Your sermon of the week is a three-part series on the controversial issue of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. If you have ever wondered what it is or if you’ve committed it, then this series is for you.
Part 1: The Unpardonable Sin
Part 2: The Blasphemy Against the Spirit
Part 3: A Plea to the Halfhearted
Christ Alone Wyoming 
What are the thoughts on if someone can blaspheme the Holy Spirit today?
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I don’t really think it’s possible to blaspheme the Holy Spirit today. The Bible seems clear that it was the Pharisees’ hard hearts that motivated them to ascribe the Lord’s miracles to demons instead of to God.
I think that it is not really possible to repeat the offense at this time (unless Jesus would perform a miracle in front of us and we judged that the source of Christ’s power was from the Enemy).
I do think that an obstinately hard heart that continues tenaciously until death essentially shows the same disease, in that we could continue in disbelief in God, continue rejecting His Son… unto death.
It was the Pharisees’ persistently hard hearts that caused them to see a withered hand healed (and other miracles performed on the Sabbath), but instead of rejoicing at the Lord’s loving-kindness, they merely saw a rule being broken.
Sinful hard-heartedness is the Adamic infection that induces such blasphemies. I picture the Pharisees covering their ears at Stephen’s words:
“‘You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.'”
“Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.” (Acts 7:51-58)
My $0.02,
– Jeff H
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Thanks Jeff H.
I found that very informative!
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When I was eighteen years old I curse the holy spirit out of disbelief. I had forgotten the sin. Twenty plus years later I accepted Jesus Christ and was baptized. I had nightmare about what I had done when I was eighteen. My pastor was doubtful I was saved and questioned my present soul and spirit. He can no longer pray for me because there is no Holy Spirit for me. I do not know if this nightmare is from God or my imagination, or demonic. I am scared. I am going to another church there is no one objects about praying for me. I will say this, do not speak in thoughts or out loud a cuss word against the holy spirit.
I have talk to a minister online, he tried to convince me that I did not commit the unpardonable sin that it cannot be duplicated and forgive my pastor and find another church.
The minister online keep trying to convince me God will forgive my sin past present and future no matter what. He had me in a dazzle. I do not know in what to think. Both pastor were the extreme points of view. They both cannot be right. I also want to add both online minister and the pastor were Baptist.
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Our pastor preached on this today. He also had the same thing asked to him from a worman. I agree with the latter above. You are forgiven if you ask God. You are saved. Keep your faith and further your relationship with the Lord. In all things acknowlede him. God bless you and my wife and I are praying for you. In His name, Don and Sandy
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God Bless Don and Sandy. Thank you for praying for me. I am going to another church and I am at rest, no one is preaching directly at me. Please asked God what is the truth. The Pastor could be right and online minister could mean well and be wrong. I am no position to pray, my faith is shattered. The pastor seemed to know alot about me. It is really differicult to know what is the truth and what is not. The dream was very vivid. It could be from God.
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Hey I thought i commited the unpardonable sin to. Its clear what Jesus ment all though not many or any pastor or online sermons state this simple truth found at the bottom of a comentary on the NLT Bible. The only reason it cannot be forgiven is not becuase is a sin to bad compared to other sin or becuase the blood of Jesus is not enough, but becuase the pharisees who commited it would never ask for forgivness thus not forgivable in this age or the next. Is quiet simple but true. Also their are many webistes that state that the only unpardonable sin is not accepting Jesus in your heart. Well that ties in with this and its true what the Pharisees did was deny that Jesus was the messiah and more, the Son of God. Therefore john 5:24 states it ias simple as possible. “Those who hear my words and beleive in God who sent me have this very moment eternal life THEY WILL NEVER BE CONDEMNED FOR THEIR SINS BUT HAVE PASSES FROM DEATH TO LIFE”. SEE!!!! never will be condemend. Simple beleive in Jesus and he wont condemn you it is God’s desire that every one will be saved. Jesus didnt come into the world to judge the world but to save it through him, this in in John 3;17 i beleive or near to this. So i encourage you to read the whole new testament and see what God has to say about you, thats what I did and i was strengthend in an amazing way.
