Neutrality and Blaspheming the Holy Spirit
Neutrality & Blaspheming Spirit
Mat 12:30
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. KJV
Anyone who isn't helping me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me. NLT
It is impossible to be neutral about Christ. Anyone who is not actively following Him has chosen to reject Him. Any person who tries to remain neutral in the struggle of good against evil is choosing to be separated from God, who alone is good. To refuse to follow Christ is to choose to be on Satan's side.
What has happened today is a positive issue which divides the two sides with absolutely no neutral ground. "With" means standing on the same side, a matter of ground. "Gathereth" means a gathering of other together - a matter of work. No Christian on earth is free not to stand on the Lord's side. (People such as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea are not total disciples of the Lord.) And neither is a Christian free never to gather anyone to Christ. (KKH, 130, W.Nee).
Mat 12:31 Therefore I say unto you, Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
Mat 12:32 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come.
The Pharisees had blasphemed against the Holy Spirit by attributing the power by which Christ did miracles to Satan (12.24) instead of the Holy Spirit. The unpardonable sin is the deliberate refusal to acknowledge God's power in Christ. It indicates a deliberate and and irreversible hardness of heart. Sometimes believers worry that they committed an unforgivable sin. But only those who have turned their backs on God and rejected all faith have any need of worry. Jesus said they can't be forgiven-not because their sin is worse than any other but because they will never ask for forgiveness. Whoever rejects the prompting of the Holy Spirit removes himself or herself from the only power and force that can lead him or her to repentance and restoration to God.
The sin in v.31 is that of conduct. Yet, what is speaking against the Holy Spirit in v.32? it is a sin by speech against the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is evilly spoken of, He will not work anymore, therefore removing the hope of salvation. The rebellious are the most difficult to repent. Speaking against the Holy Spirit through ignorance is not considered blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Speaking evilly against the Holy Spirit, knowingly and deliberately, is viewed as blasphemy (see v.36). Matt. 12.37 is different than Rom. 10.10. The former is regarding justification before God, whereas the latter is justification before men - that is to say, to be placed in a new position - and hence unto salvation.
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This brings to mind the Church of Laodicea (Rev 3:14-22).
This lukewarm, un-caring easily swayed culture is like a cancer stagnating the growth of the Kingdom.
Technically, your statement is inaccurate, since the "neutrality" and the "blaspheming" mentioned above is unsalvation, whereas the Laoedican church is saved, with overcomers and non-overcomers.
It is also not the Kingdom being stifled by the world, for the Kingdom of Heaven is dependent on the church, not on the world.
The Kingdom of Heaven is defined as:
1) the outward appearance, boundary, scope, sphere and domain shown to us in Matt. 13;
2) the spiritual reality and spiritual conduct which is formed as a result of the learned righteousness and grace progressively under the authority of God, which is elucidated in Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount;
3) a reigning with Christ in the future millennial kingdom as revealed in the fact of our future reward told to us in Matthew 5-7.
