Would you open your Bibles with
me to 1 John chapter 5? We've been studying this book
for several weeks and coming to the close of it. And right
here at the end of this book, there are several issues that
seem to have been points of controversy amongst people who claim to study
the Bible. I don't think that this Controversy
is necessary if you just read the context and look at the scriptures,
interpret scripture with scripture. But that's why I'm going to spend
some time on just a few verses this morning before we close
it out next week. But the subject of this passage
that I'm going to preach on this morning is simply this, praying
for our family. Praying for our family. Now,
when I say our family, I'm talking about our spiritual family. I'm
talking about us right here, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ,
not your physical family. Now, you should pray for your
physical family. Fathers and mothers praying for
their children, praying for each other. And that's, I mean, that's
a good thing. That's something that the Lord
commands us to do. But here he's speaking about
brethren in Christ. He says in verse 16, He says,
If any man see his brother sin of sin, not unto death, or which
is not unto death, he shall ask, and he 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, and there is a sin not unto death. Now you can see right
there in those words I just read what people are perplexed over
this issue of sin unto death. And you know what most people
do with that subject. They go looking for the unpardonable
sin or the unforgivable sin. What sin is it? Have I committed
it? You know, most preachers would tell you this. Well, if
you're worried about committing it, that means you didn't commit
it. Well, that never was good enough for me, but it may be
good enough for them. But I want you to just hold on
for a minute here. And I'm going to get to that.
I'm going to tell you exactly what he's talking about. It's
not muddy. It's not complicated. It's simple.
The gospel is simple, folks. The Word of God is not written
in code. Don't go buy that book, The Bible
Code, and if you already have, go home and throw it away. All
right? This book is not written in code.
It's not a hidden code that you have to figure out by the wits
of men. in order to understand its hidden
meaning. Actually, it doesn't have a hidden
meaning. When the Scripture speaks of truth being hidden from men,
it's not because the Bible, the Word of God, the revelation of
God is not clear and simple and plain. It's because men and women
by nature are blind. We're in darkness, you see. Our
minds and our affections and our wills are under the depravity
of sin, and we won't see it. Christ said, you search the Scriptures,
in them you think you have eternal life, there they which testify
of me. But he said, you will not come to me that you might
have life. The problem with the Scripture is that it teaches
things that people don't want to see and don't want to believe
and don't want. That's what we all are by nature.
And the only reason you want it today is because of the grace
of God and His sovereign power. That right? He makes us to differ. But basically, there are three
things before us here in this passage. Number one is the issue
of assurance of salvation. Now, that's plain. I've been
preaching on that. 1 John, that's one of the major themes of it.
That a believer in Christ not only should have assurance of
salvation, but is commanded of God to have it. And those who
don't have it don't have it because they're looking in the wrong
places for their assurance. He wrote back up here in verse
13, these things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God. Do you believe on the name of
the Son of God? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? What separates you from the world?
How's your standing with the world? Brother Jim read it in
Galatians 6 and verse 14, but God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, do you glory
in anything else but the finished work of Christ for your salvation?
Well, if you do, you're not one who believes on the name of the
Son of God. Glory in there meaning boasting, having confidence in
Christ and Him crucified. And then he goes on, he says,
that you may know that you have eternal life. What if you believe
on the name of the Son of God? That's the first evidence that
you have eternal life, spiritual life. Dead sinners don't believe
on his name. And then he says, and that you
may believe on the name of the Son of God. I believe that means
that you may continue to believe. So there you have the assurance
of salvation. And then secondly, he begins
talking about prayer. Now, one of the things that assurance
of salvation, confidence in God will bring, is access to God. We have free access to God by
the blood of Christ, the scripture says. We read that in Hebrews
chapter 10 several weeks ago. We can have boldness and confidence
to come into the very presence of God. Just as bold and confident
as that high priest back in the tabernacle was confident to go
into the Holy of Holies with the blood of a lamb. You know,
not anybody could go in there. Just the appointed high priest
and him not without blood. And if he had the blood, if he
was the appointed high priest and he had the blood, he could
confidently go in behind the veil and sprinkle the blood on
the mercy seat. And that's a picture of Christ,
our great high priest, who entered in within the veil for us. And
we can enter in now because he's made us a kingdom of priests,
the scripture says. We have full right and title
to enter into the holiest of all. That's access to God. And
one of the main blessings of that access is prayer to God. Prayer is access to God. We pray
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And he tells us this,
he says in verse 14, and notice the wording here. He says, and
this is the confidence that we have in him. Now the confidence
is in him, concerning him, not ourselves. Our confidence of
access, our confidence of prayer is not in ourselves. I heard
a preacher preach a message one time and he said, He said that
he'd had a fight with his wife and he couldn't pray. And I'll
tell you, that's a good time to pray, man. Don't you think
so? That's a great time to pray.
