The Unpardonable Sin

Many people, and probably most of us, have looked at our sins or looked at our problems or looked at our lives at some point or another and said, God won't forgive me. God won't forgive me. I wonder if I have committed the unpardonable sin. And I get asked that question a lot. People will come in to my office, they will sit down, and they will... I think I've committed the unpardonable sin. And I've had a number of people, both here and in Murfreesboro, ask me to give a sermon on the unpardonable sin. What is it? What is it that limits God's willingness to forgive? Is there a sin that God won't forgive? Have I committed that sin? Am I doomed because I have committed the unpardonable sin? When we go to Romans 6, 23, Paul says, you have to turn now, just read it, he says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The result of all sin is death, but God offers us through the work of Jesus Christ eternal life. Now, he didn't say, he said, all sin produces death. All sin produces death, and Jesus Christ will do the work to save us from sin. So is there an unpardonable sin? Is there a sin that isn't covered by Jesus Christ? Or is there a reason why God would not forgive something? Which leads us to a very interesting scripture in 1 John. Let's go to 1 John 5, because the premise throughout the scripture is that all sin leads to death. And here John is talking about how we are freed from the death penalty of sin. In 1 John 5, let's go to verse 11. So we see the positive remarks he makes here, and then it leads into a statement that we have to ask, what does he mean? Verse 11 says, and this is the testimony that God has given us, eternal life, and this life is in his Son. So here's what we have. Here's what's been offered to us. The message of God. You can have eternal life, and this comes through the work of his Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. John says, these things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Now, what an encouragement statement. He says, all of you who know and are having the work of Jesus Christ in, you know that God is giving you eternal life. And then he says another statement, just a little bit farther in verse 16. In verse 16, he says, if anyone sees his brother sitting, a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and he, here being God, will give him the life for those who have committed sin, not leading to death. Though all sin leads to death. He says, if you see a brother sitting, go and intercede. Ask God to forgive him. Go to your brother. Convict him of his sin. Bring him to God. Help him repent. But then he makes this, what seems like maybe a strange comment. I do not say that he should pray about—I'm sorry. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.

So what is the difference? If all sin leads to death, and all human beings die, what is Paul talking about? A sin that leads to death, and a sin that does not lead to death? Well, we put the Scripture together, and we look at the subject here, his eternal life. He's not talking about physical death. He's talking about something that takes away your eternal life. He's talking about what the Bible calls the second death. There is a sin that God will forgive. It doesn't leave the death. Why? Because he already was talking about how we receive eternal life. So you have to put those verses together. We receive eternal life through the work of Jesus Christ. Now, there is a type of sin that removes you from the work of Jesus Christ.

So the problem isn't the work of Jesus Christ. It is what can remove me from the work of Jesus Christ. The problem isn't the mercy of God. It is what can remove me from the mercy of God. So now we have a very important question. What is this that can lead us to that? In Revelation, it talks about the second death thrown into the lake of fire. There is a lake of fire.

The belief of universal salvation, that everybody receives salvation, is not true. I mean, that's a hard thing to say. It's a frightening thing to say and actually think about. There are people who will suffer eternal death. They will cast in the lake of fire because they will have committed the unpardonable sin. In other words, the sin that cannot be forgiven of. So then we begin to ask, what in the world is that sin? What is it that leads people to not be able to be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ?

Well, it leads people to being thrown into the lake of fire. And this is especially true to the Church of God because the judgment of God is not yet upon this world. But the judgment of God is upon the Church. So we need to be able to answer this question. Now, as we go through here, I want you to remember, though, what John said. We have eternal life through the work of Jesus Christ.

When you are concerned, my sins are terrible. I look at myself and I'm not what I should be. And you find yourself before God begging forgiveness and help and guidance and saying, I hope I haven't committed the unpardonable sin you have not.

