THE SIN THAT JESUS SAID GOD CANNOT

FORGIVE
“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
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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. It doesn’t sound like Jesus
speaking when He talks about a sin that He won’t forgive, and yet we find that it is so. There is a sin that God calls
the unpardonable sin. There is no pardon for it. It is called, in Matt. 12, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Now what is blasphemy? In Luke 5:21 it reveals that when an ordinary individual claims to have the power to
forgive sins, that is blasphemy. Now Jesus had the power. He was the Son of God. He had a perfect right to forgive
the sins of men and yet the Jews looked on him as only a mere man. When He forgave sins they said that He was
blaspheming. We recognize therefore that any man claiming to forgive sin; blasphemes against God. Then in
Matt. the 26th chapter and verse 63, “But Jesus held His peace. And the High priest answered and said unto Him,
I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him,
Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power,
and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what
further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. “Now again they did not recognize
Jesus to be the divine Son of God. When He said that He was the Son of God and that He would come in the clouds
of heaven and would sit down on the right hand of the Father, they said, “Ah here is a mere man and he makes
himself out as God. Therefore he is blaspheming.” The Bible reveals that blasphemy can be either of these two
things.

Satan blasphemed God when he said, “I will exalt myself above the stars of God.” Satan tried to usurp the authority
of God. We live in a day when the authority of God is one of the issues at stake. Are we going to bow to the
authority of Satan or are we going to bow to the authority of God? “Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves
servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness?” Romans 6:16 Oh, my friends, if we bow to any other authority than the authority of God and of
His word we are going to an apostate power and blaspheming against God. To whom are we to yield our allegiance?
God and to God alone. Now God tests us. When we say that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we say that we
have gone all the way, we have committed our lives to Him, then God tests us to see that obedience is true and if
our dedication is sincere. He asks us to do certain things. He asks us to keep the commandments. He tells us
about the Sabbath which is His Seal, which is His Sign, which is His test in the last days. He tells us about baptism.
He tells us about many other things to see whether we will yield to his authority. Now if I argue and I resent and
I minimize the things. That God has asked me to do, what am I doing? I am claiming that I will live by my own
authority and I will not bow to the authority of God. The Word of God comes into question, Is it my thinking or
my feeling that counts or is it what this Book says? It is not for me to determine and say this is not inspired and that
is not inspired. It isn’t how I think about it or how I feel about it, but my friends it is what this Book says that
counts! When our names come up before the judgment bar of God, God isn’t going to ask us, “Well, now what did
you think about the plan of salvation? Did it appeal to you?” That is not what he is going to ask. He is going to
ask “What did you do with the Book? What did you do with what I gave for you to follow? What did you do about
my Son, Jesus?

Now we want to talk about the work of the Holy Spirit and determine what this sin is that is unpardonable. It is
a sin against the Holy Ghost. That is made clear in the words of Jesus. In order to understand the unpardonable sin
we need to understand a bit about the operation of the Holy Spirit.

