Chapter 207—The Sin God Cannot Forgive
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.
Matthew 12:31
.
Whatever the sin, if the soul repents and believes, the guilt is washed
away in the blood of Christ; but he who rejects the work of the Holy Spirit is
placing himself where repentance and faith cannot come to him. It is by the
Spirit that God works upon the heart; when men willfully reject the Spirit,
and declare it to be from Satan, they cut off the channel by which God can
communicate with them. When the Spirit is finally rejected, there is no more
that God can do for the soul....
It is not God that blinds the eyes of men or hardens their hearts. He sends
them light to correct their errors, and to lead them in safe paths; it is by the
rejection of this light that the eyes are blinded and the heart hardened. Often
the process is gradual, and almost imperceptible. Light comes to the soul
through God’s word, through His servants, or by the direct agency of His
Spirit; but when one ray of light is disregarded, there is a partial benumbing
of the spiritual perceptions, and the second revealing of light is less clearly
discerned. So the darkness increases, until it is night in the soul....
It is not necessary for us deliberately to choose the service of the
kingdom of darkness in order to come under its dominion. We have only
to neglect to ally ourselves with the kingdom of light.... The most common
manifestation of the sin against the Holy Spirit is in persistently slighting
Heaven’s invitation to repent. Every step in the rejection of Christ is a step
toward the rejection of salvation, and toward the sin against the Holy Spirit.
When the soul surrenders itself to Christ, a new power takes possession
of the new heart. A change is wrought which man can never accomplish
for himself. It is a supernatural work, bringing a supernatural element into
human nature. The soul that is yielded to Christ becomes His own fortress,
which He holds in a revolted world, and He intends that no authority shall
be known in it but His own. A soul thus kept in possession by the heavenly
agencies is impregnable to the assaults of Satan.
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