THE UNPARDONABLE SIN

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 5, 1902

THE UNPARDONABLE SIN.

There are many poor souls who are, through the suggestions of Satan, constantly troubled over the unpardonable sin, or the sin against the Holy Ghost. In various ways they have yielded to sin, joy and peace are absent from the heart, and they fear that they have crossed the line beyond which Infinite Mercy will not extend pardon. To all such tempted souls this article is addressed, in the earnest hope that God will use it to encourage and enlighten.

One of the passages often quoted as referring to unpardonable sin is the following:—

“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.” Matt. 12:31, 32.

The occasion of these words was the casting out of a demon by Jesus, and the charge of the Pharisees, that He whom they contemptuously alluded to as “this fellow,” cast out devils “by Beelzebub the prince of devils.” Jesus replied that a kingdom or house divided against itself could not stand; and if Satan cast out Satan, he was divided against himself, and his kingdom could not stand; and further, that if He by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom did their children cast them out? On the other hand,—a matter for them to decide,—if He by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then the kingdom of God had come nigh them. He was the stronger man binding the strong man Satan. He entered Satan’s citadels, the flesh and this world, given over to Satan’s worship or deceptions, a mighty conqueror through humiliation and sacrifice. There He struggled with the strong man, and bound him, before he could spoil his house and deliver those whom Satan has led captive. In this work of Christ would be manifest the power of God and the determined opposition of the enemy in a superlative degree. It was a testing time for all who heard and saw, therefore, the solemn truth: “He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad.” Verses 22–30. When the truth and power of God are so manifest, one must take sides. There is no neutral ground. The Pharisees chose the side of the accuser, and therefore set themselves against God.

It was not open blasphemy on the part of those Pharisees that constituted their sin. It was not their reference to Christ as “this fellow.” It was no form of words, no definable thing of law, that constituted blasphemy against the Spirit of God. It was attributing the manifest working of the Spirit of God to the power of Satan. Mark, in relating these same words, makes this very clear (3:28–30). Jesus uttered the solemn warning, “Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.” They attributed the mighty power of God, manifest in Jesus Christ, to the working of Satan.

But when God pronounces this unforgivable, it does not mean that He has changed or passed an arbitrary sentence of judgment upon the sinner. Let this great truth be fixed forever in your heart, God’s—

“Mercy Endureth Forever.”

He tells us that “He delighteth in Mercy;” that He is “pleased” with “those that hope in His mercy;” that He has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” Over and over He repeats the thought that the mercy of the Lord is “from everlasting to everlasting.” He pleadingly asks, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon,” or more literally “multiply to pardon.”

God gave the very Best of heaven that the sinner might be won from his sins. He gave Himself in the life of Jesus. The great Heart of Heaven emptied itself for the hungry-souled sinners of earth. Christ bought all pardon for all sinners, paid the debt of all sin, when He gave Himself. And blessed be God, pardon full, free, all-sufficient, waits the soul who asks with all his heart.

“But I have sinned against God again and again; there is no pardon for me,” says one. Is there not? Whom will you believe? God’s Word declares, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” He likewise declares, “If any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.” O, why quibble when God wants to be gracious? “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

Why, then, is the sin unforgiven?—Because the sin is unrepented, the forgiveness unasked. The unforgivable sin is the unrepentable sin; and the unrepentable sin is the sin which the heart loves. The Pharisees were unforgiven because they did not wish the forgiveness. They preferred their sin to its cleansing. Never will Infinite Mercy cease His pleading till there is no hope. That time comes when men so stifle conscience and conviction that it can never be truly awakened again.

The Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, is God manifest in working. It is the medium, so to speak, through which He works. When men reject every call to duty, every plea for righteousness, they place themselves where even the Spirit of God can not reach them, where they can not hear His voice, read His language, or see His work. If these things become obvious, they are attributed to some other influence. Their souls are unreached by the Lord, because they have made themselves unreachable. God’s “mercy endureth forever.” There is no change on His part. The change is on ours. The danger is that we shall fail to give heed once too often, and the tender conscience is gone forever. “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.”

THE MEANS ACCEPTED OR REJECTED.

There is but one means that God has of regenerating and keeping men, namely, the life of the Spirit. By the Spirit the earth was brought to cosmos from chaos, the heavens were garnished with stars, the worlds peopled and repeopled, and all creation preserved. His Spirit actuated Jesus Christ; it regenerates men, and will eventually recreate the world.

The way to God and immortality is by the cross of Christ; the means, the power, is by the Spirit of God. If we yield to God’s way, He will furnish the power. “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.” Rom. 5:10, R.V. Men become the elect of God “through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:2); or, as expressed by another, “through [or “in”] sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” 2 Thess. 2:13.

He who wholly submits to God, however little he may know God’s requirements, and lets in the life, the Spirit of God, to cleanse and sanctify his soul, is received and saved of God; and, if he continue to walk in the light, is eternally saved. He may be in the thick gloom of pagan lands, and but one ray of light may reach his darkened soul; yet, if the soul opens to that ray, if it receives it as from God, it will as truly illuminate that soul, and lead it to the great central Sun of Righteousness as would a full blaze of Gospel truth. It is not the amount of light that saves, it is the way in which the light is received. One ray has all the potency of God in it. And, so accepted, it is life, eternal life.

Too, it is not the amount of light rejected that brings darkness, despair, and death. He who rejects one ray of light from God, in that ray rejects God and His salvation; for in shutting our eyes to the one ray, we shut them to the glorious Sun.

It is for this reason that the rejection of manifest truth, the rejection of the manifest working of the Spirit of God, becomes a sin unpardonable, because unrepentable. When the soil of the heart often receives the watering of God’s Spirit, and God’s blessings are used to produce thorns and thistles, rejection must sometime follow. Heb. 6:4–8. Such tread under foot the Son of God, and do despite to the Spirit of grace. Heb. 10:29.

The danger is not, as we have so frequently stated, in God’s mercy failing, for that can not fail. It is not in God’s “getting mad,” and cutting us off. The danger lies with us, lies in our own hearts, in refusing to listen to God’s appeals till we can hear Him no longer. O, keep the conscience tender by confessing and putting away all sin, and by yielding to do every duty faithfully. The soul that does this can not fail. All heaven is pledged to save him, and to present him faultless before the presence of God’s glory.