In this sermon, the preacher addresses the issue of unbelief and fear among the congregation. He prays for healing of these negative emotions and encourages the listeners to hold on to their faith. The preacher also mentions a videotape circulating in the church that shows unusual manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but he does not find them edifying. He emphasizes the importance of repentance and seeking forgiveness from Jesus for any sins committed, reassuring the congregation that there is always forgiveness available. The preacher also condemns the recognition of demonic power and urges the congregation to not give any recognition to the devil.

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing WORLDCHALLENGE P.O. BOX 260 LINDALE, TEXAS 75771 or calling 903-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. ...sin, the unpardonable sin, the sin that God cannot, will not forgive. Will you go to Matthew, please? Beloved, this is the first time in all my many years of preaching that I've ever preached on this subject. I've mentioned it at times, but I've never preached an entire message on the unpardonable sin. I hope tonight what you hear will be an encouragement to you. First of all, if you had committed the unpardonable sin, I doubt you'd be here tonight. And secondly, I want to arm you against the lies of the devil. Give you the word, let you know what it is, so that the devil can never lie to you about it. Matthew, the 12th chapter, beginning to read at verse 31, if you will, please. Jesus speaking, Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. By the way, folks, let's start at verse 24, just one verse. When the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. Now, let's get back down to 31. Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh the word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we want to know the mind of the Spirit tonight. We want to understand, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, what the unpardonable, unforgivable sin is. Lord, this is vital because you introduced this to us. You spoke it into being. You warned us. You've warned the church. You've warned all mankind. Let this church not be ignorant of the devices of the devil or the ways of the enemy. Lord, illuminate us. Give us the truth tonight that sets us free. For Jesus, you said, You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. This is truth, Lord, that can free us from every attempt of the enemy to try to tell us that we've sinned an unforgivable sin and then give ourselves over to the devil himself because there would be no hope. Now, Lord, show us this sin and encourage us now, Lord, to seek you with all of our heart. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Now, you know that God is very forgiving and very merciful. That's written all through His Word. But there's one sin that He will not forgive in this world or in the world to come. I've just read that to you. It's a sin against the Holy Ghost. It's the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Now, why am I preaching it tonight? First of all, because I've had a number of people, mostly young people recently, come to me after service, weeping, broken, saying, Pastor Dave, I just don't think I can go on. I believe I've committed the unpardonable sin. And when they, I'd say, Well, what did you do? Name the sin. And when they named the sin, one was masturbation, for example. And I try not to look surprised. But I'm thinking to myself, How could you believe that that's unpardonable sin? How did the devil lie to you? Who told you that? Where did you pick that up? That's why lately I've had so much of that, I begin to study it. I want the theology of it clear in my mind so that anybody comes to me from now on and wants to know what the unpardonable sin is, I'll have an answer. And also, you can get this tape later. We're not selling tapes tonight, but you can get it. Anybody wants to know what it is, give them this tape, the message tonight. I think it'll make it very, very clear to you. And also, I want to preach it because the Bible said those who commit it, we're not to pray for them anymore. The Scripture says in 1 John 5, 16, There's a sin unto death, and I say that you not pray for it. So we're not to pray for those who've committed this sin. Let me begin tonight by telling you what the unpardonable sin is not. And this will rule out so many lies of the devil. I'm going to give you six or seven things that do not constitute, cannot possibly constitute the unpardonable sin. First of all, listen very, very closely now. It's possible to resist the Holy Ghost. It's possible to grieve Him, even sin against Him, without committing the unpardonable sin. If this were not true, there are few of us here tonight would be saved. Before you were saved, you grieved the Holy Ghost. You resisted the Holy Ghost. In fact, Stephen, speaking of the Jews, said you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ear. You do always resist the Holy Ghost. They resisted the Holy Ghost, but they had not committed the unpardonable sin because Stephen was moved upon by the Spirit