Sermon Tone Analysis

God Wants to Help Us Avoid the Unforgivable Sin

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 12:22-37

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared April 11, 2022)

BACKGROUND:

*Here in Matthew 12, Jesus was in the second year of His ministry.

By this time, bitter hatred had poisoned the minds of the Pharisees who rejected the Lord.

They were looking for any possible way they could find to accuse Jesus of breaking God's Law.

(1)

*In vs. 9-14, the Lord went into a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand.

After that, the Pharisees went out and took counsel against Him, how they might destroy Him." Luke 6:11 tells us that the Pharisees were filled with rage to the point of madness that day.

And they were determined to find a way to murder Jesus.

That's how much they hated the Lord.

*Next in vs. 22-29, Jesus miraculously healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute.

At that point some of the Pharisees boiled over with such raging hatred that they committed the unpardonable sin: They blasphemed the Holy Spirit of God.

And they did this by accusing Jesus of casting out demons by the ruler of the demons.

But vs. 22-29 also showed us three great reasons why Christians can always rejoice in the Lord.

Thank God, Church!

No matter what is going on in our lives, we can always rejoice in the Lord!

*Now we will take a closer look at the one and only unforgivable sin.

Please think about this as we read Matthew 12:22-37.

MESSAGE:

*Have you ever worried about committing the unpardonable or unforgivable sin?

And what is the unforgivable sin?

A lot of people think it's suicide, but that's not what the Bible says.

*Some people think that the unpardonable sin is murder.

When James McCullen was a pastor in St. Louis, Missouri, a young man came Sunday after Sunday.

He was not a Christian, and even though he showed signs of interest, he would never talk about accepting Jesus as his Savior.

Finally, he told the men in the church that he could never be a Christian because he had committed the unpardonable sin.

But the sin he had committed and served time for was the sin of taking another life.

One night he got into a terrible fight with his drunken father, and killed him.

(2)

*I hope that man got saved, because murder is a terrible sin, but it is not the unforgivable sin.

Moses was a murderer, and he is one of the heroes of Heaven.

*Many people also think that rejecting Jesus as your Savior is the unforgivable sin.

That's what I thought for many years.

But when we look into the Word of God, we see that this is not the case.

*Please don't misunderstand me, because yes, you are as lost as can be until you trust in Jesus.

But here in vs. 32 Jesus specifically said, "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him."

And think about the Apostle Paul.

Surely Paul rejected Jesus and spoke against Him many times before he met the Lord on the road to Damascus.

But those sins and all of Paul's sins were forgiven when He trusted in the Lord.

*There are other sins that people consider to be unforgivable, but the Bible mentions only one, and the Lord tells us about it in today's Scripture.

The unpardonable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

This means evil, abusive speaking against the Holy Spirit of God in a way to slander or injure Him.

And God wants to help us avoid the unforgivable sin.

How can we do it?

1. FIRST: WE MUST RESPECT THE HOLY SPIRIT AS GOD.

*God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not 3 separate gods.

There is only one God existing as three eternal persons.

Each person in the Godhead testifies for the other two.

And here in Matthew 12 Jesus stressed the importance of the Holy Spirit.

*So, we must understand and respect that the Holy Spirit is God.

"Christian Life Master Outlines and Study Notes" explains that "The Holy Spirit is God, and is equal to God the Father and God the Son.

He is God the Holy Spirit, and is distinct from the Father and the Son."

*We clearly see the Holy Spirit's divinity in Acts 5:3-4.

There, Ananias and his wife tried to deceive God and His church about their giving.

3. (And) Peter said, "Ananias, why has the Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?

4. While it remained was it not your own?

And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?

Why have you conceived this thing in your heart?

You have not lied to men but to God."

*In vs. 3 Peter said, "You lied to the Holy Spirit."

Then in vs. 4 Peter said, "You lied to God," so the Holy Spirit is God.

He is co-equal, co-eternal, and co-existent with God the Father and Son.

*The Holy Spirit's deity is also seen in the fact that He has divine qualities.

For example, the Holy Spirit is everywhere.

King David made this truth clear in Psalm 139:7.

There he asked God, "Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?"

*Luke 1:35 declares the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit, and His essential connection to the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Virgin Mary had asked how she would be able to have a baby.

And in Luke 1:35, the angel answered and told her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."

*We also know that the Holy Spirit is God, because He has all the knowledge of God.

This truth is highlighted in 1 Corinthians 2:9-11.

There God's Word says:

9. . .

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.''

10.

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.

For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

11.

For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?

Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

*The Holy Spirit has all of the infinite knowledge of God, because He is God!

But we also know that the Holy Spirit is God because He is eternal.

Hebrews 9:14 mentions this fact when it asks Christians, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the ETERNAL SPIRIT offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (3)

*Church: The Holy Spirit is not just some heavenly force or power.

The Holy Spirit is God!

And since He is God, we must respect Him as God.

2. WE ALSO MUST UNDERSTAND BLASPHEMY AGAINST GOD'S SPIRIT.

*Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is a horrible sin that brings irreversible condemnation from God. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is unforgivable.

As Jesus said in vs. 31-32:

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.

32.

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, 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."

*Jesus said this because of something the unbelieving Pharisees had just said.

It was after Jesus healed the blind and mute man who had been possessed by demons.

Because of that miraculous healing, the multitudes began to wonder if Jesus was the promised Messiah.

And of course He is!

*But in vs. 24, "When the Pharisees heard it they said, 'This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.'"

By saying those words, the Pharisees were blaspheming the Holy Spirit with no hope of forgiveness.

*B.

H. Carroll was a great preacher and the founder of our Southwestern Seminary over in Fort Worth.

He explained the unforgivable sin with these 3 key points: