Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the one unforgivable sin.
This is the LifeSpring One Year Bible Rewind, and coming to you from Riverside, California,
podcasting since 2004, I'm Steve Webb, your OG Godcaster. This is the daily Read the Bible in
a Year podcast, and I'm thrilled that you're here. Welcome. The website is lifespringmedia.com,
and today is truly a day I can relate to. It's Peculiar People Day. It's really a day for
one, don't you think? I mean, everyone is peculiar in one way or another. So here's to our day.
And this is also Gospel Saturday. We'll read Mark 3 and 4. I'll share some thoughts about the
chapters, and then we'll have an On This Date in Church History. And by the way, I want to commend
you on your commitment to reading the Word with me every day. A lot of people start out on a Bible
reading plan, but fail to complete it. And I know that listening to a daily podcast isn't always
easy. But by being here, you're showing that you are serious about reading the entire Word of God.
So I doff my hat to you, and I believe that God will bless your commitment. Hang in there. It'll
be September before you know it. Let's begin. Our Father, we thank you so much for your Word,
and we thank you, Lord, for calling us. I pray, God, that as we read today,
you would touch our hearts, that you would soften our hearts, and that you would teach us.
I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Mark chapter 3
Now he entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a paralyzed hand.
In order to accuse him, they were watching him closely to see whether he would heal him on the
Sabbath. He told the man with a paralyzed hand, Stand before us. Then he said to them, Is it
lawful on the Sabbath to do what is good, or to do what is evil, to save a life, or to kill?
But they were silent.
After looking around at them with anger and sorrow at the hardness of their hearts, he
told the man, Stretch out your hand.
So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against him, how
they might destroy him.
Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, Judea,
Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to him because
they heard about everything he was doing. Then he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for
him, so the crowd would not crush him. Since he had healed many, all who had diseases were pressing
toward him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, those possessed fell down before
him and cried out, You are the Son of God, and he would strongly warn them not to make him known.
Then he went up the mountain and summoned those he wanted, and they came to him.
He also appointed twelve.
He also named them apostles, to be with him, to send them out to preach, and to have authority
to drive out demons.
He appointed the twelve.
To Simon he gave the name Peter, and to James the son of Zebedee, and to his brother John
he gave the name Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, Andrew, Philip, and Bartholomew,
Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, Simon the zealot, and Judas Iscariot,
who also betrayed him. Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not
even able to eat. When his family heard this, they set out to restrain him, because they said,
he's out of his mind. The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said,
he has Beelzebul in him, and he drives out demons by the ruler of the demons.
So he summoned 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 rebels against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is finished.
On the other hand, no one can enter a strong man's house and rob his possessions
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he will rob his house.
I assure you, people will be forgiven for all sins and whatever blasphemies they may blaspheme.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an
eternal sin, because they were saying, He has an unclean spirit.
Then his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent word to him and
called him.
A crowd was sitting around him and told him, Look, your mother, your brothers, and your
sisters are outside asking for you.
He replied to them, Who are my mother and my brothers?
And looking about at those who were sitting in a circle around him, he said, Here are
my mother and my brothers.
Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.
Mark chapter 4.
Again, Jesus began to teach by the lake.
The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake,
while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge.
He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said,
Listen, a farmer went out to sow his seed.
As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.
It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.
But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.
Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew, and produced a crop,
some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.
Then Jesus said, Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.
When he was alone, the twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.
He told them, The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on
the outside everything is said in parables, so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding, otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.
Then Jesus said to them, Don't you understand this parable?
How then will you understand any parable?
The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes
because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns,
hear the word, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other
things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seeds sown on good soil,
hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was
sown. He said to them, Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you
put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed
is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.
Consider carefully what you hear, he continued. With the measure you use, it will be measured to
you, and even more. Whoever has will be given more. Whoever does not have, even what they have
will be taken from them. He also said, This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters
seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows,
though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain. First the stalk,
then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe,
he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.
Again he said, What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use
to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.
Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big
branches that the birds can perch in its shade. With many similar parables, Jesus spoke the
word to them as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a
parable, but when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, Let's go over to the other side.
Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other
boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly
swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him,
Teacher, don't you care if we drown? He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves,
Quiet, be still. Then the wind died down, and it was completely calm. And he said to his disciples,
Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and asked each other,
Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him.
Today I've got comments on both chapters 3 and 4.
Mark chapter 3, 28 and 29 says,
I assure you, people will be forgiven for all sins and whatever blasphemies they may blaspheme.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.
Well, beloved, this passage receives a lot of attention.
blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the one unforgivable sin. So what is it? People worry about that.
Let's talk about it. To answer the question, let's first put these three verses into context.
The scribes had just said of Jesus, He has Beelzebul in him, and He drives out demons by the
ruler of the demons. So, here Jesus has been performing miracles, healing people, casting
demons out of people, and forgiving people. And the scribes said that He did that by the power of
Satan. Jesus' answer to their accusation was, of course, perfect. He said, 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 rebels against himself and is divided,
he cannot stand but is finished. So in saying this, Jesus was pointing out to them that Satan
would never work against himself. And then next he gave them an illustration or parable. He said,
On the other hand, no one can enter a strong man's house and rob his possessions unless he first
ties up the strong man. Then he will rob his house. In this parable, Satan is the strong man
guarding what belongs to him. Jesus was saying, I am not in league with Satan. I am demonstrating
that I am stronger than he is. So by casting demons out of people, Jesus was taking from Satan
belonged to him one life or one soul at a time. As one commentator said, there is nothing in our
life that must stay under Satan's domination. So Jesus binds the strong man and plunders his house.