to pray for them that that sin may not be laid to their charge. So the Holy Ghost made it clear to Stephen they had not committed the unpardonable sin, even though they resisted, even though they spoke against the Holy Spirit and the work of God in Stephen at the time. I want you to know also that it is not some gross sin against light. It's not a gross sin against light. There are some of you that have sinned a gross, wicked, vile sin or a series of wicked, vile, gross sins, and the enemy has come to you and told you that you can't be forgiven, that you've sinned too grievously, that there's no hope for you. And when I traveled throughout the United States as an evangelist years ago, I heard that everywhere I went. They would come forward and say, well, I'm sorry, Pastor Dave, I would like to come to the Lord, but you don't know what I've done. You don't know how I've sinned, and God knows how I've sinned, and I've sinned away my day of grace. I've sinned away any hope of being saved. There are some of you sitting here now may think that right now. Pastor Dave, if you knew what I have done, if you knew how vile my heart is, how black it is, you would understand that there's not any hope for me. But I want you to know, folks, there's no sin that you could name in this flesh. There's no sin. Homosexuality, adultery, fornication, gambling, name any sin of this flesh, and I'm going to tell you it's forgivable. It's absolutely forgivable to those who confess it and turn to the Lord and repent. There is nothing you have done in the way of fleshly sins that He will not forgive. You say, but I have sinned against light. I knew better. The Holy Ghost dealt with me, and I sinned against the light. Who sinned against more light than David? David, who had the Spirit of God upon him for so many years, writing all of these beautiful psalms and all these songs of praises and worship to the Lord. Who sinned more than he who walked with a prophet? He who had illumination like few other men have ever had in the Old Testament, and yet, even though he'd been warned, this man sinned against great light, and yet, God forgave him. Who sinned against greater light than Peter, who sat for three years under the greatest teacher of light on the earth? And yet, Peter, though he denied Christ and though he cursed, in fact, Peter, out of fear, Peter denied the Lord, absolutely denied the Son of God, resisted the Holy Spirit, and yet, he was forgiven. This does not constitute the unpardonable sin. If you're here tonight and you're laboring under a fear that there's no more grace for you or that God has drawn a line and you have had so many opportunities and you've rejected them, you've had so many calls and rejected them, I'm telling you that the Holy Spirit is still faithful. That does not constitute the unpardonable sin. Some say this sin is committed only by backslidden apostate Christians, those who knew him and turned against him. They use, for an example, the theologians now that belong to the Jesus Club, where most of these men at one time were teachers and theologians in Bible colleges and seminaries. They believed in the Godhead of Christ. They believed the Word of God to be the infallible Word of God. Something happened to them. They drifted away from that and their hearts got hard and many of them now have taken away the Godhood of Christ, the deity of Christ. In fact, many of them mock Christ now. And so many believe, well, these are those that commit the unpardonable sin, backsliders who get hard and get cold against the Lord. That's the unpardonable sin. No, because there are many, many that had cold, indifferent, blasphemous hearts and yet the Lord in His mercy came to them. Atheist, who'd once known the Lord and turned atheist and then suddenly the Lord. You take Madam Mary O'Hara, the atheist who tried to drive prayer out of our schools and succeeded in a great part. Her own son who was an atheist at one time and cursed the name of Christ is now preaching the gospel. Amazing grace of God. You may be here tonight in backslidden. You say, Pastor Dave, my heart is cold. It's apostate. I fear that I may be an infidel. I have no faith left. And I want you to know the Holy Spirit is faithful. He'll still come to you. He will still woo you. That is not in itself the unpardonable sin. Now that is in the mixture of the unpardonable sin. But that in itself does not constitute the unpardonable sin. And fourthly, it is not in the words of blasphemy against God alone. Not just the words alone. Because some people can say the same words these Pharisees said. The very same words and not commit the unpardonable sin. Because the heart has to be into it. It's a mindset. Let me illustrate this. For example, Peter, in his fear for his life, cursed and blasphemed. He says, I don't even know the man. And he cursed. He cursed at Christ. He says, I don't even know him. Now, Peter, in his fear to save his life. If you had asked him at that time, well, he did mighty works. Were not these the works of God? He would have probably said, no. These were not the works of God. In his fear, in his despair. He would have said something that