Read Matt 12:22–37
Mat 12:32-37 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this world or in the world to come. (33) Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. (34) Offspring of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (35) A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings out good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings out evil things. (36) But I say to you that every idle word, whatever men may speak, they shall give account of it in the day of judgment. (37) For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.

In this passage Jesus is casting out demons and the Pharisees attribute his power to the devil. Indeed, instead of giving glory to the Holy Spirit who is operating in Jesus (this does not detract from his own innate divine power) they are saying it is Satan. It is in this context we get Jesus discussion about the unforgivable sin. You will hear a lot of pastors say it is unbelief. But unbelief can be overcome by the Holy Spirit, indeed it is the only way any of us are saved. In the context given here, the unforgivable sin is attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the devil himself. It is directly opposing and speaking ill of the Holy Spirit.

Now comes the not so quite nice words of Jesus about the Pharisees. “Brood of vipers!” that is what Jesus calls them. This isn’t the nice, purple dinosaur Jesus speaking here. Jesus’ harsh words are calling them to repentance before their hearts are permanently hardened. It also speaks to original sin and the necessity to be born again of the Spirit. Unless we are born again through the Water and the Word, we are bad trees. We will only produce bad fruit. We will have an evil, wicked confession of our faith because that is what is in our hearts.

But once we are born from above by the Water and the Spirit (did you catch that Word=Spirit) we are now made good trees by the Holy Spirit. As good trees, we will confess good things namely Jesus is our one and only savior from sin, death and the power of the devil. We will thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit and we will proclaim the Spirit’s work in the life of Jesus and in our own lives. If your words confess Jesus as savior you will be justified, because the Holy Spirit has made you a good tree which bears good fruit. If you have resisted the Holy Spirit, you remain a bad tree which can only produce bad fruit namely that Jesus is not your savior; you want to be judged by your own works—which are bad.

Lord Jesus Christ, ever fill us with your Holy Spirit that we may bear good fruit, confessing you as the savior of the world and always recognize the Spirit’s work in your life, our life and the lives of those around us. Amen.