Because, you know, I mean, if you feel better, you feel holier
when you haven't, you know. These things, people have this
thing all wrong, see. What is prayer? Hebrews 4, verses
14 through 16 says, Prayer is a sinner coming to the throne
of grace Remember that where you're going to a throne of grace
who needs grace? sinners the Righteous person
doesn't need grace the one who's righteous in himself and You
come to the throne of grace seeking mercy trying to find help in
time of what need and how do you come? Through the great high
priest the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what prayers all about.
It's worship faith in him. So he says in verse 14, this
is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything
according to his will, he heareth us, and of course the qualifier
there is asking according to his will. Prayer according to
his will. So we see this confidence in
Christ, it's not confidence in self, There's an external means
of assurance, that's the Word of God that reveals to us the
person and work of Christ on the cross, and by the power of
the Spirit, the internal means of assurance who drives us constantly
to Christ, who constantly shows us our sinfulness and our wretchedness. The indwelling of the Spirit
who constantly convicts us of sin and drives us to Christ for
salvation, for peace, for comfort, for encouragement, for assurance. There's an evidential means of
assurance. That's the fruits of grace. That's
the fruit of grace. It's our faith in Christ and
our love to our brethren. So in this prayer and confidence
in Christ, he shows the secret to God answering prayer is our
confidence in Christ and our seeking the will of God and not
our own. Now, that's the secrets of it.
You want success in prayer. You know, I hear people talk
about success in prayer. And what they mean is getting
what they want, or getting what they ask for. That's not success
in prayer. First of all, if you get what
you ask for, it may not be good for you. But he says here in
verse 15, and we know that he hears us, and if we know that
he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions
that we desired of him, again, if we ask according to his will.
So remember that. Here's the two things for prayer.
Confidence in Christ, and seeking His will and not our own. Thy
will be done, Lord. That's the issue. Now, the next
thing he comes to is praying for brethren. That's the next
issue. He says in verse 16, if any man
see his brother sin a sin, which is not unto death, he shall ask,
and He'll give him life. Now, first of all, why is that
subject even here? in this context. Why did John
even get to this? Well, first of all, understand. Now, go back and look at the
context of the whole book. What's John been dealing with
here? He's been dealing with issues of fellowship. Remember,
he started out this book in chapter 1. Our fellowship is with the
Father and with the Son. Our fellowship with each other
is grounded upon our fellowship with the Father and the Son.
Our fellowship, our unitedness, our family relationship that
glues us together in spite of ourselves, just like your earthly
family. You may have a brother or sister that makes you so mad,
but I'm going to tell you something. They're still your brother and
they're still your sister and that won't change in this life. Isn't that right? You say, well,
I don't have to talk to them. Well, maybe you don't. And that's
up to you. But they're still your brother
and they're still your sister. These relationships are set forth
by God. Well, in the church it's even
more so. Because in the church it's an eternal relationship. This relationship will never
be dissolved. Think about that. Never. Not in this life or the next.
So he's talking about fellowship. How we relate to each other.
How we get along with each other. We're all in the same boat. We
all have the same need. Our motto, our message is what
you read, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what binds us together.