he didn't believe in his heart. He wasn't set in that direction. It's something he said out of despair, out of sorrow, or out of fear. For example, the young man who told me of a great trial in his life. He just absolutely overwhelmed with his problems. And he got angry at God. In fact, he went out and said, God, I don't even believe you exist anymore. God, you've lied to me. And he cursed everything in heaven. And he said, God, even if you're alive, leave me alone from now on. And he thought, in fact, he went for such a long time thinking he committed the unpardonable sin. But you see, even after he'd said it, he knew in his heart he didn't believe it. He didn't mean it. He still had a love in his heart for Jesus. He had not been hardened to it. He said something out of despair. It came out of the top of his head. It didn't come from his heart. It wasn't something that was birthed out of a hardened life condition. Many people who are depressed and in deep sorrow or perplexity, they'll speak out of fear words that sound like terrible blasphemy. God, you've forgotten me. God, I don't know where you're at anymore. God, I don't even believe that you exist anymore. I remember the shock I had when Gary, a high school senior, my oldest son Gary, came home one day and threw himself on the bed. I said, Gary, what's wrong? He said, Dad, there's no God. I don't even believe that anymore. I said, what? He said, I don't believe there's a God. He said, I have no faith. And I thought everything was fine. He was going through a test. He was trying to figure things out. He was going through a test and trial of his faith. And in his despair because he couldn't figure it out in his young mind, well, God must not be real. Of course, you know Gary now is a preacher of the gospel, pastoring in Denver and doing fine. It didn't blaspheme against the Holy Ghost. That wasn't it. His heart was tender toward God. He had a tender loving heart for God, but he was going through a trial. He said something that reflected his fear, reflected a lack of knowledge. But it was not a mindset. It was not a heart set. Hallelujah. And fifthly, the unpardonable sin is not an honest mistake when judging the spirits. The Bible says we're to judge the spirits to see if they're of God or of the flesh. And in judging the spirits occasionally, some of the godliest people can make a mistake in judging spirits. Now, I want you to listen to me very closely on this. The church has to have judgment of spirits. If we don't judge the spirits righteously, the spirit of the enemy can come in and absolutely steamroller and woodwink young babes in Christ. There has to be people in the pulpit, teachers and advisors who know the Holy Ghost, who test the spirits and can listen and judge and discern. That has to be in the church. But we are not gods. We are not infallible. And we make our judgments often on what we see and hear by the input into our minds. And there are times that we can misjudge a work or ministry of the Holy Spirit as being of the flesh or the devil, when in actuality there may be a measure or a great measure of the work of the Spirit there. And we have misjudged something. We have said, well, that's not God. That's not the tracts of the Holy Spirit. And I want you to know there are times in my ministry, and I know it as I stand here, that I have misjudged movings and works of the Holy Spirit, where I was given a certain amount of input and I judged it on that input. I didn't take the time that I should have, and I did it out of a heart of love for the Holy Ghost. I didn't want anybody to misinterpret the Holy Spirit or to trample the Holy Spirit. And I said, well, I just don't see the tracts of the Holy Spirit. I don't believe that's of God. And times I've said, that to me smells like flesh. And there are other times, that's of the devil. And then later I found out, I've talked to somebody that was there, and I find that there was a godliness, there was a hunger, there was a thirst, there was a genuine work of God in their hearts. In fact, there are some works of the flesh right now. There are manifestations happening today. Many of these manifestations which are really not inspired of the Holy Ghost. But you can go to a meeting where there are strange manifestations, and even demonic manifestations, and there can be in the midst of that, someone whose heart is tender and right before God. And they are really moved, and they're touched, and God's doing a great work. And they hear somebody say, well, you're sitting in a church where there are manifestations of the devil, and they feel very grieved because they know their own hearts. And so often we misjudge people. I wouldn't say often, but there are occasions when we misjudge the work of the Holy Spirit. We have to be big enough in God to acknowledge it. Now, we're to judge spirits, but let me tell you, God's been dealing with me. It has to be done without heat in your spirit. It has to be done without malice. It has to be done with a love for the people who are involved in any strange manifestations. It has to be a genuine love for the people. And it's not to say, I'm right and you're