Because if you're before God begging forgiveness and help and guidance, you're not separated from God yet. So we have to talk about what is it? I've heard people, I've had people tell me, at a man one time leave a congregation I was because he said, the unpardonable sin is homosexuality. And I said, oh no, Jesus Christ died for homosexuals just like He did for you and me. And he said, oh, I can't believe that. You probably don't have a place here. He never came back.

Oh well, the unpardonable sin is this. It is this. You know, people will say, well, it's this, this, this, this. What is it? Well, first of all, let's talk a little bit about our relationship with sin. Okay? Sin, of course, there's a number of definitions in the Bible, all unrighteousness is sin. We just read that. Sin is the breaking of God's law. Sin is doing what you knowing to do right and not doing it. There's a number of different definitions, but when you put them together, sin is not doing what God says.

Okay? It's that simple. Sin is not doing what God says. And that's why we still believe that there is a law of God. It tells us what God wants us to do. He explains to us. But sin is actually more than that. Sin is any time we do something that is not what God wants. It's against God's will, God's instructions and purpose for our lives.

We also know that we are covered and forgiven because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And as Christians, we are trying to avoid sin and we're fighting sin, but you and I still sin. Oh, we may not go out and kill somebody, but we can still harbor a lot of anger and hatred and bitterness towards somebody, and that's sin.

We may not steal, but we may covet what somebody else has. You know, we may not commit adultery, but we may lust after somebody. These are all sins. So even though we are trying to fight sin and we're trying to get sin out of our lives, you and I still sin. So does any sin we commit the unpartable sin? There was a belief one time, or a couple of times in history in terms of the Catholic Church about sin. It's very interesting. If you go back into the third and fourth centuries, some of the emperors weren't baptized until their deathbed.

And the reason why is they said they had to commit all kinds of sins in order to be emperor, and they thought if they sinned once, they were going to go to hell. So you'd wait to your deathbed to be baptized and hope you got baptized before you died because then you were going to hell. But that way you didn't go to hell while you committed all these sins.

I read a case where a Roman soldier was baptized all except his right hand, and that's because that was the hand he wielded the sword. So his hand killed people. I don't kill him. My hand does. So this concept of what is the unpardonable sin has always been something that has plagued anybody, this thought about sin. Let's look at what the work of Jesus Christ does for us. And what can separate us from this?

Let's go back to 1 John. We read 1 John 5. Let's go to 1 John 1. Let's start in verse 8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So even as Christians, we still sin. We still struggle with a corrupt human nature. We still struggle with a corrupt human nature. We still struggle with a corrupt human nature. And so many of our sins may not be out in the open. They may not be actions, but they're in our minds and our hearts.

If we confess our sins, so here's part of the Christian experience. You and I are to be confessing sins to God all the time. If we're not examining our sins, we're going to be confessing our sins to God all the time. If we're not examining ourselves enough to see where we're not measuring up to Christ, then there's something wrong with our whole approach to our Christianity. We should be confessing our sins all the time.

God, I'm sorry I did this. Sorry, God, I thought this. I'm sorry I treated this person this way. I'm sorry I did this to my husband or wife. I shouldn't have done these things. This isn't what you want me to do. So I come before you and ask for forgiveness for this. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When you go confess and repent your sins before God, they're gone.

In other words, you have not committed the unpardonable sin because it's been pardoned. Unpartedable means something that's so horrible it can't be pardoned or it won't be pardoned.

You don't know my sins.

When people sit down and say, I've committed adultery, when people sit down and say, I have to admit I'm a drunk. When people sit down, the first thing we say is, have you gone before God and confessed your sin? Because that's the first thing we have to do here.

We got to do this first and then we can start dealing with the sin. But the first thing is, have you gone before God? Sometimes you deal with them right there and help them confess their sin. Okay, now we got God involved. Now some good things can happen. I can counsel you all the time, and if God's not involved, it doesn't mean anything. I'm just talking. It's God it is that does this work. So we have to confess our sins God forgives us. Verse 10 says, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his words not in us. So to say that we're sinless, well, you're sinless when you confess and stand up and you're forgiven. How long does it take for sin to be participating in sin again? But so this confession and repentance, repentance isn't a one-time thing you do at baptism. Repentance is a lifelong experience. Confession is a lifelong experience.

