Whoever Blasphemes Against the Holy Spirit

This passage deals with the difficulty Jesus faced from his family's unbelief even while he was proclaiming the truth, when his mother and brothers accused him of being out of his mind and tried to take him away by force. When the scribes accused Jesus of acting by the power of Beelzebul, Jesus pointed out, by reasoning that Satan cannot cast out Satan, that their words were a contradiction that fell short of common sense.

The sermon points out specifically what the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit is. It warns that slandering pastors and teachers, setting people against one another and hindering the church, as well as complaining constantly even while serving, amount to the sin of resisting the Holy Spirit. Using the examples of the king of Tyre and the fallen angel, it also explains that when people oppose God in pride amid his special grace and abundance, they are judged in the end. Because Satan has no mercy and tempts people and drags them into darkness, believers must give up their own righteousness and humbly depend on the Holy Spirit.

The sermon declares that those who do God's will, rather than blood relations, are true family. Because Satan is watching for an opening to divide the church, believers must bear with one another, love one another and not give Satan a gap to attack. It asks what kind of heart we must have to be believers who put Satan to shame, giving thanks for the grace God has given and keeping an unchanging faith in a lowly place.