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There are some people who seem to think that the operation of the Holy Spirit is some flight into ecstasy and they
get a wonderful feeling. They may clap their hands and shout. They may even speak in some kind of a foreign
gibberish. My friends, the Word of God does not bear that out as being the entrance of the Spirit of truth. Jesus
said, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will
not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will reprove the world of
sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” John 16:7. “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide
you into all truth:” Vs. 13. I want to review these points briefly. The Holy Spirit, in his initial entrance into the
heart, does not necessarily bring some flight of ecstasy, but notice that he brings first of all conviction of sin. And
what is sin? I John 3:4 reveals that sin is the transgression of the law. We might think of a number of things tonight
that would be counted sin: temper, critisism, immorality, cursing, idols --putting other things before God.
Individuals don’t have to go to a shrine and bow down before the Lord Jesus Christ, that is an idol and that
individual is a commandment breaker. That is sin, the Bible declares. Covetousness, unhealthy habits, stealing,
killing, adultry, these we would term sin along with many other things. The list would be too long for me to go
through it all tonight. If we have done any of those things that I have mentioned or any others that we know from
the Word of God are counted sin, we need a Savior. Let me carry this point a little further. I speak concerning the
Sabbath day that God has set aside. To break that day is sin. It is sin just as much as it is to steal, lie, cheat, or
swear, or bow down before an idol. And I ask you this question, Do we need a saviour for the breaking of that
commandment? We need Him just as much there as we do for any of these other sins. The Holy Spirit brings
conviction to our hearts, and friends, we ought to be thankful that He does. We could never come to Christ unless
we have the conviction of sin in our hearts, unless we realize the need of a Savior. So let’s praise and thank him
that He does bring a conviction of sin.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t leave us in that hopeless and lost condition. It isn’t enough to know that there is a law that
Condemns me: I’ve got to have a way out, there has to be a solution. The next thing the Holy Spirit does is convict
me of righteousness. I now look away from the offended law that points me out as a sinner, that tells me that I need
a saviour, and I look to the Lord Jesus Christ who is my righteousness. Jesus Christ is the way of salvation - - the
only way. Christ is the answer! We’ve sung it here night after night. First I am convicted of sin, and then I am
pointed to the Saviour who can take away my sin. I am confronted with my sin, with my undone condition, and see,
on the other hand, that I must go to Christ. I hang in the balances trying to make up my mind which way I am going
to go. What does the Holy Spirit do now? He convicts me of judgment to come. I now realize there is a day
coming when I must give an account for every deed I do. I realize that if I do not give my heart and life to the Lord
Jesus Christ, I must pay the penalty of sin in my own life. I must be eternally shut off from God; I now reflect
seriously upon my condition, realizing that if I plunge on in sin, I am a lost sinner and there is no hope. But, I look
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and committing my life to him, confessing my sins, and breaking away from sin through
His strength and through His power, I find salvation. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

But is there something additional that the Holy Spirit does. Verse 13, “When He, the Spirit of truth is come He will
guide you into all truth.” Now the question is asked, “What is truth?” Pilate asked that of Jesus, didn’t he? But he
didn’t wait for the answer. Jesus could have answered that in a few words but Pilate did not wait to hear the answer.
In John 17:17, Jesus declares, Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy word is truth.” And so friends, this Book
contains the truth of God and the Holy Spirit will lead us to the truths found therein. You would be amazed at the
things we ministers run into as we visit with people and they tell us that they don’t have to do this, they don’t have
to do that. We say, “Well, friend, it is the Word of God,” “Oh, I don’t care” They seem to think that the Holy Spirit
is leading them in an entirely different direction from the Word of God. It is not the HolySpirit that leads an
individual in any other way than what the Bible says. I think that it is time that we examine the spirit that some
people claim to have that leads them to trample on the Word of God and the commandments of God. That’s not
the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit will lead us according to this book. Thy word is truth. “Thy righteousness is an

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everlasting righteousness and Thy law is the truth.” Ps. 119:142. And then we have this same thought combined
in Isaiah 8:20, “To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is not
light in them.” Jesus says, in John 14:6, “I am truth.” And so Jesus is the truth. Some people say, “Well, I don’t
need to keep the law, I believe in serving the Lord Jesus.” I didn’t know that the Law and the Lord Jesus were in
antagonism, that they were at warfare with one another. Will Jesus teach a man in the 20th century anything that
he has failed to teach Isaiah? or John? or Matthew? or Paul? or Jude? or any of the other Bible prophets? The
teachings of Jesus agree throughout with all the teachings of the prophets. The Holy Spirit always leads an
individual in harmony with the commandments of God. “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.” Rom. 8:4. Jesus is willing to give His righteous and holy life to
me in place of my sinful life. And so the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit. And I ask this question tonight, if a person is lead contrary to the law of God, is he being lead
by the Holy Spirit? Absolutely not. It is impossible.

Now, how did the Pharisees commit the unpardonable sin? Let us turn again to Matt 12:22, “Then was brought unto
Him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake
and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard
it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.” Jesus performed those
miracles by the power of God. Now what did the Pharisees contribute it to? That which was done by God they said
was of the devil. They didn’t want their sins pointed out, they didn’t want to accept Christ and do his will, and so
to save face and excuse their sins, they said, “This is the work of Satan; this is not the work of God.” And yet all
the while they knew it was the truth but they were not willing to accept Jesus. They hindered others. They were
willingly ignorant. I read in John the 12th chapter and verse 40, “He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their
heart; that they should not see with their eyes or understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal
them.” What had they done? They had blinded their eyes. They had stopped their ears. They had hardened their
hearts. Why? Bemuse they didn’t want to do what was right. It meant following the narrow way. It meant things
that they didn’t want to give up. With all the pride they had in their hearts they resisted the Lord Jesus Christ and
said, “This isn’t the work of God.” I imagine many of those men were strangely moved in their hearts knowing that
it was from God as the Holy Spirit spoke to them and asked them to yield their lives and to surrender to the claims
of the Lord Jesus. But they said, “No, this is actually of the devil; we will have nothing to do with it.”