Then chapter 2, my little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. He says, I tell you this so you won't sin. If we really understand this process by what God how he's cleansing us, we're confessing our sins, we will be sinning less and less. Well, actually what happens, and you know this, as soon as you really start to get a hold of and overcome some sins, He just shows you more. And then you realize, I didn't know I had that problem. But that's the point. We're learning not to sin. Sin is leaving our lives, bit by bit, as we're leaving Egypt. And if anyone sins, so John knew that we were all still going to be struggling with sin, he has an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. And so what John writes here is, remember, when you sin, you have an advocate. This advocacy work of Jesus Christ is very important in our lives. Yes, He died for us, but He is still the High Priest, which is the purpose of the Day of Atonement. That we are continually going before the throne of God, our High Priest is there, His sacrifice is accepted, and we are cleansed. Now, what could stop that process? Obviously, it's not God. Is there anything, is there anything that the advocacy of Jesus Christ can't cover? Is there anything His blood can't cover? Is there any limit to God's mercy? And yet we know that there could be an unpardonable sin. So how do we work that out? A sin unto death. And John says, don't even pray about that one. When a person is committed now, you and I don't know when people have committed the unpardonable sin. So the best thing to do is pray for them. If they've committed the unpardonable sin, God's going to take care of it. And it's a horrible thing. We don't want anybody to end up there, right? But the point is, John is making, there's a point where people go, it's going to be to death.

This eternal death. So let's look at, there's two definitions that we find in the New Testament for the unpardonable sin. So let's look at these two definitions and break them down into our lives. The first one is in Hebrews 6. Hebrews chapter 6, verse 4. Hebrews 6, verse 4, For it is impossible for those who are once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance. Now let's stop a minute. But the description here is very clear. He's not talking, by the way, about unconverted criminals. He's specifically talking about people who have been called by God, who have had their minds opened, who have repented, and who have received the Holy Spirit. And it doesn't just say, if they sin, it says they fall away.

In other words, the point here is that these people, and this is the thing that we must guard, God doesn't fail. God's not going to fail in your life. If you don't believe that, boy, I felt abandoned by God before, and then there's always, wait a minute, He doesn't fail. He isn't abandoned me. I must have done something to abandon Him. I walked away from God. He doesn't walk away from anybody. So if God doesn't fail, then the Scripture specifically is for us to understand we can fail. And what is our failure? It is to fall away. It is to go back to the corrupt person you were before God gave you the Spirit. It is to give up the Spirit. God's Spirit does not take away your free will.

See, people, I've had this conversation a hundred times, but I knew what I was doing was wrong. I couldn't help it. I knew what was wrong, and I was with my friends, and everybody was drinking, using drugs, watching porn. It doesn't matter. It's filling the bank. And I knew what was wrong, but I did it anyways. And I've just been crying for three days because I know God hates me and God doesn't want anything to do with me, and I've just lost. Oh, have you gone and confessed your sin? Oh, no. Well, let's go confess your sin. Ask God forgiveness. The advocacy of Jesus Christ restores you. Now, there may be some temporary punishment involved, but you're restored in your relationship with God. In other words, God didn't take his Spirit away. This is a situation where the person literally pushes God's Spirit away from them, out of them. They have fallen away. Before God calls you what is unique in your life, you don't know to repent.

Before God calls you, your life's a mess, but you're going on. You have no idea that you have to repent. When you shove God's Spirit away and you return to that state, guess where you are? In no need of repentance. You begin to understand the unpardonable sin. When you begin to understand it is a person who no longer desires or needs repentance.

