Join us as we explore the difference between sins committed out of human weakness and those driven by an attitude of defiance and presumption. The discussion highlights biblical stories illustrating the consequences of high-handed behavior and the merciful opportunities for repentance and forgiveness God offers. Reflecting on personal counseling experiences, the episode emphasizes the importance of introspection and ensuring that the desire for change remains strong within our hearts.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 03 :
There is such a thing as an unpardonable sin. I almost hesitate to bring it up because when people who have something hanging around their background, they They’re concerned that maybe they have sinned seriously against God. Maybe God won’t forgive them. Surprising how often I have encountered as a minister over the years people who are really worried about whether God will forgive them for what they have done. And so, like I say, I’m hesitant to bring it up because somebody’s liable to have a few bad nights worrying about it as a result of this program. But you don’t really need to worry about that. The unpardonable sin is not a matter of degree. It isn’t adultery. It isn’t theft. What is it? Well, Jesus popped the idea on a rather annoying group of people who suggested that Jesus had a demon. Now, the story behind this is that Jesus had been busy in a crowd casting out demons. There had been brought to them several demon-possessed people who were wild crazy, and he was casting the demons out of all of them. Well, some of the people standing by there said, oh, well, he’s just casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. He has a demon himself, and that’s why he’s able to do this. Well, Jesus immediately showed the irrationality of that idea to the crowd, and then he went on to say this, “…all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven to men.” Whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the world to come. So there is a sin that can go beyond forgiveness. Now, Jesus, when he cast out these demons, did not do a lengthy exorcism. He just told the demon to leave, and it left. The problem that the people watching had with this was they knew what Jesus was doing was supernatural. They could not explain it away. They couldn’t say it was hypnotism or anything of the sort. But if they attributed it to the power of God, then they acknowledged that Jesus was of God, and that meant they ought to listen to him, and it meant they ought to do what he’s saying. The problem was that Jesus was calling on men to change their lives, to repent, because the kingdom of God was at hand. These men were not willing to repent, so they attributed the power of God to the devil. In the end, the refusal to repent leads one to reject the call of God in his life and the attribution, ultimately, of the works of God to some other power. Thus, it is the hardened, unrepentant spirit that leads to the unpardonable sin. It’s not human weakness. It’s not human fecklessness. It’s not human stupidity. The writer of Hebrews in your New Testament said this, It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. It’s impossible, if those people shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance, seeing they crucify themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. Now, what is interesting about this statement is it does not say that forgiveness is impossible. It says it’s impossible to generate repentance in a man after a certain point. And if a man can’t or won’t repent… then forgiveness is not possible. This is not the poor guy who has sinned and knew he was sinning when he did it. This is a person who has lost the desire to repent. It’s not a condition you lapse into by mistake. Hebrews tells us that a person can fall away, but that’s more than slipping on a banana peel. This is a person who has been warned again and again and again about what he is doing and stubbornly goes ahead. There’s a proverb about it. It’s Proverbs 29, verse 1. He that being often reproved hardens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Now think about that carefully. This fellow has been warned and chastised again and again. He that being often reproved And he has made a conscious decision to harden himself, to refuse to respond, to refuse to repent. He that being often reproved hardens his neck shall suddenly, in the end, be destroyed. Now, there’s another passage in Hebrews that deals with this same attitude and that sheds a little more light on it than this. It’s found in chapter 10, verse 23. He says, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Now, all the stuff that he’s telling us here is a preventative to falling away. It’s holding on to your faith, and it’s considering one another. In other words, stay in contact with a church. Stay in contact with believers, because when we’re in a community of believers, we provoke one another to love and to good works, and we are less likely, if we stay with the assembling of God’s people, we’re far less likely to fall into a sin. All of us need reinforcement. You know, it’s a hard, lonely battle when you’re out there all by yourself. Then he continues to say this. You need to do these things. You need to stay close. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. Now, this requires some thought. One thing it says categorically, that if we sin willfully, after we receive the knowledge of the truth, it’s over. This is an unpardonable sin. But it’s easy to assume that to sin willfully is to sin with knowledge. That is, we know what we are doing is wrong, and we do it anyway. Now, the problem with it should be apparent. The problem is it gets all of us. I don’t think you can get from childhood to middle age without sinning when you know better. Maybe some of the ones out there that has never sinned and knew better at the time. If so, drop me a line. I’d be glad to hear from you. But the truth is, most of us don’t do that. And if you take Jesus’ definition of adultery or fornication, why, you and your boyfriend were already in a lot of trouble when you had the windshield of his car all steamed up before you ever moved into the back seat. You were in trouble. And did you know better? Of course you did. But once the hormones get flowing, well, knowing better is not enough. Now, willful sin is not sinning when you know better. I checked the dictionary. Willful means deliberate, voluntary, intentional, unreasonably stubborn or headstrong, perversely obstinate. In other words, I know this thing is wrong, but I’ve got the bit in my teeth. I don’t care, and I’m going to do it anyway. There’s nothing here about sinning through the weakness of the flesh, which is how most of us sin. In the law of Moses, there’s a marked distinction in the punishment of sin on the basis of the attitude of the sinner when he does it. The passage in question is found in Numbers 15, and you might find it of interest. It’s not really the only place where this idea is developed, but it’s clearest right here. In Numbers 15, verse 29, “…you shall have one law for him that sins through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel and for the stranger that is sojourning among you.” Now, the sin through ignorance encompasses the majority of the sins of mankind. He doesn’t mean to say in this that we don’t know that what we are doing is wrong. It’s that we don’t grasp the seriousness of what we do. We are like children who know that something we’re going to do is naughty, but we have no idea of the lifelong consequences that can ensue from that. I mean, Dad told me not to get up in the tree, and I’m getting up in the tree, so I know that I’m doing the wrong thing. But I have no idea what can happen to me if I fall from one of those branches to the ground and how long the consequences of that sin, if it is a sin to disobey your dad, how long the consequences of that can stay with me. The consequences of that mistake will come upon us whether we know better or whether we don’t. But see, there’s a contrasting attitude shown in this law. First of all, he says you have one law for him that sins through ignorance. It doesn’t matter if he’s born among the children of Israel or if he is a stranger that is sojourning among you and will go on next month. We have the same law here for everyone. The contrasting attitude is this. He says, “…but the soul that does anything presumptuously, whether he be born in the land or a stranger.” The same reproaches the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Why? Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment. That soul shall be utterly cut off. His iniquity shall be upon him. Notice this. This fellow doesn’t just sin. He sins with an attitude. He not only knows it’s wrong, he does it in your face. Now, anyone should be able to see the difference in a sin through ignorance, a sin through weakness, a sin through mistakes, a fallible human sin, and someone who gets in your face to sin, someone who sins with an attitude, and that’s where the distinction is made on this, if we sin willfully after we have come to a knowledge of the truth. Now, there’s an important example of this right here in the Old Testament, and I’ll explain that to you when I come back after these words.
SPEAKER 02 :
The most dangerous kind of sin, whether it be your own or that of someone else, is the hidden sin, the sin you cannot see. For a free program titled The Hidden Sin, write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
SPEAKER 03 :
So as an example of a presumptuous sin or a sin with an attitude, Later in Numbers 15, verse 32, While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron to the congregation. They put him in jail, as it were, because it wasn’t decided what should be done to him. And the Lord said to Moses, The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation of Israel shall stone him with stones outside the camp. Now, this seems like a small thing to kill a man for, doesn’t it? You know, gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. Of course, you have to keep in mind that they’re in the wilderness. They’ve been given instructions. God’s been at some pains to teach them to Sabbath day. People are not to encroach on other people’s peace on the Sabbath day. It’s all very strong. It still seems like a small thing. But there’s something you should know about this particular account. This doesn’t crop up in a historical account of what Israel was doing as they passed on through the wilderness. It doesn’t occur in a set of laws explaining how to keep the Sabbath. It is popped right in here as an example of presumptuous sin. It’s high-handed sin. It’s in-your-face behavior. It’s a young man who says, you can’t tell me I can’t gather sticks on the Sabbath day. Who gave you the right to tell me anything like that? And so, he just did it. Now, suppose, on the other hand, a cold snap had come along that called for more firewood than the young man had. Came in overnight Friday night, nobody knew it was coming. Remember, they did not have the weather channel in those days. If he had a wife and a baby, he had to keep warm. And he went out and gathered some extra sticks to keep the fire going to keep his family warm. Do you think he would have been stoned then for gathering sticks on the Sabbath day? I don’t think so. Now, the legalists might have got him, but there’s no question a merciful judge would have said, no, they’re extenuating circumstances here. Let’s let this guy off. The guy that got it in the neck, as it were, was the man who just said, I don’t care what you say. I’m going to go out and gather sticks. Now, returning to Hebrews 10. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Notice, we’re not talking about some poor fool that went out and broke the law by mistake, or some guy who did it by weakness and just couldn’t help himself, or some guy who did it because he was afraid or any other thing. We’re talking about a man who despised Moses’ law, who sinned with a high hand. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Now, of how much sorer punishment, do you suppose, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God, has counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has done despite to the Spirit of grace? Notice again, we’re not talking about an unpardonable sin being something that you do in weakness, something that you did years ago when you didn’t really quite figure it all out yet, or something that you did really knowing you shouldn’t do it, and now you’re sorry for it. We’re not talking about those things. We’re talking about treading underfoot the Son of God. We’re talking about doing despite to the Spirit of grace. For we all know Him, the writer of Hebrews continues, that said, vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, saying the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Now what you need to understand here, the unpardonable sin is any sin of which you will not repent. The person who will finally experience the vengeance of God is the sinner who trod underfoot the Son of God, who despised the Spirit of grace, who refused to repent after repeated admonitions from God, from his prophets, from his ministry, or whatever. That’s the man who is going to suffer from it. There’s a fascinating sideline illustration, as it were, in the prophets. It points this thing out like a contract, or it’s like a deal. And here’s the deal, God says to Israel. At one instant I shall speak concerning a nation, concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up, to pull it down, and to destroy it. If that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. Now, that seems like a fair deal to me. Along comes a prophet, and he tells us our sins, tells us all the things that we have done wrong, and we have a chance to turn it around. He doesn’t come in really and say, if you don’t turn around, I will do this. He comes in and says, I’m going to do this to you because of your sins. But if that nation, and it’s just as true of you as an individual, if that person against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil I thought to do to them. A classic example of it is found in the book of Jonah. Jonah didn’t come into Nineveh with a conditional prophecy. He came in there and said, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. It was, you know, the time’s over. It’s up. But they repented. And God felt sorry for them, and God didn’t do it. Now, I can live with this deal, can’t you? We get in trouble, the prophet tells us God is going to get us, we repent, and if we repent of our sins, God says he won’t get us in the same way. Now, there is also, though, another side to this deal. Going on in verse 9, “…at one instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it.” Now I’ve made promises of good toward a people. I said, you’re my people, I love you, I’m going to build you as a nation, I’m going to make you great, and all those good things. If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them. Now really, isn’t this fair? First of all, God says, if you repent, I won’t do the evil to you. But if I pronounce good and then you turn around and do evil, well, then I’m going to repent of the good I was going to do. I don’t see how anyone can complain about that. Then in verse 11, he says this. Now, therefore, go to speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I frame evil against you and devise a device against you. Okay, first of all, we have the warning that if I devise evil against you and you repent, then I’ll repent of the evil. I understand that. You understand that? Well, then when God sends along a prophet and tells us bad things are coming, why don’t we just repent and then we won’t have to go through it? He says, behold, I frame evil against you. I devise a device against you. Return you now, everyone, from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good. Here is a specific incidence of the deal. The prophet is on the scene. The first half of the deal is expressed. You have sinned, and you’re headed for big trouble. Now, the deal is, if you repent, I won’t bring the big trouble upon you. All right. Now, what is their response as a people? They said, no, there’s no hope. We will walk after our devices. We will do everyone the imagination of his evil heart. Now, that seems a little strange. In view of the promise that’s just been made, in view of all the stuff that’s just been said, the deal, as it were, why would they say this? No, they say it’s too late. No point in turning around now. We might as well do this our way. We just can’t suck it up and turn it around. Well, actually, I think this is maybe the most dangerous attitude of all. It’s the, oh, it’s too late attitude. Or, oh, I’ve already gone too far now.
