Closely connected with Christ’s warning in regard to the sin
against the Holy Spirit is a warning against idle and evil words.
The words are an indication of that which is in the heart. “Out of
the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” But the words are
more than an indication of character; they have power to react on
the character. Men are influenced by their own words. Often under
a momentary impulse, prompted by Satan, they give utterance to
jealousy or evil surmising, expressing that which they do not really
believe; but the expression reacts on the thoughts. They are deceived
by their words, and come to believe that true which was spoken at
Satan’s instigation. Having once expressed an opinion or decision,
they are often too proud to retract it, and try to prove themselves in
the right, until they come to believe that they are. It is dangerous
to utter a word of doubt, dangerous to question and criticize divine
light. The habit of careless and irreverent criticism reacts upon
the character, in fostering irreverence and unbelief. Many a man
indulging this habit has gone on unconscious of danger, until he
was ready to criticize and reject the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus
said, “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account
thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
Then He added a warning to those who had been impressed by
His words, who had heard Him gladly, but who had not surrendered
themselves for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is not only by
resistance but by neglect that the soul is destroyed. “When the
unclean spirit is gone out of a man,” said Jesus, “he walketh through
dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will
return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come,
he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh
with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they
enter in and dwell there.”
There were many in Christ’s day, as there are today, over whom
the control of Satan for the time seemed broken; through the grace
of God they were set free from the evil spirits that had held dominion
over the soul. They rejoiced in the love of God; but, like the stony-
ground hearers of the parable, they did not abide in His love. They
did not surrender themselves to God daily, that Christ might dwell
in the heart; and when the evil spirit returned, with “seven other
spirits more wicked than himself,” they were wholly dominated by
the power of evil.
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. But unless we do yield ourselves to the
control of Christ, we shall be dominated by the wicked one. We
must inevitably be under the control of the one or the other of the
two great powers that are contending for the supremacy of the world.
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. If
we do not co-operate with the heavenly agencies, Satan will take
possession of the heart, and will make it his abiding place. The only
defense against evil is the indwelling of Christ in the heart through
faith in His righteousness. Unless we become vitally connected
with God, we can never resist the unhallowed effects of self-love,
self-indulgence, and temptation to sin. We may leave off many bad
habits, for the time we may part company with Satan; but without
a vital connection with God, through the surrender of ourselves to
Him moment by moment, we shall be overcome. Without a personal
acquaintance with Christ, and a continual communion, we are at the
mercy of the enemy, and shall do his bidding in the end.
“The last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so,” said
Jesus, “shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” There are none
so hardened as those who have slighted the invitation of mercy, and
done despite to the Spirit of grace. 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.