This evening we read from the Gospel according to Mark, Mark chapter 3, we'll read verses 20 to verse 30, and the text will be verses 28 to 30. Mark 3, verse 20, hear God's Word. Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, he's out of his mind. And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, He's possessed by Beelzebub. By the prince of demons, he is driving out demons. So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables. How can Satan drive out Satan? 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. In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. Here's the text. I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. He is guilty of an eternal sin. He said this because they were saying he has an evil spirit. May God bless the reading of his word. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters, a large group of people had gathered on the city street. They were there because they were unhappy about something or other. They held up signs and quietly made known their complaints. The police were also there, just in case things got out of hand. And nobody knows how, but things did get out of control. Suddenly, in one corner of the demonstration, there was a big commotion going on, and before long, the whole crowd was scuffling with the police. And as part of that, names were being called. The police called the protesters scumballs, protesters called the police pigs. At the end of the affair, hundreds of people were arrested, and thousands of dollars of damage was done to area businesses. And undoubtedly, things first started moving in this direction when the labels were being applied. If your opponents are scumballs or if they're pigs, then you're taking away their humanity. And once you've taken away somebody's humanity, you can do with them whatever you want. You don't use manners, you don't use politeness, you don't use morals and ethics with scumballs and pigs. You see it over and over in history. The first steps to Holocaust and genocide are always the dehumanizing of the other. First, you strip them of their dignity, and then you rape, rob, and murder them, and you do it all with a clear conscience. Now, a similar thing was happening with the Lord Jesus in our text for this evening. And surprisingly, it started with those who were closest to Him. His own family was saying that he'd gone crazy. Now, the teachers of the law who were always never very far behind the Lord Jesus, listening in, they would have been only too happy to hear his family say something like that. And they heard that and they said, okay, well, we'll take things a little bit further. So they said that he was possessed by Beelzebub. Now, Beelzebub means, as you may know, Lord of the Flies. And it was used as a derogatory name for Satan in the time of the Lord Jesus. And so the teachers of the law claimed that Satan was living in Jesus. The Lord Jesus, they said, used the power of the prince of demons to cast out demons. That was their claim. In the following verses, the Lord Jesus gives several reasons why this is completely ludicrous. his first point is that satan would never work against himself in this way it's so obviously idiotic it would be completely thoroughly self-defeating to do this that's the negative side of things and then and then the lord jesus gives a positive picture of what's really going on the stronger man has arrived he says and is robbing the less strong man in other words jesus Jesus Christ has Satan all tied up. The healing work of the Lord Jesus is positive proof that the Kingdom of God is breaking through. The Lord Jesus is stripping Satan of all his power and bringing freedom to the captives. And all that sets the stage for what we hear the Lord Jesus saying in our text about blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Now, the Holy Spirit has been mentioned before in the book of Mark. At the beginning of the Gospel, we read about how the Holy Spirit descended on the Lord Jesus like a dove. From that, we know that the Holy Spirit has an intimate connection with Christ. The Holy Spirit, we can say, is the Spirit of Christ. He's the one who proceeds from the Son and the Father, as we confess in the Nicene Creed. And the same Holy Spirit, we're told in Mark, also led the Savior out into the desert to be tempted by Satan. Shortly afterwards, we see the power of the Lord Jesus over the evil spirits. And with all this, including our text, Mark wants us to be clear about who Jesus Christ is. About who He is also for us. So that's also the bottom line in our text here this evening. So I preach to you God's Word with this theme. As part of His self-revelation, Christ solemnly warns against blaspheming the Holy Spirit. I've got three points this evening. First of all, we're going to look at the identity of this sin. Second of all, we'll look at the character of this sin. And then finally, the prevention of this sin. So identity, character, and prevention. Well, first of all, let's talk about the identity. I think we all know that blasphemy is bad. Blasphemy is usually understood as talking about God in a disrespectful way, or using abusive language to God or about God. And in our text, the Lord Jesus speaks about blasphemy. The first time is in verse 28. You know, this is where we find the good news in our text. Fortunately, it's often overlooked. It's overshadowed by what follows. People get caught up in other issues, which we're also going to discuss in a few moments. But look at the good news here. Christ says, I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. The Lord Jesus couldn't have been more comprehensive than this. Every sin you do, every blasphemy you've ever spoken can and will be forgiven. And of course, we know from the broader context of Scripture that this forgiveness comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, through His atonement. Now, let's just stop here for a minute and ponder the depth of God's grace here in this verse. Think about it. No matter what you've done, there is God's grace for you in