The unpardonable sin of exceeding sinfulness

“For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” (Rom. 7:9-13).

Do you ever feel like you’ve committed the unpardonable sin? Have you done something that is so grievous that almighty God cannot forgive it?

It’s true, you have committed a sin that God cannot pardon, because He doesn’t pardon sin; He only forgives sinners. He cannot forgive sin because sin destroys you, and it killed Him, His precious Son, and His whole kingdom.

But, to all of us who have committed the unpardonable sin, there is hope. “Now the righteousness of God without [apart from, separate from] the law is manifested.” (Rom. 3:21).

This is a special kind of righteousness, “(being not without Law to God, but under the Law to Christ).” (1Cor. 9:21).

There are two laws—the law of justice, and the law of mercy. There is justice, God’s almighty power to destroy sin and, if we force Him to do so, to destroy even the precious, but treasonous, creatures of His making. But that is a “strange act” (Isa. 28:21) to God. He says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” (Eze. 33:11).

And there is mercy, God’s almighty power to refrain from destroying sin and sinners. His name is a promise of grace. “And the LORD passed by before him [Moses], and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” (Ex. 34:6,7)

These are the two greatest powers of God.

“And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me? and how long will it be ere they believe Me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?

I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.

And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for Thou broughtest up this people in Thy might from among them;)

And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that Thou LORD art among this people, that Thou LORD art seen face to face, and that Thy cloud standeth over them, and that Thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.

Now if Thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of Thee will speak, saying,

Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which He sware unto them, therefore He hath slain them in the wilderness.

And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as Thou hast spoken, saying,

The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of Thy mercy, and as Thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.” (Num. 14:11-19).

To God, the great Judge, both His powers of justice and mercy are equally valid, and eternally authoritative and enduring. Mercy has as much authority before God as justice has. But, that divine mercy is predicated on accepting His powerful gift of strong, humbled repentance. Then those who His powerful Presence has oppressed are worthy of His pardon! And no one else except the humbled oppressor is worthy of the Saviour’s loving intercession.

“While he [Peter, unadvisedly] yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.” (Matt. 17:5-8).

Even though Peter had butted in and bungled Jesus’ only opportunity to get relief from our world of sin and the blissful communion of Father and Son was shut down by Peter’s foolish words; even though it cost Him the comfort of beloved, fellow victors over sin; even though Christ’s gravely needed rejuvenation from His Father was interrupted and lost by Peter’s abominable act, once Peter’s folly was put down by the Almighty Spirit of God, it was Jesus’ pleasure to comfort and forgive His disciple who was humbled by the Father.

Are you oppressed by your abominable past? Have you caused Jesus infinite grief by your faultiness? Has it been long ages that you have pined away in sorrow and shame? Have you not been able to believe in the mercy of God and especially of His only begotten Child? Beloved brother or sister, you need to understand your Bible better. All the promises of God are a green light for everyone who hopes in His precious Son.

“For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea. For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” (2Cor. 1:19,20).

If you are hoping in the great, merciful Saviour, then believe that He accepts you. As we are, without fixing ourselves up, we all must come to the equally great, divine Little One of the great Judge, and His Little One will give us rest from our wicked past.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36).

God the auspicious Schoolmaster, the Ancient of days, has put you under great conviction of exceedingly unpardonable sin. The great Father will “by no means [clear] the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.” The wrath of God is upon you. Now go to His Son’s evidences of divine, and let His authoritative mercy convince you of pardon through His propitiation.

“He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isa. 53:5). Upon the dropping of His cross into its deep hole with His body nailed to it, His great first words were, “Father, forgive them.” (Luke 23:34).

It’s the fear of trusting in Christ’s life of service and self-sacrifice that keeps God from dispensing His Spirit to eternally bless you. Hoping in and depending on any other can never remove the “chastisement of our peace” from God, His wrath against our sins that He put “upon Him [Jesus]”. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). That Jesus was born and died by water and blood is the truth; His birth into the human race and His human death were real. We have a Mediator who can identify and sympathize with us. But, God will only give us the reprieve of His reconciling Spirit if we come to His sympathizing Son. If we don’t come to the lifeless body of Christ hanging from His cross then our wounds and bruises and stripes of mind and heart and conscience will never heal.

“This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.... If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which He hath testified of His Son.

He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son.

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1Jn. 5:6,9-12).

If you still believe that your sins are unpardonable, then listen to Christ, our Maker and Intercessor before His Father.

“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified.” (Luke 18:13,14).

The government thief went home forgiven. He had suffered long under the guilt of his crimes against God’s children, and he went home in a right standing before God and man. He was changed into a completely different person, a new creature in Christ, at peace with God, and in soundness of mind and body. This promise is for you and for all who have been pummeled by guilt and shame for days or weeks or months or years or decades. The tax collector had changed from his robbery of the people, and was content to live the meager life of the oppressed, instead of joining with the powerful oppressors. The more powerful Most High had caused his change of heart and he now had peace with the holy power of the Highest, and with His children.

“Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Rom. 3:24-26).

“As your conscience has been quickened by the Holy Spirit, you have seen something of the evil of sin, of its power, its guilt, its woe; and you look upon it with abhorrence. You feel that sin has separated you from God, that you are in bondage to the power of evil. The more you struggle to escape, the more you realize your helplessness. Your motives are impure; your heart is unclean. You see that your life has been filled with selfishness and sin. You long to be forgiven, to be cleansed, to be set free. Harmony with God, likeness to Him—what can you do to obtain it? 

     It is peace that you need—Heaven’s forgiveness and peace and love in the soul. Money cannot buy it, intellect cannot procure it, wisdom cannot attain to it; you can never hope, by your own efforts, to secure it. But God offers it to you as a gift, ‘without money and without price.’ Isaiah 55:1. It is yours if you will but reach out your hand and grasp it. The Lord says, ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’ Isaiah 1:18. ‘A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.’ Ezekiel 36:26. 

     You have confessed your sins, and in heart put them away. You have resolved to give yourself to God. Now go to Him, and ask that He will wash away your sins and give you a new heart. Then believe that He does this because He has promised. This is the lesson which Jesus taught while He was on earth, that the gift which God promises us, we must believe we do receive, and it is ours. Jesus healed the people of their diseases when they had faith in His power; He helped them in the things which they could see, thus inspiring them with confidence in Him concerning things which they could not see—leading them to believe in His power to forgive sins. This He plainly stated in the healing of the man sick with palsy: ‘That ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith He to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.’ Matthew 9:6. So also John the evangelist says, speaking of the miracles of Christ, ‘These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.’ John 20:31.” Steps to Christ, p. 49.

The horrible grieving for your past foolishness and mistakes can have relief. Your Lord has sent you the necessary guilt and repentance, and now He sends you His embassage of grace and comfort. His warfare is over; it is finished.

“Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isa. 40:1,2).