wrong, but what is right in the sight of the Holy Ghost? So God's been saying to me, get off your soapbox and do it with love and brokenness, because there are many people that are in many of these things that have wonderful hearts and spirits, and we have to be very, very careful that we do not misjudge them. But the only way it can become unpardonable sin if it is done out of absolute malice, and I'm going to show you the hatred of God that's behind it, but when it's done by those who are jealous for the work of the Holy Spirit, it does not constitute the unpardonable sin. How many Jews were there, for example, during Christ's day, that heard about his miracles and they never saw Jesus, but the only input they had about this man were the Pharisees, who gave their prejudiced input and the prejudiced view about this man. And if you were to go in their village and say, do you know about Jesus? They said, yes, he does miracles, but he does them by the power of the devil. That would have been the judgment they made by the input they had from these prejudiced Pharisees. And so often, for example, the Puritans, great godly ministers of the gospel, they totally wiped all the Quakers with a brush of demonic activity. They thought all Quakers were demonically inspired. And yet, this is during the days of Fox, a great man of God who was a Quaker, and the Puritans totally misjudged many, many Quakers. There were Quakers at that time that were given to flesh, but they were totally misjudged. There'd been whole denominations, there'd been whole religious organizations that because you don't belong to this organization, and they don't understand your way, they will brush you with a paint of flesh or demonic activity, because that's all they know. Let me give you an example. My father was a Pentecostal preacher, and in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, where my father pastored, it was a little church, about a hundred people, but it was underneath an elevated train. And every time that train went over, that little church would, I mean, rumble and shake the windows. The trains were about five minutes long, and we had to sing choruses. Right in the middle of the preaching, because you couldn't hear anything, they would sing choruses while the train passed over. And in our church, we had some real Pentecostal screamers. We had one lady, when she got blessed, she'd go, WOOOOO! And when the train came, it sounded like the whistle. And I was so ashamed of that. I can still see her sitting in the second row, blowing her whistle. Every time she got blessed, there it goes. And we had other people in the church that made wonderful sounds. Now, they weren't chickens and mules like we hear today, but they were, they just, I mean, they let out. And I worried that any of my friends would ever come to that church. I don't want anybody coming, walk out and say, screaming and yelling and talking in tongues. Hmm. And I'd go to school, and all those other kids who went to these nice, fancy churches, these big churches, they called us holy rollers. Holy rollers. And they looked down on us. And I used to feel such anger. Because, literally, all my classmates there who went to these churches thought that the devil did all that. That there's strange things going on there that's all of the devil. But I knew my dad was a holy man. I knew the people, even though they, you know, screamed and yelled and made fire whistle sounds. I knew that Sister Bush was a godly woman. She's dead and gone, so. You know, God bless her heart. She's whistling in heaven now. You know, all those people who misjudged us, they didn't know. They've never been in our church. They didn't know. By the way, one time, I think I told in this church, we had a delegation of students, about 15 of the high class students. I mean, honor students. That were doing a class study on different religions. And they said, we're going to various churches, we're starting in your church Sunday night. I went home and I said, Dad, I've got about 15 of the up and up kids from school coming. Could you sit on Sister Bush tonight? I mean, just quiet her down. Don't let anything happen. I was scared to death that the Holy Ghost would fall. He said, David, you know better. I'm going to let the Holy Ghost have his way. And don't you know, if you get that way where you don't want anything to happen, all glory is going to break out. And it did. Sister Bush was really excited that night. I mean, I went down in my seat. I went where I should be with the Lord. You know that I wouldn't be talking like this the way I was. And I was ashamed, honestly. I went home and I thought, I'll never be able to face anybody in that class again. They think we're crazy. Got to school the next day. You should have heard. They were coming up so excited. Hey, that's what your people really are full of life. That was wonderful. They were excited about it. But you see, they misjudged. They were mocking our church, but it was not the unpardonable sin. They did it in ignorance. That's what it was said of those. They crucified in ignorance. That was not the unpardonable sin. You know, there's a