Albert Mohler - "What is the Sin that Leads to Death?"

oh good morning looking forward to being in chapel for several of these services during this term I am I prayed and thought about what kind of theme would be appropriate a kind of series what kind of project such a series seems to serve both the preacher and the congregation focusing on something particular for a series of time I'm calling this round one of a series called hard questions hard questions that arise in reading scripture hard questions from the Christian faith the problem was to be honest that I have just just a few preaching opportunities in chapel this term and there are more hard questions then can be fitted into a term I think it's very easy to come up with around one round two round three round four and the way the Christian life is lived there will be successive rounds of hard questions evidently God means for us to struggle with these questions that's why he made them hard that's why the church throughout the centuries has struggled with so many of these questions what exactly is that what does this verse mean how do I understand this verse in comparison with that verse holding to an understanding of all Scripture is inspired by God how do I understand this in its context how do i unwind this how do we untie this knot and then when you look at church ministry at least as I was growing up in a in a very traditional church a lot of these questions were implied they were just never articulated no one actually asked these questions they hinted at them they they came right up to the the very edge the question but they didn't jump over the edge the question I intend to address this morning is what is the sin that leads to death and that question of course emerges from Scripture from John's first letter first John chapter 5 - just for the sake of seeing the question let's begin reading at verse 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and this is the confidence that we have toward him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and if we know that he hears us and whatever we ask we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him if anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death he shall ask and God will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death there is then that leads to death I do not say that one should pray for that there is sin that leads to death I do not say that one should pray for that all wrongdoing is sin but there is sin that does not lead to death well what do we know we know that there is a sin that does not lead to death and we know there is a sin that leads to death these are two clear propositional statements and it's not as if we cannot understand the Greek nor any competent English translation there is a sin that leads to death there is a sin that does not lead to death well let's just say we had better know what's going on here we better know what we're talking about we better know what John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is telling us here that we have to understand this in the context of all the scripture we have to understand this given our knowledge of the gospel we have to understand this with a biblical theology that is is consistent comprehensive and whole we have to understand this past early but that's where the question most urgently arises when I was growing up this sin that does lead to death was simply known in Southern Baptist jargon as the unpardonable sin and this is not just something unique to Baptists evangelicals asked the question what is this unpardonable sin what is this sin set apart from other sins that makes this the sin that leads to death now I was troubled by this question I found out later in ministry that this is a particularly excruciating question at two different points of the Christian life it can be throughout the entirety the Christian life but it seems to come with intensity at two different periods of the Christian life and I can tell you it certainly frames a lot of the anxiety of Christian young people Christian young people especially teenagers and and and and older children who come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ they are new Christians they're reading the Bible and they come to understand this sin that leads to death in distinction with the sin that does not lead to death they hear language of the unpardonable sin and their concern is I do not want to commit that sin I don't want to commit that sin whatever that sin is that is the sin that leads to death such as the brothers and sisters will not even pray for me I don't want to do that but I also discovered as pastor in a way that was unexpected to me a young pastor in his early 20s I discovered that this was a question that tormented many people at the other end of the age span afraid that they had committed the unpardonable sin I had to go to the bedside of a man I did not know well and in rural ministry this is a this is not at all uncommon where I was pastor of a small church in Trimble County and every once in a while I would get a call that one of my church members cousin which turned out to be an extremely elastic term was was in the hospital in Louisville and so I think in a lot of ways they would have been glad to have had their pastor live in Trimble County when I was a seminary student I lived here but here is where everyone was brought when it was a serious medical case yet they ended up in hospital in Louisville and then everybody was somebody's cousin well I went to this elderly man's bedside and he was very glad to see me he was very glad to see anyone he was afraid that he was about to die and he was right and he wanted to talk to me about his salvation and that this man had been a Christian I think if you looked at him you would just think it was the normal kind of say 90 year-old man that you would see sitting in a congregation he was he looked old he had worked hard it was all on his face and his face was just incredibly troubled so I asked him the questions that a preacher should ask that any