What Is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Matthew 12

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--what-is-blasphemy-against-the-holy-spirit
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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let's approach this biblically theologically and pastorally now one of the basic rules of biblical uh interpretation is you have to look at the context so let's look at the context jesus is dealing with jewish religious leaders so if anybody should understand the workings of god understand truth understand the holy spirit in that day it should have been these leaders so jesus was casting out demons and they began to attack him they couldn't deny something was really happening so they tried to explain it while well he's casting out demons by the prince of demons he's full of the devil and so the devil has power over the little demons and so he's casting out demons by the power of the devil of course jesus pointed out the absurdity to this on several levels if satan is fighting satan uh how can his kingdom stand a house that's divided against itself cannot stand that's ridiculous and by the way you jewish leaders you have people that you say are casting out demons are you willing to say they're casting out demons by demons how are they doing it but so then he gives a warning you better be careful because if you blaspheme the holy spirit you can't be forgiven now if you blaspheme me you could you could be forgiven so what does that mean well in the context they were attributing the work of the holy spirit in jesus to a demonic force that was the danger now why would it not be as dangerous just to directly accuse jesus and of course it's interesting because if you approach it theologically from a trinitarian perspective you've got a real problem some peop some trinitarians have said see two persons of the trinity you can blaspheme one and get away with it but if you're blasting the other you can't get away with it and of course as with almost all trinitarian arguments my answer is it proves too much if that's really true okay you got two persons here well one person is not equal to the other person right there's an inferiority here so are you willing to say there are two persons well then they're two unequal and inferior persons if you only go with that you know that the holy spirit is more important than jesus so they're not willing to go with that so i said well then you're off on the wrong track that's the two person's argument is not the argument it's not the correct correct interpretation what is the correct terms well jesus says the son that's god coming in human identity so let me paraphrase it like this jesus is saying look you might not know who i am god manifests in the flesh you just see me as a man so you could reject me you could speak evil against me you could blaspheme me because you don't you don't know you just think i'm a man and of course blessing a man is wrong you shouldn't hate or curse or speak evil of a man but it could be forgiven so he's saying if you don't know who i am and you curse me later god could show you the truth you can repent god can forgive you so this is example exactly what happened saul of tarsus he said i was a blasphemer but i got forgiven so there's a perfect example of someone who blasphemed the son of man but yet god forgiven but now what if you blaspheme the holy ghost now that means to speak evil to reject to curse to deny the spirit i think that's more than just words you know some people get very afraid well i was very depressed or angry and i curse god so did i commit the unpardonable sin i said no let's look at this whole context something this serious it's more than just verbalizing the frustration of a moment here's what's going on to blaspheme the holy spirit is to deny the spirit completely and go back to the context jesus was full of the spirit he was god manifest in the flesh so when he cast out demons it was by the holy spirit in him the jewish leader should have known better but they should have known who jesus was from the prophecies they should have been acquainted with the work of the spirit just by nature of their office they they should be able to feel god's presence whether they knew who jesus was or not they should have been able to feel god's presence and as jesus pointed out logically they should have known that the devil's not casting out the devil god must be working here so on multiple levels they should have recognized the spirit but they were denying the spirit that they were watching the work of the holy spirit and saying that's the devil working well notice how dangerous that is so it's not we're not talking about you sin so bad that god just doesn't forgive you god says well i have a lot of mercy but you send such a horrible sin i don't have any more mercy i'm going to cut you off that's that's doesn't correspond with the nature of god as we understand it so don't look at this as god cutting a person off look at it as a person cutting god off so here's the point if the holy spirit moves and you say oh that's the devil or you say that's psychological manipulation how are you going to be saved there's no way you could be saved because the only way you can be saved by the spirit drawing you so the spirit draws you say oh that's the devil drawing me i'm going to reject that well nobody could ever be saved like that so if i pray for you oh god please move him and show him the truth you know convict him of his sins so god says okay then scott starts moving and you say well that's the devil moving that's the devil talking to me well my prayers can't get past your blasphemy the holy spirit working in your life can't get past your blasphemy so i take you to north american youth congress and 37 000 people worshiping god the power of god's all over the place you say yup that's the devil i can feel that that's the devil i'm feeling well how are you going to be saved so jesus didn't say they had committed the sin he said you're in a dangerous place because you are a religious leader and you are watching god's spirit move and you say that's the devil that's dangerous because if you persist in that there's no way you could ever be saved because the holy spirit is the only way by which you could be saved so to me blaspheming the holy ghost or the holy spirit the unpardonable sin would be a knowing rejection of god's spirit that's so extreme that you can no longer recognize god working in your life and so therefore it's not that god refuses to save you he refuses to forgive you because you're so bad but it's that you have maneuvered yourself in a position where you no longer can be touched by god

so now let's talk pastorally when people come to me and say i'm so afraid i've committed this sin i said well that's proof you haven't because if you had really done that you would have put yourself in a place where you would no longer feel god's presence you would no longer have a conscience you no longer have a desire to be saved because the fact that you're feeling conviction that means god's spirit is drawing you so the fact that you're concerned about this means no you haven't committed this sin because god is dealing with you right now so go ahead and repent and if we confess our sins he is faithful which means he'll do it every time and just to forgive our sustenance don't go by your feelings go by the word of god so my point be in summary would be blaspheming the holy spirit or the unpardonable sin would be someone with knowledge so in our day probably someone who's actually received the holy spirit or at least very well acquainted with the work of the spirit and then come to a point where they say that's of the devil that's psychological that's um you know manipulation and they could get to the point where they box themselves off where they can't encounter god so i would say that's a dangerous thing the the practical solution would be when god draws you respond but if you feel like you've committed that sin that's a good indication no you have not because you you have a conviction so respond to that conviction repent ask god to forgive you and trust that according to his word he has forgiven you i think in many cases this warning that jesus gave don't reject god don't reject the working of god don't attribute god's presence to the devil but if god is moving then you acknowledge it that legitimate warning in many cases has been misunderstood to the point where people fear their salvation when they shouldn't they should just respond to god's spirit that's what jesus is trying to say all along hey if you feel that way seek after god and you're going to be okay