Matthew 12:22-37; Mark 3:20-30

Religious Leaders Accuse Jesus of Being under Satan's Power ~

Matthew gives us a longer story.  Mark gives it short & sweet.  This is typical of their writing styles.  However, both agree that the religious leaders accuse Jesus of being demon possessed.  Jesus gives it to them straight.  He's not demon-possessed.  Why would a demon cast out a demon?  Plus, what about all those other Jewish prophets & religious leaders that are able to cast out demons?  They've never been accused of being demon-possessed.  Then Jesus says something that has left people in a cold sweat for centuries, "But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."

Whoo, hold on, never be forgiven.  Oh no!  What if I do that?  How do I avoid doing that?  I want to make sure I never, ever blaspheme the Holy Spirit, but what does that really mean?  Settle down, it's pretty simple.  Blaspheming the Holy Spirit reveals a heart-attitude of unbelief and unrepentance.  It's deliberately, willfully rejecting the Work of God.  It's saying, "Obviously that's a sign of God, but I don't believe in God, nor will I admit that God could even exist, so I'm going to say that such & such is responsible for that."  Who would even say that?  Who would look at the facts & then reject them on principle?  Well, there are several well-known evolutionist & atheists that would rather believe in something they know is flawed than admit God exists. 

So, do you have cause to fear never being forgiven?  Only if you blatantly, willfully reject God.  I heard a great quote by Dr. Dobson's daughter.  She said [and I paraphrase] - God is a gentleman.  If you reject Him, He will let you make that choice.  He's not going to force Himself on you.  Here's the thing to remember:  if you reject Him now, that's it.  You've made your choice, so be prepared to stick with it in eternity.  He didn't force Himself on you now & He's not going to force Himself on you later.  HOWEVER  if you choose Him now - well He's there for eternity.  How awesome is that?