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"The
Unforgivable Sin" July
27, 2003 The Rev. Dr. John Ward . . . in the New Testament section and we'll be reading from Mark
chapter 3, focusing specifically on the last two verses in the section where the
subheading says "Jesus and Beelzebul." And that is verses 28 through 30. But we do have to set up the context for this in order to
understand this. So I'd like to
remind you before we begin to read--and we're going to read right under that
subheading "Jesus and Beelzubel."
Before we do that, though, I do wish to remind you that Jesus, according
to Mark, has already begun His earthly ministry. He has already chosen His disciples, He has already sent them
out to do as He was doing, healing the sick, proclaiming the gospel, and casting
out demons--and so many people were coming to Jesus now that He was pressed.
At one time He had to go out into a boat (because the crowd would press
against Him) in order just to get some distance between himself and the crowd so
He could preach the gospel. So this
is what is going on. There is great
movement with regard to the success of Jesus' ministry right from the start. And you can imagine great crowds and great movement, and this
is where we pick up, right at that section here.
It starts off just at the end of verse 19: Then he went home and the crowd came together
again so they could not even eat. When
his family heard it, they went out to restrain him for people were saying,
"He has gone out of his mind." And
the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul and by the
ruler of the demons he casts out demons."
And he called them to him and he spoke to them in parables.
"How can satan cast out satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to
stand. And if satan has risen up
against himself and is divided he cannot stand, but his end has come.
But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property
without first tying up the strong man, then indeed the house can be plundered.
Truly I tell you people will be forgiven their sins and whatever
blasphemies they utter. But whoever
blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of
an eternal sin for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit." This is the Word of the Lord. [congregation]:
Thanks be to God. This passage gives us a wonderful context for some of Scripture's
more hard sayings, and one of them is that there's such a thing as an
unforgivable sin and that that unforgivable sin is a sin against the Holy
Spirit. What makes that hard is
that for you and I to hear that there is an actual unforgivable sin, in our own
humanity we may be very afraid that not only might we soon commit that sin, but
that at some point in our lives we may have already done so.
You and I are human. You and
I are frail. I told you a couple
weeks ago about my experience growing up as a child and our across-the-street
neighbor where I would always be welcome over there, but always be sent home at
the end of a few hours. Every one
of us has a pattern of life, a pattern that is far from perfect.
Even as righteous as we can be, and as moral as we can be, and as
upstanding as we can be, we are a broken people. And so it's kind of scary for us--isn't it?--to know that
there's a sin out there that if you commit it, you can never be forgiven.
If any of you grew up with a guilty conscience because you always got in
trouble, then you're probably the first one to go, "My gosh, what is that
sin? Is it too late for me?"
That reminds me of my childhood past. I don't know about you, but every time the principal's voice
would come over the intercom in grade school, I always thought I was in trouble
(because quite often I was!) Whenever
I got called into the principal's office, I knew I was in trouble.
And, you know, those childhood times have changed.
I don't get in trouble like that any more (at least I don't think so).
But whenever I got called into a boss' office I thought perhaps I was in
trouble. Whenever I see a police
officer on the street I always wonder if I'm going too fast or too slow.
Some of us, throughout life, are still dealing with our past.
And for me every time someone in authority says something or calls upon
me, I go, "OK. What did I
do?" I may not be alone in
this, so for those of you who may have that same fear of hearing that there's an
unforgivable sin and you may be wondering, "John, I think I'm already in
trouble," have heart! Because
actually, it's a little different than our normal brand of sinfulness and quite
often we can't figure that out. We're thankful to have Mark tell us why this unforgivable sin came.
What was the context for it? And
that's what we're going to read. We
also hear about this sin against the Holy Spirit in Matthew and Luke, but we
don't have the context quite as well given as what Mark gives to us, so we're
thankful for that. And that's the reason I want to start in this section here
allowing us to understand what was going on in the life of Jesus at the time
this great movement of His proclamation of the gospel was occurring.
And Mark was keying up on that and he was writing about the flow of
ministry that was occurring. Think
of it. If you had an ailment, if you were dealing with satan in your
life, you could come to this Person and He would heal you, He would heal your
wounds, He would heal your sickness, He would free you from satan's bonds so you
could imagine that word got out and people were following Jesus everywhere.
He was teaching in the synagogues and He was healing people by the side
of the road and on mountainsides where He was teaching the gospel and it was a
very obviously popular movement that was going on at the time.