SPEAKER 02 :
I might as well go all the way. For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only. And request the program titled, The Words of Jesus, number 15. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
SPEAKER 03 :
Very early in my career, I came across a case, a counseling case, where I was talking with a lady who believed, feared, that she had committed the unpardonable sin. And it was interesting to me because I would talk through her. I’d take the scriptures. We’d go all the way through them, and I would show her, no, no, the fact that you’re worried about having committed the unpardonable sin suggests to me that you have not. And she would be relieved, and she would feel comfortable, and she would go home. Only in a couple of three weeks to be back worried about it again. But what I learned from this case by the time we got all the way through our session of talking together about these things was, was that, in fact, there was a sin in her life that she had not discussed with me, that she really didn’t want to give up. And that’s where the danger is. It isn’t that it’s too late. It isn’t that God won’t let you turn around. The problem is when you have lost the want to, when you don’t want to anymore. Well, down inside of her, she did want to, but on this particular point, a certain desperation in her life. She really wanted to go on in a certain direction. And it was odd in a way because I got the feeling that if she could conclude she had committed the unpardonable sin, well, then she could quit worrying about it. And that’s where I stumbled onto this scripture. They said… There’s no hope. We might as well go after our own devices. We might as well do this our way. We might as well do what it is that we want to do, what Jeremiah calls the imagination of his evil heart, because there’s no hope for me with God. But that’s not true at all. The problem is whether or not you want to have hope with God, whether you want to repent, whether you want to turn it around. Therefore, in verse 13 of Jeremiah there, it says, Therefore, thus saith the Lord, ask you now among the heathen, who has heard things like this? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon that comes from the rock of the field? He’s talking about ice water, good, clean ice water. Will he leave the cold flowing waters that come from another place? Will they just be forsaken, just go away and leave all this good water? No, they wouldn’t do that. Because my people have forgotten me. They have burned incense to vanity. They have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths in a way not cast up. They’ve done it to make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing. Everyone that passes by shall whistle and be astonished and shake his head. I’ll scatter them with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity. Why is he doing that? He’s doing it because he wants them to turn around. The prophecies in the Old Testament and the New Testament, again and again to God’s people, when they prophesy calamity, it’s because I want you to turn around. Now, about this unpardonable sin thing. The lesson is this. It is never too late. There is always something you can do. Unless… unless you don’t want to. Now, returning to the words of Jesus to the crowd, which launched us in this long discussion, He said, Where to, I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. But the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven to men. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of God, it shall be forgiven him. Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, in this world or in the world to come. And what Jesus is saying is, yeah, there is an unpardonable sin. It’s a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, but it comes around because you don’t want to anymore. You have your life. You’re comfortable with your life. Your life is going the way you want it, and you won’t receive correction. Jesus Christ can come into your community. Jesus Christ could stand on the street corner and tell you a way to go, and you would turn it down because you prefer what you are doing now. In other words, you’re not going to be forgiven because you don’t want to turn. He went on to say, either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt because a tree is known by his fruit. That’s a fact. Oh, generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Who’s he talking to when he says generation of vipers? Well, he’s talking to that group in the crowd around him who stood there, watched him cast out demons, saw him perform miracles, had already seen him heal people by their dozens, and said, well, he’s doing it by the power of the devil. Well, Jesus is still on the theme he started developing much earlier. Sin is a matter of the heart. And when the heart is wrong, the body and the lips, the hands and the feet… are going to follow. A good man, Jesus said, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good things. And an evil man, out of the evil treasure, brings forth evil things. Now I’m going to tell you something. Every idle word that men shall speak, they are going to give an account in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.” Now, why would he say that? Well, because the words come out of the heart. Now, to those of you who are still worried that you might have committed the unpardonable sin sometime in your life, let me assure you, you have not. The reason I say that is based on Hebrews 10.26, which I’ve already read. If we sin willfully after we’ve received the knowledge of the truth, there’s no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment.
SPEAKER 02 :
If you’re not certain, if you’re in doubt, you’re still alive and there’s still hope. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
SPEAKER 01 :
Christian Educational Ministries is happy to announce a new full-color Born to Win monthly newsletter with articles and free offers from Ronald L. Dart. Call us today at 1-888-BIBLE44 to sign up or visit us at borntowin.net.