Christian should ask in that situation I wanted to find out where he stood in relation to Christ and the gospel and I was very reassured by the naturalness with which he answered the questions of how he'd come to know Christ and what he understood the gospel to be and I I just kind of tried my very best to affirm as I could affirm the gospel and assurance in Christ insurance in the gospel and I began to think that a lot of his anxiety was probably just a natural anxiety even of a believer troubled by the knowledge of impending death but then as I got ready to pray for him he said preacher I got to tell you I still don't think I'm going to heaven and I know that I I didn't know exactly what to say but why and he said I have committed the unpardonable sin now I didn't think that he had that I wanted to find out what he thought he had done that was the unpardonable sin and he told me and I simply looked at him I said that's a sin but that's not the unpardonable sin and he said how do you know and I tried to give him some scriptural reasoning I didn't have a paper prepared there just just reasoning for scripture I said I don't think at all that's the unpardonable sin and then I said I think this is the unpardonable sin and I said where did you get the idea that that was the unpardonable sin and he said well a preacher came through town when I was about 19 and said that that was the unpardonable sin well here was a a man's seventy years later but been tortured his entire life by the thought that he had committed the unpardonable sin and yet he desired Christ and and and lived what from everything I could hear and know was a was a consistent Christian life he was tortured by this I'm glad we had that conversation I've had people come to me after a loved one or a neighbor or someone has committed suicide they said well you know I I'm just so sad since they are in hell in a couple of cases I said why would you say that of someone who by all appearances had come to faith in Christ I said well that's the unpardonable sin and I said where did you hear that some of this as we shall see comes from Roman Catholic tradition and speculation that still filters throughout the entire society and and the idea of what the unpardonable sin is some have suggested that it's a sexual sin some have suggested that it is murder specifically some have suggested adultery and others I have found cases in which people have said lying is the unpardonable sin suicide abortion you know the problem with coming up with the the identity of the unpardonable sin as the specific breaking of a commandment is that it just doesn't seem to fit the context to scripture that in the dowel shouts and that thou shalt nots in the context of the law even on the sermon as we read the Sermon on the Mount it doesn't seem that any of the sins that are enumerated there will fit the description of a sin that leads to death in distinction to other sins it just doesn't make sense a sin that would be beyond pardon a sin that would be impossible to repent of before we go any further let's just be clear that the death here isn't physical death because all sin leads to physical death and besides that that is already decided for us and our federal headship and Adam we'd have to wait upon our own sin to die physically for mortality to be judgment on us we are we sinned in Adam that's taken care of long before we can spell sin so this is eternal death that's the only sense the passage makes oh but that raises the stakes and entirely we are talking about salvation here we're talking about eternal destiny we're talking about everlasting life vs. the final death there is a sin that leads to final death but there are sins that do not lead to death well here again I've got to go back to when I was a teenager and I I've gone back to this place many times just a few weeks ago Mary and I physically were back in the place where we had spent her teenage years we were back in South Florida and we when we you do what you do when you go back home you go buying your drive by your school and see how they messed it up you you you look for the restaurants where you ate and they're all gone and no one remembers them anymore you can but still you can you can you can see things that are meaningful and you can go to places and remember where this this happened we can go right to the parking lot where I asked Mary to marry me and wasn't that romantic the the part that makes it much better is that it was staring right at the ocean with the moonlight on the water that that makes it better it's still a parking lot but it was a beautiful parking lot okay now can we I can we can go back to other places and I can go back to I can look at that school and and I can remember in high school an awful lot of my life and later years goes back to theological questions and arguments that began when I was in especially the 10th 11th and 12th grades because I was a part of a trio and this is the age of South Florida ridiculous liberal experimentation and education basically we were set loose there was a special program and some of us were chosen for it we're just kind of set loose to come up with our own curriculum and at least for a lot of the day and do what we wanted to do we actually did a lot of good things with it but I I was paired with a Jewish boy and a Catholic boy and and we're not talking about a little bit Jewish in a little bit Catholic we're talking about Reform Judaism and we're talking about pre Tridentine Roman Catholicism so this is like real Roman Catholicism this is like Council of Trent Catholicism in a 16 year old and this is Reform Judaism in a 16 year old and and this is Southern Baptist 16 year old and and we are together every day and we're talking about things every day and I find out the reformed Jewish kid who is the son of the rabbi doesn't believe in God and neither did the rabbi I opening experience for the Southern Baptist kid who just assumed that rabbis believes in God meanwhile on the other side my classical Roman Catholic was sort of like having benedict xvi for