That's why I remember I gave a sermon a few months ago about the most dangerous sin of self-righteousness.

Because you're doing good, and you know you're good, and you know you're better than everybody else, and in all your goodness, you're shoving God away. Self-righteousness is the most dangerous of sins because you're doing good while you do it.

Notice what it goes on. It says, "...if they fall away to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put him to an open shame." In other words, they just shove the whole thing aside. They no longer accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You know, I have talked to people who have said, I just think God's given up on me, and you know, I don't think Christ, well, you know, His sacrifice doesn't apply to me anymore, and I do, and they just don't care, and it scares me when I talk to them. Then you talk to people who are just so bitter. God, God is evil. I could never worship such a horrendous God. I could never worship a God who crucifies His own Son. So I'm not going to accept this. I actually read an article recently where a guy said that. I will not accept Jesus Christ as my Savior because I will not believe in or trust a God. He believed God exists, but I will not trust a God who kills His own Son. That's so horrible. He's an, it's an evil God. That's a scary thing. So our first definition specifically has to do with being called by God, having your mind open, having repented, receiving God's Spirit, and then pushing that aside in such self-will that you return to being what you were before God called you. And you will not repent now. You're in a state where you will not return to God. That's a very scary thing. Peter talks about this. Turn to 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2.

This is why you and I have to be so careful about bitterness. If someone has hurt you, where things aren't working out, it's so easy to get bitter. It's so easy to be controlled by anger. And we can get to where we're just bitter and angry all the time. And we won't even turn to God. We won't even go talk to Him. Watch the news. I'm angry with God. I'm not going to talk to Him.

And we begin to shove God and His Spirit out of our lives. It doesn't happen overnight, by the way. Some will say, oh, I had this terrible thought. I told God, just leave me alone. I know I'm lost. Why don't you go say, God, I am sorry. I was childish. I was stupid. I was self-willed. Go confess your sin and ask for forgiveness. And say, would you please come back in? Would you come in? I say, God didn't take His Spirit away. But it is possible to shove God out to where His Spirit is not there anymore, and that person will not return to God.

2 Peter 2, verse 20. For if, speaking about people who had come into the church and had gone now believing false doctrines, and in this case, these false teachers were leading people away from God. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having to note it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, a dog returns to its own vomit, and a sow, having washed to her own wallowing in the mire. See, where are you going back to? Become entangled in. In other words, you go back to your life you had before, and God's no longer involved. Oh, you might have some form of religion, but you're really in no relationship with God, and you have no interest in the power of God's Spirit in your life. So when we look at this first definition, it is to shove God away. Now, we can do that because we're just trapped in a sin we will not forgive or not overcome. We can just decide. We can just decide.

I remember a man telling me one time that, and I know I've used this before, but it was just such a profound thing. This was years and years and years ago. He said, it's not my fault. I'm in jail. It's God's fault because he lets Satan deceive Eve. If I was there, I would have not been deceived. So it's God's fault. He lets Satan into my life, and I had no choice in this. So this isn't my fault.

I had no more discussion. There was nothing more for me to say.

That's just shoving God away. There's also that where you just literally shove him away, but there's drifting away too. And that's a scary thing. It's not like you just go out and become some drunken, immoral person. What happens is you just sort of drift away. Years and years and years of no praying, no studying. Oh, you come to church, you sleep through most of the services, and you just go through the motions. And one day you wake up, and you just don't care anymore. You just drift it away. That's another way you can end up like we're reading here in Hebrews and in 2 Peter. So this is one way in which we can commit the unpardonable sin. It is to turn our hearts and minds against God or to drift away to the point where God's Spirit just leaves us. And we will not repent again. We will not turn back. God says, I won't sacrifice Jesus Christ this second time. We'll do it a second time.

A second way that we can commit the unpardonable sin is in Mark 3. Mark 3.

