Read the text. Read verse 16
through the end of the chapter. 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. The Lord shall give him life
for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I
do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is
sin. There is a sin not unto death,
and we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. But
he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one
toucheth him not. We know that we are of God, and
the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God
is come and hath given us an understanding. that we may know
Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in
His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. Amen. He speaks here of a sin
unto death, sin that is not unto death. Very serious, very sobering
words. Now, those who have eternal life,
they desire They want to know that they have life. You remember
last week I asked you, are you interested? Do you want to know
that you have life? Well, that's a good sign that
you have life. Sin of the dead. Sin not of the
dead. Roman Catholicism lists seven,
what they call, deadly sins. They're called lust, gluttony,
greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Seven deadly sins. That's
what they call it. And they're full of them. It
is full of all of that. Roman Catholicism. The seed of
all of that is in all of us. Okay? Do you remember chapter
1? And by the way, they don't have
a clue what sin really is. Roman Catholicism. Chapter 1. You remember how this whole chapter,
or whole book begins. It begins with speaking of sin. Chapter 1, verse 8. If we say
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Truth is not in it. Verse 9. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us. Verse
10. If we say we have not sinned. Chapter 2, verse 1. My little
children, these things write unto you that you sin not. This
whole book begins with sin, doesn't it? And it ends with sin. Well,
the whole Bible begins that way. In the garden, doesn't it? The
source of, the beginning of all pain, suffering, death. Sin. Man died in sin. The next message this morning,
Ephesians 2. And you, hath he quickened who
were instead in sin. It talks about sin and the putting
away of sin. This whole book, 1 John, Genesis,
the Revelation speaks of sin that entered into this world.
By one man, sin entered into the world. And death by sin. Well, how can we be delivered
from sin and death? Christ came. I've just told you
the gospel from the beginning. Christ came, put away sin, abolished
death, bring life and immortality to life through the gospel. Alright,
so this book, 1 John, begins with sin, it ends talking about
sin, it warns us of a sin unto death. Alright, let me go ahead
and tell you what that is. A sin unto death. is apostasy,
which is a fancy word meaning to leave the gospel, to leave
Christ, to forsake the living God, to turn away. That's what
it means. And it's always for one reason. To turn away is always the world. It's always the world. Our Lord
said, well in 1 John, any man love the world, the love of the
Father is not end. Well, it's always that way, the
world. If Christ is not in us, the world
is. Now we just saw that he that
hath the Son hath life. Christ is the life of his people. He's their love. He's their desire.
He's their salvation. He's their husband. He's their
father. He's their friend. He's their all. He's their hope.
He's their peace. He's their conversation. He's
their life. It is a so rich thought. That's it. If not, it's a world. It's a world. There's a man in
scripture named Demas. Some of you know the name. In
the book of Colossians, he's mentioned four times. In Colossians
chapter 4, I'm sorry, Colossians 4, he's mentioned one time. In
Colossians 4, Paul speaks of Demas. He says, Demas greets
you. I send you greetings from Demas. And then when Paul wrote
Timothy a little while later, he said, Demas, Demas hath forsaken
me, having loved this present world." That's what it said. He went back to the world. Like a sow to wallow in the mire,
a dog to vomit, which Peter speaks of. Remember Lot's wife? Remember our Lord is the one
that said that. Three words. Pre-Ominous warning,
remember Lot's wife. Lot was a righteous man. Lot
was a just man. Lot was a believer. The Lord
was merciful to Lot, laid hold of him, brought him out of Sodom. He was inside of him. He was
not outside of him. And the Lord came down to bring
him out of Sodom. The Lord was merciful. Well,
Lot's wife was married to Lot. Lot's wife heard the same thing
Lot heard. And for a little while, for a
brief moment, it looked like she was brought out, doesn't
it? But what happened? The Lord said, don't look back.
This is Hebrews, isn't it? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Look not to the right hand, but
not to the left. You have a great cloud of witnesses
walking, running by faith, like a pilgrim. Pilgrim's purpose. Fingers in his ears, not listening.
Life, life, eternal life. But Lot's wife, her heart was
in Sodom. And Sodom was in her heart. And
she turned and looked, longingly, wanting to go back. And the Lord
turned her to a pillar of salt. A monument forever for all who
walk that pilgrim way to see. There's no life in salt. Dead. You may have had a salt
block, put it in a field. You won't grow any grass on that
spot where you wrote them at. Ever. Remember, Lot's wife, no
life. And a pillar, a monument for
all to see. Don't look back. Now here's the
thing. If Christ really is in you, and
this is what John is saying, if Christ really is in you, you
won't. You can't. Here's the comfort of this. If Christ is in you, if Christ
is your life, you can't leave. You won't leave. You may temporarily
wander, but if you belong to Him, He's going to bring you
back. Oh my, that makes me smile. Revelation 21-7 speaks of this. Go over there real quickly. Revelation
21-7. He says this. Look at this. This is near the end of the book.
