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Sermon for the week of Trinity 12
James 3:1-12 + Matthew 12:31-36
In Sunday’s Gospel, we talked about the spiritual use of ears that need to be opened in order for faith to be kindled in our hearts, and about the spiritual use of tongues, that need to be loosed by the Holy Spirit in order for us to say useful and not useless things, when it comes to the things of God.
James, in tonight’s First Lesson, gives us some graphic examples of the misuse of the tongue, even, potentially, among the converted, among believers who have not been using their loosed tongues well, but have been using them to tear others down, instead of building them up, who have not been striving hard enough to tame their tongues, but have allowed them to be used by the sinful flesh, instead of letting them be guided by the Holy Spirit.
In the second Lesson tonight, Jesus has some very serious things to say about the use of the tongue, both for believers and for unbelievers, and about the Holy Spirit, too. It’s a frightening text, really, and it’s meant to be—frightening to everyone who simply lets his tongue wag, uncontrolled, especially when that tongue starts speaking against the Spirit of God Himself. This evening, we’ll take a moment to consider the dreadful blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Jesus says, Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. What is the sin, or the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? We need to look, first, at the context, as we always do. Jesus is speaking here against the Pharisees who had just accused Him of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the chief of the demons, or unclean spirits, also known as Satan. Mark, in his Gospel, tells us explicitly that Jesus said this to them because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.” Well, how is that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Because, as Jesus Himself points out, He was actually driving out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. So the Pharisees were calling the Holy Spirit “Beelzebub,” an unclean spirit. That’s outright blasphemy, irreverent slander against God.
Now, did they realize they were calling the Holy Spirit Beelzebub? Did they recognize that it was God’s own Spirit working through Jesus? Of course not! And that’s important. Just because they were speaking from ignorance doesn’t give them an excuse. They had the Spirit-inspired Scriptures of the Old Testament, which means they could have examined Jesus’ words and actions based on the Spirit-inspired Scriptures and recognized that He was fulfilling them, not contradicting them. But, instead, they uttered idle, careless, and, for themselves, dangerous words.
Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, Jesus says, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. In Mark’s Gospel, it comes across even more strongly, 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 forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.
What is Jesus saying here? That all other sins, including going around slandering Jesus, will automatically be forgiven to everyone? No, He means that there is forgiveness for every kind of sin, even slandering the Son of God, but that forgiveness happens only through faith in Christ, who suffered for those sins on the cross. And faith comes only by hearing the message that is preached. The message that is preached is how the Holy Spirit does His work of convicting and converting sinners. So if a person bashes or speaks against the message, the very preaching of the Gospel, he’s bashing the very means by which he could be converted to faith and forgiven. It’s like, if a doctor had the cure for all cancer in a single injection, but when it came time to give the shot to the cancer patient, the cancer patient kicked the needle out of the doctor’s hand and said, “To hell with your injection! That’s poison! I want nothing to do with it!” That cancer patient would not be cured.
So it is with those who speak against the Holy Spirit. They speak against the very working of the Spirit that has the power to convert them. As long as you’re biting the hand that’s trying to feed you, you won’t get fed, will you? As long as a person speaks against the ministry of the Holy Spirit, he will never be brought to repentance or faith, and so he will never be forgiven.
What would be an example of this unpardonable sin, of blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Well, you know that we teach the very Gospel of Christ, that sinners are justified by faith alone in Christ Jesus. Tragically, lots of people in the world, both non-Christians and many so-called Christians, openly condemn that very Gospel as nonsense, as foolishness, and as heresy. Even certain people within the Lutherans synods are guilty of berating the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ Jesus, labeling those of us who teach it as heretics. That’s no different than claiming that Jesus Himself had an unclean spirit. Such people may well have committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit. At very least, they are in danger of it, as long as they refuse to humble themselves and listen to the Spirit’s teaching.
The same is true for all who persistently resist the Holy Spirit, who attack the Spirit-inspired Scriptures, and who remain in that unbelief until they die. To speak against the authority and the veracity of the Scriptures is to speak against the One who inspired them, the Holy Spirit of God. Likewise, to speak maliciously against a minister who is carrying out his God-given ministry faithfully, who is preaching the truth of God’s Word, that may also fall into the category of the sin against the Holy Spirit. And people do these things today, left and right, from both outside and inside the Church, as the Roman Church, for example, did to Martin Luther and has done to many others. But they should take care. These are some of the very “idle” or “useless” words about which Jesus warns at the end of our Lesson, But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.
Now, some Christians worry that they’ve committed this unpardonable sin, this sin against the Holy Spirit, without knowing it. They’re frightened by Jesus’ words. But, hear this: If Jesus’ words are able to get through to you, so that you hear them, so that they frighten you, so that they call you to humility before God and His Word, to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, then clearly you haven’t committed any unpardonable sin. Jesus says elsewhere, The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. And to His ministers He said, If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. So if you’re afraid you’ve sinned against the Holy Spirit and the ministry of His Word, go to Jesus, confess your sin, receive absolution from His minister. And know that you have not committed an unpardonable sin, because the suffering and death of Jesus is worth enough to cover all sins. And you have been brought, by His Spirit, through His Word, back to repentance and faith—unlike most of the Pharisees, who remained in unbelief until their death. Where there is repentance, where there is faith in Christ, there is always forgiveness and acceptance by God.
But let this evening’s Lesson keep you vigilant. Be humble before the Word of God. Hear it, and submit your reason to it. As the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at my word. Tremble at God’s Word, and you will never be led astray to denounce it. Let your redeemed and loosed tongue always speak useful and not useless or idle words. And if you find that you’ve spoken some of those idle words, repent and take refuge in the Lord Jesus, so that the blood of Christ may keep you safe on the Day of Judgment. Amen.
