“‘Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin’— for they were saying, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’” (Mark 3:28-30)
These words of Jesus have struck fear into the hearts of many impressionable believers who have wondered if they had committed the unpardonable sin, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. As it turned out most of them were experiencing the deep conviction of the Holy Spirit over their sins. They needed to remember their faith in Christ and live in His mercy and forgiveness.
As bad as most sins are the only really unpardonable sin is this blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. This amounts to the rejection of the mercy of God in Christ. This may happen through outright unbelief, intense despair or by the hardening of the heart by embracing sin and self rather than God’s will and His ways. Thus only the rejection of faith in Christ will send anyone to hell. While that may be comforting to many, the bad news is that there are billions of people down through the millennia and living today who have done exactly that.
Now sin is indeed a serious offense against the Lord. We cannot except it as good nor can we try, like Adam and Eve, to excuse it or redefine it as something good, as an acceptable lifestyle choice. Rather we need to seek the Lord’s strength and grace to admit and repent of sin, overcome it and not give in to the temptation which we daily experience. We cannot do it on our own.