A fearful warning, isn't it? Revelation 21-7. He that overcometh. Revelation begins that way, doesn't
it? With all of the letters to the
churches. He that overcometh. He that overcometh. What? The world. We live in this world. And it'll be by the grace of
God, by the mercy of God, by the life given to us of God that
the world doesn't overcome us. That we're brought out of this
world and the world out of us. It'll just be by the grace of
God. Verse 7, He that overcometh. Who is he that overcometh? He
that believeth. Faith. God-given faith. He said,
I'll be his God. He'll inherit all things. I'll
be his God. He shall be my people. The fearful. What do you fear? Who do you fear? Man? The fear of man brings despair.
The fear of God brings peace. Comfort. You won't fear man if
you fear God. Oh, we fear flesh and things
frighten us and things worry us. David did. But he said, what
time I'm afraid. I'll trust in God. Was he surrounded
by enemies? His whole life, everybody around
him wanted him dead. I told Brother Matt that all
through the Scriptures it talks about people aiming to shoot
at him. What's his hope? God. Well, some horrible things happened
to David. They came and took his wives and children and all
that, didn't they? Ziklag, the Amalekites, came
and took them all. It says they wept until they
had no more power to weep. But then it says David encouraged
himself and his God. How? God did this. I don't understand
why, but God did this. And he asked God, shall I go?
And he said, no, you will recover all without fail. Not one of
them will be lost. Which is a picture of Christ.
And he recovered all without fail. Look at verse 8. Now this is
not my text, but look at verse 8 of Revelation 21. The fearful,
the unbelieving. If you don't believe and trust
God, you'll trust Pharaoh, you'll trust Egypt, you'll trust rulers,
you'll look to these things, and you'll be bitterly disappointed
in the end. You'll look to the earth, and
all will be dimness and anguish and vexation of spirit, and with
darkness you won't see any hope, because there is no hope in this
world. There's no hope for this world. The fearful, the unbelieving,
the abominable. What's that? It's everything people today
are saying is alright. It's an abomination to God. Sin.
And that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination. Murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers,
adulterers, all liars shall have their part, verse 8, in the lake
which burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death. Death. Irrecoverable. Now, apostate, the word I'm looking for, death. Death. Second death. Alright,
go back to our text. Did Demas return? Did he return? Some believe he might have. It
doesn't say. We should not presume. We should not presume upon anyone. John says here, Pray. Don't quit praying. As long as
the gospel is being preached, there's hope. As long as that
person has breath, there's hope. As long as we keep praying, there's
hope, isn't there? Pray. Paul did not say to pray
for Demas, though, did he? He did not. But this sin, apostasy,
falling away, this cannot be perfectly known in this life,
or at least in a few short years. Some of God's true people have
fallen into sin, fallen into a pit, and stayed there for a
long time. But God, they wouldn't have come out in
the first place. It wouldn't have been for God, and they wouldn't
have come out again. There's a proverb that says,
the righteous man, though he falls seven times, the Lord will
lift him up. Aren't you glad? Abraham did. He shouldn't have been in Egypt,
but he went down there, didn't he? And he denied his wife twice. He looked and acted like he was
not a believer at all. How long did that last? A long
time. Isaac did the same thing. His son repeated his sin. God visits iniquity of the fathers
upon the children of the third and fourth generation, meaning
that our sons and daughters are just like us, and they're going
to do what we do. Which makes our example pretty
important, doesn't it? Which makes this more important than
anything. Because we can't give them life. God can't. And often does. Jacob, oh my. Jacob. He went down to Padanaram. We looked at the story of Jacob
all the way through his whole life. Jacob went down to a place
called Padanaram. He got rich. He got rich with
cattle and all of this stuff, but he had nothing but Trouble. All of his sons got into trouble
after trouble. Dinah, his daughter, got into
trouble. Married another bloke. And on and on it went. Nothing
but trouble. And you'll never hear Jacob mention
God's name while he was up there. But God, right after that, came
and wrestled with him. You know, I'm taking you out
of here, Jacob. Salvation to the Lord. He leaves
us, we're gone. Lot. Lot. David. How long was David in a pit?
Solomon. Greatest enigma in all of Scripture. Every man at his best state.