And that's what Christian love is all about. We stand in opposition
to the world together. We relate, unite with, and we're
loyal to Abel. Remember Cain and Abel, he used
them as an example. Here's Abel, my brother Abel,
who brought the blood of the Lamb, just like I do, bringing
the blood of Christ. And I stand with Abel against
Cain. And I know that Cain hated Abel.
And I know this, he hates me too. And Christ said that to
his disciples in John 15. If the world hates you, don't
be amazed at that. They hated me first. And you're
my disciples. So he's talking about fellowship.
He's talking about love. Standing with one another. Helping
one another. Putting up with one another.
That's called forbearance. A nice way of putting that in
Scripture is forbearance. Forbear with one another. He
talks about unity. He speaks of the unity of light. Light that exposes the reality
of our sin. Light that drives us to Christ.
the unity of righteousness. That's what we are in Christ.
You see, if you're saved by the grace of God, you're just as
saved as I am, the preacher, and I'm just as saved as you
are. And that means our whole salvation is wrapped up in the
personal work of Christ. He is the Lord, my righteousness,
and He's yours too. You're no more righteous than
I am, and I'm no more righteous than you are. He is my righteousness.
He is our righteousness. The church has even named the
Lord our righteousness in Jeremiah chapter 33 and verse 16, because
we're married to Christ. That's Jehovah Sidkenu is the
Hebrew name for that. And that's the church's name.
And then he talks about eternal life and the evidences of eternal
life, being faith in Christ, being love to the brethren. Eternal
life, fellowship, love, unity among those who profess to be
believers. Love of the brethren. Now, one of his main subjects
is love of the brethren against the background, now listen to
this, of false brethren falling away from the truth. And that's
one of the main themes of 1 John. Here's a person who had a profession
of the truth to the point that we thought that this person was
a brother or a sister in Christ. And then they fall away. They
fall away. Now, that's what John's talking
about in this book. Now, we're commanded to pray
for salvation of sinners. And we're commanded to pray for
our brethren, especially our brethren. But these believers
here had seen many fall away from the faith to the point of
totally denying the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work.
It's not that they just got offended and went away for a while. It's
not that they just started going to another church called Christian. That's bad enough if it's not
a place where the gospel is not preached. But these who fell
away here, they fell away to the point of totally, openly,
publicly denying and renouncing what they claimed to believe
before. They came to the point of totally denying that Jesus
of Nazareth was the Messiah and that His work on the cross was
their salvation. And that's called apostasy. You may have heard that term,
apostasy. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians
with me. There's two times that that word
is used in the New Testament. And here's one of them. And I
want you to see this because it's Really appropriate when
you consider the last days. Paul's talking about the second
coming of Christ here. And some false preachers had
crept into the church at Thessalonica and teaching them that the Lord
was coming back real soon. And many of them were going to
the point they just quit their jobs. And, you know, they were
kind of people that went off and lived in a cave and just
sat there and waited on them. He didn't come. Then they got
hungry, and they went back to the church wanting food, and
Paul said, no. If you don't work, you don't eat. You get a job.
That's what he said. This ain't no welfare system
here. But he said this. He began to teach them something
or remind them of things that he'd taught them before. Look
at verse 1 of 2 Thessalonians 2. He says, Now we beseech you,
brethren. by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our
gathering together in Him, that you be not soon shaken in mind,
or be troubled, neither by spirit, that is, your attitude, nor by
word, nor by letter, as from us." They were even writing letters
about this and signing Paul's name to it or Peter's name to
it, forging letters, as that the day of Christ is at hand,
that He's coming back in your lifetime. Verse 3, he says, let
no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except
there come a falling away first. That word falling away in the
original is apostasy. That's what apostasy means. Falling
away. And that great falling away,
what he's referring to, he says, and that the man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition. I'm not going to go into all
that today. I'll get to that when I get to 2 Thessalonians.
