in the Old Testament, like Balaam. Didn't mean he was converted. Jesus was never saved. But eventually, it says Satan entered into him, he turned on Jesus, sold him out for a bag of coins, and at that point he committed this sin. He couldn't live with it, so he went out and committed suicide. Died lost. Jesus said he went to his own place. Not like Peter. Christians can commit this sin. Peter committed on that same night. He denied Jesus, went out and wept. He was forgiven because he had denied Jesus. That was an insult. He had not blasphemed the Spirit like Judas did. Notice the significant difference. There are degrees of apostasy. A person may claim to be a Christian and then joins a cult or becomes a liberal or even an atheist. But the ultimate apostasy is when a person that claims to be a Bible-believing, born-again Christian, and has experienced some work of the Spirit, such as conviction of sin and enlightenment, just short of salvation, and then he turns on not only Christ, but the Holy Spirit, and he commits this sin, and he is now dedicated to opposing everything holy. Question. Why does Jesus and the writer of Hebrews specifically say it's the blasphemy against the Spirit that is unforgivable, not against the Father or the Son? Why the Holy Spirit? For several reasons. He is God, but this doesn't mean, well, he's greater than Jesus. No, Father, Son, and the Spirit are all equal and divine. But it's because two reasons. Number one, it's the Holy Spirit that brings us personally and existentially in touch with God. You know about that. It's the spirit that convicts us. It's the spirit that gives us the new birth. He is the one that fills us and sanctifies us and so forth. So he is that member of the Trinity that we have that personal spiritual contact with. Jesus and his humanity is in heaven. but he has sent the spirit here and the spirit works through the gospel and through Christians so a non-christian can come in personal contact with God through the Holy Spirit. So if the spirit then begins to work in that person supernaturally, that person begins to realize this is supernatural, the spirit is real. That's why if he turns on that spirit, he is in danger of committing this sin. The second reason is this. Notice he is the Holy Spirit. You've heard me preach on this, that anybody says he's had an experience of the Spirit, if he doesn't immediately sense holiness, that wasn't the Spirit. You can gauge the degree and the truth of your experience with the Spirit by how much you are in tune with holiness, such as conviction of sin and love of holiness. Therefore, when that unholy law centers is in contact with the Holy Spirit, and he turns on it and blasphemes them as being unholy, he crosses the line. I mentioned earlier, it is comparable to forms of Satanism. You see, Satanism, oh, some people think it's cool and they're into the occult, but some are into the hardcore Satanism, and they say, Satan is God. What this sin is doing is similar to that. Instead of saying Satan is God, this is saying God is Satan. Whereas one person once said, your God is my devil. I worship the one you call the devil and the one you worship is God. I call the devil. Perhaps some hardcore Satanists have committed this sin. Now the point is this, the Holy Spirit either convicts a person leading to conversion or, now listen carefully, or he convicts that person and enlightens him And then when that person commits this sin, the Holy Spirit doesn't convert him. He curses him. You see, it's mutual. The person that curses the Holy Spirit is inviting the curse of the Holy Spirit, leading to ultimate condemnation. And it begins in this life. The irony is that they curse the Spirit and the Spirit curses them. But once the Holy Spirit thus curses the lost sinner, he remains cursed eternally. You see, it starts at that moment and it continues into eternity without respite. Jonathan Edwards had an interesting observation on this. I don't remember reading it anywhere else. He said, It's comparable to the sin that Lucifer and the angels committed that got them kicked out of heaven. They knew who God was and they were worshiping God face to face for some period before the fall of Adam and Eve. And that included the Holy Spirit. And when they consciously and deliberately turned on God, including the Holy Spirit, they were thrown out of heaven. That's why Edward says, there is no hope for any of the demons or Satan. And a person that commits this sin is in the same category. They're all reprobate. And they are branded like that. That's worth pondering. This is a serious question. Consequently, some people fear that they have committed it. You've heard of the great William Cooper. He's written many great hymns. He lived 250 years ago. He had a very tender heart, a very tender conscience. He had breakdowns, and he often wondered had he committed the unpardonable sin. Once he thought he had, and he went out and tried to hang himself. He says, I'm like Judas. I may as well hang myself, and in God's providence, The rope or the branch broke, and he said, well, I'm still alive. And he wrote a hymn after that, God Moves in Mysterious Ways, His Wonders to Perform. And on his deathbed, he had great assurance that he is a true Christian after all. And one of his last words were, I didn't commit the unpardonable sin after all. My point is that some Christians fear that they've committed this. because they have a tender conscience and maybe now they've committed a gross sin such as immorality for the very first time and they wonder, can God ever forgive me? Yes. You see, the person that has committed this doesn't worry about whether he's doomed and cursed. He doesn't care anymore. His conscience is turned off. But if a Christian is concerned, have I committed this? That's proof he hasn't committed it. He needs to repent. He can be forgiven. Question, can we know if another person has committed this? Well, Jesus could. Perhaps the writer of the book of Hebrews and the apostles could, but we are not apostles. We're certainly not Jesus. We are not infallible. So I would exhort you, don't jump to conclusions. If you know someone that has cursed Jesus and maybe gotten drunk and starts cursing his spirit, don't jump to conclusions and say, well, that person will never be saved. They've committed the un... You are not infallible. You are not God. Continue to pray for that person. I'd say it's very, very unlikely we could identify someone. I'm not sure if I've ever seen anybody that's committed this, possibly those kids on TV that time. Be very, very careful, brethren. My point is this, and this is a good one. If this is unpardonable, this tells us no true Christian will ever commit it. Why? All of your sins have already been forgiven. There are several verses, like Isaiah 1.18, you'll be white as snow. 1 John 1.7, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses us from all sin. Book of Micah says that you have cast all of our iniquities into the depths of the sea. So if a Christian has had all of his sins already forgiven, that's proof he will never commit this one. Now we quoted Hebrews 6, and I included that verse, verse 9, where the writer says, but beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you. Yes, things that accompany salvation. Even though we speak in this manner, what he's saying is, I've just given a serious warning about these people that either are about to commit the unpardonable sin or already have, but he's like, he said, no, I'm not talking about you true Christians. You are safe. They are in danger. You are safe. If you are saved, you are safe. Because God has already forgiven you every single one of your sins. They will never come back to haunt you in this life or at the judgment day. But this unpardonable sin stays on the record of the unbelievers. You are not like that. So those people are wrong that say, well, this ultimate unpardonable sin can only be committed by a true Christian that now forfeits his salvation. That's what certain ultra Arminians teach. You only have one chance to be a Christian. You get saved. If you do this, you can never get saved again. Well, that's, they don't know their Bible. The one that does this sin will go to hell. But Christians can never lose their salvation. They can never forfeit it. It'll never be taken away from them. God will never divorce them or disown them. They've already been totally forgiven. And some Christians wonder, well, yes, I've been forgiven my sins before I became a Christian, but what about sins after that? Bible says all of your sins, past, present, future, have already been forgiven. They were nailed to the cross. In the moment you were saved, your record was wiped clean, your files were deleted. Therefore, you are never going to commit this unpardonable sin. You may commit other sins, but not this one. Isn't that encouraging? When you hear this strong warning, that should move you to say, am I a true Christian? When you know you're a true Christian, this bolsters your assurance. I will go to heaven, I will never commit this. But, if you're an unbeliever, either an out and out unbeliever that doesn't claim to be a Christian or an unbeliever that is pretending to be a Christian, Listen closely, you have no guarantee that you will never commit this sin. You might. That's why Hebrews is warning these people, these Jews that were saying they're Christians that are in danger of walking away from Jesus and even committing this. He speaks five serious warnings in this book, and I give you that same warning. If you're not a true Christian, Maybe you've been baptized, go to church, maybe you fooled your parents or even your pastor. But if you're not a true Christian, you are in danger of possibly committing this unpardonable sin one day. In God's name, I warn you, if you know the gospel and know that it's true, and that you have sensed something supernatural when you go to church, when you read the Bible, and you've seen lives change in their living holy lives, and you sense the Holy Spirit convicting you, enlightening you, and you say, I know this is true. Don't oppose that. And certainly don't, I played with you, don't turn on the Holy Spirit at that point. You're at the crossroads, and if you turn on him at that point, you're in danger of committing this sin. But even if you don't commit this extreme sin, don't give yourselves any air of saying, well, I haven't committed that and I'll still go on pretending I'm a Christian and I'm not. You'll still die lost. It may not as be bad for you as this sin, but it'll still be worse for you than you can imagine. You'll go to the same eternal hellfire as those that commit this unpardonable sin, because if you die unrepentant, you die unforgiven. Your only hope is to take the warning and repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ. Do it today. Our third and last lesson gets back to the life of the Christian. The Bible says we are to forgive others as God has forgiven us. Ephesians 4.32, be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ has forgiven you. Are there sins that we cannot forgive another person of? It's an interesting question. direct your attention to the end of the Lord's Prayer, where he says, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others. And he immediately says, because if you do not forgive others their sins, God will not forgive you yours. You see how they go together. Matthew 18, he told a parable about a person that wouldn't forgive someone a small amount of money that was owed, and yet he owed far more to someone else. Go and look that up. Let me ask you this, are there any sins that you have not forgiven someone else that has sinned against you. Maybe they've hurt you, wounded you in a very deep way. Or there are sins that you will not forgive, even if that person came to you and begged for your forgiveness. I've heard people say, I wouldn't forgive him if he came on his hands and knees begging. I talked to one person, he said, I can forgive anybody anything except if he lies to me. I can't forgive that. I said to him, well, I hope you never lie either. And I directed him to these verses. Sometimes in a married couple, One of them commits adultery, comes back and confesses it. And the other one is so wounded, says, I can't, I won't forgive you. I can't forgive you, that's gone too far. Remember what Jesus said, if you forgive not others, God will not forgive you. Are there unforgivable sins that people commit against us? Do we have that luxury of saying, no, I'm not gonna forgive you. I've read about a similar case but not involving Christians. This was after World War II and a certain SS man that had been involved in the murder of millions of Jews in the Holocaust was now on his deathbed with a guilty conscience. And he said to the doctor, bring a Jew here so I can confess. I can't die with that blood on my hands. And they brought Simon Wiesenthal, who later made a career of tracking down SS men just like that and bring them to justice. So Wiesenthal came to the man's deathbed, and the man was begging, please forgive me, please forgive me. And Wiesenthal couldn't, and the man died. And that became a point of discussion amongst rabbis. Are there sins that are beyond forgiveness? And some of those rabbis said yes. Some of those SS people, that's unforgivable what they did. And there's sometimes Christians act like that. What they did, what that person did to me, that's unforgivable. They misunderstand what forgiveness is. Forgiveness is not approving of bad behavior. It's saying, I am willing to admit it was bad, but I'm willing to forgive it. That's what God does to us. God says, what you've done is wrong. It's very wrong. but my son died for that sin and I'm willing to forgive that sin. We are to forgive as we have been forgiven. You don't know who has committed their unpardonable sin against God. That's a sin against God, not against you. So you are not in the luxury of saying, well, someone can commit an unpardonable sin against me and I can just say, nope, I'm not going to forgive you. You don't have it. You are commanded to forgive another person. Now someone will say, but what if that person doesn't repent and ask for forgiveness? You still offer forgiveness. You wait for that person. You see, we can't give repentance like God can, but we can offer forgiveness and plead with the person and be willing to forgive them. My last point is this. Dear brethren, thank God that he has forgiven you all of your sins. You'll never commit this extreme sin. And with the appreciation that you have been forgiven so much more than you realize, that will help you to forgive others all the sins they commit against you. May the Lord bless this serious word to all of our hearts this morning. Let us pray. Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit that inspired the words of your Holy Bible put this deep in our hearts and our conscience. Help us to examine ourselves to see if we are true Christians or not. And put your fear into our hearts so that we would, if non-converted, that we would ever commit this sin. We pray for the lost. And Father, we thank you as believers that you have forgiven us all of our sins, and we are safe even from this sin because of our precious Jesus. In his name we pray, amen.