God bless
Lincoln Erik
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I wasn’t able to listen to these audio teachings in this post so I was directed to the following link: by MacArthur…absolutely excellent!! Not only did it answer my question about ‘what the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is” but it also helped me understand some other areas that needed ‘shoring up’. I also feel like I have a better grasp and understanding about how to share the Gospel more effectively!
Thank you so much to ‘abidingthroughgrace’ and ‘Pilgrim’ for their help…
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/41-16_The-Unforgivable-Sin
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MaryL,
That is great news. i’m glad you read the MacArthur sermon transcript. He clears it up for sure and my brief comments were not terribly clear. 🙂 Blaspheme the Holy Spirit as contextually spoken by Christ in Mark 3:29-30 refers to people who say Jesus is demonic and that his spirit is Satan. That is unforgivable because it is unbelief. 🙂 When those who have said Christ was demonic come to a belief in Christ/the cross/forgiveness of sins, they will have forgiveness of that blaspheme through regeneration. It is such good news.
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I understand what you meant now… And I’m thinking that those people who seem so determined to reject the truth; along with those who purposely distort it…that there may still be hope for them. That as long as they have breath, they can be given the ‘gift of repentance’ if God determines to give it. (No man can come to the Father lest the Spirit draw Him) I praise God for His mercies and His judgments…He knows what He’s doing… I need only pray and intercede as the Spirit leads and He determines His will…
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I am going to repair or correct my statement up above. I did at eighteen spoke a cuss word against the Holy Spirit when I was eighteen.
I do not know if this is unforgiven sin or not.
All I know my Baptist pastor refuse to pray for me of 2009. The minister online prayed for him and does not believe committed this sin.
I am going to different church.
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Carol, that is a very sad story. It grieves me greatly to hear that you have been counseled so badly. Bottom line is this: If you believe Christ is God, your lord and savior, and that his death on the cross paid for your sins, then ALL, ALL, ALL, ALL your sins are forgiven. There is NO SUCH THING as a sin that Christ blood can’t atone for. His death and sacrifice has washed away all your sins, period. This means even blaspheme against the spirit 20 years ago. The unpardonable sin talked about here is essentially the sin of unbelief. You are forgiven and you should rejoice in that. Paul was a blasphemer and a murderer and Christ saved him and used him mightily! (1 Tim 1:13). Have hope and resolve in your heart that you are forgiven as a child of God IF you are truly saved. (truly saved? how do we know? that is another topic)
2 other quick things:
1. Any pastor (baptist or not) who says they won’t pray for you for anything should be removed from his position as pastor immediately. He is unqualified to shepherd the sheep with that outlook. Any pastor who claims you are not forgiven for blaspheme before you were saved should be removed from their position as pastor immediately because they are unfit.
2. Dreams are dreams and this is a huge topic for a different discussion if you want. However, do not put any stock in your dreams as being messages from God or demons or satan. Our mind will play tricks on us. Read the Word of God and find your truth there. I believe God can use a dream for his purposes, but I think we have to be extremely careful to assign any message to it.
Let me know if you want to talk about this more. Also, did you find a good church? if not, i might be able to help you there.
abidingthroughgrace
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Carol I would suggest you read Jeff H’s post at the top. It doesn’t sound to me that you have committed the unpardonable sin.
I you truly see yourself as a sinner and want forgiveness then you have not committed that sin.
[24] Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
(John 5:24 ESV)
If you truly trust Jesus then you have eternal life and will not come into judgment. Would Jesus lie?
One suggestion. If I were you I would try to find a sound church. It doesn’t sound like the one you were/are attending is very knowledgeable of Scripture. Stay away from any church that has “free will” or “independent fundamental” in the name.
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Shane and Jeff H,
There is 1 problem i have with JeffH’s response. quoting from him in his quote above:
“I don’t really think it’s possible to blaspheme the Holy Spirit today. The Bible seems clear that it was the Pharisees’ hard hearts that motivated them to ascribe the Lord’s miracles to demons instead of to God.”
Blaspheme the Holy Spirit is essentially unbelief and saying that the Holy Spirit is evil or unclean. This is not specific to ancient Jerusalem and the Pharisees. This is happening everywhere every day. It is 100% possible to blaspheme the Holy Spirit today if someone swears against the H.S. or claims Jesus was filled with demons or simple to say the H.S. doesn’t existing. That is an unpardonable sin today and forever. Unpardonable if left in unbelief. As soon as that blasphemer believes, his sins are washed away and he is seen as justified.