What he's talking about is a falling away of the church in general,
what the world knows as the church. In other words, he says there's
coming a time when what is generally known as the Christian church
or Christendom, it'll be a fallen church. It won't even be recognizable
as to the doctrine of the apostles. They'll be so far away from preaching
grace that it won't even be close to what the apostles preached,
or what our Lord preached, and that's an apostasy. Well, now,
back here in 1 John, that's what he's talking about. Individuals
who have apostatized. They had fallen away. They professed
at one time to believe the truth, but now they're renouncing it.
It's a defection. Totally forsaking Christ and
His truth. Now, let me ask you this question first. What happens
when a professor A professing person apostatizes. What happens? Well, look at 1
John chapter 2. That's already been settled.
Now, people argue about this today, but they shouldn't. The
Scripture's clear on it. Some say, well, they lost their
salvation. They were saved, and now they're
not saved. Well, that's an impossibility.
When John speaks of eternal life, he means just that, eternal life. Eternal life is something, if
you ever have it, you never lose it. Because if you lose it, it
wasn't eternalized. It never dies. It never dies
in you. Salvation, by God's grace, cannot
be lost. So what happens when somebody
seems, to our view, to be a believer, and then they totally go the
exact opposite way? Well, look at verse 18. Now,
1 John 2, we'll read these again. He says, little children, it
is the last time. And as you have heard, that Antichrist
shall come. Even now there are many Antichrists
whereby we know that it is the last time. Now look at verse
19. This is key. They went out from us, this spirit,
these people who succumbed to the spirit of Antichrist. But
they were not what? Of us. They were not of us. They were never in our family.
They were never saved. For if they had been of us, they
hadn't been saved. If they had eternal life, if
they had been of our family, they would have continued with
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. That's plain. What happens? Look at Galatians chapter 5.
Many people use this verse here to try to prove that sinners
can be saved by God's grace and then lost again. Now, let me
tell you something. If you claim to be saved and
then you get lost, number one, you weren't saved to begin with,
and number two, it certainly wasn't by the grace of God. And you've heard me say it so
many times, if salvation could be lost, it would be. Because
we're sinners saved by the grace of God. But look at verse 1 of
Galatians 5. He says, He says, Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. What he's talking about there
basically is believers who fall prey to Judaism, the legalism
of Judaism, and they claim to believe in Christ, claim they're
free in Christ, but they go back to the legalism. And he says,
don't do that. Stand fast in the liberty, the
freedom which Christ, freedom of grace, freedom that all salvation
is free in Him. And he says, verse 2, Behold,
I, Paul, say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall
profit you nothing. If you give in to them and be
circumcised thinking that that is going to save you or keep
you saved or recommend you unto God, then here's your situation. Christ will profit you nothing.
Your claim of Christ is nothing. That's what it means. In other
words, you can't say, I believe in Christ. He's all my hope.
He's all my salvation. And then go over here and bow
to the legalists and do what they want you to do. in order
to be saved or to be recommended to God, because your claim is
nothing then. It's like a person who's a drug
addict, who comes up and they tell you, say, now I've gotten
off drugs. And the next day you see them out on the street shooting
up their arm or something. Well, they just told you a lie.
Their claim is nothing. Their claim of being drug free
is nothing. And that's the way it is with
a professor who claims to believe in Christ but goes off into this
self-righteous legalism. He says in verse 3, for I testify
again to every man that is circumcised, that is for this reason, thinking
that it would recommend you unto God that he's a debtor to do
the whole law. In other words, if you think
God's going to save you or keep you or bless you or reward you
based upon something you do, circumcision, then you've just
put yourself in a position where you've got to keep it all. The
whole law. That's the way God's law is.
It's one unit. You can't segment it and say,
well, I'll keep this part and I'll not keep this part. It won't
work that way. In fact, the Word of God, the
law of God is so unified that the book of James says this.
It says, if you've broken one commandment, how many have you
broken? What does it say? All. You've broken them all. And you know why that is? You
say, well, because God's unfair? No. It's because He's one God. That's why that is. He's one
God. You break one of His laws, He
takes it personally. That's an extension of Himself.