Now let's get back to answering the question at hand, what is blaspheming the Holy Spirit?
Well, let's look at what the Holy Spirit's ministry is. Jesus tells us in John 15, 26,
When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.
The Counselor is the Holy Spirit.
How do we know that?
Well, in John 14.26, Jesus said,
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, the Father will send him in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
So, the Holy Spirit is who tells us the truth about Jesus.
He lives on us and he testifies to our heart that Jesus is who he says he is.
Well, by blaspheming the Holy Spirit, a person is in the sorrowful state of rejecting Jesus.
If a person continually rejects Jesus, they are rejecting the forgiveness that is only available
through Jesus. It's not that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is too big a sin to be forgiven.
It's that this person has cut off the only way that he or she can be forgiven.
Commentator H.A. Ironside put it this way,
These words were never intended to torment anxious souls honestly desiring to know Christ,
but they stand out as a blazing beacon warning of the danger of persisting in the rejection
of the Spirit's testimony of Christ until the seared conscience no longer responds to the gospel
message. Beloved, this is a sin that puts terror into my heart when I hear someone reject Jesus.
What gives me hope is that until that person draws their last breath, there is hope that
their eyes will be opened, and that hope spurs me on to redouble my prayers for them.
I don't know when God gives up on trying to woo someone to Himself, so I pray for that
lost soul until their heart is softened or until I draw my last breath.
And now let's talk a little bit about chapter 4.
Jesus and the disciples were on the lake, and Jesus went below to take a nap.
And then the storm came up, and the disciples came to wake Jesus because they were afraid of the storm at sea.
They were afraid for their lives.
They were panicked.
So when they went to wake him up, what happened?
Jesus got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,
Silence, be still.
And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
And then he said to them,
Why are you so fearful? Do you still have no faith?
And then what does the scripture say next?
It says, and they were terrified.
Do you remember a few days ago I talked about how we take God the Father too lightly because
of the grace we receive from Jesus' shed blood?
Well, here we have the disciples who have spent a great deal of time with Jesus, and
one would assume they knew him fairly well by now.
And they were terrified.
It doesn't say they were afraid.
It doesn't say they were panicked.
They were terrified when Jesus calmed the storm.
I don't know about you, but I usually think of the disciples at this point in their education
from Jesus as just not having as good an understanding of who Jesus is as I do.
I know that sounds presumptive, and I'm sure it is, but hear me out.
I had a conversation with a fellow Christian once, and in our conversation he brought up
this parable.
And in our discussion he pointed out that at first the disciples were terrified of the
storm.
But when Jesus calmed the storm with just his word, they were terrified of him.
And that got me to thinking.
I usually think of Jesus as being generally soft-spoken and easygoing.
Strong, yes, but not someone with an intimidating demeanor.
Certainly not someone to engender terror.
But maybe I have it wrong.
I must have it wrong, don't you think?
I mean, if the disciples who lived with him were terrified,
maybe there is something about Jesus that I've overlooked.
And, of course, there is.
Jesus is not just a man.
Jesus is God.
He's fully human and fully God.
And since that's true, Jesus has every bit of power that God the Father has
and is just as offended by my sin as the Father is.
And talk about power.
Colossians 1.17 says that Jesus holds all creation together.
All creation.
Think of that.
Without the power of Jesus, all of creation, you, me, the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars,
all creation, would come apart. The only reason I'm here is because He allows it. And if I'm honest
with myself, I should be just a little bit terrified of Him as well. It is only because
of His unfathomable love that the terror I should feel is balanced with the peace that passes all
understanding that He gives to me. He has promised that because I have placed my faith in Him,
I have been adopted into His family, and I am secure and safe today, tomorrow, and all the
tomorrows to follow. I can rest in that, and I do, but I also have a new appreciation for the
unmeasurable, infinite, and awesome power of my Savior.
Here's the verse of the day.
Today's verse of the day is Mark 3.5.
After looking around at them with anger and sorrow at the hardness of their hearts,
he told the man, stretch out your hand.
So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
Mark 3.5.
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On this date in church history, January 10th in AD 49, and most scholars believe it actually
was on this date, the Apostle Paul arrived in the city of Corinth. It was a bustling,
wealthy port city, and it was full of competing gods, temples, philosophies, and loyalties.
Greek gods, Roman civic religion, mystery cults, emperor worship, all operating side by side.
So the gospel entered a place where many voices already claimed truth.
Paul stayed there for about a year and a half, working as a tent maker while preaching the gospel and planning a church.
The community that formed became one of the most challenging congregations Paul ever pastored.
There was division, immorality, spiritual pride, and questions about how to live a faithful Christian life.
Yet Corinth became the setting for some of Paul's most personal and practical teaching.
His letters to the Corinthians show a pastor committed not to perfect churches,
but to faithful people who were learning how to follow Jesus.
We'll have a time of praises and prayer requests on tomorrow's show,
so if you have a praise report or a prayer request,
go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com or email me at steve at lifespringmedia.com.
Or you can send a text or email right here.
When you send in your prayer requests or praises,
I'll pray for you in my daily prayer time,
and I'll pray for you on the show so that we can all agree together
as we take our requests to God.
If you enjoy the show, tell someone.
Beloved, the Jesus we read about today is stronger than Satan and greater than the storm.
May we never become casual about who he is, and may our awe of him bring us into deeper faith,
not fear. May we never reject his voice, and may we walk today in faith,
shaped by awe and secured by his love.
Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly.
Thank you so much for being here.
I'm Steve Webb. Bye.
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