You know, I was thinking about
it this morning. I was thinking this morning, the
people that only go to church on Easter and Christmas, they
only hear messages about the resurrection and about Christ's
birth. So, for me to preach something else, I'm doing them a favor,
so they can hear a different subject. Alright, 1 John 5 verse
13. There's nothing here but comfort,
brethren. This is just a comforting word
that John's writing. He's assuring us that if we believe
on the name of the Son of God, we have eternal life. If we trust
Christ without any contribution on our part, we have eternal
life. He says there in verse 13, These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and
that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. And then He
gives us this great confidence we have in Christ in prayer. We have confidence in Christ
to come to the throne of grace and know God will hear us and
grant us our petitions. He says, verse 14, and this is
the confidence that we have in Him. that if we ask anything
according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth
us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him. And to show us how sure this
confidence is that God will hear our prayer and grant our petitions
as we come in Christ, He gives us this as sort of an illustration
here. He says, if any man see his brother
sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give
him life for them that sin not unto death. God will give... Think of the privilege here.
Christ intercedes for his people. And God's given you and me the
privilege to intercede for our brethren overtaken in a fault
just like Christ intercedes for us. That's a great privilege
and a great honor and He's given us the assurance God will hear
us if we come. You see a brother sin, don't
go run and gossip about it. Don't tell, you know, just talk
about it to be talking about it. If you want to talk to somebody,
go to God. and ask God, and he says, and
God will give him life for them that sin. John said at the beginning
of the epistle, he said, if any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, and he said he'll bring us to confess our
sins, and he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us. He'll turn the brother from the
sin, and he'll bring him back to Christ, resting in Christ,
trusting Christ. You that see your brethren sinning
a sin, pray for them. Pray for them. And pray God will
remove whatever it is that's causing the distraction from
Christ, whatever it's causing that keeps them from hearing
the gospel or whatever it is that the sin is. And he says
here, he promises us God will give them life for the sin. He says, there is a sin unto
death. He mentioned the sin unto death
and he said, there is a sin unto death. I do not say that he should
pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin and
there is a sin not unto death. You know, I've never had anybody
come up to me and ask me, what is the sin not unto death? But I've had a lot come up and
say, what's the sin unto death? Why do we always look on the
negative side? Why do we always look for the troubling thing
rather than the comforting thing? This passage is meant for comfort. It's meant to give us assurance
that we have eternal life through faith in Christ, that God will
hear us at His throne of grace. Even when a brother sins, He
will hear us and give life to that brother that sinned. Great
confidence, great assurance, great comfort. that every believer
born of God can be so confident in Christ, in prayer, that if
any of us sees a brother sin and asks, God shall give life
for him that sins. That's confidence at the throne
of grace. We can be assured of this. You see a brother sin,
you come to God's throne of grace and ask, and God will give him
life for them that sin. But due to this phrase, sin unto
death. Due to that one phrase, there's
many believers that never get the comfort and the assurance
that's in this word. They never get it. Because of
that one phrase, sin unto death. John is not saying that one born
of God can ever commit the sin unto death. That's not what he's
saying. Never. But to ease the troubled spirits that would be troubled
by that phrase, sin unto death, I'm going to preach on the subject
of the sin unto death. I'm going to preach on that subject. And once we get this taken care
of, maybe we can come back to this passage and preach on the
comfort of it and the assurance of it. I want to show you first
of all what is the sin unto death. And then secondly, What are warnings
that God gives concerning it? And then thirdly, can a child
of God commit the sin unto death? And then fourthly, how do we
know who to pray for? Those are the questions I want
to answer. First of all, what is the sin unto death? What is
the sin unto death? He says there, the second part
of verse 16, He says, there is a sin unto death. I do not say
that he shall pray for it. Well, look at the phrase, sin
unto death. Alright, look at the first word,
sin. From sin, there is only one salvation. Just one. Christ Jesus, the Son
of God. The only salvation from sin is
Christ Jesus, the Son of God. You and I are fallen, depraved
sinners, and we need a sacrifice for our sins. There's only one. God's provided it. And Christ
is that one sacrifice for sins, and He's the only sacrifice for
sins God will receive. Hebrews 10 and 12 says, this
man, speaking of Christ, after He had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth
expecting till His enemies be made His footstool, for by one
offering, by one sacrifice, He hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified. But the Scriptures tell us now,
Hebrews 10.26 says, but if we sin willfully, if we deny Christ,
after that we've received the knowledge of the truth, after
we've heard it preached, and professed it, we believe it,
If we then turn around and willfully reject Christ, there remains
no more sacrifice for sins. We need a sacrifice for sin.