constant conversation he had more answers than I had even when he didn't have an answer he come back the next day with the answer he would come back with the Baltimore Catechism since been replaced by a more modern catechism but he had an answer to everything and it was the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church and it was it was an enumerated paragraphs I had Sunday School literature we threw away every quarter I didn't have anything liked this I had a Bible and a Sunday School quarterly I did not have the Baltimore Catechism he had the Baltimore Catechism he was always ready with an answer he had serious Christian that his Catholic parents he had serious Catholic teachers he had he went to a you know he went to a serious Catholic Church that that thought all other churches were not seriously Catholic so we got into a discussion about these things somehow we got on the unpardonable sin now now my Jewish friend doesn't think he doesn't believe in God so sin becomes a non theistic category of bad things which are incredibly elastic but on the other hand my my Roman Catholic friend he had an entire set of theological categories I did not have he said oh that's quite simple he said sin is not one thing it's divided into two different categories so I'm all ears whether well I can see two categories right here in first John chapter 5 there is a sin that leads to death there is a sin that does not lead to death and he said well we haven't we have words for those venial sin that the lighter sentence less significant sentence the sins that do not lead to death and mortal sins well you can figure out mortal mortal is sin that leads to death and I'm all ears because I want to know what's on those lists I'm Baptist I'm not Catholic but have you got a list I want that list give me that list give me that list now and then he said well there isn't a list okay I said there two categories ascend he said yes venial sin the is lighter sin which is is a sin there's less intentional and it has a lesser effect it is sin of a less grave matter and it is sin without deliberate consent I think it just is this the way you people talk and and I said well what was an example of that kind of sin and he said well my priest will say an example that kind of sin is not mowing the lawn when you're told to mow the lawn okay I said but that's like disobedience he said yes but there can be circumstances that make it less intentional where it's not deliberate with less consent and the consequences are less grave thank you okay so give me a list of another one what's a mortal sin he said murder I said okay I'm following you now I'm following you now there even a cursory understanding of Scripture indicates that even as one sin is enough for us to suffer eternal condemnation and the punishment and to face the wrath of God we understand even in the Bible sins are described in different ways with different effects and in and even from different intent their sins in the Old Testament that are referred to as abominations which does set them apart from other sins this is not to say that there is any sin that isn't sin worthy of death it is to say that there are some sins that in their effect and and in their distortion and corruption of creation in their defiance of God are more visibly horrible and thus an abomination and besides that we know that even in the Bible in in earthly consequences they're dead they're different consequences given for different kinds of says even in the law so we can understand something like that I can understand the difference we we would not put a kid who didn't mow the lawn in jail and throw away the key there's no life sentence for not mowing the lawn but for murder well yes and even the punishment of death okay so I get that so I said well you said there wasn't this but now you've given me a list he said yeah but it's not a list because because there could be deliberate intention with grave consequences for not mowing the lawn and I said oh good grief did you just put that one in the mortal list and he said and there could be murder which is committed without deliberate consent there are there are three qualities necessary for a mortal sin this again according to the the official catechism of the Roman Catholic Church I went and checked it in the current catechism to make sure this hadn't changed the three categories or conditions one the object is a grave matter - it is committed with full knowledge and three it is deliberate in consent to the sin while it's beginning to catch on a little bit here and so I said so in your distinction between mortal and venial sins you don't know what it is till you talk to the priest he said bingo that's it that's it you got to go to the priest and in confession in in the confessional when you confess these sins the priest will judge whether this was a venial or mortal sin and I said well play this out a little bit and he said well venial sins our sins that will not keep you out of heaven and will not put you in purgatory because they're considered of less significance but mortal sins if unconfessed if if not taken care of with penance and absolution from a priest means you will well it turns out not go to hell but spend an awful lot of time in purgatory but there is the risk of hell there's at least the risk of hell it's hypothetical for these sins that are mortal sins that have not been confessed in and of which there's been no absolution and in Oh penance and this is where you understand that the Catholic Church lives in fuzzy that's why they have priests because priests are there as the agents of telling you what this really means and what you then have to do before they by the way this is one of the reasons why we reject the Roman Catholic priesthood in its understanding of the of the sacrament of orders it's because we do not believe any human being is put in the position of being able to judge that way nor to be able to render any kind of forgiveness of sin by penance and and then give absolution we don't believe any human priest can do that we