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Amazing Facts

Joe Crews

Unpardonable Sin

Some time ago a condemned prisoner waited anxiously for an expected pardon.

The fatal death date arrived and no word had come from the Governor's office.

He died in the electric chair at the appointed hour.

I'll be back in a moment to talk about the amazing case of the unpardonable crime.

Music Hello, this is Joe Cruz in the Amazing Facts broadcast, Facts Which Affect You.

Well, the saddest spectacle in society today is a young criminal, bitter against life and dedicated to vengeful violence.

And the saddest spectacle in religion is the man or woman who has committed the unpardonable sin against heaven.

I suppose the most fateful words Jesus ever uttered are those found in Matthew 12, 31 and 32.

He said, Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto man.

And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him.

But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." Now there it is, and many people are very confused about this doctrine of Christ.

There has been much speculation about the unpardonable sin.

How does a person commit it, and how do we know when it has been committed?

Now first of all, let me hasten to say that God is a God of infinite love.

He desires everybody to be saved and has made full provision for that very end.

According to the promise of I John 1, 9, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins if we simply confess them and repent.

And no matter how deep down the stains of transgression go, the blood of Jesus is able to make atonement for us.

Isaiah says, Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Now in view of these promises, why should there be such a thing as an unpardonable sin?

If God has made such complete arrangements for a person to be pardoned, how can He lose eternal life?

Now remember, folks, this sin is not pardoned because it is not confessed.

The only sin God can't forgive is the 1 that has not been repented of, that hasn't been confessed, and that is never forsaken.

That is the unpardonable part of this sin against the Holy Spirit.

Now let's hasten on to examine some scriptures to find the full answer to our question.

Others consider it to be some terrible cursing of the Holy Spirit, and still others think of it as some dreadful immorality.

But do we know, friends, what sin is according to the Bible definition?

Now this is a sin, it's the unpardonable sin.

Listen, I John 3, verse 4 says, Sin is the transgression of the law.

Now this sin, the unpardonable sin, must have something to do with the breaking of God's law.

Paul goes on to clarify that the law involved is the 10 Commandment law.

So the unpardonable sin has to do somehow with the breaking of that 10 Commandment law.

And we also know, of course, that it has to do with offending the Holy Spirit in some way, because it is a sin against the Holy Spirit.

Now what is the primary work and function of that Holy Spirit anyway?

John 14, 26 tells us, in fact Jesus says it there, that the Spirit of God will guide us, or rather teach us, all things.

And then John 16, 13 says He will guide us into all truth.

John 16, verse 7 says that He will reprove the world of sin.

So here we have the 3 main offices of the Holy Spirit.

He will teach us, guide us, and convict us of sin.

And as long as the Holy Spirit is permitted to do these things for a person, he could never be guilty of committing the unpardonable sin.

But now just suppose that I refuse to be taught and guided by the Spirit.

Suppose I refuse to be reproved of breaking God's law.

In that case, the Holy Spirit will never be able to perform His work in my life.

In Genesis 6, verse 3, God said, My spirit shall not always strive with man.

Now I want you to take particular note of what the people were doing when God said that.

They were lying, stealing, committing every other sin known to man.

And as Noah preached to them, the Spirit of God was present to convict them of their sins.

But those people rejected the message of Noah.

They refused to listen to the voice of God that pleaded with them while He was preaching.

Is this same condition prevailing in the world today?

According to Ephesians 4.30, we find exactly the same rejection of the Holy Spirit taking place today.

Paul says, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

They are spurning the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.

You may not think that this is such a terrible sin, but remember that the Holy Spirit is the only connecting link between God and our hearts.

If that lifeline is ever broken, we are completely separated from heaven.

David realized this when he prayed there in Psalm 51, Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

You see, just as a drowning man can refuse to take the rope that is thrown to him, so we can refuse the Holy Spirit if we want to.

But, friends, we cut ourselves off completely from God and from salvation if we do that.

But now let's consider how a man commits this terrible sin.

I have put down 3 ways in which it might be done.

First of all, if we refuse to confess and forsake our sins, we will surely offend the Spirit.

Proverbs 28, 13 says, He that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Now that means that if we are openly hostile to Christ and His Word, we finally get set into that mold and soon we don't even care about religion.

Our heart becomes hard and determined and we resist every impulse of God.

The second way in which we can commit this sin is to persistently put off the warning of God's Spirit.

We may have good intentions about the future, but nevertheless we neglect the opportunity that comes to us day by day, and therefore we become guilty before God.

This class, I believe, is represented by Felix and the Bible, who was so deeply convicted about his own sin.

But you remember what he said finally to Paul, Go thy way for now, Paul, and when I have a more convenient season, I will call for thee." Well, he never did, of course.

Most people don't realize that when they neglect the truth, like Felix did, that they are actually rejecting it, because they seldom ever do anything about it in the future.

Now the third and most important way in which we can offend against the Holy Spirit is by sinning against light.

Now I want us to spend some time considering this subtle snare, because, friends, a greater number of people commit this sin through the rejection of new truth than in any other way.

We must never forget that truth is progressive.

At no 1 time has all the truth ever been revealed to any 1 person.

We are led on 1 step at a time in comprehending the will of God.

As we accept the light that comes to us today, God will allow greater light to come, leading us further into the truth.

Psalms 119, 105 says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my pathway.

As these new rays of light are shed on us, the Holy Spirit pleads with us to accept them and to walk in that truth.

If we refuse to lay hold of all that light, we will be left behind finally in the dark.

The longer we resist the voice that speaks to us, the easier it becomes to reject more light.

I remember as a boy on my father's farm back in North Carolina, we used to go to the stables very early in the morning to help take care of the cows.

Of course it would be very dark, and I would stay close to my dad as he hurried along with a lantern in his hand.

I could imagine all kinds of dark forms and shapes and the shadows beside that path.

I didn't dare let him get more than a step ahead of me, because that lantern just flickered along showing 1 step at a time.

Now in the same way, we are to follow the light of truth as it goes before us, revealing the way.

And if we should ever stop while the Holy Spirit is pleading with us to go on, we'll find ourselves left alone in the darkness.

Oh, how easy it is for us to get accustomed to the voice of the Spirit until we are actually hardened to it finally.

Suppose you have an alarm clock to wake you up in the morning in time to get to work.

But now just suppose you ignore that alarm for a few days and simply lie there until it runs down.

Within a very short time you will be so hardened to that sound that you won't even wake up when it goes off.

I was brought up on a farm, as I mentioned, and then I went away to college for 4 years.

When I came back to the farm to visit Dad, I decided to go out and help him do some of the fall plowing.

So I took the horse and cultivators and spent about an hour in the fields.

By that time my tender hands were covered with blisters from holding on to the handle of that old plow.

And during the next few days I spent more and more time following that horse through those fields, until finally, after a few days, My hands became so tough to the plow that I didn't even notice that they were sensitive at all.

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Unpardonable Sin

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