Christ. You may have committed sins that are so shameful that they're only known by you and they're known by God. Nobody else knows. He promises you grace. The Lord Jesus stood among the covenant people as the fulfillment of all God's promises. He stood there and He spoke these words as the ultimate manifestation of God's grace. He proclaims to His people, and He proclaims it also to you this evening, there is forgiveness for every sin and blasphemy through Me. You don't deserve it, but you can have it. Every sin and blasphemy. Except one. Now, verse 28 is comprehensive. But that comprehensiveness draws our attention to the one exception in verse 29. There is a sin that can never be forgiven. That one sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Now, let's reflect for a moment on what this sin is. The clue to the identity of this sin is found in verse 30. There Mark tells us that he said this because they were saying he has an evil spirit. The Lord Jesus gave the warning in our text because the teachers of the law had claimed that he was possessed by Beelzebub. It was because of their claim that he was doing exorcisms through the power of Satan. In fact, what was happening was that the Pharisees identified Jesus with the kingdom of Satan. And in doing so, they had not merely dehumanized him, but they had also stripped him of his royal dignity, his divinity. They would not allow for the Holy Spirit of God to live in this man. In their minds, this Jesus of Nazareth was not worthy of being treated as a human being, much less as the Son of God Himself in whom lived the Holy Spirit. And what you see here, the rising tides of opposition to the Christ, the tides which would lead to His final suffering and death, these insults, this treatment, it's a step along Christ's road of humiliation. The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in our text It was a deliberate, it was an intentional mischaracterization of the Lord Jesus and His work. As the teachers of the law, they could see that Satan was being deposed. They knew their Old Testament. And in their heart of hearts, they knew Christ's true identity. One of the Pharisees said so much in John 3. In verse 2 of John 3, Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus and he said, Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you were doing if God were not with him. That came from someone who belonged to the group of Pharisees in Jerusalem. The same Jerusalem Pharisees we read about in our text who are painting Jesus as being on Satan's team. They deliberately, they willfully distorted the truth about who Jesus is. They purposely characterized His work and also then the work of the Holy Spirit as being the work of the evil one. They were filled with a hatred, an extreme hatred for God's grace being shown to the demon-possessed, the sick, and the sinful. They couldn't handle God's compassion being manifested in Christ. And so they turned against Him with this wild passion. Brothers and sisters, this wasn't an accident or a mistake. Teachers of the law, they knew very well what they were doing. And you can imagine how Satan regarded this turn of events. His glee. You think about it. The Son of God being caricatured as a partner with demons. The Spirit of God being portrayed as a demon. If you didn't know the final outcome of the story, you might be led to wonder what's going to become of God's promise to crush the head of the serpent. Because at this particular point, it looks like things are moving in the opposite direction. But this was the irony. God would use even this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The sovereign God would take it and He would use it to deliver that final crushing blow. The people would believe these dehumanizing and degrading comments about the Lord Jesus and deliver Him up to death. But this too was in God's hands. It would ultimately serve for the salvation of God's elect. And the true Israel of God would know their Savior. They would know, as we do, that Jesus Christ came to bring salvation, to bring forgiveness for all the sins and blasphemies of men. All the Israel of God would know His grace. And so the identity of this blaspheming against the Holy Spirit It's a deliberate identifying of the person and work of Jesus Christ, in whom lived the Spirit of God, identifying His person and work with the evil one. Now let's consider the character and the seriousness of this sin. We all know that people are inclined to exaggerate. We sometimes use words like never. We use words like that kind of flippantly. Say things like, our kids would never do something like that. And lo and behold, one day, our kids did do something like that. Never is a pretty strong word, and sometimes we forget that. However, in our text, the Lord Jesus uses the word, and He means it. He says that whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. And just in case we missed the point, just in case we try to rationalize that word away, he adds, he is guilty of an eternal sin. Or as other Bible translations put it, he is subject to eternal condemnation. Now, never and eternal are both very strong words. It would be a good idea to think about why this sin is unforgivable. Now, there's several different ways you could approach that question. I think one of the best ways to do it is to approach it from the angle of election and reprobation. In God's sovereignty, He's chosen some people to eternal life. We call that a doctrine of grace. We call it election. Likewise, we believe that God has passed over others. We call that reprobation. Though the exact names and the numbers are known only to God, there are two and only two kinds of people in this world. There are the elect and there are the reprobate. Now the elect were chosen by God before the creation of the world. They were predestined to come to faith in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. And they will be preserved in their faith until the final glorification. Now, interestingly, the elect of God may actually at one point or another