videotape that's been circulated in the church today. Many of you may have seen it. And there are some very unusual manifestations called manifestations of the Holy Spirit. And to me, I just didn't see anything edifying about it at all. I didn't feel moved. In fact, I felt grieved about it. But the thing that grieved the most is that at the end of this tape, the minister, in so many words, in effect, is saying, if you speak against what you see, if you take a stand against this, say anything against it, in essence, he's saying you committed the unpardonable sin. And God, the Holy Ghost, doesn't deal with that. That is not the unpardonable sin. That is not the unpardonable sin. And that man's going to have to answer one day for planting this kind of fear in so many hearts. That is not the unpardonable sin. All right? Now, let's go on. No one can commit this sin. Hear me now. No one can commit this sin who believes that Jesus Christ is now the Lord in their hearts. And if you're trusting Him as your Savior, those who trust and accept His mercy, you are living proof that this sin has not been committed by you. Listen closely. One of the clearest signs that someone has not committed this sin is when he's troubled and concerned about committing it. In other words, you have the fear of God in you. You have a love for Jesus. Folks, those who commit the unpardonable sin, the Holy Ghost forsakes them immediately. The Holy Ghost leaves. There's no wooing. There's no conviction. There's no desire to be near another Christian. No desire to be in the house of God. No desire for the Word of God. No desire for anything spiritual whatsoever. The Spirit of God is gone. He no longer deals with those who've committed the unpardonable sin. But here you sit tonight in God's presence. You want to hear about the unpardonable sin simply because you don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit. That in itself is proof that you have not committed the unpardonable sin. That ought to bring joy and thanksgiving to your heart. And from now on, as long as you live, until Jesus comes or He takes you, thank God for the wooing of the Holy Spirit and that stirring that's in your heart. That's the Holy Ghost in you. Hallelujah. He wouldn't be there. He wouldn't be working if you're anywhere near the unpardonable sin. Because sin hardens. It causes unconcern. When a person's concerned about grieving or resisting the Holy Spirit, that is absolute proof that he's not committed the sin. Now, I've given you six things that do not represent the unpardonable sin. Let me tell you what I believe the unpardonable sin is, all right? First of all, you've got to go back to the time Jesus first introduced this sin, and that's when He was speaking to the Pharisees. Now, remember they brought to Him a demon-possessed young man who was blind and dumb. He could not see. He could not speak. His tongue was tied. And Jesus cast out the demons, and Jesus opened His eyes and loosened His tongue. He began to speak and praise God, and He was able to see. And all the people around them marveled. Remember also that Jesus had just healed multitudes that had come to Him, and the Bible says this multitude pressed in and He healed them all. It's in the same 12th chapter here that we're studying. All right, follow this very, very closely. There is no human being that was at that scene. There's no way any intelligent person... Now, listen closely. No intelligent person that saw these miracles, the lame leaping, the dead raised from the dead, blind eyes opening, those who could not speak, who were both deaf and dumb, their ears open, they were able to speak and praise God. And no intelligent human being could deny what had happened. And no one would dare believe that any man in the flesh could do that. This is the end of side one. ...that a man could do that, then you deify man, you make man a god. So they knew that He as a man, His name Jesus from Nazareth, as a man could not do that because no human being could do that. If they attributed it to the man Jesus rather than the God-man Jesus, they were saying that He was God anyhow. They'd have to acknowledge Him as God because only God can do that. And so, here's the dilemma of these Pharisees as they stand face to face with this miracle. They knew that none of these great miracles were of human power. And since they refused to believe that He was God, or that He was the Son of God, that God is working in Him, they have one option left. It's occultic. It has to be of the devil. Because a man can't do it, and we don't believe that God is in Him, so this is not God at work. They have one option left. This is the devil at work. The devil is doing all these. And Jesus reasons with them. And in essence, what He says, all right, let's follow your logic through. You say that I'm doing all these things by the power of the devil. And He's trying to show them how unintelligent, how absolutely impossible that is. He said, in essence, you know that the devil comes to deceive, that he's a destroyer, that he has blinded these people. He sends his demon forces into the world to destroy. He's a liar. He brings ruin. And