To be saved we must first repent of our sins: confess that we are sinners and stop the sins we are committing. This, however, will not save us but must be done in order to receive Jesus’ Salvation for us. Second we then need to turn to God and receive His forgiveness for our sins through Jesus’ death and shed blood and that alone for the forgiveness of our sins by receiving Jesus Christ Himself into our hearts as Savior from our sins. But in order to make our salvation complete we then receive Jesus as Lord: Lord meaning Lord over our lives, purpose, vocation, life-styles and destiny.

A third area which constitutes the unpardonable sin is what Jesus tells us plainly to our selves individually would result in this sin. I myself have had two experiences of this in my walk with Jesus in the thirty-seven years that I have known Him. The Apostle Paul states in the book of Romans,

"That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."

When Jesus talks about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit he is not talking about what denominational Church you belong to or whether you go to Church on Sunday or whether you have an alcoholic beverage now and then, etcetera; though, depending on Jesus’ will for your life it could possibly involve some of these things. Aside from what we have clearly shown is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in Scripture, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is when, according to Jesus’ personal Lordship over your life alone, Jesus by the Holy Spirit either gives you a clear "No!" concerning something in your life and tells you it is an unpardonable issue or tells you plainly His will for your life and you reject it and go your own way any way, which shows that Jesus is not really Lord of your life, which is part of the condition of salvation.

*What the Unpardonable Sin Is Not

Having discussed clearly what the unpardonable sin is, let us now talk about what it is not. The unpardonable sin is not sinning unintentionally, or sin out of weakness. We all are weak in some way and fall in that area of weakness now and then. The Bible tells us plainly that on this side of heaven our soul and flesh are in bondage to sin (Rom 7:14). That is why we are to draw upon Christ’s strength to overcome sin in our lives. It is the bondage of our soul and flesh to sin that drove us to Jesus for salvation in the first place: first, for forgiveness of our sins and then, second, for His grace, strength and power for deliverance from the bondage of sin in our lives.

A person who sins unintentionally or sins out of weakness is trying to live for Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. A person committing the unpardonable sin is doing it intentionally, premeditatively, knowingly, willfully, in spite of Jesus’ present grace to do His will. He is intentionally knowingly not trying to live in Jesus’ power through the Holy Spirit. It is conscious, premeditated, rebellious self-will. Jesus’ grace is available to this person but he rejects it.

This is not something vague in our knowing, James, the brother of Jesus, wrote in his Epistle, "Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17). The writer of Hebrews states,

"For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries." (Heb 10:26-27).

When Jesus talks about blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, He is talking about something He has made so plain to you that you know clearly beyond a shadow of a doubt that what you are doing is in plain clear knowledgeable rebellion against His Lordship over your life in whatever that decision involves. There is no doubt.

The Apostle Paul says in Romans, "But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin." (Rom 14:23). The writer of Hebrews says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1). Eating in doubt or acting without assurance is not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, but Paul and the writer of Hebrews do say it is sin. The point I am trying to make here is this, if Jesus only wants us to move in our relationship with Him in faith, faith meaning we know His will in the manner, then Jesus is not going to condemn us if we are waiting for a clear revelation of His will in a matter. The Apostle Peter states, "Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble." (2 Pet 1:10). And Paul says, ". . . every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses." (2 Cor 13:1). This is what Paul means when he says, ". . . whatever is not from faith is sin." Faith is a confident assurance of the rightness or the wrongness of what we are doing, backed with many undeniable confirmations. If our heart is not clearly confirmed on a matter then Jesus’ present will in a given concern is to wait until we are.

When we are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, or committing the unpardonable sin, we are not doing it in ignorance, we know that we know that we know we are doing it. A person who has committed the unpardonable sin knows he has and does not care. If he cared he would not do it.

Here is a good rule of thumb: if your concerned about it, you are no where near committing it. When you get to that place and Jesus makes plain your moving in that direction, if you care you will move away from it; if you do not care, you will not be concerned. If your concerned, your a safe distance from it.

It is not that God no longer loves that person, but he has hardened his heart to Jesus’ dictates to Him through the ministry of the Holy Spirit for so long that even if Jesus were to scream it into his ear he would not be able to respond. Sometimes Jesus does exactly that, screams it into the person’s ear.

Getting back to our passage in Matthew 12:30-32, to speak against Jesus is not blaspheming the Holy Spirit. To not obey and submit to the clear confirmed leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives continually is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

PERSONAL LIFE EXAMPLE

How is it that I am such an authority on this issue? I am an authority because I came close to committing it several years ago. So close, Jesus screamed it into my ear. Thirty-four years ago when I was young in the Lord, I fell in love with a beautiful sister in the Lord. She was in love with me to. Not to long after we became engaged, Jesus told me plainly through the Holy Spirit to break up the relationship.

I did not know in those days that when Jesus said no to something, that no matter how hard you try, you cannot change Jesus’ mind. Jesus never makes mistakes. When He says no to something it is as unchangeable as the Word of God. The writer of Hebrews says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever." (Heb 13:8).

Being that I was very much in love with this girl and being that through a lack of previous experience I did not know I could not change the Lord’s mind, I fought the Lord about the issue for the next year and a half. Jesus was not saying marriage was not a part of His plan for my life, but that, that girl was not His will for me in it, nor His will for her.

I finally broke up with her, but I could not let go of her in my heart. I was so despondent over the issue that I would sit in my room for hours with my arms crossed staring at the walls. At first the Lord was gentle and kind with me. He first led me to a Psalm, "Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord." (Psalm 27:14).

As time went on and I continued to resist, He led me to more passages of Scripture, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness." (Jer 31:3). "For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’" (Jer 29:11). He even showed me He understood my hurt over the break up of the relationship, "Great is our Lord, and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite." (Psalm 147:5).

A year and a half later and hundreds of kind loving passages of Scripture later, I was sitting in a room up in an apartment determined in my heart that I was not going to move until Jesus promised me that he would give me this girl as a wife. Finally, as I was sitting there, the Lord spoke to me as plainly as if I were standing there talking to Him face to face, "If you do not get up out of that chair and start walking in My will for your life, you will go to hell." When it came to me, it was not an accusation of condemnation. Those were the exact words that I had heard, but the way it was ministered to me in my spirit was,

"You are saying that because I will not let you have this girl that I do not love you, that I do not know what is best for you. The only problem is I am going this way and you by your stubbornness and hardness of heart are going 180 degrees in the opposite direction. If you continue much longer you will come to a place of no longer being able to respond to My voice even if you want to."

Needless to say I immediately got up and started walking in His will. Why? I did love Jesus and I did not want to go to hell.

I sensed no condemnation in what Jesus said to me through the Holy Spirit; but Jesus gave me a free will; and even though I am saved, He still will not violate it. People are in Hell not because Jesus put them there but because in their attitude and actions they pushed Jesus out of their lives and heart. Hell is the only place Jesus is not. If we tell Jesus we no longer want His Lordship over our lives, then He honors our free will choice by letting us go to the only place that He is not:  Hell!