The Scribes and the Pharisees--they didn't like who Jesus was.
He was calling them to accountability as well.
They were looking for a righteousness by works and He was saying that the
righteousness came from God alone. Jesus
Himself would tell His disciples and those who came for His healing that unless
these peoples' righteousness surpasses that of the Scribes and the Pharisees,
they couldn't get into the Kingdom of God.
And those Scribes and Pharisees worked hard to be righteous.
Their righteousness was in their birthright.
Their righteousness was in their work as the religious elite.
And their righteousness was in comparing themselves to other people.
Jesus said this is not the way God intended it to be.
That's why He said anyone's righteousness has to surpass that.
Jesus says you must be perfect like your Heavenly Father is perfect.
And of course that begins to make us think, "Well, who can do
that?" But, see, Jesus reminds us of how it is made possible for
righteousness to occur, and that is by trusting in Him alone as our God-given
Savior. That is the message of the
gospel, that indeed we can have the righteousness that surpasses all people, but
it is not something we can do on our own. It's
something we are called to accept. It
is a free gift given to us, something that we do not earn, cannot earn, but can
have. If we reject that, that is
the sin against the Holy Spirit. The sin against the Holy Spirit is to have a heart so hardened that
when God presents Himself to you in the grace of Jesus Christ, you reject it.
That's what the Scribes and Pharisees were doing at that time.
They were rejecting Jesus and He warned them.
Now, again, as we think through the flow of this passage, we have that
whole flow of almost chaos of what's going on here. Jesus is home. The
crowd is coming together. They're
pressing on Him. They don't have
time even to eat, to take a break, because they're healing so many people.
His family finds out about it. Can
you imagine? Mother Mary heard that Jesus wasn't eating and so what does
she do? The family found out and
they came to grab Him and take Him away. They
were thinking, "He's out of His mind!" His own family members were saying this.
And then the Scribes saying, "Yes!
Boy, He is doing all this, He doesn't have time to eat, his parents think
He's crazy, His family members are concerned about Him, and we say that He's
full of Beelzebu,." that He's actually casting out the demons by the demon
himself. Then Jesus just puts a
stop to it and says, "No. Hold
on a second, friends. You're
getting caught up in the enthusiasm of the movement.
It's getting pretty exciting for you, isn't it?
You could just imagine if it was today hearing on the news: "The movement of Jesus:
Of God or of satan? Tune in
next." That's what we would do
with that kind of information. And
Jesus said, "No, I will have nothing of this because it's not about
success, it's not about movement, it's not about fad, it's about the inbreaking
of the Kingdom of God as this Son of God is healing people and proclaiming the
truth like no one had heard it before--that indeed satan is bound and becoming
bound right there forever. That's
what the proclamation is and Jesus stops the movement to teach that.
And here's what He says: He called them to him and spoke in parables.
How can satan cast out satan? If
a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot
stand, but his end has come. [And
then this wonderful parable which really is a fulfillment of what Jesus has
done:] But no one can enter a
strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong
man. Then, indeed, the house can be
plundered. And that is what the Son of God has come to do.
He has come to bind the strong man (satan) and has done so with His
life-giving death and His resurrection and His ascension which will come to
complete fulfillment at His second coming.
But Jesus has now bound satan. He
has, indeed, bound the strong man and now plunders the house with grace and
plunders the house with breaking of self-righteousness and now the righteousness
of Christ which can be imputed to us as we accept the reality that "God was
in Christ reconciling the world to Himself," as the apostle Paul wrote. The sin against the Spirit is to say that Jesus is not who He says
He is. It's to think of Him a
madman, a lunatic. It's to not
believe in what He teaches. To call
Him a liar. The sin against the
Spirit is to call Him a lunatic or a liar and not to see the work of God through
Him, which is a gift itself in the Spirit.
I want you to see the real relational and almost human aspect of what
Jesus is doing in verse 28. "Truly
I tell you people will be forgiven their sins and whatever blasphemies they
utter. But whoever blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal
sin." How many of you, when someone says something that you don't like
about a best friend, or a family member, or a spouse--how many of you really
stick up for that person? Probably
even more so than the person who is being insulted would. We see this quite often, don't we? You have someone who might insult you and you know better
than to try to react to that right away. In
fact, you try to be a non-anxious presence when they're saying something to you.
But, boy, if you've got a friend alongside, that friend will defend you.
