First the Question: The epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians were written after the close of the Book of Acts. True or False?
Take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day
And now the answer to the LLM Question of 9-2-2012
Question: There is NO unpardonable sin in this Dispensation of Grace. True or False?
Answer: TRUE! Beyond the shadow of a doubt, no unsaved Gentile or unsaved Jew, in this Dispensation of Grace EVER commits the unpardonable sin. Israel committed the pardonable, AND, THE Unpardonable sin. One before Christ went to Calvary and the other after the Holy Spirit came as a witness to Israel. Acts 5:32. OK, so, out of the 874 responses we received to this question, 61.5% got it right! So now, let us read the conclusion to this three part message series on The Unpardonable Sin...
The Unpardonable Sin, part 3 of 3
ISRAEL’S UNPARDONABLE SIN
“Wherefore I say unto you, ALL manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” Matthew 12:31-32
“Then said Jesus, Father forgive them; for they know not what to do. And they parted His raiment and cast lots.” Luke 23:34
“And His, name through Faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know; yea, the Faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled.” Acts 3:15-18
“Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” Acts 3:25-26
Here then is the story of the pardonable sin of Israel, the sin against the Son of man. Gentiles DID NOT sin against the Son of man. Note Acts 3:13 and Matthew 15:24, “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; Whom ye delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.” Acts 3:13, and, “But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24
Pilate sinned; but Christ said to him, “Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above; therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin.”
The Jews committed an awful sin when they had Jesus Christ put to death. Israel sinned against the Son of man. Note 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16, “The Jews who both killed the LORD Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway; for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”
The LORD Jesus pronounced an awful judgment upon Israel before He went to His death. “Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Matthew 23:31-33. “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” Matthew 23:38.
“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” Luke 21:20.
“But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth; and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.” Matthew 22:7.
This seemed to be the end of the Nation of Israel. But something happened, for note the difference in the message of Acts 3:17, “And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.” Then the first three words of Acts 3:19, “REPENT YE THEREFORE” Your rulers did it through ignorance. And note Acts 3:18, the death of Christ had to be. In other words, the Son of man had to be sinned against.
“Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” Acts 2:22-23.
“The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the LORD, and against His Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, Whom thou hast anointed. Both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together. For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” Acts 4:26-28.
So Israel, in fulfillment of Scripture, rejected Christ and slew Him with wicked hands. Note Matthew 26:24,
BUT, Christ’s prayer availed! “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” As a result, note Peter’s message to the rulers who ignorantly sinned against the Son of man:
“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, Whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things; and SO IS ALSO THE HOLY SPIRIT, Whom God hath given to them that obey Him.” Acts 5:29-32.
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, Whom ye have crucified, both LORD and Christ.” Acts 2:36.
Now let’s compare Matthew 23:38 and Matthew 23:33, with Acts 3:25-26…“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” Compared with…“Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”
Before the Jews killed Christ, they were “serpents.” After their awful deed they were tenderly addressed as children. THAT sin was pardonable.
The Holy Spirit was God’s witness to Israel that He had made Jesus both LORD and Christ; that He had exalted Jesus to be a Prince and a Savior to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.
But now, if Israel sinned against the Holy Spirit, what? The Unpardonable Sin! They did resist and blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and sinned. As the result of the unpardonable sin Israel was set aside. There was a very great difference between “the generation of vipers and serpents” of Matthew 23:33 and “the children of the covenant and the prophets” in Acts 3:25.
Now let us compare John 12:37-40 with Acts 28:25-28. Here we go:
“But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him; That the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, LORD, who hath believed our report: and to whom hath the arm of the LORD been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.” John 12:37-40
“AND WHEN THEY AGREED NOT AMONG THEMSELVES, THEY DEPARTED, AFTER THAT PAUL HAD SPOKEN ONE WORD, WELL SPAKE THE HOLY SPIRIT BY ESAIAS THE PROPHET UNTO OUR FATHERS, SAYING, GO UNTO THIS PEOPLE, AND SAY, HEARING YE SHALL HEAR, AND SHALL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND SEEING YE SHALL SEE, AND NOT PERCEIVE: FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE IS WAXED GROSS, AND THEIR EARS ARE DULL OF HEARING, AND THEIR EYES HAVE THEY CLOSED; LEST THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART, AND SHOULD BE CONVERTED, AND I SHOULD HEAL THEM BE IT KNOWN THEREFORE UNTO YOU, THAT THE SALVATION OF GOD IS SENT UNTO THE GENTILES, AND THAT THEY WILL HEAR IT.” Acts 28:25-28
The judgment of God was POSTPONED until Israel had another chance, the opportunity to commit The Unpardonable Sin against the Holy Spirit. Jerusalem was not destroyed until the year 69 or 70 A.D. The LORD’s prayer on the cross caused God to POSTPONE the fulfillment of Matthew 22:7. Note this verse, “But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth; and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.” Israel’s house was not left desolate at the time Christ spoke that judgment. Note Acts 11:19, “Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the Word to NONE BUT unto the Jews ONLY.”
For some years after the death of Christ the disciples and apostles preached to none but Jews ONLY. Christ came unto His own and His own received Him not. John 1:11. Some of His own received Him while He was on earth. More of His own received Him during the first seven years after the Pentecost of Acts 2.
But. since the judgment of Romans 11:6-11 and Acts 28:25-28, Israel has been an outcast nation. But at the appointed day there will be the fulfillment of Hebrews 8:10-12
“For this is the covenant. that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the LORD; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people; And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother. saying, Know the LORD; for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
Thus we see, beyond the shadow of doubt, that no unsaved Gentile or unsaved Jew, in this Dispensation of Grace ever commits the unpardonable sin. Israel committed the pardonable, AND, THE unpardonable sin, one before Christ went to Calvary and the other after the Holy Spirit came as a witness to Israel. Acts 5:32.
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In Ephesians 1:13 the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul declares that men are saved and sealed by hearing and BELIEVING the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your Salvation. Therefore, here, now, is declared unto you the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your Salvation: "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. BELIEVE today. The time is short.
So There You Have it!
Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide.
Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.
In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry
Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)
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