have a priest Christ Jesus our great High Priest you can understand how this works you can that you can see the negotiation I saw it constantly in the negotiation of the mind of my 16 year old friend and sin in his life was a constant negotiation of figuring out how to do it in time to go to the confessional in time to get absolution in time to go to the mass so that he was in the state of grace this whole scheme of venial and mortal sin still is is very much the official teaching in the Roman Catholic Church and there are people all around us who who believe this it is in our contemporary culture and kind of the oxygen you know you have little sins and then you have big sins and and and even people who don't want to think in any morally serious way when confronted with something like a horrible crime that they understand okay I'm gonna consider that a grievous sin that was a deliberate Grievous sin and a grave matter this other thing over here and it is interesting to see how in our society personal sexual activity has now been it's all been rendered either sinless or of no no moral consequence or just a venial sin this entire structure the Roman Catholic understanding of venial versus mortal sin this was very much in place when the Reformation came in the 16th century and so this was just a part of the theological air that they were breathing and along come the Reformers and and along comes Luther and this is this is great because Luther is is so aware of his own sin Luther's problem is that the venial versus mortal sin category didn't make sense to him when he was a friar he's usually called a monk he wasn't really a monkey was a friar but that's very monkey and it does it doesn't matter you can call him a monk it's not a problem but but so just say Luther the monk so Luther the monk was tortured because when he thought about the definition of a venial versus immortal sin and he looked at intent and he considered the intent and and and consent that is what define the mortal sin well that's where Luther figured out every single thing I do is of grave consequence every single sin every single sin I ever commit it is with how much is a little consent how much is not sufficient consent how much is real consent Luther said I have consented to it all in Luther's mind all this sin was mortal sin Luther famously drove his confessor crazy because he would say okay if what but what if I do not even do the sin but I imagine the sin and the von StuffIt so we'll stop imagining the sin he said but I can't stop imagining the sin trying to stop imagining the sin I imagine the sin well you can see exactly how this works it's like Roman chapter seven I don't want to think about that in order to make sure I don't think about that I make myself think about that that I don't think about that and thinking not about that I actually am thinking about that I'm going to hell and and and and that's where Luther was and and and it wasn't until Luther by the grace of God driven by the Word of God have begun to unfold the gospel of Jesus Christ that that's when Luther came to understand not only all the SOLAS but what we would simply well we would simply celebrate as jesus paid it all all to him I owe sin had left its crimson stain he washed it white as snow but then along in the Reformation he simply said that categorization between the venial and mortal sin is it's just wrong it's unbiblical it is contrary to the gospel it's a part of papist imagination be done with it Calvin in his own cooler way in Geneva came along and dismissed that category distinction as nonsense contrary to Scripture and to reason well okay so that way of dealing with it is not going to work so what are we going to do you know a part of the problem by the way in that Roman Catholic system was the subjectivity again no list we want to list and and not only that if we look at the text it says there is sin and it's the sin there there is there is one sin it doesn't mean necessarily just one sin by word or by act but there's there's sin that leads to death we need to know what what is it first of all we just remind ourselves that all sin leads to death and not just physical death but but eternal death Ezekiel 18:20 the soul that sins shall die not just physical death Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death so there has to be something else here we'll see it in a moment so so what are the options if you look at the history of Protestant evangelicals trying to wrestle with this question they're there there are several options the first one I'm going to mention but but we're not going to look at for long the first the first suggestion is that this this unpardonable sin the sin that leads to death is apostasy apostasy someone who is a believer but commits apostasy denies the faith declares herself himself no longer a believer someone who was a Christian but it's not now a Christian but well here's a little commercial a week from today I'm going to preach on the hard question can I lose my salvation the Bible does not allow for one who is a regenerate believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to be lost it's not just as we shall see what is often referred to as the security of the believers the faithfulness of Christ it's the reality of regeneration so though even though there are those who will argue that this sin that leads to death is apostasy and and many of them will claim that the context here in 1st John chapter 5 indicates that because of the use of the word brother in in verse 16 anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death he shall ask and God will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death there is sin that leads to death but here's where we also need to know it doesn't say that the brother commits the sin that leads to death the the the the brother spoken of here is the sin that commits the sin that does not lead to death there it's sophisticated complicated questions here I'll try to deal more with those next week but I have to mention at least in this context that apostasy