It's the sin unto death. We need a sacrifice for sin.
We willfully reject Christ, there's no more sacrifice for sin. And
then look at the last word in it. It's sin unto death. Well, from death, there's only
one salvation. That's Christ the life. Christ
the life. He said, I'm the way, the truth
and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. We're guilty and we're spiritually
dead because of what Adam did. That's how we come into this
world. Guilty because Adam broke the law. He represented all his
people and we're born of Adam. Every one of us are. That's why
we come forth with a spiritually corrupt nature. God our Father
in Christ alone justified his people. God our Father in Christ
alone justified His people. Christ only is the righteousness
that God will receive. He's the only... Christ is the
righteousness God has provided and He's the only righteousness
God will receive. And Christ Himself is because
He is righteousness. Righteousness and life are synonymous
because He's righteousness. He's the life within those that
believe. So the only way that we're going
to know, brethren, that we have spiritual life and that our sins
have been put away and we've been made the righteousness of
God, you know there's only one way to know that. It's believing
on Christ. That's it. Scriptures are clear
on that. The one way is believing on Christ. The reason people don't have
assurance and they get all troubled is They're looking for assurance
somewhere else. Oh, you don't have assurance
so you don't believe on Christ. And they'll say, oh no, I believe
on Christ. Well, where else are you looking then? What did Christ
say? Verily, verily, he that believeth
on me hath everlasting life. He got it. That's the evidence,
brethren. This is the record. Look there
at verse 11. This is the record God has given to us eternal life
and this life is in His Son. So Christ is the one sacrificed
for sins. Christ is the life that saves
from death. The sin and the death is denying
Jesus Christ. That's the sin and the death.
You deny the Lord Jesus Christ, and you've committed the sin
of the dead, there remains no more sacrifice for sins. Go back up to 1 John 2. This
passage we're looking at today, this has been John's subject
from the beginning of the chapter. He's been talking about the difference
between the child of the devil and the child of God. And it's
the difference the grace of God makes. He says here in 1 John
2.22, he says, I've not written unto you, I'm
sorry, verse 22, he says, who is a liar, but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ, he's antichrist, that denieth the
Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the
same hath not the Father. You see, that is, the sin unto
death is blasphemy against the triune God in Christ Jesus. It's rejecting the Lord Jesus
Christ. If He's the one salvation from
sin, the one salvation from death, to reject Him is the one sin
that can't be forgiven. Go over to Matthew 12 verse 30.
That's exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ told us. Matthew
12 and verse 30. He says here, And he that is not with me is
against me. And he that gathers not with
me scattereth abroad. 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.
And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall
be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against
the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this
world, neither in the world to come. Some think Christ... This is a vain thing. Some vainly
imagine this is what Christ is saying. Some think He's saying,
now you can say what you want to about God the Father. You
can blaspheme Him all you want to. You can blaspheme God the
Son all you want to. But don't blaspheme the Holy
Spirit of God. You think that's what Christ is saying? Of course
not. He's saying, if you were speaking
against me, and I were only a man, I were only the son of a man,
if I was only the son of Joseph, It would be forgiving you. But
look at verse 28. But if I cast out devils by the
Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. You're
not speaking against the Son of Man only. You're speaking
against Him who is the God-Man, the Son of God and the Son of
Man, the Christ. You're speaking against God the
Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Now read it this
way. Go back there and read it again.
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall
be forgiven unto men. Look down at verse 32. Whosoever speaketh a word against
any man's son. Let's see if that helps you understand
it. If you speak a word against any man's son, it will be forgiven
you. But whosoever blasphemeth against
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, in Christ
Jesus the God-man shall not be forgiven. Not in this life and
not in the life to come. That's what he's saying. That's
what he's saying. The sin of the death is rejecting
Christ. The sin of the death is rejecting Christ. He just
said you've denied Christ, you've denied the Father. And since
the Holy Spirit of God is the one who bears witness of Christ,
bears witness and gives the scriptures and bears witness of Him to reject
the Holy Spirit to reject Christ. And that's the sin unto death.