You say, well, then it's impossible for any sinner to be saved. That's
right, based on that sinner's works. That's why we need Christ. That's why we Glory in the cross
of Christ, His finished work, not our own. And look at verse
4. He says, Christ is become of no effect unto you. You claim
Christ is your hope, your salvation, but He's of no effect to you.
Whoever of you are justified, made righteous by the law, you're
fallen from grace. Now, what does that mean, fallen
from grace? Does that mean they lost their salvation? No, it
means simply this. They deny what they claim they
believe. That's what it is to fall from
grace. You claim salvations by grace. You claim Christ is your
hope. But then you turn to the works
of the law for your justification. You're denying grace. You claim
grace, but you're denying it. And that's all he simply means.
They didn't lose their salvation. And this is what John is speaking
of over here. Go back over to 1 John 5 now. He says here, he says, if a man,
verse 16, see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death,
he shall ask, and he, the he there is God the Father, shall
give him life for them that sin not unto death. Now what's he
talking about there? He's talking about praying for
our family, praying for each other, our brethren. Somebody
says, well, what if I pray for one and he's really not a brother,
or she's really not a sister? That's not your business. We're
to pray for our brethren. And he talks about it here. He
says, when they fall, or they are overtaken, rather, or sin
of sin which is not unto death. Now, what's he talking about?
A sin which is not unto death. Sin of sin. Well, go back to
Galatians 6. And look at this passage just
a moment with me, that Brother Jim read. Now, first of all,
understand this without confusion. We are all sinners continually. We are all sinners continually. Saved sinners, lost sinners.
Now, that's right. I mean, think about it. Every
moment of my life here on this earth, I am a sinner saved by
the grace of God. I cannot tell you honestly of
one moment of my life that I can say I lived that moment within
myself in perfection. Perfection. I can tell you that
I am perfect in Christ. I am righteous in Christ. I am holy in Christ right now. But in myself, I'm a sinner.
And that's what we are. Sinners saved by the grace of
God. And there's none of us who have anything to brag about.
in our character and conduct. If we have anything that men
could look at and say, well, he could brag about that, we
know where it comes from, don't we? We know that it's of the
Lord and not of ourselves. That's why he says, let your
light so shine before men that they may see your good works
and do what? Do what? Give you the key to the city?
No. Put a star in your crown? We
kid about that all the time, don't we? We're going to put
a star in your crown. No, glorify your Father which is in heaven. You see, the family's glory is
in the Father through the Son. And so, in other words, what
he's saying there is we want our good works to be a testimony
to the glory, the power, and the grace of God and not to us. Am I right? Because, you see,
I've never done anything that came up to snuff as far as the
law goes. Never have. That's why I have
to plead the blood and righteousness of Christ every second. One day
I will be perfect within myself, but if that day comes before
the Lord comes back, you will look around and you won't see
me. I'll be with him. That's glory. But look at verse
1 of Galatians 6. He says, Brethren, if a man be
overtaken in a fault. Now here he's talking about a
believer who has been overtaken. And Jim read it right, although
a man be overtaken in a fault, whatever fault it is. In other
words, this is a brother or a sister in Christ who has been consumed
or overtaken in a particular fault that hinders him to the
point that it has to be dealt with. And we can argue all day
long about, you know, what kinds of things these are. I believe
it has to do with a believer. who brings maybe public scandal
on the church by their behavior. They bring public shame on the
church. There is a difference in that
area. That's right. And he says, when that happens,
ye which are spiritual, now the word spiritual there means just
what it says. It has to do with those who are
not overtaken in that fault. Now, that doesn't mean they're
not sinners. That doesn't mean that they should be like Job's
buddies and look down their nose at the guy and say, aha, I couldn't
do that. How could you do something like
that? Well, how could we not? That's the way we ought to be
thinking. How could we not? I'll tell you how we could not,
by the grace of God. You who are spiritual, you who
are not overtaken, you who are mature, Now, look at what it
says. He says, restore such an one. Restore him. Don't beat him to
death. Don't put him on public display. Don't get on the telephone and
make him the subject of your gossip. Restore him. Now, how do you
restore him? You go to him in love. You pray
for him. Pray for the family. Pray for
the brothers and the sisters. Restore such an one and do it
in the spirit of meekness, humility, and kindness. That's what gentleness.
