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Sermon #49 — 1st John Series

Title: Sin unto Death

and Sin Not unto Death

Text: 1 John 5:16-17

Subject: Prayer

Date: Tuesday Evening—November 19, 2013

Recording# 1st John #49

Readings: Lindsay Campbell and Larry Brown

Introduction:

Open your Bibles with me to 1st John 5. I cannot tell you how much I have been profited in my soul in preparing this message. God the Holy Spirit has blessed this portion of his Word to my soul’s comfort and edification. I pray that he will give me grace and liberty to deliver his message now to you and bless it to your souls as well.

My text is, perhaps, the most troubling text in the Bible to believing souls. Until just a few weeks ago it had been very troubling to me for 47 years. It is now a passage full of comfort and encouragement to my soul. It had been troubling all those years because the Lord had not shown me its meaning. If you are a believer, if you trust Christ, and the passage troubles you, I am certain that is the reason: you do not see the meaning of the text.

The title of my message is — A Sin unto Death and a Sin not unto Death. My text is 1st John 5:16-17.

1 John 5:16-17 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 is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. (17) All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

Context

When we read here about the sin unto death and the sin not unto death, if your experience is like mine, Satan immediately throws questions before us and insinuations of damnation, causing us to immediately begin to ask ourselves — “Have I committed the unpardonable sin?” — “Have I blasphemed the Holy Ghost?” — “Is my professed faith in Christ nothing more than the religious refuge of the reprobate?” All these questions arise, Satan’s fiery darts stick fast in our hearts and give us pain for one reason, only one: — We fail to hear God’s Word as it is given in its context. — We allow the fiend of hell to turn God’s word of comfort into a word of condemnation.

“We Know”

Remember, John’s purpose throughout this epistle is to promote assurance and confidence among God’s saints. He wrote these five chapters by divine inspiration, by the dictate of God the Holy Spirit that we might know that we know Christ, that we are born of God, that we might know that we have eternal life. — Do you see that?

· “Hereby we do know that we know him” (2:3).

· “Hereby know we that we are in him” (2:5).

· “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (2:20).

· “Ye know” the truth (2:21).

· “We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (3:2).

· “Ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin” (3:5).

· “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren” (3:14).

· “Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him” (3:19).

· “We know that he abideth in us” (3:24).

· “Hereby we know that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit” (4:13).

· “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” 5:13).

· “We know that we are of God” (5:19).

· “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” (5:20).

At least fifteen times in these five short chapters John was inspired of God to say, “we know.”

Confident Prayer

That is the context in which our text is found; but the more immediate context is even more delightful. There is not a hint of danger, concern for our souls, or the possibility of damnation in this passage. It is all comfort and assurance. John is, in the passage before us, teaching us to pray with confidence. Here God the Holy Spirit assures us that we cannot fail at the Throne of Grace. We cannot fail in prayer. What a blessed word this is from our God!

1 John 5:13-15 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (14) And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: (15) And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

It is in this context that we find our text.

Not Saying

Because this text is so greatly misunderstood by so many, misinterpreted and misused, I must tell you what John is not saying in these two verses.

1. John is not saying that a brother in Christ, a believer, might sin a sin unto death and be lost at last.

· God’s elect can never be made reprobate.

· The redeemed can never become unredeemed.

· Christ’s sheep shall never perish!

2. John is not suggesting here that God sometimes kills his people because they commit some specific sin, or persist in a course of sin.

· “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin!” — God punished our sins, all our sins in Christ. He will never punish us for sin, not if Christ died for us, not if Christ redeemed us, not if Christ paid our debt!

· God doesn’t kill his saints and take them to heaven to punish them for sin! — Heavenly glory, to be absent from the body and present with the Lord is not punishment!

3. John is not teaching us that some sins are mortal and some venial, that there are some deadly sins and others that are not deadly, some that are forgivable and others that are not forgivable. — I will say something about “the against the Holy Ghost” that “shall not be forgiven” in a few minutes; but John is not saying some sins deserve eternal damnation and others do not deserve it.

Proposition: There are two things plainly stated here by God the Holy Ghost: (1.) There is a sin unto death, and (2.) There is a sin not unto death.

Divisions: Let me make five statements, and I’ll wrap my message up and (I hope by the blessing of God the Holy Spirit) send you home rejoicing in it.

1. When a brother sins pray for him and save his life (v. 16).

2. When a brother sins, he has not sinned unto death (v. 16).

3. There is a sin unto death (v. 16).

4. All unrighteousness is sin and deserves death, eternal death in hell (v17).

5. There is a sin not unto death (v. 17).

A Brother’s Sin

First, when a brother sins pray for him and save his life (v. 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.”

Nowhere else in the Bible are these three words used together — “sin a sin.” If you see your brother sinning a sin, what are you to do? If I see a brother sinning a sin, what am I to do?

John’s words suggest an eyewitness to sin. He is not talking about something you hear a brother did, or think a brother did, or just know a brother did. He is talking about what you actually see with your own eyes. What are we to do when we see a brother “sinning a sin”?

· Don’t expose it. Cover it.

Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

Proverbs 17:9 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

· Don’t talk to others about it. Talk to God about it.

If you pray for your sinning brother you become the instrument by which God graciously preserves his life and restores his soul (Galatians 6:1-3).

Galatians 6:1-3 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. (2) Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (3) For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

Not unto Death

Second, when a brother sins, he has not sinned unto death (v. 16). — When God’s children sin a sin, it is not unto death. Sinning a sin, no matter what it is, no matter how often it is committed, no matter how grievous it is, no matter how much trouble it causes, no matter how much havoc it stirs, it is not unto death. — “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish!” — “They shall not depart from me!”