The same is true today. There are people who know they ought to take their stand for Christ. They feel the call of
the Holy Spirit in their hearts. And then they begin to think about certain involvements. They begin to think about
their jobs, they think about their families, they think about the majority-about what people might think and so they
say, “I don’t think that it is necessary to do what God commands.” They trust to their feelings and what they want
to do rather than what God asks them to do. I want to read a text before I continue to show how dangerous it is to
follow feeling and impulse when it comes to the Word of God. “Thera is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but
the end thereof are the ways of death.” Prov. 16:25. It seems in the heart of the man that it is alright to go another
way. But what does the Bible declare? “The end thereof are the ways of death.” It is not safe to trust to feeling.
So often when a person comes face to face with truth he just rides on the basis of how he feels about it rather than
on the basis of what God says in His Word. Notice what Jesus said, “it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh
profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that
believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And
he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.” John 6:63. What did Jesus say
that we must follow? He said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” And there were
many individuals who said, “I can’t bear that. I don’t feel that it is necessary. I don’t think that I need to do that
or to follow that way.” And so they turned their backs on Jesus and walked no more forever with him. When
individuals came to Jesus and asked what they might do to have everlasting life, He didn’t ask them, “if you feel

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like it, follow me.” What did he say? “Take up your cross and follow me.” A young man came to him one day
asking about some Bible truth and Jesus didn’t say to him, “Well, young man, how do you feel about it?” He said,
“How readest thou, what do the Scriptures say? That is the thing that really counts. Herein lies a great danger.
There are those who know the truth, they know what they ought to do, their conscience speaks. It says, “This is the
way, walk ye in it.” But in order to clear their conscience, in order to free themselves from following and doing,
they say, “This isn’t of God.” Now friend, if it isn’t of God, who is it of? It has to be from the devil if it isn’t from
God. A person can actually come face to face with Bible truth; down in his heart he doesn’t want to do it and so
his mind begins to rationalize the thing and finally after he resists these impulses of the Spirit, he says, “Well, that
wasn’t of God anyway.” Well, friends if it isn’t of God there is the simple deduction that it is of the devil. There can
be no middle ground. A person who takes that attitude is going to find himself down in the very quagmire of sin
and is going to find himself lost. When an individual, whose heart has been moved and stirred by the Spirit of God
turns around and says, “That wasn’t the Spirit of God working on my heart,” that individual is headed toward the
committal of the unpardonable sin for Jesus has declared that the unpardonable sin is s saying that what God does
is the work of the devil.

Someone tonight says, “But Bob, just because I don’t intend to follow the truths that I have heard here in the
meetings, it doesn’t mean that I am going to call them of the devil.” The unpardonable sin is not the only sin that
will keep people out of heaven. I believe from the bottom my heart that the greatest number of people who will
be kept out of the kingdom of heaven will not have committed the unpardonable sin. They have unpardoned sins
in their lives. Unconfessed, unforgiven sins will keep individuals out of the kingdom of God. We cannot dilly-dally
with our soul’s salvation. We cannot commit sin in any shape or form and expect to have the blessing of God. A
person hears the message, he believes it in his heart, the Holy Spirit speaks to him and he is convicted. He knows
he ought to do it. The temptation comes to procrastinate and then he goes on living in willful disobedience to Christ.
Week after week passes and he breaks the commandments every week. He knows that he should do them and yet
he delays, he puts it off, and finally one day his name comes up before the judgment bar of God and that individual
is condemned Why? Because of unpardoned sins. That individual himself has not gone to the throne of grace
confessing those sins, breaking away from them and thus he is condemmed He never saw the need of haste in
making his life right with God. He never yielded to the Spirit’s call. He never broke with sin and confessed it.
Remember that Jesus came to save people from their sin and not in their sins. How tragic it is for people to put off
their salvation.

