What is this terrible sin that would shut one out of heaven forever? Why can't God forgive it? Some think the unpardonable sin is committing murder, suicide, killing an unborn child, or some other terrible deed. Does the Bible tell what it is? Can one know if he has committed it?

1. Matt.12:31-32- - How many kinds of sin can Jesus forgive?

   ---  What is the sin that can not be forgiven?

 ---LB   Even blasphemy against me or any other sin, can be forgiven--all except one: speaking against the Holy Spirit shall never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come.

   --- Therefore we see that the unpardonable sin is to blaspheme, speak against, or turn away from the Holy Spirit. Why is this so? A few texts about the Holy Spirit will help.

2. Jn.12:49-50;14:24-26- - Whose commandments gives everlasting life?

Jn.12: LB 49. For these are not my own ideas, but I have told you what the Father said to tell you. 50. And I know his instructions lead to eternal life; so whatever he tells me to say, I say!"

- - By whom are these words brought to the mind of man?

Jn.14: LB 24. Anyone who doesn't obey me doesn't love me. And remember, I am not making up this answer to your question! It is the answer given by the Father who sent me. 25. I am telling you these things now while I am still with you.  26. But when the Father sends the Comforter instead of me--and by the Comforter I mean the Holy Spirit--he will teach you much, as well as remind you of everything I myself have told you.

- - The Heavenly family communicates a message of eternal life and words of love by means of the Holy Spirit.

3. John 16:8-11- - What three things does the Holy Spirit reprove the world of?

Jn.16: LB  8. And when he has come he will convince the world of its sin, and of the availability of God's goodness, and of deliverance from judgment.

9. The world's sin is unbelief in me; 10. there is righteousness available because I go to the Father and you shall see me no more; 11. there is deliverance from judgment because the prince of this world has already been judged.

   --- The Holy Spirit is sent to bring conviction of sin and of righteousness because Jesus is no longer here as an example of righteous living. The Holy Spirit has come to give the whole world the opportunity of repenting for having rejected Jesus.

   ---  The Holy Spirit is the third and last representative of God sent to earth for man's salvation. If we reject the Holy Spirit there will be no more members of the Godhead to come.

   --- It's like a rope let down to rescue you from a deep pit. If you grab the rope you can be saved but if you keep slashing off the rope with a big knife you will eventually cut off your last hope of escape. So it is if you reject the Holy Spirit, your last hope of salvation.

4. Isa.30:21- - What will the Holy Spirit, like a voice behind you, say?

Isa.30: 21. And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

- "He shall guide you into all truth" Jn.16:13 LB

5. Isa.55:6- - What should we do now while God's Spirit is near?

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

6. Eph.4:30- - What are we warned not to do?

Eph.4:30...Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, where- by ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

   We must be willing to let the Holy Spirit write God's law in our mind.

7. John 6:44- - Can a man come to God on his own anytime he pleases?

 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

 (He can't even want to come, except the Holy Spirit puts that desire in him!)

8. John 13:21,26-30- - After Judas rejected over and over again the many overtures of true unselfish love and humility of Christ's kingdom; After he spurned the forgiveness that Jesus offered, then the Holy Spirit left him! Who then entered him?

 --- LB 21. Now Jesus was in great anguish of spirit and exclaimed, "Yes, it is true--one of you will betray me." 26. He told me, "It is the one I honor by giving the bread dipped in the sauce." 27. As soon as Judas had eaten it, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, "Hurry- -do it now." 28. None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. 29. Some thought that since Judas was their treasurer, Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor. 30. Judas left at once, going out into the night.

   "and it was night"! (v.30 KJ) It was darkness for his soul! He had grieved away the Holy Spirit!  He goes on with his schemes down the road of double-dealing and betrayal to suicide! (Mat.27:5.= And he (Judas) cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.)

9. Luke 13:24-30- - When the Master has closed the door, will it be possible to enter in?    Who are shut out of the Kingdom?

  LB 24,25. "The door to heaven is narrow. Work hard to get in, for the truth is that many will try to enter but when the head of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. Then if you stand outside knocking, and pleading, 'Lord, open the door for us,' he will reply, 'I do not know you.'  26. "'But we ate with you, and you taught in our streets,' you will say. 27. "And he will reply, 'I tell you, I don't know you. You can't come in here, guilty as you are. Go away.'

    ...(Notice vs. 27 KJ  = But He will say, `I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.' )
   -- They resisted the Spirit.  They kept on working on the Sabbath. They kept on working at other law breaking practices.  They did not repent and change.

   28. "And there will be great weeping and gnashing of teeth as you stand outside and see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets within the Kingdom of God-- 29. for people will come from all over the world to take their places there. 30. And note this: some who are despised now will be greatly honored then; and some who are highly thought of now will be least important then."