That was Lot of Solomon. What happened to that? Unbelievable
what he did. Unbelievable. And we're all capable. You know, this is why you say,
I don't understand. If we cannot fall away, then
why does he warn us not to? He that is of God will hear God's
Word. He that is of God will be warned.
He that is of God will hear and fear and tremble and come back. And fear that sin. Look at our
text, 1 John 5, it says, Verse 16, if any man see his
brother sin a sin which is not unto death, ask, and the Lord
will give life to them that sin not unto death. Meaning that
often when you pray for a brother who's overtaken in a fault, and that's
what Scripture tells us, doesn't it? Either he's overtaken in
a fault, either the Spirit will restore such a one. How? We can't. I can't restore. You can't. bring
somebody back, and you can't restore somebody alive. Who can? One person. So how do we do it? We pray, we call, Lord have mercy
on them, Lord. He says, consider your own selves,
lest you be that way, lest that happen to you. But he says, if
any man sees his brother's sin, a sin that's not unto death."
Now, he began, back in the beginning, warning us, little children,
I write unto you, don't sin. And we all do. But then he says,
but don't. Didn't he? Don't do it. Why? Number one, it brings great
reproach on our God. Great reproach. Nathan rebuked
David for, by this you've given the enemies of the Lord a great
cause to blaspheme. You're supposed to be a obedient
son to God, a believing son. You've got great reproach on
your God. It does great damage to the cause
of Christ. It really does. It causes great pain and suffering
upon others, upon ourselves, doesn't it? Sin. There's no little
sin. The consequences of some of our
actions, some of our sin, words, deeds, the consequences are far
reaching. And some of the consequences
may never get over in this life. But that's how serious it is.
So it's not a thing to be toyed with, sin, made light of. There's
no such thing as a little sin. It's not a thing to be trifled
with. It's to be avoided. The Lord
talked about Job. He said he's one who fears God
and eschews evil. He's an upright man. A just man. Upright. He fears God, number
one, and he eschews evil. Go to 1 Peter with me. 1 Peter
3, just back a few pages. Job eschewed evil. That's a Bible
word. Meaning, shun and avoid and go
out of the way. Go out of its way. There's a scripture I think of
all the time. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions
for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. That would be a
good one to memorize. It would be an even better one
to hearken to. I've got it memorized. I want to do what he says, don't
I? Eschew evil. Go out of the way. Our Lord said
pray that you enter not into temptation, didn't He? We're
going to be tempted. We're going to be tried. We're
going to be vexed. We live in Sodom. We're like
that. We live in Sodom. But we don't want Sodom in us.
We want out of Sodom. And there's only one who can
keep us from that. So we pray without ceasing to
Him who's able to keep us from falling. Only one. Keep praying, keep calling without
ceasing. 1 Peter 3 verse 10. He that will love life and see
good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, his lips that
they speak no guile, let him eschew evil and do good. What's that mean, preacher? You
know exactly what that means. I'll tell you what that means.
Let him seek peace, and let's do it. The eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous, his ears open unto their prayers. The
face of the Lord is against them that do evil." That's what it
said. Oh Lord, help us. 2 Peter 3. Look at this, 2 Peter 3. His last word, dying words to
the church, verse 11. See, and all these things shall
be dissolved. What is that? The world, the earth, and the
works therein. Why be taken up with a dead and dying thing? Don't be overcome by this world.
It's dying. It's dead. It's doomed. Verse 11. What manner of persons
ought we to be in all holy conversation? Meaning, our affections set on
things above. Conversations, your life, your
walk, your talk, your speech. What should we be talking about? Don't sit on the Titanic and
talk about what a beautiful ship this is. Oh, isn't this a lovely
ship? I hope I get to come back next
year. The Titanic's going down. Be like those on the Ark. Boy,
this is a wonderful ship, isn't it? It's not beautiful to the
world. It sure is to me. Where are you going, Noah? I
promise land. Look at verse 12. Looking for 2 Peter 3 verse 12.
Looking for hastening in the coming of the day of God. He's
coming, folks. He's coming. Trump's going to sound for us,
Stephen, any time now. And we're going to be like Rahab. Did you hear that? While the
world says, oh, what's that noise? That's our redemption. Verse 12, the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved. Melt with the fervent heat. Verse
13, Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new
heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, righteousness,
righteousness, with our Lord, the Lord our righteousness. And
people just like Him. Does that appeal to you? Does
that appeal to you? It doesn't say anything about
things. Verse 14, Wherefore, beloved,
seeing that you look for such things, be diligent. Peter said
this a while back, didn't he? In chapter 1, give diligence.