So as you can see, God will keep us from committing the unpardonable sin as long as we stay close to God. As long as we stay close to God, He won't let us go there. We have to shove Him out so far, so hard, so long, so far that He's gone. We've shoved Him out of our lives. Now, you say, oh, I've done that. I haven't come to church for a year. I shoved God out of my life. Now, let me tell you something about God. It takes a lot of shoving. I've seen people leave God for years and then one day say, what am I doing? It's like God's been yelling at them the whole time and they haven't heard a word. And then they wake up one day and say, God, what am I doing? I need to get back with you and I need to be back serving you and I need to get back to keeping the Sabbath. I need to get back to living life a right way and I need to get rid of all this bitterness and anger and lust and envy and greed. And all of a sudden God turns His lives around. He said, well, God must have abandoned Him years ago. No, He didn't.

It takes a lot of shoving to get Him out of your life. The point that's being made is you and I can do it, though.

He'll stay there. He'll stay there. He'll bring about trials in your life. He'll talk to you. He'll send people into your life. He'll keep it up and keep it up and keep it up and keep it up. Until you finally say, no, I want ever, ever, ever anything to do with you again.

And even then He won't abandon you. You have to shove Him out.

See, God doesn't fail. He has infinite patience, but He doesn't make us. He doesn't possess us. So we shove Him until He goes away.

And sometimes we think He's gone away and He's actually standing there being quiet.

Yeah, I can remember doing that with my children, watching them about to do something that was really going to, you know, hurt them, not hurt the bad or, you know, cause some kind of frustration or something, watching, watching, watching. And when they're just, then I walk into the room. And they're like, oh, you know, cause I would have known if I would have walked in five minutes earlier to bid, I could do it. I can do it. He's there and you wait and you wait and you wait until nothing works. And they're just, just collapsing. And then you walk in, it's like, where you been? You know, and it's like, well, I don't want to tell you, but I've been standing there watching this whole thing. See, God does that too. He just sort of stands there and watches and says, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. That's going to be really bad. And then when you just follow the party steps into the room. So we worry about the unpardonable sin and we should have some concern. But remember, God is never going to abandon you. We do this. We shove him out and we can shove him out to the point he says, I'm gone because we will not repent. We just won't repent. We're right. He's wrong. And after he's knocked us down and corrected us and worked with us and been merciful to us and everything and everything, and the abbessy of Jesus Christ, it's just going on and on and on until we don't want it anymore. Second reason, Mark 3, chapter 3, verse 20. Let me find it here. I'm in the wrong book. Mark 3, verse 20. Then the multitude came together again so they could not so much as eat bread. When his own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold on him, for they said, he is out of his mind. Now they're going after Jesus Christ. And what they're saying is he's a crazy man. So that's the beginning. We're sort of breaking the middle of the thought here. But this is the story. Jesus Christ is taking care of people and they're saying he's out of his mind. We have to go deal with this man. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, he has bells above. And by the ruler of the demons, he cast out demons. Jesus is demon-possessed. Okay? That was their conclusion. Now I want you to understand something here because it is real important as we read this passage. These are not Christians with God's Spirit.

See, the first definition were Christians with God's Spirit. These are people, though, that have been exposed to the power of God through Christ. They saw him. The power and work of God through him was undeniable. And their conclusion is, of course, well, somebody's doing this and it's not him. These aren't human things that are happening. So Satan is doing this.

So we say, well, a person that doesn't have God's Spirit can't commit the impartable sin. Yes, they can. They were exposed to the power of God's Spirit.