· God’s grace is immutable.

· God’s purpose cannot be nullified.

· The blood of Christ cannot miscarry.

· The seal of the Spirit cannot be broken.

· God’s promise cannot be broken.

Sin unto Death

But, third, there is a sin unto death (v. 16). — “There is a sin unto death.” That is the part of the text that troubled me for so long, but not any more. What is John talking about when he says, “There is a sin unto death”?

Notice that he says “a sin,” singular, not “sins” plural. John is here talking about one specific sin. But the language is even more specific in the Greek text. There is no indefinite article in the Greek. So John’s words are literally, “There is sin unto death.” The sin he is talking about is the sin and fall of our father Adam in the garden, and the sin of all our race in him.

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

In Adam we all died spiritually; and because of Adam’s transgression all shall die physically, both the reprobate and the elect. For the reprobate death in Adam is unto everlasting death in hell, death from which there is no escape.

· Esau shall never become Jacob

· The seed of the serpent shall never become the seed of the woman.

· Goats shall never become sheep.

· The reprobate shall never become elect.

None of us know who the reprobate are or who the elect are, until God makes his election known in the mighty operations of his saving grace. But, that said, I do know this: — Cain, and Ham, and Esau, and all other sons of Adam outside the election of grace whose names were not written in the book of life of the Lamb from the foundation of the world exist only because they carry and preserve and serve God’s elect seed, Christ’s seed in this world, generation after generation. For them the Adam fall is sin unto death, everlasting death in hell. — They never shall believe because, as the Savior puts it, “ye are not of my sheep.”

Sinning a Sin

The reprobate, sinning a sin unto death, continue in wilful unbelief, blaspheming God the Holy Ghost, stopping their ears to the voice of God; and by their wilful sinning a sin unto death they heap upon themselves wrath against the day of wrath. They will not hear God…

· In Creation.

· In Conscience.

· In Providence.

· In His Acts of Judgment.

· In the Gospel.

God calls; but you will not answer. God speak; but you will not hear. Therefore, you shall eat of the fruit of your own ways, and shall be filled with your own devices!

Don’t Pray

Concerning this sin unto death, God the Holy Spirit says, “Don’t pray for it.” — “There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it” (v. 16). — How often have you tried to pray for someone, only to find that you cannot? You put them on your prayer list, and try to pray. You try to pray for God to save them. But you simply can’t do it. God just won’t let you pray for them. Maybe, I do not say it with certainty because I cannot, but maybe the reason is stated here. — “There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.”

This I know, there are some in this world for whose salvation God will not let his people pray. We may recite their names every day; but God will not hear us; he will not let us pray. —— Let’s see if I can make good on that. I believe I can.

Jeremiah 7:16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

Jeremiah 11:14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.

Jeremiah 14:11 Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.

Jeremiah 18:18-21 Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. (19) Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. (20) Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them. (21) Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.

John 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

All Unrighteousness

Fourth, all unrighteousness is sin and deserves death, eternal death in hell (v17). — “The soul that sinneth, it shall die!” — “The wages of sin is death!” Sin would have destroyed us all. Adam’s sin and our sin with him and in him would have plunged us all headlong into hell’s everlasting torments in eternal damnation, except for one thing — Christ!

· Our Eternal Union with Christ!

· Our Eternal Election in Christ!

· Our Redemption by the Precious Blood of Christ!

· Our Regeneration by the Spirit of Christ!

· Our Salvation by the Grace of Christ!

· Our Resurrection with Christ at the Last Day!

Sin not unto Death

Fifth, there is a sin not unto death (v. 17). Again, notice that John was inspired by God the Holy Spirit to use the word “sin,” singular. As in verse 16, he is talking about one sin, just one sin. He is talking still about the sin of our father Adam and our sin in him. But in verse 16 he spoke of Adam’s sin as “sin unto death” because there he was talking about the sin and fall of the reprobate. There sin in Adam was like that of the fallen angels, a irrecoverable fall into death, everlasting death. But here, in verse 17, John is talking about God’s elect and our sin in Adam. He says, concerning our sin in Adam, “There is a sin not unto death!”

Our sin and fall in Adam was not unto death, not really, but unto immortality and life such as we could never have known and experienced without our Adam fall.

· Yes, we died spiritually when Adam died.

· Yes, we were born and lived all our lives dead in trespasses and in sin, just like all other men and women, until God saved us by his grace.

· Yes, we shall die physically.

· But, blessed be God, we shall never die!

We had life with Christ and in Christ before we sinned in our father Adam; and that life could never be destroyed by anything in time!

· Romans 8:29-30

· Ephesians 1:3-6

· 2 Timothy 1:9-11

John 11:25-26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (26) And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

As Bro. B. B. Caldwell put it, “We fell up!” God’s elect shall, in the end, suffer no loss, no hurt, no harm, no injury of any kind from sin and Satan and the Adam fall. We shall only benefit from it all (Revelation 21:1-5).

Revelation 21:1-5 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (2) And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (3) And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (4) And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (5) And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

Yes, “there is a sin not unto death.” So pray for that. Pray for the salvation of God’s elect, and be assured that you shall prevail with God in prayer. God shall give them life!

1 John 5:14-17 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: (15) And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. (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 is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. (17) All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

Amen.

Don Fortner

Pastor Fortner’s