you're telling me that he has sent me to undo his own work? He blinds the people and he sends me to unblind them? He causes the people to become deaf and he sends me to open their ears? He said, you're saying that I'm here dividing his kingdom. If what you say is true, he's destroying himself. He's destroying his kingdom. He said, think of what you're saying. That if I'm doing this by the power of the devil. He said, by the way, you have people that are exorcists. Your father's cast out devils and you have people among you cast out. By whom do they cast them out? And they're in a trap now. Because if God's not doing it, and what they're really saying is that God is not at work in this earth. He's saying that the devil's the only one who has compassion. The devil's the only one who cares about blind people and deaf people. Only the devil cares. That God doesn't have compassion. They had cut off all hope for humankind. They had cut off all hope that anybody through the power of God could be saved or healed or changed. And they had absolutely cut off all hope. And they were absolutely trapped by their hardness, by their unbelief and by their hatred toward him. They were absolutely cutting off all hope for mankind. Now, beloved, that's where so many are at in the United States and around the world today. There are so many people that have seen the work of God. They've seen God move in their home. They've seen supernatural work of God. And yet because of some prejudice of their religion, it could be a Jewish background. It could be some other background. And because of their unbelief or prejudice, they can't bring themselves to say this is the supernatural work of a holy God through the Holy Spirit. They can't bring themselves to say that. They see a husband or wife ready to die, and somehow a friend or neighbor prays and God raises them up. They're in an automobile accident. They should have been dead. And suddenly they're alive and they know it's supernatural. Or a little child, they find him in a swimming pool and they resuscitate him and they know that the boy was partially dead but back to life, and they have to know it was supernatural. And yet they deny it because of a prejudice in them. And they say, well, I saw it. I know it's supernatural. I know it's a miracle. And if they won't give God credit, if they don't believe God did it, what option is left to believe it's some strange, dark, mysterious, occultic power? And that's where the United States and the world is going right now. They're going to occult practices. They're going to the devil. Because if you're not going to give God credit for what is happening in this world today, the miracles, the power, and the glory, and the majesty that we see in the church and in the world today, it's only the Holy Spirit that keeps this world from crashing. It's only the Holy Ghost keeps this world from total devastation and chaos. And men know it. Deep in their heart, they know it. There's no question about it. You say, well, these men were not devil worshippers. They were not occultic. But you see, they say we can't deny there are miracles. People have been raised from the dead. We just talked to him. He was blind 15 minutes ago. Now he can see. He was deaf. He can hear. He can speak. There's the widow's son standing right there. He was dead. We acknowledge there are miracles. Yes, there are miracles. They can't deny it. But you see what they're saying now. You're doing these miracles by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. And the Pharisees had this grand scheme of demonic things. That there were principalities. There were powers. They even named these powers. And there were princes throughout the world. They had hierarchies at different levels. In fact, there's a great fear and respect for the occult. And that is where they stand now. They're saying you do this through the power of the devil. There's a prince. A prince has come and empowered you to do these works and these miracles. And this is the danger of playing with the occult. This is the danger of living in constant fear of the devil's power. Because you see, the only thing the devil wants, the only thing he wants from the Christian, if you're not going to worship him, he just wants you to acknowledge his power. He wants you to acknowledge and respect that power. We have Christians sitting in this church who are afraid of a relative that's into Santerra, for example. Into witchcraft or into voodoo. I've talked to many Christians, especially in the South, where they have Haitian relatives. There's some of you from Haiti. Maybe you're from Haiti right now. You know I've been in Haiti. I was in one of those voodoo camps, and I saw what was going on there. And there are Christians all through Haiti that are so scared to death of the voodoo people. And we have people right now, why do they go to astrology? Why do they go for their science? That's occultic. They're getting their direction from astrology. They're getting their direction from crystals. They're getting their direction from seances and Ouija boards. What they're saying is the devil has the power. He has the wisdom. He