Tim Keller | June 18, 2000
Today’s sermon comes from a series on the hard sayings of Jesus. The hard sayings of Jesus, the wisdom of Jesus, are more like hard candy than chocolates. You can bite right through chocolate, but with hard candy you have to work on it, going layer through layer slowly.
Today’s “hard saying” has haunted people for a long time – the unforgivable sin. What does it mean to say that this thing is unpardonable? Even if we didn’t have this specific text to teach us about it, it’s imaginable that the issue would still come up. People would curiously ask, “Is there such a thing as an act or a deed, something so deeply wrong and wicked, that it really can’t be forgiven? We’re going to learn three things regarding the sin against the Holy Spirit: the problem of forgiveness; the power of repentance; and the danger of goodness.
This Month's Featured Book
In The Prodigal God, Tim Keller examines the way Jesus presents the parable to speak both to those who run from God and to those who try to earn his love by being good. It reveals the heart of the gospel—a message of hope for both the rebellious younger brother and the judgmental older brother, and an invitation for all to experience God’s grace.