To make your calling and election sure. Paul said, here's giving
diligence. Oh, that I might win Christ and
be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is of faith. Oh, I want to know Him. He said,
I'm not arrived yet, so this one thing I do, Brethren. Isn't
it? This one thing I do. Forget, I'm not looking back,
I'm looking forward. Looking, reaching for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ. Isn't that what Paul
said? That man has life. Christ is his life. He's in the world, but he's not
of it. And he wants out. Go back to our text, 1 John 5.
There is a sin, verse 16, unto death. You know, we prayed for some,
the Lord would bring them back, and He did. And some have come and left, and
we don't know. We keep praying. So this is difficult
to know. We cannot know infallibly. We
keep praying. What it is, Scripture one time
says a heretic after the first and second admonition, reject
him. Keep rejecting, keep rejecting.
One time the Lord said of Psalm, he said, leave him alone. Don't
pray for him. Leave him alone. We keep praying. There is a sin
unto death. I do not say, verse 16, that
you should pray for it. Well, what is this? It's, as I said, apostasy. And we just don't know. We shouldn't presume. We're going
to look at Psalm 19, Wednesday night, by Darrell's request. Psalm 19. And this is what David
said. He said, Who can understand his
errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from
presumptuous sins. Don't presume upon the mercy
of God. Cry for it. Call for it. Beg for it. Seek for it. Not only for yourself,
but for others. Don't presume. She'll be alright.
He's just going through her back. Don't presume on that. Don't
do it. Call. Cry. Beg. Seek. Ask. Seek. Don't quit. Keep back
thy servant from presumptuous sins. Presumptuous sin. Alright, now this ties into what
I'm about to say, what we're about to look at. Alright, verse
17 in our text. All unrighteousness is sin. All
unrighteousness is sin. And he warns us of any and every
sin, doesn't he? Scripture says, lust. James says, lust, when it conceives,
in other words, you dwell on it, it conceives, brings forth the
actual committal of that desire. And when that's finished, death. So, lust is sin. And our Lord said, all that is
in the world, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride
of life, is not of God. of the world. There is a sin
not unto death, and that's everything but this apostasy. Verse 18. It's a difficult subject
to deal with, and I'm doing the best I can, but here it says
in verse 18, we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. He's
talking about this sin of leaving, apostasy, of falling away forever
and never coming Who's going to not commit that sin? He that
is born of God. You see, salvation is of the
Lord. You can't keep yourself. You can't save yourself. You
can't give yourself life. You can't keep yourself from
falling. The Lord is the only one that can. But whosoever is
born of God sinneth. Not. They won't sin that sin. They won't. If you can leave,
you will. You remember our Lord, and I
quote this all the time because it's my hope that Christ is in
me. But our Lord, many went back
and walked no more with the Lord. Many disciples, they followed
Him for, I don't know, two or three years maybe. And after
a while, he said, I can't take this anymore, I'm leaving. And
they went back. Where'd they go? Back. To the world. Like Ruth's, Orpah, Ruth's sister. She went back to her gods and
her people, back to false religion, back to the world. But Ruth said,
I can't. I don't want to. Oh, and treat
me not to leave you. Well, you go, I'll go. Your people
be my people. Your God be my God. I can't go."
Ruth said, go back. He said, I can't. Simon Peter. The Lord said, will you also
go away? Simon Peter. To whom? Who? Who would I go back to? What? Lord, You're in my life. This Word, this Gospel. I'm hearing,
it's my life. I live on this. I've eaten the
flesh and drunk the blood of the Son of God, and by this I
live. I'm dying. Look at this. This may puzzle
you a little bit. Verse 18. He that is born of
God. See, Simon, Peter, Ruth, they're
born of God. They're begotten of God. He that
is begotten of God, you see. See who gets the glory and the
honor? If you stay? Or if you come back? He that is begotten of God keepeth
himself. And that wicked one toucheth
him not, keepeth himself. You know, the world thinks we
contradict ourselves. Thinks the scripture doesn't.
Mindy's grandmother, when she was eight, seventy-five years
old, the Lord revealed Himself to her about that age, seventy-five.
And she was a Methodist. And the first thing she said
about hearing Henry Mahan preach was, he contradicts himself.
He says, you can't come. And he says, come. He says, you're
dead. But he says, come. He says, we're
kept by the power of God. But he said, keep yourself. See?