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Thank you abidingthroughgrace, shane
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abidingthroughgrace, This was my vision, the voice was male, he said, “its all true Carol, the pastor will continue to crucify you. you will not help yourself, you continue to hear him preach then he will remove you from God’s people. I had high hopes for you but you were a little nothing.” The voice revealed my unpardonable sin, what I had done at eighteen. It show me in my room, I was upset with my dad who was a deacon, and some my Christian friends, I felt God was mad at me too, I had swore against the Holy Spirit out loud.Then I had completely forgotten about it over the years until this vision.
I no longer go to his church, I had moved away to another town and another state. I am going to another church. The church is Baptist.
I do not know if this vision or dream is from God, my sub-conscience, or demons.
I hope all of you are correct that the unpardonable cannot be duplicated.
My request to pray for the pastor who was so critical of me, that God will bless him and protect from evil.
My prayer request for all of you that was so kind me on the blog that God will bless all of you and protect all of you from evil.
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Carol,
At a minimum it sounds as if you need to reconcile yourself with those you mentioned in obedience to Christ’s command:
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. – Matt. 5:23-24
Because Christ has come and given the Father’s final revelation through Himself (Heb. 1:2) and those whom He appointed to write the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16), today God speaks through the mediated revelation of the Holy Bible, not immediately inside private individals’ heads. Whatever your “vision” was, it plainly wasn’t a word from God. But as I’ve already pointed out Matt. 5:23-24 is a word from God, and it seems to me to have direct application to your current situation. True internal heart love for God is best demonstrated by heartfelt, thankful, joyful, obedience to His commands. Please prayerfully consider it.
In Christ,
CD
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Carol,
Let me give you more encouragement from the Word of God. Please don’t put any authority on dreams since we do not know their source or reality. Repent for this sin, as i know you have done, and find great hope and joy in your savior. Check these out:
We are drawn to God, by God:
John 6:35-40
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
The father has given us to the son, those given will come to the son and all who are given Jesus will not cast out! We see a similar situation in John 17, how Jesus is praying for the children of God and those that have been give to Christ he gives to the father.
Then…
Romans 8:15
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Galatians 4:6
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
We are redeemed sons (children of God). We know that we have been redeemed. We that believe in Christ and love Christ can have unbelievable hope in these last couple passages:
Romans 8:28-30
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
For those who love God…Do you love God? Yes, I think so. If you do, then you can know that all things work for God to those called (children of God)…He foreknew you, he predestined you to be in the image of his son, he called you (this is why you believe in him), you are justified (sins are gone…all of them), and you will be glorified with him in the life to come. Amazingly beautiful. Even more here:
Ephesians 1:3-5
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
So we know that the sons of God are redeemed, they are called, none are lost or cast out. we know that the children of God are those who love God…and not we see that we were predestined before the foundation of the world to be adopted as children of God through Christ. Amen? Wow. You are a child of God! Your sins are already justified, already redeemed, already taken away. Finally, one last one to seal the deal:
Romans 5:6-7
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Wow, I say! Wow! Christ died while we were still sinners! He died before we even were born. We are justified by his atoning blood and justified at the cross. we are not justified at some later date. we see from all these passages that before you were even born you were predestined, chosen, called, and justified…all before you could do any particular sin. No sin that we can do can separate us from the love of our Father, so we cry Abba! in adoration and love for him. He died for us before we were born, justified by his blood, and we will be saved from the wrath of God.
All of these passages relate to all of us. Take each of these passages and see how you, as a child of God cannot, cannot, cannot sin your way out of God’s loving arms and salvation. Believe in what Christ has done and have great joy in your savior. Leave your chains of slavery to fear, sin, doubt all behind and find freedom and joy in Christ from this sin. 🙂 Carol, I hope this helps emphasize what we have talked about earlier. This is scripture…it is in the word…it is the Word of God.
God Bless You!
abidingthroughgrace
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Thank you everyone, God bless all of you and I will take in my heart what all of you say.
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Thank you so much for this sermon. So I see it is a deliberate act to almost invoke the wrath of God. So it seems that someone who commits this sin will not be concerned about the state of their souls or the consequences of this sin.
