THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN

By Pastor Dick

Recently a woman wrote, telling me that a church in her area welcomed drunkards, drug addicts and wife beaters but not homosexuals, and she asked if the sin of homosexuality was worse than the others. That raises the question: Are some sins worse than others? What about the sin of self-righteousness? Is that as bad as murder or adultery? Is it wrong to tell a little white lie to try to keep someone from worrying? A lot could be said about this subject, but bringing up sins and trying to analyze them is like opening a can of worms!

It does appear that there are certain sins (not sinners) we should hate more than others, but all sins are bad; we should not condone any sin. Sin is so wicked that it took the sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross of Calvary to cleanse it out of our lives and set us free from its power. It is not wise to flirt with sin or take evil lightly; the Bible says, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil" (Ps.97:10).

However, the Scriptures do indicate that one sin is worse than all the others; it is so bad that there is no forgiveness for it. It is the only sin not covered by the blood of Christ. That horrible sin is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Jesus warned of this unforgivable sin when 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 men. 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" (Mat.12:31, 32). Again He said, "Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation" (Mark 3:29). And again He said, "And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven" (Luke 12:10).

Now that is the sin of sins! It is the one to fear committing above all the others. The problem is that there are some who should fear that they may commit this sin who are not the least concerned, while others, to whom it does not even pertain, are fearful of doing it.

That horrendous sin can afflict people who belong to the world, but it cannot touch anyone who is a member of the kingdom of God. Nothing is more devastating to the lives of Christians than believing that they might be guilty of the unforgivable sin. The fear of having done that sin has gripped the lives of some of God's children and it is holding them in terrible bondage, even though it is something that should be of no concern to them. It is the first thing to cross off the worry list when one comes to Christ, because it is absolutely impossible for a child of God to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. The moment we receive Christ, we become exempt from the unforgivable sin. By the protection of Almighty God, all believers in Christ are out of the reach of that horrible sin.

It is true that we children of God, with our freedom of choice, can do some things that will grieve or frustrate the Holy Spirit (Eph.4:30; Gal.2:21), but that is entirely different from blaspheming Him. That unforgivable sin does have a boundary; there is a line that it cannot cross, drawn by the Hand of God when a person receives Christ. The lives of all who belong to Jesus are off-limits--out of bounds--to the unforgivable sin; they are simply beyond its reach.

Some people fear they may have, unintent- ionally, committed the unforgivable sin, but that is never the case. Anyone who commits that sin knows exactly what they are doing. It is not something that can be done randomly; there are only precise times when it can occur.

Many have difficulty understanding what the unforgivable sin is. The bottom line is: you just cannot reject Jesus and get to heaven. It is as simple as that!

It is the magnificent work of the Holy Spirit that prepares a heart to receive Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the One who reveals Christ. Only He can reach into a person's spirit and give them a true revelation of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior.

The preparation for a person to receive Christ is a great mystery. We do not know when the Holy Spirit begins the groundwork for someone to receive Jesus. It appears to be before the foundation of the world (Eph.1:4, 5). But one thing is certain: it is a mighty work of God.

Sometimes we attempt to take on that work ourselves. We are so anxious to see people saved that we drag them to an altar or twist their arm some other way to have them pray to receive Jesus. Instead of working with the Holy Spirit, we try to take over His work, and we are more of a hindrance than a help.

We really cannot tell when someone is ready unless God shows us. It could take a few years or a whole lifetime for the Holy Spirit to prepare the spirit of a person to be ready for the moment of the true revelation of Christ. When that time does come, there is no misunderstanding, no confusion, for it is the divine work of God. There are some children at a very young age who are prepared to receive Jesus, and there are people who are really old and still not ready.

Satan has deceived many people of the world into thinking that God is not interested in them, so they exist in a state of limbo, not realizing that God would move heaven and earth to bring them into a position to receive Jesus and become His very own. If the dimensional curtain opened for them to get a glance into the spiritual realm, they would see a lot of activity on their behalf. How surprised they would be to see their name on a divine program: angels getting assignments; circumstances being arranged; experiences being formatted; people being called to help. The Holy Spirit will not overlook the smallest detail in the preparation for them to be ready for His miraculous introduction of the Son of God to them in a personal way.

