Page 2855 - Church of God Publications

DID you know that there
is a sin so great, so
devastating in its aw–
fulness, that even the
great merey of God cannot
overlook it, and the shed
blood of Jesus Chrfst cannot
wash it away? A sin that can
never be forgiven.
Jesus warned that it
could happen . "Assuredly,
I say to you, all sins will be
forgiven the sons of men,
and whatever blasphemies
they may utter; but he who
blasphemes against the
Holy Spirit never has for–
giveness, but is subject to
eterna! condemnation"
(Mark 3:28-29, RAV
throughout except as
noted).
Wbo could commit such a
dreadful sin, and subject
themselves to sucb an ap–
palling fate-to lose all bope
of forgiveness and saJvation?
Jesus addressed these stern
words to self-righteous reli–
gious leaders of first century
Jerusalem. They had deveJ–
oped an implacable contempt
for Jesus. During bis min–
istry, Jesus occasionally
clashed with them, and sev–
era! times he warned them of
tbe dire consequences of their
attitude. Finally, tbey
trumped up charges against
him and occasioned bis cruci–
fixion by the Romans.
But was this tbe unpardon–
able sin?
An unpardonable sin is by no
means the special province of bigots.
Have you ever noticed this scripture
in tbe epistles of Jobo, wbose writ–
ings usually epitomize love, toler–
ance and forgiveness? "1f anyone
sees his brother sinning a sin.wbicb
does not Iead to death, he will ask,
and He will give him life for tbose
who commit sin not leading to death.
There is sin leading to death. 1 do
not say that he should pray about
that" (1 John 5: 16).
So there it is again, but this time
it pertains to one wbo bad truly
bélieved on Cbrist and whose sin is
sucb tbat bis friends sbould not
February 1986
even pray for bis forgiveness. Wbat
can such a sin be?
Many tbeologians, witb fuzzy
ideas of what sin is, become very
vague wben confronting tbese
statements. One can certainly un–
derstand tbat. An unpardonable sin
is not a pleasant subject to dwell
on. Tbere is a real temptation to
read quickly over tbese scriptures,
There Is a
Fate
Worse
Than
Death!
by John Halford
What is the most terrible
thing that could
happen to a human being?
shudder, and hurry on to some–
thing more positive, hoping that
whatever it does mean, the unpar–
donable sin doesn't mean you.
But tbe scriptures are there, the
sin does exist, and it could just
conceivably strike you. ·
A passage in the book of He–
brews sheds more light on this sin
that can never be forgiven. "For if
we sin willfully after we have re–
ceived the knowledge of the trutb,
there no longer remains a sacrifice
for sins, but a certain fearful ex–
pectation of judgment, and fiery
indígnation which will devour the
adversaries" (Hebrews 10:26).
Ah-now there's a clue-"íf we
sin wi/Jfully." Tbe Pharisees' op–
position to Jesus was not a spur of
the moment, hotheaded fit of
pique. Tbese men knew what they
were doing.
A leading Pharisee, Nicodemus,
once confided to Jesus: "Rabbi, we
know that You are a teacher come
from God; for no one can do
tbese signs that You do unless
God is witb him" (John 3:2).
Many of them Rnew better,
but unlike Nicodemus they
still plotted to destroy hím
and bis work.
But waít-you sin when you
know better, too, don't you?
Unless you are a very unusuaJ
person (unusually self-righ–
teous, that is), notaday goes by
but that you do something you
know is wrong, and of which
you know God would disap–
prove. Even as you do it, you
know ít is sinning, but you do
it anyway. Does this mean that
you bave also committed the
unpardonable sin?
Many torture themselves
with doubt and anxiety over
this question. They want todo
the right thing, but time after
time they slip and stumble,
victims once again of weak–
ness and human nature.
Even the great apostle Paul
once wrote, "For 1 do not do
the good I want, but the evil
1 do not want is what 1 do"
(Romans 7:19, RSV). He
wrote this nearly 20 years af–
ter he had been converted!
But Paul knew that he had
not committed unpardonable
sins. He understood the dif-
ference between sinning wil/ingly
and sinning willfully.
You need to understand too!
We have a booklet What Do You
Mean . .. the Unpardonable Sin?
that thoroughly explains this sub–
ject. It is one of the most helpful
and reassuring pieces of literature
that we have to offer. Anyone who
takes life seriously needs to read it.
We will be pleased to send you a
copy fre-e of charge, and without
any obligation. Just write to the
office nearest you. You will find
the address listed on the inside
cover of this magazine. o
15