Matthew 12:22-24 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?" But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons." The Pharisees truly despised Jesus. They were against everything He stood for because He was essentially overriding what they taught. “All the people were astonished and said, ‘Could this be the Son of David?’” Meaning, could this be the Messiah! Everyone who saw this miracle understood that Jesus had a profound connection to God because no one but God could command such things. And yet the Pharisees – hearing everyone attribute Christ’s power to God – chose themselves to attribute Christ’s power to Satan.
"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." meaning that the Pharisees were guilty of actively discouraging people from the kingdom of God. The Pharisee’s had gone beyond simply disagreeing with Christ and instead were now actively working to not only discredit Him but to keep people from Him. Again, don’t miss how huge this is! The religious leaders were conspiring against God, and for that reason – because they were actively working against God – Jesus unleashes the hardest saying found in Scripture: "And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."
Every sin and blasphemy possible will be forgiven, except one: blasphemy against the Spirit. “Blasphemy” literally means a defiant hostility towards God. In essence, the one thing that God cannot forgive is a heart that is defiant and committed to working against God. The original word meant speaking evil of the sacred – so ‘blasphemy’ is when you call good evil. But it’s not just calling good evil, its calling God’s good evil. And that is exactly what the Pharisee’s were doing So what makes this sin unforgivable? What does Christ mean when He says it “will not be forgiven?” I mean, doesn’t 1 John 1:9 teach us that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” so why, then, does Christ suggest that something is unforgivable when the rest of Scripture says that God will forgive whatever we confess?
So it is not that God cannot forgive this sin, the issue is that the person who does this sin never seeks forgiveness. Christ is not talking about an average person who doubts or even rejects Jesus because verse 32 says that you can speak against the Son of God and still be forgiven. That’s why Peter was still accepted by Jesus after Peter rejected Him. So Jesus is not talking about an average rejection of the gospel. What He is talking about is someone who witnesses God at work and not only rejects it, but persistently chooses to work against God. And that’s what the Pharisee’s were doing, not just once but repeatedly. And the reason God cannot forgive this sin is because this is a person who is so far gone that they refuse to seek God’s forgiveness.
There was a time in my life when I had become angry with God and wanted nothing to do with him, and after a while I began to wonder if I had committed the unforgivable sin and if God had abandoned me. Maybe you have wondered that, and maybe you have worried about your salvation. But here’s the thing: the very fact that you would worry about that, shows that the Holy Spirit is still working in your life to keep you sensitive to God. People who have truly committed this sin aren’t worried about their salvation because they are defiantly working against God and refusing to repent.
That kind of rebellion is rare and this sin does not happen easily or by accident.
So where does this leave us? We often talk about how salvation is a “gift” that we receive. And it is true – and Scripture tells us that in Ephesians 2:8 and 9. But even though that is true, that’s incomplete. Salvation isn’t just a gift. The problem with thinking of it only as a gift is that then we start thinking about receiving this gift we think as if it becomes ours – and maybe that’s why so many people fear losing it. But salvation belongs to God. Our salvation rests in God’s hands, not our own and so we can’t lose it.
I don’t know where this message finds you, but maybe you need to know that God never let’s go. Maybe you’ve been a Christian for a while, but life is hurting right now and you are confused or doubting. Know this, God won’t let go. Maybe you’ve gotten into some stuff that you just aren’t proud of. Know this, God won’t let go. Or maybe you’ve never even given God the chance – you’ve never trusted Him and never understood that He does want a relationship with you no matter what you’ve done. God wants you – and if you trust Him and choose to be in relationship with Him then He promises that He will never let go.