We should never try to take credit for leading anyone to the Savior, because Jesus said, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44). Yes . . . we do have the wonderful privilege of telling others about Jesus, but we cannot see into their spirit and know when they are ready to receive Him. We should be very sensitive to the leading of God before we ask anyone to pray to receive Christ, because if it is not a time when the Holy Spirit is giving a revelation of Jesus to them, no matter how they pray, there will be no miracle of the new birth.

The most important moment in a person's life is when the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to them personally. In that instant, not only does Jesus become a living reality to the person's spirit, but also, His sacrifice on the cross becomes a personal revelation. That is the only time receiving Christ as Lord and Savior is possible--and it is also the only time that it is possible to commit the unforgivable sin.

To reject Jesus at that holy moment, when He is revealed by the Spirit, is to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. There is no way that the rejection of Jesus, when He is truly revealed, could ever be forgiven. Who in their right mind would ever think that God would say: "I will forgive you for rejecting My only begotten Son, Jesus, who was sacrificed on the cross for your sins. You do not need to believe in Him; you may keep all your sins and still come into My kingdom"?!

Now, there are people who appear to have rejected Jesus and still have not blasphemed the Holy Spirit, and there are people who appear to have received Him but nothing has happened to them to make a change in their lives. They may have gone through the motions of accepting Jesus, yet were not reborn because it was not a time when they were being drawn by the Spirit of God.

There are times people seem to be rejecting Jesus when they are not really rejecting Him but are rejecting a false concept of Him; therefore, they have not committed the unforgivable sin but have done the right thing. Nevertheless, when the Holy Spirit gives the revelation of Jesus, all those false ideas that Satan has led men to believe are blown away by the wind of the Spirit, and "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" comes shining through (2Cor. 4:6).

It is hard to imagine that anyone could have the glorious revelation of Jesus as given by the Holy Spirit and then reject Him. We do not know how many opportunities a person has in a lifetime to come to the Lord, but just the thought of the Door of Salvation closing as the Holy Spirit is being blasphemed is enough to make one shudder! Even though we know that it is possible for someone outside the family of God to commit the unforgivable sin, we must never accuse anyone of doing it, for we do not know whose names are not written in the Book of Life.

We may be ready to give up on some people who have not yet come to Christ, but God is a God of patience (Rom.15:5). We do not know what is going on between a person and the Holy Spirit even as they take their last breath here on earth. What we do know is that "the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations" (Ps.100:5). When someone does not make it to heaven, it certainly is not because they did not have ample opportunity, for God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet.3:9).

Little do we comprehend the battle that goes on in the spiritual realm between the powers of Light and darkness. Little do we realize the time it took and the work that went on from before the foundation of the world up to the time the Holy Spirit brought a person to a position to receive Christ. And little do we realize how valuable we are to God. Can you hear Him saying to you, "My child, to Me, you are worth it all!"?

Once a person is saved, a mighty work of the Holy Spirit has been accomplished. Victory over the unforgivable sin for that individual has been won, but that is not the end of the work of the Holy Spirit in that life; it is just the end of phase one! The work of salvation in that new life is complete. He is sealed (Eph.1:13); he is secure in the family of God. God does not do a sloppy job; His work is always perfect. Once we are born again we will not become unborn; we will not commit the unforgivable sin . . . that is no longer an issue!

Once we are born again by the power of God, the Holy Spirit takes on a new role in our lives. He is now the Comforter, the Teacher, the Provider, and the Fruit Producer, and He has a brand new creation to work on. The Bible says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2Cor:5:17). This new creature thrives in the love of God; it abounds in the fruit of the Spirit. Nevertheless, a Christian still does have a will of his own and has the choice of relaxing and letting the Holy Spirit do His glorious work or getting uptight and trying to be a do-it-yourselfer.