God nowhere has revealed to us that He will give us an additional period of time in which to make our decision for
Him. The Bible says that now is the acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation. I think of Peter. The Lord
Jesus came down to the seashore one day. Seeing Peter in the boat, He said, “Follow me.” The Bible declares that
Peter immediately forsook all and followed the Savior. And I’ll tell you it takes that kind of consecration - -
answering the very first call. God has never said that we have lots of time. He has indicated in His word that we
are running short of time in this old world of ours. It’s at the end of it’s tether. Time is not going to continue much
longer. We know that. And Oh, I’ll tell you, we need the courage of Peter today to answer the very first call of
Jesus and be willing to step out and follow all the way.

I think of Matthew. He worked for the government. He had a good job. Jesus came to him one day as he sat
receiving the customs. Jesus said, “Matthew, come and follow me.” I can think of the thoughts that must have
raced through his mind. He thought of that high paying job with all it’s security. He thought of his family, he
thought of his friends, he thought of all the mockery and the ridicule that he would receive if he stepped out to
follow the Lord Jesus Christ and I imagine the devil come right up close and said, “Matthew don’t do it right now.
It’s all-right to follow Jesus but don’t do it right now.” And then he probably reminded Matthew about the pension
he would receive in a few years. I can imagine it was temptation for Matthew to say, “Lord, I’d like to think about
if for a while.” But what did Matthew do? He just stepped right out. Immediately he left all and followed the Lord

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Jesus Christ. And, friends, that is the very kind of dedication it is going to take for us to get into the kingdom of
heaven! God has not given us a long period of time.

I want to contrast Peter and Matthew with Felix. You remember that Paul spoke to Felix. Felix felt the conviction
of the Holy Spirit down in his heart. He knew down in his heart that what Paul said was true. He knew he ought
to step out and take his stand. But he said, “Go thy way for now. When I have a more convenient season I will call
for thee.” He wanted to think it through. He wanted to wait just a little longer. He waited for some convenient
season but the convenient season never came to Felix. You can’t read it anywhere in the Word of God. By neglect
that man put off his soul’s salvation and was lost.

Oh, friend, I wish I could help you see tonight how dangerous it is to put off your decision. Some say, “Well, I want
to think about it for a while.” But to put it off is to say, “No.” Indecision is really a decision. For when we do not
openly decide for Christ, we are saying, “Lord, not now. No - - for the time being.” Indecision is a decision, and
it is exceedingly dangerous.

Someone says, “Well, Bob, why do you preach this way and bring these messages from the Bible that put people
in frustration. Now they know what the Bible says and they are frustrated and they don’t want to do it and it is a
terrible tension and anxiety that you cause.” I preach, of course, because the Lord Jesus Christ commissioned me
to preach. When I had the hands of ordination laid upon me I determined that I would preach the truth. I couldn’t
preach anything that I didn’t believe with all my heart. I determined that I would be faithful to God and preach all
that He asks me to preach and so I must preach the message. Following the Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to the
whole problem. A person finds himself in frustration because he doesn’t take his stand for Christ. It’s not the fault
of the preaching of the truth, but it’s the stubborn heart that refuses the message. That’s where the frustration comes.
The answer to the end of frustration is simply, “Go all the way with Christ, commit your ways to Him, obey what
He asks you to do.” That is the end of frustration. Say “yes” to the Lord Jesus Christ.

When a series of meetings like this is being preached and we do not reach a decision, what will it take? I ask you
that question, “What will it take to help you decide to follow the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart? with all your
soul? When will you make that decision if you do not do it now when the Holy Spirit speaks? When will you make
that decision?” John 6:44 reveals to us that we can’t make a decision just any old time we plea . “No man cometh
to me except the Father which sent Me draw him.” And then verse 65. These are the words of Jesus, “And he said,
Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of My father.” Now I am
not saying that anyone who leaves this meeting tonight without making a decision is a lost man. Please don’t
misunderstand me. I’m not saying that at all. What I am saying is that we can only come to Christ when the Holy
Spirit is drawing us to Him. Oh, how dangerous it is to neglect to make our decision when the Holy Spirit speaks
to us. For when we say, “Not now, I want to think it through,” it means that we are saying, “Lord, No. Not for the
time being.”