Look at it, considering thyself, lest thou also be tested. That's
what that word tempted means. Do you think you're above it?
Do I think I'm above that kind of behavior? You better think
again. You better consider your frame.
Consider your potential. You say, well, I would never
do something like that. You need to sit down with yourself
in the Word of God and consider yourself. lest you be tested, put you in
the same situation. Put me there. He says in verse
2, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
You know what that is? That's the law of love. Bearing
up with one another. Now look at verse 3. For if a
man think himself to be something, when he's nothing, he deceives
himself. What is he saying there? And I'm not kidding, I read a
fellow where he wrote that he says, well, you're not to think
yourself something if you're nothing. But he said, I'm something.
That's not what that's saying. What it's saying is, if you think
that you're better than that fellow who's overtaken, so to
the point that you couldn't do something like that, you think
you're something. You're really nothing. Huh? That's what I am. I'm nothing. Think about it. I'm deceiving
myself if I think that way. You look at that dear brother
or that dear sister who's been overtaken in that fault, and
your goal is to restore that one in love and meekness and
gentleness and prayer. How do you come to him? Huh? Like a self-righteous Pharisee
looking down your nose at him? Shaming him? You think you're
something, don't you? Well, you're really nothing.
You're really nothing. So he says in verse 4, Let every
man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself
alone, and not in another. In other words, your affair is
with you and God. Lord, keep me from the evil one.
I'm not going to rejoice over the fall of a brother. Do you
know there's people who do that? We shouldn't do that. Lord, keep me." That's what he's
saying. Now, that's what John's talking
about over here when he says, "...if any man see his brother
sin a sin which is not unto death." Now, again, believers are sinners
saved by grace. We're subject to all the things
that unbelievers are capable of apart from the grace of God.
And many times we'll get overtaken in sin. What are we to do? Pray
for him. Pray for him. Pray for one another. That's one of the greatest evidences
of our love and loyalty to our brethren when we pray for them,
especially in times of sin and especially in times of weakness.
John doesn't speak of praying for their salvation in the same
way we pray for the salvation of the lost. They've been saved
from their sins, but we pray for their recovery, for their
restoration, for their growth in grace. And he says they sin
not unto death. Now, what is it to sin not unto
death? Well, all sin is unto death,
isn't it? The Scripture says the wages
of sin is death. But he's talking about one who
has fled to Christ for refuge here. Their sin is not unto death. Why? Because they have Christ,
His blood, His righteousness as their only hope. It's not
a distinction between mortal and venial sins, as the Catholic
Church would have you believe. It's not some great grand sin
that we've got to be searching for from Genesis to Revelation
so we can label it unforgivable or unpardonable. No, sir. What
sin deserves death and what sin does not deserve death? Tell
me. Somebody tell me. You can't. I can tell you this,
all sin deserves death. And the greatest proof of that
is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man hanging on that cross. Is there a sin that His people
committed that He didn't die for? Is there one that's unpardonable,
that's unforgivable, that He didn't die for it? Because I'm
going to tell you something, if he died for it, it is certainly
forgivable. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from what? All sin except one. The sin unto
death. Ooh, what is that? Now, we're not in voodoo here.
We're not in mysticism here. If the Bible says the blood of
Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, what does it cleanse? All
sin. Now, this sin is sin not unto
death. What's he speaking of? He's speaking of believers who
are overtaken in sins or faults. Their sin is not unto death.
And that sin is any sin and every sin that's under the blood of
Christ. Do you believe that? Any sin,
every sin that's not under the blood of Christ. But look back
at verse 16 now. He says, there is a sin unto death. I do not
say that he shall pray for it. Now, what's he talking about?