That new birth we receive when we come to Christ (John 1:12, 13) is a whole, new, unending life placed within us by the Hand of God. Just as a newborn babe needs to learn how to adjust to life outside the womb and live in the world, after we come to Christ we need to learn how to live in the kingdom of God, where not only have we been made new but all things are become new. Other Christians are thrilled when a new member is added to the family of God. A newborn babe in Christ is a big attraction and does get much love and attention. Nevertheless, the time soon comes when that new child of God must learn to walk, and that is not as easy as we may think because it is a walk of faith.

The Bible instructs us to "walk in newness of life" (Rom.6:4). It teaches that ". . . the just shall live by his faith" (Hab.2:4; Rom.1:17). We will not be fruitful in this new life if we insist on walking by human insight and being controlled by our feelings. Learning to walk by faith does not come naturally. We do not learn to do it all at once; it takes time and practice and a lot of help. The best way to learn this walk of faith is to take hold of the hand of our Heavenly Father and never let go. The problem is that once we take a few steps, we want to let go and walk our own natural way; and that is why we walk so much in the flesh and so little in the Spirit.

Perhaps what hinders our spiritual walk the most is when we do not draw the line between our old adamic nature and the new creation that God placed in us when we received Christ. The Bible tells us to reckon the old man dead, for he has been crucified on the cross with Christ (Rom.6:6). There are times of temptation when the old man feels very much alive in our lives. Those are the times when it is essential to walk by faith in the word of God rather than by the feelings of the natural man.

I had been wearing my wedding ring for more than thirty-five years; then one day I noticed it was not on my finger. I found it out in the garage inside the finger of a work glove. I had not worn that glove for several days during which time I was unaware that my ring was missing, for it felt as if it were still on my finger. Some days it surely feels as if that old man I used to be is still alive, but those are the days I have the opportunity to choose to walk by faith and believe the word of God rather than my feelings.

Reality is what God says, and He has declared our old sinful man dead. By faith we believe God's word rather than what we feel in our flesh. There will be a time when we will not have to put up with the feelings of the old human nature, but do not count on it until you arrive on heaven's shore!

While the Lord was on this earth, in the form of a man, He told His disciples that after He finished His work on the cross and returned to His Father in heaven, He would send the Holy Spirit as the Comforter who would abide with them forever (John 14:16). Our Comforter wants to make us secure in our identity as a child of God and to establish us with a true concept of God. Only then will we be able to enjoy a comfortable relationship with our Heavenly Father. What a consolation it is to know that we have eternal life with God and that all our sins--past, present and future--have been wiped out on the cross. What a joy it is to really know what God is like--how wonderful He really is and how He loves us!

If Christ is our Savior that means we are saved! It is foolish to listen to Satan or anyone else lie to us by saying that Christ did not give us eternal life, that He gave us something else, like some kind of salvation we would have to work on to maintain or it would not last. The Holy Spirit does not do His work incorrectly. He is the One who "sealed" us in Christ when we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior. For anyone to break that seal, they would have to be more powerful than God!

God, who cannot lie (Heb.6:18), promised us when we received Jesus, that we would never perish, and that no one would be able to pluck us out of His hand (John 10:28, 29)! No one can undo the work that Christ finished on the cross. The moment one receives Jesus, he or she is exempted from the unforgivable sin. For a child of God to worry that they may blaspheme the Holy Spirit is a foolish waste of time and energy!

The Holy Spirit is our Teacher (John 14:26). He is not a controller of the children of the kingdom. He will not violate our freedom of choice and does not force us to learn. If we are slow learners, He is patient. The first thing we need to learn is that God is good and that God is love. We may want to run ahead and learn certain things that are down the road, but He will wait until we are ready to get back to square one.

Some Christian men are taking time away from their families and spending a lot of money on hotel accommodations and traveling expenses to go to meetings to try to learn how to be better husbands. It is nice to know that so many want to be better husbands. Nevertheless, they really do not need to take that time or go to that expense when they have the greatest Teacher in the universe living right in their hearts. The Bible says, "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him" (1John 2:27).

Something else these men who want to be better husbands should consider: Could there be a better husband to their wives than Christ? The new creation is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col.1:27). Wouldn't it be easier just to live in the new creation? (This is also something for Christians to consider before they rush off to Bible schools to try to become ministers, for it is the Spirit of God who makes us "able ministers of the new testament" [2Cor.3:6].)