Ephesians the 4th chapter and verse 30 reveals that it is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit. “Grieve not the Holy
Spirit” the Bible says. A person grieves the Holy Spirit by going on in willful disobedience or neglect or in spurning
the love and invitation of the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit speaks to the heart, asks the individual to commit his life
to God, and if that individual resists, and says, “No, I don’t want to do it now, I’m not going to commit my life to
Christ at the present time,” it grieves the Holy Spirit of God. In Acts the 7th chapter and verse 51 we see that it is
possible for an individual to resist the Holy Spirit. It is an active reaction to the work of the Holy Spirit. The heart
of the man who does not wish to submit and to surrender begins active opposition to the truth that comes to him.
That is the real danger signal. It begins with just neglecting and grieving the Holy Spirit and then a person begins
to resist the Holy Spirit and then in I Thessalonians 5:19 Paul says, “Quench not the Spirit of God.”

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If a person grieves and then resists there comes a time when his mind cannot be satisfied and he quenches the Holy
Spirit - - insulates himself off against God. He begins to rationalize until his conscience is still. The conscience
speaks no more. It does not mean that a person is saved because his conscience is no longer speaking to him and
telling him that he is doing wrong. I use the illustration of an alarm clock. Most of us get up in the morning by the
ringing of an alarm. I wonder if you have ever had this experience. Buy a new alarm clock and set it for 6 o’clock.
The first morning it almost startles you out of bed - you just jump out and shut the alarm off. The next morning you
are more accustomed to it. It doesn’t startle you so much. Perhaps you even reach over and shut if off and say, “Oh,
I think I’ll catch another wink or two.” So you roll over and sleep another 20 minutes. The next morning it awakens
you and again you shut it off. You roll over and sleep again and after 5 or 6 days of that the alarm can ring for 5
minutes and you will never hear it. Why? Simply because you have insulated yourself off against it. In order for
the alarm to do it’s work you must respond the very first time and continue to respond to the ringing of the alarm
each morning or it will become so dim in your perception that you will not hear it. That is simply the law of the
mind. The alarm clock is ringing just as loud, isn’t it? But you do not hear it, you do not respond to it. The same
is true of the Holy Spirit. He speaks to us just as much, but, if we insulate ourselves off, if we do not respond at the
first call and we keep going on and on, those ringing calls of the Holy Spirit become imperceptible to us and we say,
Well, I guess everything is alright because I don’t hear the voice of conscience any longer.” It is never easier to
accept the Lord Jesus Christ than the very first time the Holy Spirit speaks.

Do you know that a man cannot long live in conflict. If truth comes he knows that it is right, that he ought to do
it, yet he tries to get away from it, the mind will react after a time, for it cannot endure such a conflict for long. The
person knows he should step out and follow the light, but he fights it off. His mind begins to rationalize. He comes
to the point where he feels that it isn’t important, that it isn’t truth. And the individual who felt the sweet movings
of the Spirit of God on his heart will come to the place where he actually will say. “Well that wasn’t the spirit
speaking to me, I’m glad I didn’t do it.” The only safe course that a man can take is to step out quickly and follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that Jesus said that if we do not follow the light, the light will move on and leave
us behind.

I remind the members of the church that it is just as dangerous to neglect the light that has come to us since we’ve
been in the church as it is for an individual to neglect to accept Jesus Christ all the way before he unites with the
church. What are we doing with the great light that has been shed upon our pathway? Oh, my friends we need to
step out quickly and follow the light. If in any regard, we are not living up to that which we know to be right, to
what God has revealed , then my friends, we are on dangerous ground. There is only one safe time to follow the
light and that is now. Isaiah 1:18, “Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord, Though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” This moment is
the only time God has given us. “Now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Today, if ye hear
My voice, “the Lord says, “Harden not your hearts.”

This is part 11 of a 21-part Prophecy Lecture series. If you wish to obtain a Free copy of the other 20 issues, please write to: 1191 South Columbia
Road, Grand Forks, ND 58201 or call 701 780 2000. You may email me nchelliah@heartnd.net if you want me to email the articles to you.

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