The Unpardonable Sin Mk 3:29-30 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
The unpardonable sin is “the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost,” (Matt 12:31). The reason that it is called the unpardonable sin is that Jesus said, “He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation,” (Mk 3:29).
When the question comes up, “Can I blaspheme the Holy Ghost?”, no, you can’t, not right now. There are many other sins that you can commit against the Holy Ghost. But, right now, blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is not one of the sins that you can commit.
You see, the trouble with this sin started when the Pharisees criticized Jesus for casting devils out of folks. They didn’t believe that he was doing those miracles by the power of God. So, they said that he was doing them by the power of the devil. In fact, he was working in the power of the Holy Ghost. Thus they committed this sin when they said, “He hath an unclean spirit,” (Mk. 3:30). Essentially, they called the Holy Spirit an unclean spirit.
The only time that a man could have committed this sin, therefore, was while Jesus was on the earth. Because that is the only time he could have said, “He [Jesus] hath an unclean spirit.” You have to put Matt. 12: 24-32 and Mk. 3: 22-30 together to see what the Bible says about this sin. In no other place do you find this sin. There are other sins that are committed against the Holy Spirit elsewhere in the New Testament, but not this one.
This is a horrible sin. And there are people today who are worried sick about committing it. There are also people today who have used the threat of this sin to convince others not to criticize the work in their lives or ministries that they attribute to the Holy Spirit. In other words, they try to scare you with this sin so that you won’t point out to them or others that they are working under the influence of the devil. Well, Peter certainly wasn’t afraid to nail Ananias and Sapphira with their devilment (they lied to the Holy Ghost) when he spotted a fraud.
You shouldn’t let people scare you by threatening you with a sin that you cannot commit. I have talked with people who have gone to one of these modern Charismatic churches and who witnessed a wild display of tongue talking. What they saw scared them. Things didn’t look right. Indeed, they didn’t. What they witnessed violated the Holy Spirit’s own rules for tongues in 1 Cor. 14:27-34. What they witnessed was either the flesh or the devil, but it wasn’t the Holy Spirit.
When they tried to question what was going on, they were threatened with, “You blaspheme the Holy Ghost of God!” Now, you see how people use this sin to threaten others who don’t agree with what they are doing. Questioning a clear violation of scriptural rules for tongues is not blasphemy of the Holy Spirit anywhere in the Bible!
Look, these guys would have you believe that just because they attribute what they are doing to the supernatural, it must be of God. Not so!! The Pharisees attributed what they saw Jesus doing to the devil because they knew that the devil certainly has great supernatural powers and these powers closely resemble the supernatural work of God.
In 2 Thes. 2:9, for instance, we see that the devil works with “all power and signs and lying wonders.” In Rev. 13: 13-15, we see that the devil has power to make fire come down from heaven and to give life to the image of the beast.” In Matt. 7:21-23, we find a bunch of lost people (people that the Lord never knew) performing wonderful works, prophesying and casting out devils!!! They were obviously not doing this by the Holy Spirit, they were lost!!
Sometimes in the supernatural it is impossible to tell whether something is being done by God or the devil. For example, in 2 Sam. 24:1, the Lord moves David to number Israel. But in 1 Chr. 21:1, we find that the devil moved David to number them. In that case, the Lord and the devil worked so closely on the matter that they were both involved and you couldn’t tell them apart.
The woman who followed Paul around and proclaimed, “These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation,” (Acts 16: 16-18) certainly appeared spiritual. And, indeed, she was. Only the spirit that she had was a “spirit of divination” and not the Holy Spirit, at all. Paul had to cast that spirit out!! You see how closely the devil imitates the work of God!!
So, the Lord isn’t going to charge you with the “unpardonable sin” just because you doubt whether some preacher or “gifted” individual is really working in the Holy Spirit’s power. We are warned throughout the Bible that there are many false prophets and false teachers. Just because somebody does something that appears to be supernatural reveals absolutely nothing about the source of their “spirituality.” They could easily be working for the devil.
So, don’t fret over committing the unpardonable sin.
There is really only one sin that will send a man to hell – it is the sin of unbelief. The sin of not believing in Jesus Christ will condemn a man. John 3:18, 36 say, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
But the sin of unbelief is pardonable. All you have to do is believe in Jesus and receive him (Jn 1:12). When the Holy Spirit was sent after Jesus ascended, he came to, among other things, “reprove the world of sin,” (Jn 16:8). The main sin of which he reproves the world is the sin of unbelief, not blasphemy. Jesus said, in Jn 16:9, that the Holy Spirit reproves the world “of sin, because they believe not on me [talking about Jesus].”
Therefore, if you are not saved, receive Jesus Christ. If you are saved quit worrying about somebody accusing you of committing the unpardonable sin because you doubt that what they are doing is evidence of the Holy Spirit working in their lives. They are just trying to scare you!