They knew this was the power, not of human beings. But their own heart was so hardened because they would have to admit they were wrong on some things. They were so unwilling to repent that they said the power of God, dad, that's the power of Satan. Look what he says. Verse 23, so he called them to himself and said to them in parables, how can Satan cast out Satan? Now, he was casting out demons. So Satan's doing this. The kingdom is divided against itself. That kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. Now, Satan has risen up against himself and is divided. He cannot stand, but has an end. No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man. And then he always plunder his house. He says, Satan's not doing this. I have bound Satan and plundering his house. I'm the one casting out. God through me is casting out these demons. It is God through me that's doing these miracles. But they said, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what's happening. It can't be because of what means we have some religious problems. I mean, our concept of Judaism is not correct. Our concept of the Messiah is not correct. Verse 28, Surely I say to you, all sins will be forgiven, the sons of men, and whatever blasphemings they may utter. But he who blasphemings against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is subject to eternal condemnation. That's a strong statement. And it says, because they said he has an unclean spirit. Because they took the power and work of God, here it was right in front of them. And they said, that is demonic. Because they would not repent in front of Jesus Christ there himself. He said, you're in danger here of a sin that will not be forgiven. Why?

How do you repent when you've just said God is Satan and Satan is God?

How do you repent from that?

So this is a very interesting problem when people take the power of God and they say, that is of Satan.

It also shows that when a person is directly exposed to the power of God, they are held responsible by God. So here we have a second definition of the impartable sin. It is committed by people who know better and yet take the power of God and contribute it to Satan so that they don't have to repent.

So how do you and I... How do we do this, though? Okay, we see what it is. We have two definitions. How can we do this? Surely you and I could not go down that road. Well, let's look at two ways we can go down this road. First is, we get into such a mindset of self-will that we lose all humility before God. We will not submit to God. The beginning of the unpardonable sin is self-will. Look at the two definitions. I have God's spirit. I don't want God to tell me what to do anymore. And I'm just not going to do what He says. And you know, just anger and bitterness towards God. The other is, I see the power of God, but that's not what I want. That's not how I... So I'm going to resist God. Both instances begin with self-will. I will not submit to God. I will not do it God's way. God is wrong. God is wrong.

We can become so calloused because of our sins. We struggle. Maybe we can't overcome a sin. Maybe we deal with certain things. Maybe we're just... You know, it's the problem with the victim mentality. Everybody hurts me. Everybody's against me. It's everybody else's fault. And we can live that way until it eats away at us that we're so calloused. We're just filled with hatred. And we're justified in hating other people. Well, you know, I know God wouldn't let that person in the kingdom. And what are you going to do? It's the resurrection. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, God. If you're putting that person in the kingdom, you have a real problem.

We won't be there if that's our attitude.

The beginning is always self-will. Now remember, because I don't want to be... Oh, no, I've committed the impartable sin. All of us resist the direction of God's Spirit. All of us at times know, I shouldn't do this. I shouldn't do this. Sorry, I shouldn't do this. Right? Oh, I should spend some time today in some prayer fasting. You know, I haven't fasted in a month. I need to fast. I should. Yeah. Two months later. No, I haven't fasted in two months. I mean, okay, we're resisting. God's Spirit is, you need to humble yourself before me. I'm too busy. We know we've all done that. This isn't just resisting and then learning to follow God's Spirit. This is shoving it away. Remember, it is a mindset. It is self-will that's shoving it away. Look at Hebrews 10. Here, we have a really good description of this in Hebrews 10. There's more about the unpardonable sin in Hebrews than any other book. Hebrews 10 verse 26.

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. And that's where we will... I know I willfully did that. You know, most sin we do is willfully. I mean, sometimes it's ignorance, sometimes it's weakness, but most of the time with God's Spirit, we know we shouldn't treat that person this way, or we know we shouldn't cheat on our taxes, or we know, but we do it anyways.

