How Close Are We to Committing the Unpardonable Sin? by John.

How Close Are We to Committing the Unpardonable Sin?
Mark 3:20-35 (Other pertinent Scriptures Matthew 10:32; Luke 12:10, I John 5:16)

1. People constantly are concerned about the unpardonable sin.
2. Just how close are we to committing it?
3. By this location in the third chapter, the hate toward, and the fear of, Jesus was growing strong.
4. Hatred of anything pertaining to God is either sin, or very close to it!
5. The teachers of the Law got into the act in v 22.
6. Apparently without hearing Jesus, these
"grammateis." Greek used for "teachers" here, have already decided that Jesus cast out evil spirits by Beelzebub, the prince of demons!
7. They mixed with the crushing crowd in a house where Jesus and His newly appointed apostles were trying to have a meal.
7. People, evil never strikes any of us at a time convenient for us! It's always happens when we least expect it and are most vulnerable!
9. These teachers of the Law were very close to committing the unpardonable sin.
(1) I said, "close," because Jesus did not accuse them directly although they were in the process.
(2) I believe He told them they needed to change direction before it was too late!
10. In a moment, we are going to look at what constitutes the unpardonable sin. People have all sorts of ideas about what the unpardonable sin is.
11. Jesus nailed that down in black and white for us, but too often we misinterpret what He said.

I. Note that the Teachers' Reasoning Was Foolish.

1. They accused Jesus of casting out demons by Bezel Baal, Beelzeboul, or Beezeboul, the prince of demons.
(1) We aren't sure because the translation of these heathen gods names could have been any one of them.
(2) What we are sure of is that they labeled him "The Prince of Demons!" You can't get worse than that! And they accused Jesus of being demon-possessed!
a, The Greek actually uses a little word, "hoti" to introduce the two parts of their statement. It added emphasis to what they said. With that in mind, they said, "Hah! Beelzebub he has! Hah! By the prince of the demons, he casts out the demons." (The use of definite articles shows they named specific events and entities).
b. In saying that, they attributed the work of God to the devil! And that is very close to being unpardonable!
2. In v 23, Jesus told them their accusation was illogical.
(1) He caught their attention with a question, "How can Satan drive out Satan?"
(2) Then He interjected real logic. "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself, and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come."
(3) In 27, He gave them a short parable: "In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man." He concluded, "Then he can rob his house."
3. How important are the words that come out of our mouths?
(1) The Hebrews believed that a spoken word is like a pebble tossed into the ocean. Sooner or later, a ripple will reach the furthest shore! Every word has a history of its own!
(2) Jesus said in Matthew 12:36, 37, "I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
(3) People, words are that important!
4. So often we try to prove we are right by running someone else down. (Our recent election campaign was an excellent example of mud slinging!)
5. Like those teachers, we are on sinful ground with the Lord even when we tell the truth IF we color it to suit ourselves!

II. Jesus' Mother and Brothers Were Misled.

1. V 21 says "his family..."The Greek text says, "Those belonging to Jesus" heard about what was happening with Jesus, they immediately decided that He was "beside himself." (We still use that to mean "crazy!"
2. They set out to get Him and take Him home where they could tend to Him.
3. Reading the original, we might never know His kinsmen, unless we read to v 31.
(1) There it tells us it was His mother and brothers.
(2) V 32 reaffirms that it was His mother and brothers.
4. Mary is venerated today and people are in trying to elevate her to the status of God, but Jesus did not.
(1) Jesus asked, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" (v 33)
(2) In v 34, He looked at those seated around Him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!"
(3) He respected Mary as His earthly mother, and so do I, but He did not elevate her to the position of "Mother of God!" In fact, in John 19:26,27, from the cross He said to Mary, while looking toward John, "Dear woman, behold your son, and to the disciple, Here is your mother." Mary lived with John from that time on!
5. In v 35, Jesus gave all of us who trust in Him the highest position we could ever hope to have! Listen to this! "Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and brother."
6. Whatever position Mary, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas has, and whatever position His apostles hold, all of us who do the will of God have, too!

III. The Unpardonable Sin Is a Manmade Doctrine about a Spiritual Reality.

1. I suspect some of you may be so dead-set sure you have the unpardonable sin doctrine down pat, that I will ruffle your feelings today. If I do I'm sorry. I have to tell it like I see it in the Scripture.
2. In the original language, this is v 29: "Whoever shall be blaspheming into the Spirit the Holy, has not forgiveness into the eternity, but is subject to eternal judgment."
3. "Shall" is future tense. "Has not forgiveness" is present tense and so is "is subject to," and "subject to" means "possible" even in our own language.
4. Let me paraphrase what Jesus said: If someone blasphemes by attributing the works of God's Spirit to the devil, he is not saved! He does not have the forgiveness that will allow him to spend eternity with God!
5. What it does not say is that there is no hope for such a person! Think about it, people, Saul of Tarsus had people killed for saying Jesus was God! For saying Jesus is our Savior and Lord!
6. He said the very things these teachers of the Law said, and Jesus singled Saul of Tarsus out and saved him! Which one of us would dare say Paul was not saved?
7. It took me years to work out the details of this doctrine, but I always believed that anyone who could trust Jesus would be saved no matter what he had done in the way of sin! I didn't understand how, but I did believe he would be saved!
8. Now, I understand. In Mark 12:34, Jesus said to a lawyer, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."
9. If some are close, others are far away, and any who attribute God's work to the devil, to chance, or any other source, are in danger of dying without Jesus!
10 If you turn to Jesus, you haven't committed the unpardonable sin, but if you die without Jesus, you will never be pardoned!
(1) Again, remember Paul! Jesus told Paul, (Acts 9:5, 26:14) "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." (The King James has "It is hard for you to kick against the pricks." but most of the early manuscripts do not have that in v 5. It does appear in 26:14).
11. God's Holy Spirit works with every one of us! Those feelings you have, that maybe you should believe God, come from Him. If you refuse to listen to your feelings, if you refuse to listen to God, you are in danger of eternal loss!
12. A lot of the teaching about the unpardonable sin is incorrect, folks! Let's stay with God's Word!

Conclusion:

1. It is so easy to be misled if you don't read God's Word for yourself, if you don't read it in prayer asking for God's guidance.
2. As frequently used, the unpardonable sin does not exist, but anyone who refuses Jesus as his or her Lord is in constant danger of an eternity in hell! And once you die, no change will be made!
3. If you have already taken Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are eternally safe from eternal damnation. There is no unpardonable sin for you!
4. If you have refused Jesus, like the teachers of the Law, you are in constant danger every day you live!
5. God has only promised us the moment we have right now. Tomorrow may be too late.
6. The time to receive Jesus and stop worrying about your future is now!

Emmanuel Community Church 11/12/2006