Now, secondly I want to answer this question. How do we know
if someone has sinned the sin unto death? Can we discern apostasy? How do we know? John said in
verse 16, if any man see his brother sin a sin which is not
unto death, he shall ask. And then he turned around and
said, there is a sin unto death. I don't say that he shall ask.
How do I know if a brother or a person sinned a sin unto death?
How do I know this? It's impossible. We can't. We can't know it unless
a sinner dies openly, admittedly, telling you before he takes his
last breath, I hate God, I hate Christ, and I don't believe the
Gospel. There is no way to know. But
God gives warnings. He gives us some warnings in
the Scriptures. And the things He speaks of here are the sin
and the death. It's how it manifests itself
if a man continues in these things to the end. I'm going to show
you several things here. If a man continues in these things
to the end, to his last breath, He proves himself an apostate.
He proves himself a reprobate. But I call them warnings because
if there is any sinner that is doing these things, I want him
to hear this message and I want him to see these things. If this
is not apostasy already, it is stepping toward it. Okay? You understand what I am saying?
This is what I want you to see here in this and I pray that
I do know this. If he is God, God will grant
him repentance and turn him from these things bring them out of
these things. But first of all, a warning against the sin under
death, it's to abandon, to forsake assembling together with God's
saints under the preaching of the gospel. Now look at verse
18. I'm sorry, go to 1 John 2, 18. He says, It is the last time, and as you've
heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists,
whereby we know that it's the last time. Antichrist is not
some big bad boogeyman that's going to come along at the end
of the world. Antichrist is everybody that's
anti-Christ. Everybody that's against the
truth of Christ is Antichrist. Why does Paul speak of Antichrist
as one man? Christ's body, when it's complete,
is going to be the fullness of the stature of Christ. It's going
to be one complete body. And the devil imitates that.
The devil has got all his seed and all the delusional unbelievers
of the world that are religious standing together as one man
as though they're God and claiming they can do things that only
God can do. But look, Antichrist is or men that hate Christ. Look at verse 19. They went out
from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us,
they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. Now, if somebody leaves a local
assembly and they go to another place where the gospel is preached
in truth, they haven't gone out from us. They have not. But he's talking here about those
that do not move to another church where the gospel is preached.
They don't go to another church where the gospel is preached
in truth, where they can assemble and commit themselves to Christ
and to His people and to the fervence of the gospel. There's
no commitment. They just go out and remain alone,
or they go after the lust of this world, or they unite with
false religion under a false gospel with will worshipers,
that's going out from us. A man goes out alone and he's
within reasonable distance to go and assemble with God's people
and he don't, he won't, he's gone out. That's just all there
is to it. How do I know that? Because Christ
don't let his people do that, that's how. Don't look at the
man now and say, well he's doing it. look at God's word and see
what does God make his people do? That's how you know if that
man has departed or if he's still in the church of God. And this
whole book John is declaring here, God will not let His people
apostatize. He will not let His people...
He's going to plant them. He's going to plant them. I encourage
you to go back and listen to these messages through 1 John
and hear this. I've gone all the way through
it. Well, how is this denying Christ? How is it denying Christ
to go out? God's chosen to save His people
through the preaching of the gospel of Christ in order to
give Christ all the glory. He says it in 1 Corinthians 1.21. It pleased God to save through
the foolishness of preaching. He's doing it to glorify Christ.