based upon Hebrews chapter six which will be the key text to which we will turn next week that they offer that that's the unpardonable sin I'm just gonna suggest to you given the text of Scripture given the context of this verse given the assurance of the gospel that is demonstrated to us in Scripture given the gospel itself and the promises of Christ given a biblical theology that takes all of Scripture comprehensively that can't be the answer if it is the answer that you're gonna have to have a different theological system and a different understanding of the gospel option number two is that this sin is some kind of unrepentant an unconfessed sin some kind of besetting sin a perpetual sin sin that that continues and and some of the Puritans and others suggested that this this might be the meaning of this passage particular sins that we allow as friends sins that that we take into our lives as sins that are unconfessed sins of which there are no repentance and again there would be no list because in any given individual believers life it could be a very different list but the problem with that is what does it mean that it's the sin that leads to death and and here is where if we're not careful we will have a Protestant version of a Catholic problem I mentioned my Catholic friend who timed his sin in order to kind of fit the schedule so that he could as quickly as possible before he was likely to die get to the confessional where he could be with the priest he could receive the Sacrament of Penance he could receive the declaration of absolution he could then go to the mass and he could be in what he called and considered to be a state of grace he timed that very well but you can understand if you are going to follow this why if you're gonna follow that very same scheme approaching death you are in big trouble of sin that is not confessed the this is why by the way some people throughout the history of Christianity have delayed baptism until just before their death because they do not want any backlog of sins because the baptism according to their sacramental theology covers all of that sin and so they just want baptism and then they're gonna hope to die as quickly as possible after they're in the state of grace so that they do not die outside of a state of grace so even as you have the last rites as they are often called extreme unction it's like one final attempt to get a catholic over the line but there still is the terror of unconfessed sin and their protestants who sometimes have kind of the same logic we understand that what it means to confess sin to be forgiven sin but what if we forget something or what if we what what if we what if we commit sin even a grievous sin just before we die is this some kind of trick well there certainly is in Scripture the warning that if there are patterns of repeated cherished sins then we better make sure we really are Christians and there are plenty of biblical warnings of that kind but they don't appear to meet this text option number three is that the unpardonable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and I believe this is the best answer to the question what is the unpardonable sin what is the sin that leads to death is what Jesus said is the sin that leads to death in order to understand this look at Matthew chapter 12 verse 22 then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to him and He healed him so that the man spoke and saw and all the people were amazed and said can this be the son of David but when the Pharisees heard it they said it is only by a eligible the Prince of demons that this man casts out demons knowing their thoughts he said to them every Kingdom divided against itself as laid waste and no city or house divided against itself will stand in a Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself how then will his kingdom stand and if I cast out demons by Beelzebul by whom to your sons cast them out therefore they will be your judges but if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons then the kingdom of God has come upon you or how can someone enter a strong Mans house and plunder his Goods unless he first binds the strongman then indeed any plunders house whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters therefore I tell you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven and whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age or in the age to come blasphemy against the Holy Spirit this has often been defined as attributing as you see here that's why the context was important as those who accused Jesus of casting out spirits by Beelzebul denying the Holy Spirit and attributing the Holy Spirit's ministry to demons that turns out to be a sin for which there is no possible pardon it's easy to remember the chapter look at Luke chapter 12 verse eight and I tell you everyone who acknowledges me before men the son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God and everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven it's also found in mark chapter three blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and furthermore in understanding this in a canonical shape it also becomes very clear that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would not be only attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to demons it would be finally resisting the work of the Holy Spirit disrespecting and rejecting the Holy Spirit it in the Holy Spirit's ministry of calling us to Christ and so one way you can understand this is that it is the final rejection of the gospel the steadfast refusal to believe and and here again we have plenty of biblical evidence we have Matthew chapter 13 that follows Matthew chapter 12 the parable of the sower in the soils that will also become key to us next week we have the example of esau hebrews chip chapter 12 verses 16 through 17 the writer writes that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal for you know that afterward when he when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected for he found no chance to