The Holy Spirit does not try to teach the old man (1Cor.2:14), but He communicates with the new man within us. The problem we often have is that we try to make the old man spiritual. We expect the Spirit of God to teach our old adamic nature, when we should learn how to hear the voice of God in our new inner heart. If we listen to the teachings of men rather than the Holy Spirit, we will not be learning who we are in Christ but rather how to act like a Christian. We learn from the teachings of men how to perform, how to display artificial fruit, and how to function in unreality, when we should be learning to live in the new creation.

Paul the apostle said he did not speak in the words that man's wisdom teaches, but what the Holy Spirit teaches (1Cor.2:4) . The Holy Spirit wants to teach us a deeper revelation of the finished work of Christ.

One of the hardest things for most Christians to learn is to stop trying to earn things from God. Instead of living like sons and daughters of the living God, some choose to live like servants. That was the mentality of the prodigal son when he returned to his father and tried to relate to him as a servant rather than a son (Luke 15:18, 19). The world and the natural man teach us to work and earn, but that old perverted way of relating to God must pass away for us to be able to function and grow in this new life, which is totally dependent on God. We want to work and earn, while God wants to freely give. He loves to give good gifts to His children (Mat.7:11).

The Lord knows how to feed His sheep. If we think we have to read the Bible every day to maintain our spiritual fitness, chances are we are trying to force-feed ourselves rather than depending on the Holy Spirit to feed us.

When the prophet Elijah was alone in the wilderness and had fallen asleep after becoming exhausted from going through a very difficult time, an angel of the Lord touched him, woke him up and gave him a meal. Then he rested. Again he was touched by the angel and given another meal that gave him strength to travel forty days and nights (1Kings 19:4-8). He was not given a forty-day supply of food to carry in his back pack. It was one meal to get rested and one to get going. Spiritual food with a touch from the Lord always gives us rest and strength.

The Holy Spirit can give us one insight into the word of God that will give us strength for a long time. There are people who have read through the Bible several times, yet they remain weak and undernourished spiritually; while others, who read a promise from the Lord here and there and really believe, are pillars of strength.

We do have a calling in life; we are chosen for a purpose. Jesus said, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you" (John 15:16). The glorious fruit that we are chosen to bring forth does not come from our works. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit!

It sounds good when we say we are trying to be more loving and patient and kindhearted or that we are trying to get the love of God growing in us. What we produce may look good to the natural man, but it is artificial; it will not nourish and it will not remain, for there is no life in it. The fruit of the Holy Spirit remains forever; it is the treasure we take with us to heaven. We cannot work for this fruit for it has been given to us in the inheritance of Christ. The love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance of the Holy Spirit does not grow in us. It does not grow at all, for it is perfect, complete. It is full grown. We grow in it; that is, we who belong to Christ!

The Holy Spirit does not bring the old man that has been crucified with Christ into the fruit of the Spirit. It is for the new creation. If we choose to walk in the old man rather than in the new, we will have made a terrible choice. But still, we will not be committing the unforgivable sin, for that is an absolute impossibility for anyone who belongs to Christ. We can choose to be unfruitful, which will make us miserable here on earth, but that does not mean we have lost our ticket to heaven.

There is no life in that old man crucified with Christ. Walking in the old is like walking in death. It does not make any sense to do that when we have a new life to live. It is like going to a graveyard and digging up an old corpse to live with. Who would want to do that?!

Something else that has no life in it is an image. We may have gone to great lengths to build a self image, but that has no place in the new life God gives to us when we receive Jesus. An image has no life; it cannot grow in the fruit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit will not bring that into His garden. An attractive self image may be appealing for a while, but down deep people know when something is real. They know the love, joy and peace a child of God has when living in the new creation is something that is not produced by man, but comes from God. Jesus said, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit" (John 15:8).

Before we became a new creature in Christ, we were taught to become self-dependent, to strive and push to get ahead, but things are different in our new life. It is not what we accomplish but rather what Christ does within us. We should not try to live the Christian life in our own strength, but there is something we can do: just abide in Christ, live in His rest and enjoy His love. And, for goodness sakes, do not worry about committing the unforgivable sin!