And here's why I say that. Nothing about the assembling
of God's saints together in a local church under the preaching of
the gospel is of man. Nothing about it is. He uses
men to accomplish it, but it's not of man, brethren. It's not. It's all of our sovereign Lord
Jesus Christ, the head of the church, through the Holy Spirit
of God. Every bit of it. You could go read Ephesians 4,
but it tells us this, Christ is the head of the church. And
He gets all the glory for assembling His people and saving through
the preaching of the gospel of Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ
provides His pastor preaching the truth. Our Lord Jesus Christ
blesses the gospel adding to the church daily, such as should
be said. Our Lord Jesus Christ fitly frames
His people together and the word that He uses in Ephesians 4 is
He cements us together in His body, in His local church. And
He does it in the unity of the Spirit. And then through the
preaching of the truth, Ephesians 4 says Christ Himself ministers
into the hearts of each of His people through the Holy Spirit,
bearing witness in our heart. So if a sinner forever abandons
assembling unto Christ, if he leaves the gospel where the gospel
is preached in truth, and he leaves it to the end, he never
returns, he forever abandons it, not only does he prove he does
not love the brethren, He denies Christ. He denies Christ. Either Christ works those things
He says He works or He doesn't. He says in Ephesians
4 that that's what He does. He cements His people together
and He fitly frames us where we should be with the people
we should be and He keeps us there. He keeps us there. Go
with me to Hebrews 10, 23. What men usually end up proving
is they really believe just about any church will do. That's what
men usually end up believing. God's people can't settle for
just any place. God doesn't say He's pleased
to save through preaching. No, He's pleased to save through
the preaching of the gospel of Christ. That's what He's pleased
to save through. Look here in Hebrews 10.23, Let
us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for
He is faithful that promised. Let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
For if we sin willfully... Now he's not talking about just
any sin. Every sin you commit is willful
sin. Every bit of it. He's talking about this willful
sin of forsaking where Christ has assembled the gospel. If
we sin willfully after that we've received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. but a certain
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall
devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer
punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy?" Now here's
the offense. Here's the offense of leaving
where Christ has provided a pastor, where Christ has assembled his
people, where Christ is preaching through the gospel that's being
set forth. Here's the offense. Right here. They trod underfoot
the Son of God and count the blood of the covenant wherewith
Moses and Christ were sanctified. They count that blood an unholy
thing and they've done despite unto the Spirit of grace. That's
the offense. That's serious, isn't it? That's
the sin unto death. For we know him that said, Vengeance
belongs to me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. Again, the Lord
shall judge his people. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Paul told Samuel, he said,
Samuel, they haven't rejected you. It hurts me every time men have
ever rejected me in the gospel I preach, that hurts me. But
according to God's word, they hadn't rejected me. God told
Samuel they rejected God. That's who they reject. That's
sad, but that's a warning now. If anybody, you know anybody
or you talk to anybody and they're forsaking the assembling, the
purpose of that is not to build up a wall and say, oh, you can't
come into the assembly of God. The purpose of that is to say,
Repent and assemble with God's people and hear the gospel preach
because this is how God's gonna save his people There's no love
in not assembling with God's people if I told that woman or
I told you I love her Oh, I love her dearly But now I'm gonna
I'm gonna go and live somewhere else and I'm not gonna raise
the children I'm not gonna have anything to do with them and
I'm not ever gonna send any money to them and you know, I'm gonna
just spend all the money on myself and I'm gonna just you know,
live for myself. Would you call that love? What's
the difference in leaving the family of God? No difference. It's not love. It's not love
at all. It's the sin done to death against
Christ. Here's another warning. Go to
1 John 4 verse 1. If a man preaches or assembles
to hear a false gospel and he does so to the end. We're talking
about a man does these things to the end now. Look here at
1 John 4 verse 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits. He's talking about preachers,
whether they are of God. Because many false preachers
have gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. Every preacher that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. That
means he's going to preach He's going to preach the gospel fully
of Christ. He's not going to back up from
telling sinners they're dead in sin. He's going to preach
particular redemption, showing how Christ succeeded in redeeming
His people. He's going to preach the truth.
And the man that is not true, he's not going to do that. And
he's not going to do it by his character either. He's going
to be fleecing the sheep and taking advantage of them and
what have you. He's going to abide the gospel
in what he preaches and in his character. But look at this.
And this is the spirit of Antichrist, whereof you've heard that it
should come, and even now already is it in the world. You are of
God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater
is He that is in you than he that is in the world. They are
of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world
heareth them. We are of God, and he that knoweth
God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
So a man who forsakes dissembling forever or a man who joins with
will-worshippers, these are all indications of apostasy. Now look here, here's another
one. Titus 3.10. Go with me there, Titus 3.10. If a man will not heed repeated
admonitions to repent and obey Christ, it's a warning that he
may be committing the sin unto death. Look at verse 10, Titus
3, 10. A man that is a heretic after
the first and second admonition reject. You talk to him, you
try to encourage him to stop walking contrary to God's Word
after the second or third admonition. Reject him, he said, knowing
that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of
himself. Concerning the Pharisees, remember
Christ told the disciples, let them alone. They be blind leaders
of the blind and if the blind lead the blind, both will fall
into the ditch. So, what I'm getting at, the sin of the death
is rejecting Christ. That's it. Now, it has these
various forms. It's forsaking Christ's assembly.