In a sense, that's what we see here with Jesus Himself defending the Holy
Spirit. Because Jesus does not have
the spirit of the devil, but nothing less than the Spirit of God.
The bringer of truth reminds us as to who Jesus is.
Jesus says, "If you blaspheme against me, I'll forgive you.
But if you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, you will not be."
It's almost as if Jesus is putting on the boxing gloves to defend the
power of the Holy Spirit, because it is the power of the Spirit that brings that
truth to you and I, that reveals the truth of who Jesus is.
Isn't that wonderful? I love
that scenario. I want us to understand that the unforgivable sin here is a
hardness against God's redemptive work through Jesus Christ.
Not recognizing that in Christ, the Spirit is at work and it is the
Spirit who testifies this, as the giver of truth.
As John writes in his gospel, "It is he that testifies to me,"
as Jesus said. Now, can those who resist the Word of God be forgiven?
Well, the answer of course is "yes."
Because there can be a time when they change their minds.
But if they resist to the end, they are resisting the very means God has
given us to be reconciled to Him. I
wish to remind you that Peter was once called satan himself by Jesus.
Do you remember that wonderful story?
Jesus told Peter and the disciples that He, as the Messiah, would
actually not be a victorious ruler in the beginning, but would have to sacrifice
His life in a humiliating death. And
Peter, not understanding that, not wanting to understand that, wanting Jesus to
be the wonderful Messiah in Peter's mind as to what a Messiah should be, rebuked
Jesus and said, "No, Lord, never! May
it never be!" And Jesus said,
"Get behind me, satan," to Peter, "for your ways are not God's
ways, but man's ways." Jesus held Peter accountable to being His disciple and to taking on
how God chooses to take on salvation in relationship with us.
And so Peter was called satan. You
remember he also denied Christ when the going got tough.
Was he forgiven? Yes, he
was. Why was he forgiven? Because
he repented, because he was sorry, because he went to the very Lord whom he
denied. And that's what God does
for us. Friends, if you and I have
ever committed an act against the Spirit and we feel remorse for that, if you do
have that conscience that as soon as I said there's an unforgivable sin you're
going, "Oh, my gosh. I'm in
trouble now. I don't want to be in
trouble," you see, you're not one of those who would be unforgiven because
you already have a repentant heart within you.
You're seeking to love the Lord. You're
seeking forgiveness. You're seeking
the God who is a reconciler. And you're seeking God on God's terms, and that is through
the incarnate Christ as the Spirit presents Him.
Even Paul warns us in 1 Timothy not to be thinking about who's
"in" and who's "out" of the Kingdom.
That's not our business to be doing.
Many people act like they're out of the Kingdom, don't they?
You and I act like we're out of the Kingdom, don't we quite often? More than we'd like to admit, we're not always perfect.
We are in need of the same forgiveness.
I grew up out of that Kingdom. For
twenty years I lived outside of the grace of God.
But when I gave my life over to Christ as one who began to read the
Scripture and the Holy Spirit made sense of the Scripture to me and would not
let me go. Then I was redeemed. I
was one who questioned Christ as well, and questioned the role of this salvation
other than what would come from God the Father.
I remember asking somebody, "What is this all about the Son of God?
Why is the Son of God so important?
I mean, this is all about the Father, isn't it?"
Even Jesus said that in Scripture. However,
He was the actual, incarnate revelation of who God is for us.
He is God. We call Him the
"Second Person of the Trinity" and the Holy Spirit the "Third
Person of the Trinity." These
are all one God. The Spirit gives
truth to this. So every one of us,
friends, has the opportunity to be forgiven.
Every one of us with a repentant heart can be forgiven. There's a
difference between seeking forgiveness and not wanting to do it at all God's
way. One of the best examples I can give you of this is an illustration.
Actually, a real-life illustration.
Denise Bandeman was a youth ministry major at Hannibal LaGrange College
in Missouri and she writes this. Let
me read this to you. This is
wonderful. She says: I needed more study time before my final exam in the youth ministry
class. When I got to class,
everybody else was cramming as well. The
teacher, seeing this, Doctor Tom Huffde came in and said he would review with us
before the test. Most of his review
came from the study guide, but some things he said, I had not heard.
When I asked him about it, Doctor Huffde responded they were in the book
and we were responsible for everything in the book.