It's not contradictory to those that
understand. It's all plain to them to understand, Proverbs
8 says. What's this mean then? He is
born of God, begotten of God, keepeth himself. Alright, go
back to Hebrews 6 with me. We'll see. Hebrews 6. We know
full well, we know, because Peter said we're kept by the power
of God, didn't he? We know full well that we don't
save ourselves, we don't keep ourselves safe. We're kept. But the sense is this. Those
that are of God keep coming to Christ. They keep coming to Christ. To whom coming? They keep calling
on Him. They keep seeking. They keep
asking. They keep knocking. And they
don't quit. There may be a time when they fall away, but if they
come back seeking, calling, knocking, as in the beginning, the Lord
brought them back. They keep gathering. Hebrews
6 speaks of those who, verse 4, once enlightened, tasted the
heavenly gift, made partakers of the Holy Ghost, or participated,
or been under the sound of the gospel, tasted the good word
of God, didn't eat it, but tasted, and the powers of the world to
come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance.
They crucify the Son of God afresh, put Him to open shame. But down
in verse 9, I love this. Beloved, we're persuaded better
things of you. Things that accompany salvation.
What things accompany salvation? What I just said. You'll keep
coming to Christ. You'll keep coming to hear the
Word. You'll keep calling on Him. You'll keep gathering with
the elect. He said in Hebrews 10, forsake
not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some
is. The matter of some is, they won't
come, they won't hear, they don't need it anymore. And after a
while, it reveals that they never did need Him. He never was their
life. But they'd keep coming. Keep yourselves coming. Keep
yourselves calling. Keep looking. And one place it
says, keep yourselves in the love of God. Jude. Turn there. Jude. A little book right after
our 1 John. Jude 17. Look at this. Beloved, you have it, Jude 17,
just one chapter. Beloved, remember the words which
were spoken before the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. This
is what Peter said, Paul, John. They told you there would be
mockers in the last times, walking after their own ungodly lusts,
be they who separate themselves. That means, John said, they went
out from us. They were not of us. Demons.
Why? They loved the world. Separated
themselves from us. Sensual. What's that mean? The
world. The heaven, not the Spirit of
God. What does the Spirit of God do? It takes the things of
Christ and shows them unto you. It turns away your eyes from
beholding vanity and points your eyes to Christ. The Spirit of
God tells us these things that are seen are temporal. Look. Eternal. Verse 20. Beloved, building up yourselves
on this most holy faith. How do you do that? You keep
coming and hearing the Word. Prayed in the Holy Ghost. Keep
yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. What does that mean? Keep
coming to hear this Gospel. There's no hope if you don't.
It means you've gone back to the world. That's what that means. He that is born of God, keepeth
himself. He keeps coming. Keeps hearing. That's how you know. Verse 19
in our text, we know that we are of God and the whole world,
life and wickedness. What's that mean? Have you heard
what's been said thus far? Do you believe this? Do you believe
this is God's Word? Do you take the warning? Does
it make you tremble a little bit? Does it make you fear? Do
you need Christ? He that is of God, heareth God's
Word. And they believe. And they keep
coming. But the whole world, do they
do this? No. It's obvious. Stop this. They're lying in wickedness.
Be it open immorality or religious. It's still wickedness, isn't
it? If they don't worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in
Jesus Christ, and it's not flesh, they're in wickedness, aren't
they? We know. Can you say that? I want to worship God. I rejoice
in the gospel of Christ, and I have no confidence in my flesh,
or anything in this world. Can you say that? You're born
of God. Born of God. The whole world
lied to him. And we know. Why? Why are we
like this? What happened? Well, the Son
of God came. Oh, this is our favorite verse,
isn't it, John? One of 1,433 favorite verses. We know that the Son of God has
come. and given us an understanding
whom I know Him that is true and we're in Him. That's what
He said to Peter and James and John and Matthew and Bartholomew.
I've come to call you out of darkness into light, out of death
into light. Simon, follow me. Yes, Lord. He's given us an understanding. Who do men say that I am? Well,
they say this. Who do you say that I am, Dan
Ogle? The Christ, the Son of God. My life, my hope, my righteousness,
my wisdom, my everything, my salvation, my all and in all,
my hope. Is that what you say? Blessed
art thou, Dan, Bart, Ogle. Blessed Blood didn't reveal that
to you, but the Son of God. You're in Him. You're in the
Ark. This is the true God. Remember
John 17.3? This is the true God, and this
is life. He that hath the Son hath life. Knows God. Little
children. He ends by saying this. Little
children. Right back where he started.
Little children. He received this as little children.
Keep yourselves from idols. What's that? The
world. False religion. What do you say to all that?
Amen. Lord, that's the way it is. I
believe it. That's the way I like it. That's the way I want it
to be. Keep me. And I'll be kept. Amen. Okay.