It's preaching, believing a false gospel, refusal to heed admonitions. It's hard-hearted, stiff-necked,
I'm going to run to hell and you're not going to stop me.
That kind of attitude. Here is the third thing now I
want to ask you. Can one be born of God and commit
the sin of the death? Can one be born of God and commit
the sin of the death? No way. No way. Verse 18, 1 John
5 verse 18 says, ìWe know that whatsoever is born of God sinneth
not.î but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that
wicked one touches him not. We all sinned and we all died
in Adam. Everybody in this room. The difference
is God chose some in Christ. We saw that this morning in the
first hour. He chose some in Christ before Adam ever sinned
in the garden. He chose us in Christ and He
will not lose one. That's who Christ came forth
and laid down His life for and that's who He redeemed by His
blood. He justified everybody for whom He died so that His
blood and His righteousness demand they must not be lost. They cannot
be lost. And God keeps His people by the
Spirit of God and the Spirit of God is irresistible. You can't
resist the Spirit of God. If you're God's child, He's not
going to let you fall away. But understand this now. Understand
this, we may try and we might even appear for a little while
that we've succeeded. Think about it. Apostle Peter
denied the Lord three times and when he said, I'm going fishing,
he wasn't coming back. He wasn't. If you'd left it to
Peter, he wasn't coming back. He was going fishing back to
his profession and he was done with preaching. He was done with
Christ. He was done with the whole outfit. He was going back
fishing. But he was God's. God had chosen. And Christ said, Peter, I've
prayed for you that your faith fail not. And that's why it didn't
fail. That's why it didn't fail. He's the one here that's going
to make this prayer effectual. John's telling us here we have
confidence in Christ. We're coming in Christ and praying
for our brother that sins. Christ knows them that are His
and them that are not His. And He's not going to let one
of His own perish. He's going to intercede for us
so our faith doesn't fail and because of that it's not going
to fail. And what did He do? He sent them with the good news
to Peter, didn't He? And He said, and tell him I said
come. And He brought him back and He
assembled him with His people. And that's what the Lord's going
to do to everybody that are His. You can try to depart and he
may let the devil sift you for a little while and you depart,
but if you're his, and this is always my hope, when I see people
leave the gospel, and you know, every time, this is my hope,
I pray that the Lord just let the devil sift them and he's
going to bring them back, because he did Peter. He did Peter, and
I know this, He's not going to leave one that's His and let
them perish. Christ, by the Spirit, keeps
us abiding in Him until the end. Go to 1 John 2.27. The anointing which you have
received of Christ abideth in you, and you need not that any
man teach you to abide in Christ. That's what he's saying. But
as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth,
and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you shall abide
in Him. He's going to make you abide
in Him. He says here, look at 1 John 3, 5. Christ has taken
away the sins of His people and we're righteous in Him. So look
at verse 5. You know that Christ was manifested
to take away our sins and in Him is no sin. So look at verse
7. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness, and what he means is he that
believes and abides in Christ is righteous. That's the only
way we can be made righteous is to believe on Christ. Now
you're going to have to... I'm not going to go into this
again. You're going to have to go back and listen to the message to see that. I
preached on that in depth. But a man that does righteousness
believes on Christ and he's righteous even as Christ is righteous.
So he's not going to be lost. And those that have been born
of Christ have a new man within us in which we cannot commit
sin including the sin of death. Look here at verse 9. Whosoever
is born of God does not commit sin for his seed remaineth in
him and he cannot sin because he's born of God. He's not saying
Now believers, we do want to practice walking according to
God's Word and we don't like sin and we hate it and we want
to do what's right. But he says, he that is born
of God does not commit sin. Not any. And why? Because his seed remains in him.
He's talking about that new man born of incorruptible seed which
cannot sin. Because Christ's seed remains
in His people and He's keeping His people, you cannot commit
sin including the sin unto death. It can't be done. He won't allow
it. If a sinner commits the sin unto death, Say he was a professing
believer and he commits the sin unto death. He goes out, he leaves,
he renounces Christ, he openly blasphemes God and says, I hate
the Gospel, I hate Christ, I hate His people. It's just obvious.
He's sin unto death. What's the deal? Did God lose
one of His own? Look back at 1 John 2.19. They
went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been
of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went
out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
And God uses that. You know, He uses that. He said
there must needs be heresies that they which are approved
may be made manifest. Those that aren't will depart. Those that are, are planted.
