THE UNPARDONABLE SIN
Many believe that the patience of God is inexhaustible. There is no deadline with God. God will patiently stand by and wait until the sinner gets good and ready to be saved. Yet, the Bible teaches that the patience of God is exhaustible and that the spiritual procrastinator runs the risk of crossing God’s deadline.
In Genesis 6:3, God warns us, “My spirit shall not always strive with man.” In the first chapter of the book of Romans, we read these words three times: “God gave them up” (1:24, 26, 28). Men can become reprobate. When they do, “God gives them over to [their] reprobate mind.” Afterward, the Spirit of God ceases to strive with them and their eternal fate is sealed. They’ve passed the point of no return with God and forfeited their immortal soul.
Contrary to popular opinion, a sinner cannot be saved anytime he or she chooses. This fact is illustrated for us in John 6:15. The multitude, due to Christ's feeding of the five thousand, decided to force Jesus to be their king. Jesus, however, withdrew Himself from them. The moral of this story is clear; Jesus Christ cannot be forced to do anything. You can no more force Jesus to be your Savior than the multitude could to be their king.
Too many people today think they have salvation all figured out. They don't want to bother with Christ until they finish sowing their wild oats. They figure to finish strewing their life with sin around age ninety nine. Then, right before the sheet is pulled up over their head and they turn up their toes and die, they plan on whistling for Christ to come and save them. Erroneously believing that Jesus is forced to save all who ask for salvation, whenever they get around to asking for it, these sly sinners are plotting to slip off their deathbeds into Heaven despite lives of debauchery.
The plot of these future deathbed-confessors is fatally flawed. Its deadly error is found in the fact that Christ doesn't come to us whenever we say; instead, we must come to Christ whenever God says. In John chapter 6, Jesus declared, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (verse 44). Jesus added, in verse 65, "No man can come to me, except it were given him of my Father." Salvation is only possible when God says so. It is not something to be had whenever the sinner says.
This explains why the Bible repeatedly warns us not to harden our hearts on the day we hear God's voice (Psalm 95:7-8; Hebrews 3:7-8, 15). If we hear God's voice today, then, as the Bible also teaches, "today is the day of salvation" for us (2 Corinthians 6:2). It is the "accepted time" for us to come to Christ. In other words, it is our opportunity to come to Christ at God's invitation. However, if we harden our hearts on the day we hear God's voice, we have no guarantee that we will ever hear the voice of God again. For all we know, if we harden our hearts to the voice of God today, our coming to Christ tomorrow may be an impossibility.
In Matthew chapter 12, some Pharisees absurdly attribute Jesus’ power over the demonic to “Beelzebub the prince of devils.” In response to such hardheartedness, Jesus issues this solemn warning: “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.”
These words of our Lord contain both a wonderful promise and a most solemn warning. The wonderful promise is that "all manner of sin" can be "forgiven unto men." The solemn warning is that there is an unpardonable sin, "the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost." What exactly is this unpardonable sin and how does one commit it; that is, how does someone blaspheme the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is God’s last call to lost humanity. If the sinner hardens his heart to the Spirit’s invitation to come to Christ there remains no further hope of salvation. The sinner has committed the unforgivable.
Each time the sinner says “No” to the Spirit makes it easier for him to say “No” the next time. With each turning up of his nose to the Spirit’s invitation the sinner’s heart becomes harder, until finally becoming calloused. Once his heart is calloused, impervious to the Spirit’s conviction, the Spirit ceases to strive with the sinner and the unpardonable sin is committed. God’s deadline is crossed and all hope of salvation is lost.
Someone has insightfully quipped that the devil’s greatest “wile” is “wait awhile” (Ephesians 6:11). The devil will never attempt a Faustian deal with your lost family and friends. Instead, he will simply seek to persuade them to procrastinate. Once he convinces them that there is plenty of time to make their peace with God and that there is no urgency in the Spirit’s call, your lost family and friends are well on their way to a calloused heart.
This soul stealing strategy of Satan was brought home to me years ago in a most unforgettable way. While visiting in a nursing home, I was asked by the staff to call upon a patient. The staff informed me that this particular patient was the most tormented soul they had ever encountered. They hoped I might be able to help him.
Entering the room, I found an elderly man dressed in his street clothes and sitting in a chair. Unlike many of the other patients, this man was in control of all his faculties. I quickly learned that his lack of family had more to do with him being there than his lack of health. After a few moments of small talk I turned our conversation to spiritual things. This appeared to prick the man's interest and heighten his attention. Encouraged by such a response I proceeded to present to him the claims of Christ.
After presenting Christ to him, I asked if he believed what I had shared. He immediately responded in the affirmative. I then asked him if he would like to call upon the name of the Lord and be saved (Romans 10:13). He answered, "More than anything else in the world." Nevertheless, when I encouraged him to do so he refused, insisting that it was too late for him to do so. In my youthful exuberance, not to mention Biblical ignorance, I assured him that it was never too late. To this the old man gently, but sternly replied: "Young man, salvation is not a mere matter of you calling upon God. It is also a mater of God calling on you. For years God called me to come to Christ through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, but for years I answered, 'No, no, a thousand times no.' Finally, the Spirit stopped convicting my calloused heart. My problem today is not that I don't want to call upon the name of the Lord, but that the Lord no longer calls upon me."
Had this man committed the unpardonable sin? I don't know, All I know is I felt a chill and eerie presence in that room I have never experienced before or since. I walked out leaving him as I found him⏤a tormented soul.