can promote me. I can put curses on people. And this nation is turning to the occult. Turning against God. And that is the basis of the unpardonable sin. Denying the power of God and acknowledging and elevating the power of Satan. It is turning away from God, saying God does not have compassion. God is not interested. And folks, we have a nation that's turning its back on God. Doesn't turn to God. Doesn't call on God. There aren't a handful of young people in this nation today that haven't been playing with the occult. It is sweeping. They sit now in front of their computers. What are those games but demons? What are those games but demons? Demon power. Here's a demon. Blast the universe. The devil is seeking recognition. We give him no recognition in this church. We give him no recognition. But you see, these Pharisees have cut off all hope. If the Holy Ghost is not working, then there's no conviction. You can't be convicted. In fact, what they're saying, the kingdom of darkness now, God is not at work, then why serve God? Why try to be holy? Because you see, this man that's standing in front of them, that they say he's doing works by the devil, they know him to be a righteous man, a holy man. They look at those twelve apostles and they know that they're righteous men. They look at the disciples of Jesus. These men are known throughout the land and the then known world as godly, holy men who had forsaken all to give themselves to the needs of people. And they look at that just as the world today looks at the church with all of its good works, manifesting the spirit of Christ to the whole world, and they deny that. They deny that. They can look at it and see it. I took, a number of years ago, I took about 15 converted drug addicts to a medical convention. I was one of the speakers. About 300 doctors. I told this once in this bullpen. And it was my turn, and rather than speak, I said I'm going to let my guys speak, and they got up. One of them was saved five years, and now he's studying to be a social worker. Talk how God saved him from drugs. No more desire for drugs. Completely free. I had about five of them testify, one after another, and they'd all been saved for a number of years, back with their families, and no desire for drugs. Completely cured and healed. And I was sitting next to a Christian doctor, and as soon as I sat down, and I said, Jesus heals drug addicts. And I said, we found the Jesus factor. And I said, drug addicts are being saved, drug addicts are being healed, medical science has failed, but God is not. I said it straight. And I sat down, and a psychiatrist got up. First thing he said, now we all know that there's no known cure for the drug addict. And the doctor sitting next to me said, where was he? Where was he? But you see, they don't want to accept it. There are 15 standing right there. Testimonies. Of the Holy Ghost. And they deny it all. Deny the cross, deny Christ. Even though they have all the evidence in front of them, they know it's real. And they harden themselves to it. And yet, they will go out, right from that meeting, and don't believe that God is involved, that God is doing any of this work. And they'll walk into one of these little places where they read their poems, and this psychiatrist will stick his hand out there and say, would you tell me my future? How stupid. Can you imagine? This is the truth. Businessman. There's a story in Time Magazine. He's got a big rock in his office, from Idaho. And he said, it emanates messages. And when he has a problem, he goes to the rock. I could line up a hundred miracles in front of him. People delivered from the power of sin. All kinds of miracles. Valid testimonies. He wouldn't believe a word of it. No, no, no, no, no. God's not involved today, but his rock speaks. Hmm. It was at this point. It's at this point when Jesus knew that they had put themselves beyond any hope of being influenced by the Holy Spirit. At this point where they hardened themselves, where the Lord says, nothing I say, nothing I do, no work of the Holy Spirit will change their heart because they've said it against the truth. They have set their heart. They don't want to hear. They don't want to know. No amount of miracles. Nothing is going to move them. They are committed to this. They have no other. They have no desire to ever be convicted. No desire to ever be convinced by the Holy Ghost. I'm sure Jesus said, if they would just open it, I could convince them. The Holy Ghost could totally convince them. But they don't want to be convinced. They don't want to be convicted. The whole thing is, God, I don't believe that you are involved. I don't believe that there's a Heavenly Father in heaven who cares. And they turn away from the Heavenly Father and they turn to the occult. And the best way I know to explain it is the unpardonable sin is a complete and final rejection of the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit on the earth and acceptance and recognition of the power of Satan. And folks, you can commit that sin without saying a word. You don't have to repeat those words saying, this is the work of the devil. You don't have to