They can't go anywhere because God won't let them. God won't
let them. That's the manifest difference
that the grace of God is made between the child of the devil
and the child of God. Think about this. The child of
the devil can put on a show and do everything the child of God
can do except one thing. He can't believe on Christ. And
the child of God can sin and commit every sin the child of
the devil can except one. He can't stop believing Christ.
That's it. That's the manifest difference.
Look here, verse 1 John 3, 6, Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not. Whosoever sinneth, not abiding
in Christ, he's not seen him, neither known him. In verse 10,
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of
the devil. Whosoever believeth not on Christ unto righteousness
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. So lastly,
how do I know whether or not to pray for somebody? I see what
the sin of death is, I see these warnings that show me something
about it, but since I can't know for sure, I mean somebody could
walk away and that doesn't mean they're an apostate. They may
be doing what Peter did, Christ may bring them back. I can't
really know unless a man goes all the way to his last breath
renouncing Christ, that he's in a reprobate. So how do I know
then who to pray for? Look at what Peter said in 1
John 5.16, If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not
unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them
that sin not unto death. There's a sin unto death. I do
not say that he should pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin. There's a sin not unto death.
So how do I know who to pray for and who not to pray for?
Well, obviously, we're not to pray in general and say, God,
please save the reprobate. That's clear enough. We know
we're not supposed to do that. Our great high priest didn't
do it. He said, I pray not for the world. I pray for them you've
given me out of the world. So we pray for those God elected
in Christ. But we don't have to worry about
who to pray for and who not to pray for when it comes to individuals.
We don't have to worry about it. Because it's the Spirit of
God who makes us really pray. And the Spirit of God, Romans
8 says, always makes us pray according to the will of God.
I'll wait. And it says here, if we pray
according to the will of God, He hears us and He grants our
petition. Let me just say this. Everybody
is so quick in this day and time to hear about somebody's trouble
and they, oh, I'll pray for you. What's the difference in doing
that and saying, well, tomorrow I'm going to go to such and such
place and I will do this and I will do that and I will do
the other. What's the difference? There is none. You won't pray
at all if it's not the will of the Holy Spirit. And He doesn't
enable you to pray. You sure won't. That's why I
say to you, pray for me as the Lord enables you. Because you
can't otherwise. Oh, you can go through the motions
and say words, but God ain't going to hear it. Because the
Spirit of God didn't give you that and it's not according to
the will of God if He didn't give it. You get what I'm saying,
but when He speaks, He does make you pray as He would have you
to pray. He even will cause you to forget
about people so that you don't pray for them, if it's His will
for you not to pray for them. Go home tonight and read Jeremiah
14 verses 10 and 11. He told Jeremiah concerning those
that rejected the gospel, He said, Then said the Lord unto
me, Pray not for this people for their good, And the Spirit
of God will make it so you can't pray for them. You just forget
to. So if you think to pray for somebody,
the point is you don't have to trouble yourself about this.
If it comes on your heart to pray for somebody, pray for them.
Because the Spirit of God is going to enable us to pray for
those that God would have us pray for. And those not, we won't
be able to pray for them. And even if we do say the words,
God won't hear it. You get what I'm saying? It's
that simple. You don't have to trouble yourself over this. So
we pray for him. If you see a brother sin, pray
for him. Pray for him. Just pray for him.
Christ is life and he's going to bring his people. He's not
going to lose them. He's going to purge them and he's going
to keep them. And he promises to let you have the privilege
of coming to his throne of grace and praying for your brother.
So do it. That's so comforting. You know,
if you see him sin, now, it's not second-hand information that
you're getting and, you know, and just rumors and gossip. He
says, if you see it, pray for him. And if you see it, don't
tell others. Love covers a multitude of sins.
Don't uncover it, expose it and try to, you know, we're not fruit
pickers, fruit inspectors. We can't inspect our own selves
very well. But go to God and ask God for
him. And that's the promise they have.
He will give them life for them to sin. I hope if you've been
troubled by it, I hope I didn't trouble you more. I hope that
helps you and comforts you. And now you see what sin and
the death... I heard some crazy things said about it as I listened
to messages from different preachers. I would get no comfort from what
they said at all. Because they made it to be just
about anything under the sun. Sin and death is rejecting the
one cure for sin. That's it. All right.