repent though he saw it with tears he'd hardened his heart in the language of Scripture is clear in other places God gave him over his his heart was so hardened that he could not even find repentance repentance had become for him impossible it is a horrifying biblical text he wanted in some sense to repent and sought it with tears but his heart was so hard that he would not even could not repent well there the write a book of Hebrew says don't be like Esau I think given the evidence we find in Jesus and the Gospels and the warning in 1st John chapter 5 this helps us to understand what is the sin that leads to death but then quickly just look at the passage look at 1st John chapter 5 and and just put it in context for a moment of the in the entire letter because the letter is actually all about our confidence in sin forgiven we don't have time to look at the prologue but of course in in verse 5 we read and this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness we lie and do not practice the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just soki faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we say we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us my little children I'm writing these things to you that you may not send but if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous look averse 12 I am writing to you little children because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake look at chapter 2 just in the in the first two verses again I'm writing these things to you so that you do not sin but let's go back if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous that's what drives the rest of this chapter 3 verses 4 through 10 everyone who makes a practice of sinning yet or also practices lawlessness sin is lawlessness you know that he appeared to take away sins and in him there is no sin no one who abides in him keeps on sinning no one who keeps on sending his either seen him or known him little children let no one deceive you whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning chapter three nineteen to twenty four by this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him for whenever our heart condemns us God is greater than our heart and he knows everything well that's a precious promise chapter five our text for the morning most specifically I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life we know and we know we know we know and we know the repeated pattern of John here in first John but right here he's writing to those who know by the gospel that they have eternal life and this is the confidence that we have toward him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and if we know that he hears us and whatever we ask we know that we have the requests that we have made of him what kind of requests will we make of him here it comes if anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death he shall ask and God will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death here in the body of Christ and in the local church Christian to Christian will we see sin in each other's lives we are to pray for one another knowing that Jesus Saves knowing that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and will we pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ knowing that even as sin is a deadly deadly thing that can only be remedied by the blood of Christ we know that those who are his will be his and their sins forgiven they will never finally be separated from him but there is a sin that leads to death it's a good warning there is a sin that leads to death I do not say that one should pray for that and here again even Jesus in the high priestly prayer of John 17 maybe there's something like that when Jesus said remember he's praying not just for his disciples he's praying for all who are given to him by the father before the foundation of the earth I pray for those you have given me I pray for mine that Jesus said in the high priestly prayer I do not pray for the world this doesn't mean we don't pray for people to come to Christ it does mean we do not pray for those who are blasphemers of the Holy Spirit who have hardened their heart to escape the judgment that will surely come all wrongdoing is sin but there is a sin that does not lead to death what is that sin it's the sin covered by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ it's the sin that paid for our salvation is the assurance of pardon that comes through the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ our great High Priest the text continues it doesn't end where we ended it continues through to the end of the letter we know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning this is good for us to know but he who was born of God but he who was born of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him Christ defeats Satan we know that we are from God and the whole world lies the power of the evil one and we know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true and we are in Him who is true in his son Jesus Christ he is true God and eternal life little children keep yourselves from idols so what is the sin that leads to death I believe it is the final rejection of the gospel blasphemy against the Holy Spirit we aren't to take every single sin with full seriousness not trying to divide sin between lesser sins and greater sins and venial sins and mortal sins let that go turn only to Christ pray for your brothers and sisters we pray for each other if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness let's pray father thank you for every word of Scripture thank you for giving us in your word all that we need to answer all of the questions we have for all of our lives may we continue to think to reflect to pray and to struggle with these questions in order to live lives more holy more faithful to you we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord amen you

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Length: 47min 59sec (2879 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 14 2019