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The Sin
Against the Holy Spirit
Above Niagara Falls a
place called Past Redemption Point
marks the spot where the waters quicken and the
current becomes so swift that no possibility
exists for a person to turn back. Similarly, for
those walking in the gilded and glittering broad
way there comes a time when the current of evil
quickens and nothing can save them. Why? Because
they have refused to be impressed by the Holy
Spirit so often they go beyond their souls
Past Redemption Point.
This is the sin against
the Holy Spirit a sin so irreversible that
no future probation for repentance is possible.
(Matthew 12:31,32.) Those who consistently refuse
to listen to the voice of God eventually destroy
their capacity to hear it.
The appeal of the Spirit
heard within the sacred precincts of the soul is
called conviction. Conviction brings
the soul under moral obligation to heed and obey.
Jesus Himself speaks, saying, He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. Revelation 2:7. Through
conviction the Spirit invites us to repent.
However, repentance or sorrow for sin is not
enough; the soul must turn from sin to Jesus, the
Sin Bearer.
Alas, many refuse to heed
the pleadings of the Spirit. They treat
conviction as an unwelcome annoyance. They
kick against the pricks.
Attempting to hush the voice of the Spirit, to
ignore His promptings, reject His appeals, defy
His restraints. Thus, man plays the traitor to
his soul. Overriding conviction produces
presumption. As time goes by, the voice within
becomes fainter and fainter until at last it does
not bother the sinner anymore. Though he
call evil good, and good evil (Isaiah
5:20), he finds no happiness, only a
certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation, which shall devour the
adversaries (Hebrews 10:27).
God never gives anyone
up. He says, I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5. Man forsakes
God. Paul describers those who reject God:
Because that, when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were
thankful
Wherefore God also gave them up;
who changed the truth of God into a
lie
For this cause God gave them up
As they did not like to retain God in knowledge,
God gave them over. Romans 1:21-28.
However, no Christian
should presume to judge who has committed the
unpardonable sin, for many, like Paul, who called
himself the chief of sinners, have been snatched
as a brand from burning. There are, of course,
many who have heeded the voice of the Spirit and
in spite of trials and afflictions have followed
through to gain notable victories for God.
The eleventh chapter of
Hebrews has been called the Bible Hall of Fame.
This chapter lists such heroes of faith as Enoch,
Noah, Abraham, and Moses. By faith many of the
men listed gained victories in situations that
some would call defeats: they endured mockings
and scourgings and imprisonments. They endured!
And that is victory! They endured because they
obeyed and kept on obeying the still small
voice within, doing whatever that voice
asked, believing that God would do as He had
promised (Isaiah 3:10.)
However, most have taken
another course. God says, I have called,
and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and
no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my
counsel, and would none of my reproof:
when
distress and anguish cometh upon you; then shall
they call upon me, but I will not answer;
they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall
they eat of the fruit of their own way.
Proverbs 1:24-31.
Jude referred to these as
the twice dead. Woe unto them!
For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran
greedily after the error of Balaam for reward,
and perished in the gainsaying of Core
Clouds they are without water [a symbol of the
Holy Spirit];
trees whose fruit withereth,
without fruit, twice dead;
wandering
stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of
darkness for ever. Jude 11-13.
The Apostle Paul said,
It is impossible for those who
have
tasted the good word of God, and the powers of
the world to come, if they shall fall away, to
renew them again unto repentance. Hebrews
6:4-6. The bodies of those who have rejected
Gods Spirit become like corpses. Today many
a treacherous Judas betrays his Lord with a kiss,
many like Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy
Spirit, many a covetous Achan troubles Israel,
and many a painted Jezebel worships Baal. For
them the harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and
[they] are not saved. (Jeremiah
8:20.)
When the whole world in
Noahs day was about to commit the
unpardonable sin, God sent Noah, a preacher of
righteousness, to warn them. God declared to that
sin-drenched generation, My Spirit shall
not always strive with man. Genesis 6:3.