glorify the devil in your words alone. This is something that builds in the heart. It's something that is set into the spirit and into the mind. Hallelujah. Now, I'm going to, in closing, I'm going to give you just seven things that I believe represent the unpardonable sin. This is simple, but listen to it very closely. I'm going to go quickly just through these seven things. I'm just going to mention them. The unpardonable sin is total rejection of the ministry of the Holy Spirit among men today. It's an atheistic hatred for God and His Spirit and His Christ. It is enmity against the cross of Jesus Christ. It's a recognition, acceptance, and belief in Satan's power. It's giving Satan credit for God's faithfulness and compassion and crediting His miracles to the compassion and work of the devil. It's an unwillingness to ever again be convinced by the Holy Spirit of the truth of Christ, His Godhead, or His gospel. It's an idolatrous fear and trust in occultic power. It's a trust in the occultic power. Now, you sit here tonight. Let me ask you, have you ever rejected the ministry of the Holy Spirit? Do you have an atheistic hatred for God or the Holy Spirit? Do you have an absolute enmity against the cross of Jesus? Have you recognized and accepted and believed in Satan's power? Are you giving the devil credit for what God has done? Are you accrediting Satan with more compassion than Christ? Is there been an unwillingness in your heart to be convinced by the gospel or by preaching or by the word of God? Do you have an idolatrous fear and trust in the occultic power of the enemy? Now, I believe all seven of these have to be in operation, and this constitutes, the best I know, the unpardonable sin. The unpardonable sin. Now, folks, there ought to be like a 50-ton load of bricks rolled off your shoulders, and you should be able to sit here tonight. You see, I can't give an altar call to those who've committed the unpardonable sin. First place, because it would be of no effect. It wouldn't move you. It wouldn't touch you. But that's not what the message is about. The message here tonight was given in simplicity, as much as I know how, to bring to you a weapon, to put in your hands a weapon. When the devil comes to you, when you fail God, when you say something in anger or in flesh, and the devil comes at you, said, you've crossed the line, you've sinned against the Holy Ghost, run back to the cross. Run back immediately to Jesus. Fall on your knees. Say, Lord, I repent. I open my heart to you. And he'll always be there. Hallelujah. And I'm telling you now, balcony in here, the main floor, whatever sin that you've committed, whatever sin of the flesh that you've committed, there's forgiveness for you tonight. Will you stand? Hallelujah. Aren't you thrilled that you're not anywhere near the sin? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Folks, just hold steady for a while. Just hold steady. I know it's Christmastime. Pastor Carter and I were talking about it this evening. Many, many people discouraged. Many people hurting, lonely during this time. Many broken homes and broken families. A lot of people carrying burdens. Some of you facing financial difficulties at Christmastime that's going to make it very difficult for you. Some of you needing a place to stay. You're needing an apartment or you're in a situation in an apartment that's almost unlivable. So many, many problems and so many things. But folks, don't ever accuse God of being unfaithful. Don't ever get angry at God. Ask the Holy Spirit to come and remove that from you. The Lord knows where you're at. He knows what you're going through. And He's touched with your hurts and your feelings. He's deeply moved by it. Hallelujah. I'm telling you that we have a compassionate, loving, heavenly Father who cares for His children. And He loves you dearly here tonight. But here's my invitation. And I don't know if it's only a dozen people come forward. We're not trying to pack out this front. But tonight, where is it with your heart right now? Come on now, in all honesty, at this season, is there a little anger in your heart toward the Lord that somehow you can't understand why you're not delivered? You can't understand why you're still fighting a sin that you hate? And you can't seem to get the victory? You prayed about something. It just doesn't seem to come through. And it's dragged your spirit down. I want you to come here tonight. Now, if you're backslidden to it, your heart's grown cold to the Lord, I want you to come also. If you don't know Jesus, you come. But for these, you feel the tug and the pull of the Holy Spirit. You come to be relieved. You come to be healed. That's what the church is all about. To heal the hurt and to meet that need that's in your heart. Father, find up in the balcony and here in the main service right now, those who have a grief in their heart, those, O Lord, who have wondered and stand here tonight saying, Oh God, it's so hard for me to hold on. It's so hard for me to believe. God, I want you to heal all unbelief here tonight. Heal all fear and unbelief in Jesus' name. Amen. This is the conclusion of the tape.