in their lives be opposed to God and to His work. Be opposed to Christ. And you need only read the biographies of our forefathers in the faith to see this. And you can also find it in the Scriptures themselves. You see it in the life of the Apostle Paul. In 1 Timothy 1.13, Paul states that he was formerly a blasphemer. But he was shown mercy. God took hold of him. God brought him to faith. And he repented of his opposition to the Gospel. And we can be sure that today, he is in the presence of God, glorifying Him forever with all the other saints. Well, it doesn't happen that way with the reprobates. The reprobates were passed over by God. They will never believe the Gospel message. And at certain points in their lives, they may seem to soften in their opposition. They may seem to be open to the Gospel. But in the end, they remain outside of Christ. And we can be sure that all who blaspheme the Holy Spirit in the manner spoken of by the Lord Jesus in our text, are reprobate. But the reverse does not necessarily hold true. Not all those who are reprobate will blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Now here you can think of the countless millions in cultures around the world who have died without even hearing about the Lord Jesus Christ. They were reprobate. But they didn't blaspheme the Holy Spirit. They couldn't. Because they didn't hear about Christ. They weren't able to form an opinion about Christ and His work. What we can say for certain is that blasphemers against the Holy Spirit are reprobate. Our text tells us as much. But why? Well, we have to be careful here. Because when we get into this discussion, we're coming close to the secret things of God in which we ought not to pry. Nevertheless, consider that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is like believing something against all the evidence to the contrary. No matter what anybody else says, no matter what you know deep down in your heart of hearts, you're going to hold to your position to the bitter end. You become completely blind to the truth. In the case of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, you believe that Jesus Christ is the devil. or at least you believe that he's on the side of the devil and you believe that the works of Jesus Christ are evil. You believe that the Holy Spirit is a demon. It's like having a life-threatening illness that requires surgery and you firmly decide that the only doctor who can give you a life-saving operation, well, that doctor is really a sadistic murderer and you're not going to let him come anywhere near you with a scalpel. And once you've convinced yourself of that fact, once you commit yourself to it, you're never going to give it up. You're going to hold on to it no matter what. You're locked into that position and you're not turning to the right hand or to the left. You see, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an unforgivable sin because it is so utterly heinous. It is so evil that it can only come from a heart that is reprobate. This sin can only come from those who have totally and utterly set themselves against Christ. Such people are consumed with their hatred for Christ and His works. That's why this sin can't be forgiven. Such people will never be led to repentance and faith. Now, that's interesting. But why do you think that Lord Jesus has given us these strong words, this solemn warning? Well, it's not so that we can look around us and try to point fingers and try to figure out, well, that person's committed the sin against the Holy Spirit. And that person has too. And maybe that person has. Lord Jesus didn't give us these words for that reason. And He also didn't give us these words to scare us. No, the Lord Jesus wants us to focus on Him. Us, the people of God, to focus on Christ in the right way. Christ wants us to love Him and to think rightly about His person and His works. And that's where we're going with our last point as we consider the prevention of this sin. I probably don't have to tell you that many Christians have found this passage troubling. If we take just one famous example, the Puritan author John Bunyan, the one who wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, he struggled deeply with the question of whether or not he had blasphemed the Holy Spirit, whether or not he had committed the unforgivable sin. Quite a period of time passed before he finally had the peace of knowing that he was safe in Christ. Now I imagine, what I understand from talking to some of your office bearers, your pastors and elders, a good number of you have been raised in Christian homes, and so you've likely never been consciously opposed to Christ and His work. So, maybe this isn't a concern. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there are some here who have been, at a certain point in their lives, opposed to Christ. I don't know. I don't know your congregation that well. Nevertheless, as we reach out into the community as believers with the Gospel, we may encounter situations where someone comes to faith in Christ after a life of kicking against the goats. What are you going to tell a new believer who worries that they've blasphemed the Holy Spirit? What are you going to tell a young Christian who's worried that they are counted among the reprobate after hearing about the doctrines of grace? Or maybe you will encounter a brother or sister who grew up in the church or has been a long-time member of the church. A person has doubts. What are you going to tell them? And regardless, all of us should be interested in keeping this sin as far away from us as we can. We shouldn't even want to come close to this. And as we've been looking at our text this evening, you can see that Christ's chief concern here is His self-revelation. This text is about who Christ is and what He does for His people. The teachers of the law, they say one thing about Christ. Well, they know that the truth is the polar opposite. This passage is telling people, God's people, to pay attention to who Christ says He is. To what Christ does. Christ was telling the covenant people that the way to prevent blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is to listen and to watch and to believe. And today, the same Christ is still speaking to His people. He tells us to read our Bibles and to observe. Hear what Christ said about Himself. Look at the miracles. Look at the healings He performed. Marvel at those things. Marvel at His perfect obedience. That obedience which is imputed to you. Which belongs to you. Believe in this Lord Jesus. Faith is the sure antidote to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The one who has true faith in Jesus Christ, the one who loves Christ, will never, ever blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Think about it. Faith in Jesus Christ. Where does it come from? Who works that faith in our hearts? It's the Holy Spirit, isn't it? That Holy Spirit, He lives in the believer. And if you want to turn around the image of the Lord Jesus in the verses right before our text, why would the Holy Spirit ever turn on Himself? A child of God would never be able to commit a sin that cannot be forgiven. Eventually, John Bunyan came to recognize it. And I imagine that many of you have heard it said before as well. If someone is worried that they have committed the unforgivable sin, the fact that they're worried about it shows that they have not done the sin. A person who blasphemes the Holy Spirit is not going to worry about it. They're not going to be concerned about it. They don't care about offending Christ. They don't care about offending His Holy Spirit. They don't care about spending a lifetime, or an eternity rather, apart from God's presence in hell. And if you do care, that shows that you esteem Christ. You esteem the works He did. You care about Him. You can hardly imagine anything more heinous and evil than degrading the Son of God, de-creating Jesus Christ and His works. Imagine what those teachers of the law, imagine what they were doing. They were stripping Christ of everything, leaving Him lower than an animal, preparing Him for the suffering and death to come. We shake our heads and we shudder at the thought. But brothers and sisters, let's also then shudder at the thought of even coming close to the sin in any sense, in any degree, by degrading Christ's ongoing work today through the Holy Spirit. He's still working. So brothers and sisters, shudder at the thought of degrading or minimalizing Christ's work in your fellow brothers and sisters. I don't know how it is down here, But where I come from, people sometimes do that. Somebody says something good and positive about a brother or sister, and then someone else always has to pipe up, well, if only you know the real story about so-and-so. Let me tell you. And away they go. They feel compelled to do that. Slanderously pointing out all the negative things in the lives of your brothers and sisters. That's on the same track. It's not exactly the same. We're not going to identify it, but it's on the same trajectory as the sin described in our text. Instead, brothers and sisters, look for Christ's work in your fellow believers. Give glory to God when you open your eyes and you see what Christ is doing in your church through His Spirit. We ought also to shudder at the thought of degrading or minimalizing the work Christ is still doing through the mission of the church. And so, brothers and sisters, make a determined effort to see what Christ is accomplishing in this area through your church planting efforts. What He's accomplishing through the missionaries who you support. Give glory to God for it. Praise Christ. Praise the Holy Spirit. Christ is still at work. He's gathering, defending, and preserving believers everywhere by the power of His Word and Spirit. If we're to stand on guard against blaspheming the Holy Spirit, we have to be open to seeing that work for what it really is. And so, beloved congregation, our text calls us to see Jesus Christ rightly. To see His work rightly. And as we do this, by His power and by His grace in our lives, there's enormous comfort given to us. It's the comfort of knowing that the never, in verse 29, that that doesn't apply to us. It's the comfort of knowing that the all, of verse 28, that's ours. It does apply. It's the comfort of knowing that Christ suffered this humiliation and degradation at the hands of the teachers of the law so that we can belong to Him, that we can fully experience His grace in our lives, that we can praise Him now and for eternity. Let's pray together. The Lord God in heaven, we praise You for the wisdom of Your Word. We especially praise you for the revelation of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We praise you for who He is. That He is your Son, our Savior. We thank you that in Him, we can know that all our sins, all our blasphemies are forgiven. That through Him, we have been received into grace with you. that we are now your children and heirs. Father, help us to treasure this position that we have and to live out of it each and every day. We pray that you would help us with your Holy Spirit so that we would see the work of our Lord Jesus Christ going on today in our church and elsewhere too. And that we would be led to praise you, that we'd be led to praise your Son and your Holy Spirit Father, please teach us and lead us to become more praiseful, more thankful people. Lord God, as we go from here this evening, we pray that You would lead us to more and more reflect who Jesus Christ is. Whether it's in our work at school, whether it's in a job at the workplace, whether it's at home, whether it's in our retirement, or whatever circumstance of life You've placed us. We pray that You would help us to live out of our identity in Christ, that people around us would see Jesus Christ in us. We ask that You would bless us in the coming week, watch over our paths, protect each one of us, and we pray, Father, that You would give us Your grace that we may more and more praise You. We ask these things. In the name of Christ, our Savior, Amen.