This warning has application today, for as
it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also
in the days of the Son of man. Luke 17:26.
When Lot rushed to his
sons-in-law in the dead of night with this
warning, Up, get you out of this place; for
the Lord will destroy this city, he
seemed as one that mocked. Genesis 19:14.
The Spirit of God had left them. Again: As
it was in the days of Lot;
even thus shall
it be in the day when the Son of man is
revealed. Luke 17:28-30. And when Israel
refused repentance, the Lord declared,
Ephraim is joined to idols: let him
alone. Hosea 4:17.
The sin against the Holy
Spirit is always self-inflicted, and entirely
needlessthere can be no excuse for it. He
who continually disregards the warnings of the
Spirit until his soul at last becomes stone-deaf
to the voice of entreaty carries full
responsibility for his condition since he himself
has chosen deafness. The unpardonable sin might
be termed spiritual suicide.
The Holy Spirit always
has our best interests at heart. He labors with
us to help us overcome inbred tendencies and
inclinations to sin and battle the evil
suggestions and influences of Satan and his
angels, for we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but
against wicked
spirits. (Ephesians 6:12, margin.) Too
often, we have failed to recognize the
supernatural nature of the struggle in which we
are engaged, and we do not realize our
inadequacies. The battle for the soul goes on
within the soul. To ignore the Spirits
promptings means to reject the divine help Heaven
has provided. Soon the world will be divided into
two classes: those filled with the Holy Spirit
and those filled with an unholy spirit.
Actually the only sin
that God cannot forgive is the sin we refuse to
forsake. He is able also to save them to
the uttermost that come unto God by him.
Hebrews 7:25. The first work of the Spirit is to
plead with the soul to come. The Spirit and
the bride say, Come. Revelation 22:17. To
respond to this invitation is the finest thing a
man can ever doto resist, the worst.
The Bible gives several
ways in which we might sin against the Holy
Spirit:
- By
refusing to hear the Spirit. They
refused to hearken,
and stopped
their ears, that they should not hear.
Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant
stone, lest they should hear the law, and
the words which the Lord of hosts hath
sent in his spirit by the former
prophets. Zechariah 7: 11,12.
- By
quenching the Spirit. Quench not
the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19.
- By
grieving the Spirit. Grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God. Ephesians 4:30.
- By
resisting the Spirit. Ye do always
resist the Holy Ghost. Acts 7:51..
- By
vexing the Spirit. They rebelled,
and vexed his Holy Spirit. Isaiah
63:10.
- By
doing despite to the Spirit. Hebrews
10:29 speaks of some who did
despite unto the Spirit of
grace.
- By
hardening our hearts against the Spirit.
The Holy Ghost saith, to day if ye
will hear his voice, harden not your
hearts. Hebrews 3:7,8.
However, the Christian
who loves Jesus, who lives up to all the light he
has, will be in no danger of committing the
unpardonable sin as long as he grows in
grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 3:18.)
Daily we must reaffirm
our past consecrations and renew our past
decisions to go all the way with Jesus. He
that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved. Matthew 24:13.
Cast not away
therefore your confidence, which hath great
recompense of reward. For ye have need of
patience, that, after ye have done the will of
God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a
little while, and he that shall come will come,
and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by
faith: but it any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them
who draw back unto perdition; bit of them that
believe to the saving of the soul. Hebrews
10:35-39.
My
friends, I make an appeal to you, today
make Jesus Christ your personal Savior,
renounce this old world, and learn to develop the
kind of faith that will get you through
the closing chapters of earths history. The
Great Tribulation is about to begin because the
prophecies of Daniel and Revelation are almost
completely fulfilled. Listen carefully to the
Holy Spirits sweet voice in your heart and
mind, He will lead you Jesus Christ and the
Kingdom of God where eternity lasts forever and
ever.
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