Well, I couldn't argue with that. Finally
it was time to take the test and Doctor Huffde says this:
"Leave your test booklets face-down on the desk until everyone has
received the booklet. Then I'll tell you to start." When we turned them over, to my astonishment, every answer
was filled-in on my test booklet and my name was written at the top in red ink.
The last page of the test booklet said this:
"This is the end of the exam. All
of the answers are on your test and they are correct.
You will receive an 'A.' The
reason you passed the test is because the creator of the test took it for you.
All of the work you did in preparation for this test did not help you get
this 'A.' You have just experienced
grace." Doctor Huffde then went around the room and asked each student,
"What is your grade? Do you
deserve the grade you're receiving? How
much did all your studying for this exam help you achieve your final
grade?" Then he said,
"Some things you learn from lectures, some from research, but some things
you can only learn from experience. You've
just experienced grace. Years from
now, as you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your name will be written
in a book and you will have had nothing to do with writing it there.
This is the ultimate grace experience." The Scribes and Pharisees didn't like Jesus.
They were unwilling to take Jesus on Jesus' terms.
Now, again, we do not know what happens to most of these Scribes and
Pharisees. If they were left to continue to resist this way, they were
indeed sinning against the Holy Spirit. But
if they took on finally and ultimately--and we know that many of these people,
after knowing who Jesus was, converted to Christ and finally, ultimately, as you
and I are called were truly turning and repenting because we were willing, they
were willing as we are today and are called to today, to take God on God's
terms. To allow ourselves to
receive a test that we could not do on our own.
We could not earn it on our own. It
was earned for us by God in Christ. And what did you think when I gave you that little illustration?
Did you think a little bit about, "Gee, what if you were one of
those students and you really worked hard?
What if you were one of the ones who didn't cram and you had actually
performed the work? What would you
have thought?" Would you have
said, "Gosh, that's unfair. I
really wanted to take this test to see how I'd do."
Or maybe you'd say, "Hey, I studied for this.
Nobody else did. You know,
that's unfair because I would have done better than everybody else."
But, you see, in a sense that's what the Pharisees and Saducees were
saying. Christ was offering a
salvation to all people, much more than the ones who considered themselves to be
righteous. The ones who needed
salvation. Christ was reaching down
to every person who wanted to claim a relationship with God and said,
"That's available to you. Trust
in me and you will be there." The sin against the Holy Spirit is resistance against God's way.
For you and me, what we do is we accept God's way.
We struggle with God's way. Sometimes
God's way for us doesn't match our understanding of how God should act, but God
has proven Himself to be true and right as long as I've known Him.
And wouldn't you say the same thing as long as you've known God?
Perhaps you have not had a perfect relationship with the Lord.
Perhaps you have questioned God at times, wondering "Where is God in
the midst of my mess?" God
promises to be there and promises to help you through all things.
And God will never let you go, no matter what it looks like.
And our question is, "Will we trust in God?"
Our God is asking us to take Him on His terms. Will we do so? That's
the call for us, to depend on Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, to whom the
Holy Spirit gives witness as indeed the incarnate God come to earth to preach
the good news, to tell us that there is no way we can be righteous on our own.
Our righteousness only surpasses others' when we take on the
righteousness of God in Christ, and that's available to each one of us--available to every
person. Available to you if you've
given up on God and somehow you find yourself back in this place wondering one
more time, "I'll give Him one more chance in my life."
Available to the people you know who right now are perhaps the most
doubting Thomases you know. But never give up on any soul, friends, because God has not
given up on yours or mine yet, either. Let us pray. Dear God,
in the sense of understanding tough passages, I pray that this one comes to
fruition for us all. Lord, in the
midst of your healing, so much so that people were coming from all over to be
healed by you, to hear your Word, that not only were you healing people
physically, but spiritually to eternal life.
Lord, you were presenting a Kingdom in which you have indeed invaded and
bound satan. Lord, there isn't a
time in our own lives when we struggle with our faith. Let us know that if we
struggle with it and are impassioned to know who you are, we haven't committed
the unforgivable sin. The
unforgivable sin is to stop striving. And,
Lord, help us to trust in you, to grow us up by your Holy Spirit who reveals the
truth as to who you are and who you have presented yourself to be in Jesus
Christ. Be with us, Lord. Be with us now. Grow
us up. In Christ's name we pray,
and all God's people said, "Amen." The Rev. Dr. John Ward Associate Pastor for Discipleship Faith Presbyterian Church Minnetonka, Minnesota [Transcribed from an audiotape of the
worship service on July 27, 2003.] |
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