10. Song of Solomon 5:5-6- - When the bride was too slow about answering the door what happened to her beloved?

  -- LB 5. I jumped up to open it and my hands dripped with perfume, my fingers with lovely myrrh as I pulled back the bolt. 6. I opened to my beloved, but he was gone. My heart stopped. I searched for him but couldn't find him anywhere. I called to him, but there was no reply.

11. Jer.8:20- - When the end comes and the harvest is past what will some say?

  The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

12. Hosea 4:17- - When Ephraim, or anyone else, refuses to give up their idols what will the Holy Spirit have to do?

Hosea 4:17. Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.

God will never force anyone against his will.

13. Gen.6:3- - Note v.6-8. Will the Holy Spirit always plead with man?

And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: Yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

- - - Note Gen.6:6. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth;... 8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Our Creator/Savior saved Noah's family because he obeyed the Spirit of Mercy.

14. Matt.13:15- - What was wrong with people's hearts and ears?

  -- NIV 15. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.

  --- Like shutting off the alarm and going back to sleep, after while you will sleep on and not even hear the alarm. So it is with the Spirit. If you keep turning away from His still small voice the time will come when you can no longer hear it. You cut the line of Heaven's communication!

15. Acts 7:51- - How did many leaders treat the Holy Spirit?

 -- NIV 51. "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit.

16. 1 Tim.4:2- - What does resisting the Spirit do to the conscience?

  -- NIV 2. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

- - -Note  LB 2. These teachers will tell lies with straight faces and do it so often that their consciences won't even bother them.

A person can sin with no feeling of guilt!  Be thankful if you have a feeling of guilt.  It means that God's Spirit still works with you.  Calling you to repent.

17. Eph.4:19- - Some people who do all kinds of evil are said to have no what?

  TEV  They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint.

   Note NIV - - - Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with continual lust ...

   Note  LB - - - They don't care anymore about right and wrong and have given themselves over to impure ways. They stop at nothing, being driven by their evil minds and reckless lusts.

 - Yes, Thank the Lord for the guilt feelings you have! It is evidence that you have not committed the unpardonable sin. Your conscience is still in good working order and the Spirit still speaks to your heart! Your connection with Heaven is still working. Thank God for that.  Return His call before it is too late.

18. Heb.10:26-27- - If a person continues to willfully sin, will there be another sacrifice made by the Holy Spirit similar to what Jesus made?

    NIV 26. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,

   --- So if one doesn't accept the sacrifice of Jesus for him what can he expect?

 --- 27. but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

  - - Neglecting so great a salvation (Heb.2:3) as our Creator dying for us is the unpardonable sin!

19. Ps.119:60- - In view of the opportunity for forgiveness and salvation, what did the Psalmist say about keeping God's commandments?

  NIV 60. I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.

20. Ps.19:13- - What kind of sin leads to that great transgression, the unpardonable sin?

  -- Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

- - - Note  NIV 13. Keep your servant also from willful sins;...

   --- This means that if we continue to willfully disobey, we are presuming on His mercy. This practice grieves away the Holy Spirit and leads to the unpardonable sin. We can choose to separate from God's Kingdom of Love, Law, and Life or we can invite Christ into our heart to connect us with Life and Heavenly power. So "Keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts." 1 Jn.5:21 LB. (Read 1 Jn.5:16-21 LB and Rev.3:20 KJ)

- - - Note 1 Jn.5: LB 16. If you see a Christian sinning in a way that does not end in death, you should ask God to forgive him and God will give him life, unless he has sinned that one fatal sin. But there is that one sin which ends in death and if he has done that, there is no use praying for him. 17. Every wrong is a sin, of course. I'm not talking about these ordinary sins; I am speaking of that one that ends in death. 18. No one who has become part of God's family makes a practice of sinning, for Christ, God's Son, holds him securely and the devil cannot get his hands on him. 20. And we know that Christ, God's Son, has come to help us understand and find the true God. And...Jesus...is the only true God; and he is eternal Life. 21. Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts..

- - - Note Rev.3:20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

21. 2 Cor.6:2- - When is the day of salvation open to us?

   -- NIV 2. For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.

   --- Yesterday is too late and tomorrow may not come, so today is the day of opportunity. The door is still open to the world. Human probation has not yet closed. Thank the Lord for this! It is the day of salvation for us also.

   --- Are you troubled by the guilt of some unconfessed sin? Then do not delay, but confess it to Jesus now! Receive his forgiveness and accept him as your Savior so that you may experience the comfort of the Holy Spirit today.

   --- Jesus was the first Comforter sent to this world and the Holy Spirit is the second Comforter. Let us always listen carefully to the small voice with the big message of God's love and forgiveness. Let us learn to appreciate more and more the great plan of God and the work of the Holy Spirit for us.