Pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie recently took to social media to help clear up some of the pervading confusion about the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:31-32.
In these verses, Jesus addresses the Pharisees who accused Him of casting out demons in the name of Beelzebub and tells them of the one unforgiveable sin.
Therefore I say to you, all kinds of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven men. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.
But what exactly does Jesus mean when He says “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”?
“To blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to reject the work that the Holy Spirit has come to do,” Laurie shares. “The work of the Holy Spirit, according to Scripture, is to convict or [to] convince us of our sin and bring us to Christ.”
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Many times, people think that if you yell and curse at God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit, as they are three-in-one, that this is what Jesus is referencing, but how many of us have done this very thing in moments of pain, ignorance or anger?
Laurie says, however, that this is not what Jesus meant during His period of instruction.
“When Jesus says ‘blaspheming the Holy Spirit is unforgiveable,’ it means that you are rejecting the work that the Holy Spirit wants to do, which is to bring you to Christ,” Laurie says.
Far too many believe that they are beyond redemption, or as Laurie shares, they “sold their soul to the devil.” Yet our souls do not belong to us, he explains.
“You can’t sell your soul to the devil, but if you reject Christ, and your heart gets harder and harder, you can reach a point of no return,” Laurie continues. This is not to say you are past redemption, but that “you don’t want His forgiveness anymore.”
So do not give up the spiritual fight for those in your life who have yet to accept Jesus Christ. Pray that they do not harden their heart against the conviction of the Holy Spirit and that they accept the one and only way to the Father, and that is through the Son.
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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
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