I have been always weary of my thoughts when I was backsliding and I was so distraught when read this passage in Mathew and Hebrews.
The Lord is so good. I ask anyone who feels like they have committed the unpardonable sin to ask God for forgiveness.
Ask yourself this question. Did the pharisees ask for forgiveness? Were they concerned about their blasphemy?
I tell you the truth. If you are concerned about the unpardonable sin. You have not commited it. ABOVE ALL KEEP PRAYING AND DO NOT LOSE HEART!
1 John 3:19-20 “This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence. Whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”
1 John 3:19-20
New Living Translation (©2007)
Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.
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I backslid in ’06 and ran from Christ for three yrs. Deliberately sinning and doing wrong, but still conscious of God’s reality. Never blaming Him for my bad choices or for what happened to me as a result of these choices.
Now I am seeking to come back to Him again through prayer and the reading of His Word, yet wondering was my backsliding and running from Him the same as falling away as the book of Hebrews describes? Is it now impossible for me to be restored to the faith? I have asked God many, many times to save me before and since then tossing and turning over whether or not I had ever actually been saved, and despite my many requests of Salvation to God still wonder about this.
I certainly don’t want to be condemned to hell because of not recieving Christ! Especially since I’ve asked Him so many times to come into my heart and life. Is it possible that maybe my requests were too half-hearted and therefore He Hasn’t saved me yet? I feel that my recent requests were very whole hearted tho, but do not “feel” any different. I “felt” it the first time several years ago, felt elated and as if I had been set free.
Since then my inconsistent following and backsliding and willful sinning have caused me to question if I have in fact fallen away from Christ. Any advice or help is greatly appreciated! This torments me every day, I am obsessed with finally having closure on this matter.
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Carrie,
Hello. Thank you for your post and comments. I hear the struggle in your words and I understand your fears and doubts. I want to say upfront that I am not one that believes that people can “backslidden Christians”. Scripture tells us about how God calls us and when we are saved we will never be the same. We will never fade away from Christ when we have seen his face through salvation. The Christian saints persevere through all trials and tribulations in God’s hands. Does that make sense? So with this point of view I would suggest that you were not saved before your period of backsliding. Please do not be offended or deeply hurt, but consider these words in relation to your concern and fear of not being “savable”. The likely case is that you were an unrepentant sinner before that period and an unrepentant sinner during that period. But, but, but!!! There is good news!
The only impossibility we have is the impossibility for God to not save those whom cry out to him for salvation. If you repent of your sin and you truly seek Jesus and you truly love him and you desire to be a disciple, you will be saved and there is no doubt. God calls those to whom he will save (Romans 8:28-31, Ephesians 1-2, John 6). Those whom are called are saved – that is a guarantee. Then, those who are saved will be saved forever and ever because God keeps them and when God saves a soul it cannot be taken from him ever by any means.
So, what do you need to do? Fall on your knees and pray desperately for God to save you. Forget about the past and what you have done. There is NO sin too great to not be forgiven. Then you need to be confident that you are transformed and a new creation. You need to pray everyday and read large passages of scripture every day. You need to eliminate and fight against any sins in your life. If you are saved you should see fruit of the Spirit, you should also love other believers. Look at Colossians 3, Galatians 5, Ephesians 5, Romans 1-7 and you’ll see the comparison of the lost/unsaved person in their flesh and then you’ll see the believer, the saved, the child of God. Look at them and see where you fall NOW…not in your past.
There is never a sin or sins that are ever unforgivable. The only thing unforgivable is unbelief.
Let me know your thoughts and I’m happy to discuss this further.
your servant,
-abidingthroughgrace
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I also swore at the Holy Spirit not too long ago, I said F him and damn Him, had no real good reason for it. Figured I spoke against the Holy Spirit and committed the unpardonable sin like Carol. So I guess there is forgiveness for cussing at the Holy Spirit from what I’m reading from abidingthroughgrace
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Carol, have you ever experience anything particular from God that let you know He has forgiven you? Thanks!
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I would like to know wat I could do to help myself let me explain I have never gave my life to jesus. I heard that if you reject Jesus that you could be forgiven I hear different things about it I hear that you could be forgiven for all sin and I hear you cant
I’m not sure wat to do how do I get the holy spirit in my life. I hope that you could help me with this situation for
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