What about those who have totally apostatized, fallen away from
the faith? That's what he's talking about
here. Sin unto death. One of the things that I believe
trips people up is the word, a. That doesn't have to be put
in the translation. There is a sin unto death. What
sin is that sin? It should read, there is sin
unto death. And my friend, let me tell you
something, there is sin unto death. What sin is that? I'll tell you exactly what it
is. It's any sin and every sin that a sinner commits who's not
under the blood of Christ. That's exactly what it is. If
you don't have Christ, your sins are not forgiven. If you're not
washed in His blood and clothed in His righteousness, you are
unjustified before a holy God. And it's not because you've committed
an unforgivable or unpardonable sin. It's because you don't have
Christ. You see the difference? There's no sin He cannot forgive. There's no sin He cannot pardon.
But if you don't have Him, if you don't have His blood, there's
no sin of yours that will be pardoned or forgiven. You don't
have a Redeemer. You don't have a mediator. You
don't have a substitute, a surety, a sin-bearer, a sin-offering.
You don't have the blood of the Lamb. You're just like Cain without
Christ. And those who have totally renounced
Him have no hope of forgiveness. That's sin unto death. Some people
say, well, it's unbelief. Well, my friend, hasn't God forgiven
you for unbelief? I'm going to tell you something.
Listen to me. Many, many, many times, God has forgiven us for
unbelief. What was solved? Somebody say,
well, it's a sin against the Holy Spirit. Well, it is. But the sin against the Holy
Spirit is not looking to Christ. What's the Holy Spirit's sin
here to do? To convince us of sin and to drive us to Christ. And those who totally renounce
Christ and go their whole lives in unbelief and die without Him,
they blaspheme the Holy Spirit. It's not that they've just committed
one specific sin that nobody can put their finger on that's
unforgivable. It's they've renounced Christ.
They've denied him. They've even gone to the point
to say, it's okay that he was crucified because he was cursed
of God. That's what they would say. That's
what an apostate would say. Yes, there is sin that leads
to death. Any sin, every sin that is charged to a sinner who
has not Christ as his hope. And John says, I'm not saying
that you should pray for that. In other words, we pray for the
salvation of those who are lost in unbelief, but we don't pray
for them as we pray for our brethren. For example, we cannot pray for
the forgiveness of sins for any who reject Christ. Now think
about what I'm saying. If you're my brother or my sister
in Christ and you're overtaken in a fault, I pray God forgives
you through Christ. But now that person who has totally
renounced Christ and him crucified, you can't pray for God to forgive
him. You might pray God save him. But there is no forgiveness
without the shedding of blood, there's no what remission of
sin. You renounce Christ and his blood. There's no forgiveness.
There is no forgiveness apart from Christ. Why should we pray
for it then? You can't do it. If you don't
have Christ, all your sin is unto death. Not because it's
unforgivable or unpardonable, but because without His blood
and righteousness, there's no forgiveness and no pardon. Now
look at verse 17 and let me finish. He says, all unrighteousness
is sin, and there is sin not unto death. All sin is unrighteousness. All unrighteousness is sin. Short
of the standard of God's law, all sin deserves punishment and
death. But I'm going to tell you something,
not all sin leads to eternal punishment and eternal death
for the sinner. Why? Because we're under the
blood of Christ. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. My sins are pardoned, your sins
are pardoned, and you're free. They're all taken away. Under
the blood of Jesus. James, you sing that all the
time. That's a beautiful hymn. Under the blood of Jesus. Safe
in the shepherd's folk. That's where my sins are. He
bore them away. Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sins of the world. We sin every day, every hour,
every second. None of our obedience answers
the demands of God's law and justice, but we have his blood. We have his righteousness that
answers the demands of God's law and justice. Our sins are
paid for, and they cannot condemn us. They cannot be charged to
us. And be assured that the sin unto death is final apostasy
unto which only those who have not repented from their dead
works are liable to fall into, those who have not really savingly
believed in the name of the Son of God. And that's it. Listen, without Christ, all sin
is unto death. But with Christ, there's hope.
There's salvation and there's pardon. All right. Let's sing
that hymn 356, near to the heart of God.