You say, well, I've committed the unpardonable sin. No. If you go confess your sin and repent before God, you won't do it next year. You see what I mean? You'll do it. God will help you through the guidance of His Spirit not to commit that sin again or to learn to overcome it. Some sins can take years to overcome, years to grow through with God's Spirit, with His help. This is a willful that says, I've done it. I'm proud I've done it. God has no right to tell me I can't do it. This is just the way I am. I was born this way. It's not my fault, God. It's yours, or whoever else you want to fill in the blank with. Verse 27, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. This is the, in Revelation, this is the second death. This is what John was talking about. He said, the sin unto death. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Now, this next statement is so important. Of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has, what, trampled the Son of God under foot? Christ's suffering and pain and death and resurrection was so that our sins can be forgiven and so that our sins can be overcome. It's not just forgiveness he wants. He wants us to overcome. So when we say, I don't care, what have we done? We've taken every stripe and we've made fun of it. We've made every spit on his face and made fun of it. We have torn down and we have taken the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and made it a common thing. And God says, that is unpardonable.

Yeah. Your drug addiction is pardonable. Homosexuality is pardonable. Your porn addiction is pardonable. Your violence is pardonable.

Making the sacrifice of Jesus Christ nothing? God says, that I will not forgive.

He says, you worthy who has trampled the Son of God under foot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing and insulted the Spirit of grace. Oh, grace covers everything. It frustrates me. Every time I hear this message or read it, grace covers everything. Once God forgives you, it doesn't matter what you do. Well, read this. How can we take that grace and make it nothing? And they say, oh, it's okay. God will forgive you. I can spit in God's face all I want. He'll forgive me. I can take Jesus Christ's sacrifice and make it nothing. He'll forgive me. No, he won't.

And we need to understand this. We need to remember this. No, it won't. There is something that's unpardonable. It's the sin that won't be forgiven or repented of. There's a sin we will not repent of. And when we do, we say Jesus wasn't enough. And we go to the Father and we say, all that pain and suffering and torture and death wasn't enough for me. I'm bigger than that. And God says, then you will not be forgiven.

We have to be very careful to be humble before God and before the efficacy work of Jesus Christ.

For instead, for we know Him who said, vengeance is mine and will repay, says the Lord. And again, the Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And we like to say, oh yeah, there we go. We need to tell that to the world. This message is not to the world. The book of Hebrews is written to the church. It's to us. See, this sort of goes hand in hand to what I talked about last week. We have to remember, God does not fail.

We don't have to worry about our failures as long as we're close to Him, but this self-will. You know what happens with self-will? You'll stay locked into it until you face the consequences and then it's too late. And who says that? The writer of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 12.

Hebrews 12. Verse 15.

Well, let's start in verse 14. "...Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." Oh, we have to have peace and holiness or we won't see the Lord.

"...Looking carefully, lest anyone should fall short of the grace of God." How could you fall short of the grace of God? Is there anything God's grace isn't big enough to cover? Actually, no. But you can remove yourself from the grace of God. I can remove myself from the grace of God. Grace is such a big subject that we avoid it because of the misuse of the word by Protestants and shame on us sometimes. Because here we're reading passages that say that we could receive eternal damnation. Go to the light of fire. Well, we don't talk about that in the church much because, well, that's a negative... No, it's not a negative message. The positive message is God's called you to save you from this. The negative message is we can shove Him aside. We can push Him out. And He says, you can remove yourself from being under my grace. It's not that God's grace isn't big enough. It's that we can remove ourselves. We can walk away from it. That's why the subject of grace is so important. He says, Looking carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up, cause trouble, and by this many become defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one, norceful food, sold his birthright. Now, the point here is you and I have a birthright. We have been called to be the first fruits of God. When Christ comes back, there's a birthright reserved for us. Your name is already on it. The price has already been paid. The grace has already been given. And God says, so don't walk away from this. He says, I won't sacrifice Jesus Christ the second time. Don't walk away from this. Esau sold his birthright. Wasn't important. Walked away from it. Verse 17, For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. I want my birthright, and it was gone. Understand the power of what the writer of Hebrews is saying to the church. We do not want to remove ourselves in this state of rebellion, willfully sinning, or drifting away from God. So we end up outside, not under the umbrella of his grace, his mercy, and his love. And then one day we say, I want the birthright. And he says, it's not there anymore for you. I gave it to you. I gave you everything you need, and I gave you my spirit. I gave you the work of Christ. I gave you a sacrifice. I gave you everything. And you walked away from it. It's interesting that this statement, no place for repentance, is actually translated some places, no way to change his mind. In other words, the problem isn't God's willingness to forgive. He couldn't change his mind. It was already too late. His mind's made up. He can't change it. It's there. You know, it's like, okay, God, I know this is the light of fire. I've decided, maybe you're not so bad after all. Maybe we can negotiate.

I like to see Donald Trump negotiate with God.

There might be a little less arrogance there.

Ah, human beings. So we have to make sure we don't slide into this and harden our minds and hearts. We can't become hard. We have to be humble before God. And you know, sometimes we have to go say, God, I know I am hard. Help me to be humble. But please be careful how you pray that. Humble me, Lord. Oh, boy. No. Help me to learn humility by softening me and working with me, not through trials. You know, please. Sometimes God has to do it through a trial.

Sometimes God has to knock us down. But it's a whole lot nicer when that can happen without Him doing that. But then we have to go pray for it. Help me to be humble before you. Help me to see you as you are. Sometimes, you know, you simply ask God, help me to be humble, and you'll find yourself reading something about the majesty of God or reading about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And you'll realize, oh, yeah, I'm nothing. Without God, I am nothing. You know, there's easy ways to get there and hard ways to get there. But you have to confess your sins. And we have to ask God, keep me of a lowly mind and a lowly heart before you.

And then another way, this self-will. But there's another way, and that is, and it ends up in the same place, we just neglect this whole process. And sometimes that's easy for us when we've been doing this for two decades and three decades and four decades. We just sort of drift like a ship out at sea until it's so far from the shore, it doesn't even, you know, no one even knows where to go. We've lost our compass. We've lost our maps. We're out at sea and no one knows how to guide this ship. And we neglect and we drift. And pretty soon God isn't even there anymore. We don't care.

As long as you, you know, as long as Christ isn't returning, you can still change the course. There's a point where He's telling us, like He saw, that your mind's so set, you can't change courses. Your mind's so set, you can't change courses. I like to believe as long as, you know, I know there's a point where everybody can set their mind, but as long as we have one glimmer of willingness, of desire, God can touch that.

We don't have to live in constant fear that we've committed the unpardonable sin. It's when we never fear it that I begin to worry.

We can be assured that God has forgiven us and desires to forgive us. We can rest assured that Jesus Christ is there at the right hand of God, bringing you to before God and cleansing you all the time. We can rest assured that God initiated a relationship with us. You didn't initiate a relationship with God. He did it with us! How much does He must want us? You can rest assured that God loves you, that God doesn't fail. He will give all power needed for you and I to have His work done in us. He's promised us that. So there's only one thing that can go wrong.

We shove Him away to the point we don't care. God will do His work in us. He won't give up. What would it take for you to give up a relationship with a child? And how much more God must love us than we love our own children?

He loves us more than we love our own children. We don't even know how to love the way He does. So what would it take for Him to do this? It takes us to remove ourselves from under that umbrella of His grace. To become His enemy again, because Christ died for us while we were still enemies, is to go back to being His enemy. And He says, I will not sacrifice Him a second time.

God promises to never leave us. He promises to never forsake us. So as we approach the life that we live, be assured. I mean, think of the first Scripture we read, God has given you eternal life. He's already said, it's yours if you want it. It's here. It's waiting for you. It's not like He's saying, I'm still trying to decide whether to give it to you or not. He's already said, I'll give it to you. It's already offered.

He wants us there. He wants us there. But remember that we can't be like Esau, waiting to the last moment and saying, oh, okay, I guess now it's time I want it back.

But that's not what God has called us to. What God has called us to is a time when Jesus Christ returns, and we are resurrected, and we go before the throne of our God. And He says, well done. Good and faith will serve it.