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This one comes from Vlad.
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That sounds Russian or Romanian.
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"If I have sinned,
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and sin brings death (James 1:15),
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how can I have life
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and fellowship with God again?
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I've committed a sin
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and realize I no longer have the same
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relationship I had.
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Although I was pressed by God to repent,
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and did so.
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Can you say something about 1 John 5:16,
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"God will give him life,"
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because that is what I'm looking for.
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I have read somewhere
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that the relationship is not broken,
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but fellowship can be broken.
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Is it biblical to say so?"
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Ok. Somebody read James 1:15.
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Let's get a feel for
where he's struggling.
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Somebody read James 1:15.
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"And desire when it has conceived
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gives birth to sin,
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and sin, when it is fully grown,
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brings forth death."
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Ok, so he sees desire, sin, death.
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But it doesn't just say if there's desire
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and it results in a sin,
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that there's death.
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It says sin does something.
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What does it say happens to sin?
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When sin what?
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Is fully grown.
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Now that's not to say that the wage
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of a single sin isn't death.
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But when he talks about sin fully grown,
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it's like there's this growth.
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Now he's describing desire.
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What's behind sin?
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There's desire that fuels our sin.
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And then sin, when it's full grown,
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then there's death.
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More like a picture of the
life of the unbeliever.
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You have this desire that percolates
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and results in sin, and the sin grows,
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kind of like the sin of the Amorites.
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It's not yet full.
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It grows.
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Our sin grows. It multiplies.
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And you get to this place
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where you're like
Christian in Pilgrim's Progress
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where you've got this
huge pack on your back.
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It's like God lets it
grow to a certain place
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and then it just explodes in death.
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But the very fact that James walks us
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all the way through;
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there's no life - it just goes to death.
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That would seem to indicate the growth
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of lust and sin resulting in death
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in the life of an unbeliever.
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It's basically just lost man.
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Now he also mentions 1 John.
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Let's go over there. 1 John 5:16
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Somebody read 1 John 5:16.
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Brethren, I'll tell you this,
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sometimes the most difficult verses
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to understand can really be helpful
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in shedding light on some things
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when properly understood.
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Sometimes difficult verses can be
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the foundation for horrible error.
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Sometimes they can be really helpful
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in helping us to see things
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the way they really are.
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Somebody read 1 John 5:16.
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"If anyone sees his
brother committing a sin
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not leading to death,
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he shall ask and God will give him life -
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to those who commit sins
that do not lead to death,
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There is sin that leads to death.
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I do not say that one
should pray for that."
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Read it again:
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"If anyone sees his brother committing..."
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Ok, stop.
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Who's he writing to?
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Who is 1 John written to?
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Who said believers?
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Prove it.
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Prove it's written to believers.
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(from the room)
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"My little children..."
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My little children - where
does it say that?
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(from the room)
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1 John 2:1
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Quote 1 John 5:13
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"I write these things to you who
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believe in the name of the Son of God."
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I write these things to you who believe.
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Ok, go back to 5:16.
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"If anyone sees his
brother committing a sin..."
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Ok, who is he speaking to now?
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He's speaking to those who believe.
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And if they see who?
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His brother.
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What's the implication there?
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Is he speaking about seeing a lost man?
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Now, see, I would say
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James was speaking about a lost man.
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Now, he may be speaking about
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what would happen to any one of us
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if we weren't plucked from that.
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But basically, the end is death.
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The end for the Christian isn't death.
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The end for the Christian is life.
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But if we go here,
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the idea is that if anybody sees a brother
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who's sinning a sin
that is not unto death.
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Well, if they're truly a brother,
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if they're truly a brother...
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now I recognize sometimes Scripture
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speaks about what people claim to be,
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not what they really are.
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And Scripture is charitable
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and will regard people according to
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what they claim to be.
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Scripture can speak about
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the righteous.
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Jesus talked about He didn't come
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to call the righteous.
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Scripture calls them
what they claim to be,
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not what they really are.
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But here, a brother.
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You see a brother who commits a sin
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not unto death.
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Well, anybody that's truly a brother,
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truly a Christian, can only
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commit sins that aren't unto death.
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But in light of the context of 1 John,
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what would be a sin that leads unto death?
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The feel is - what he's talking about
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is you've got these antichrists.
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They went out from us, because
they weren't of us.
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See, they continue in sin.
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They practice sin.
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And the idea is,
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if you go out after having had this light,
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and you go on practicing sin,
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that's a sin unto death.
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You see, the idea here is,
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he's talking to them about something
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he expects them to recognize
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from his epistle
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what he's talking about,
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when he talks about a sin
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that leads unto death,
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when he talks about a sin
that doesn't lead unto death.
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If you go through the whole letter,
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he's talking about Christians...
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"I write to you, little
children, that you don't sin.
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But if you do sin, we have an Advocate
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with the Father -
Jesus Christ the Righteous."
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You know that is a sin that
doesn't lead unto death.
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Why? Because,
"my little children."
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And we have an Advocate.
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So that doesn't lead to death.
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Whereas those who
professed to be Christians
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at one point, but denied Jesus Christ -
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to deny Jesus Christ doesn't mean
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you say Jesus doesn't exist.
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It means you deny something about Him.
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They continued in this sin.
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They went out from among the Christians
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because they weren't
really of the Christians.
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They continued in unrighteousness.
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He's saying, look, I say to you,
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you pray for those brothers -
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those who are faithful,
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those who have stuck by the Christians,
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those who show that they
have a love for the brethren;
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those who keep the
commandments of Jesus Christ
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as a rule;
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those who are following Him.
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Those who are not given to worldliness.
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Those who have not gone out from us,
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because they are of us.
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When they sin,
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you pray for it.
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You pray for that kind of sin,
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because that's a sin that
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doesn't lead to death.
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Whereas these people
that continue in sin,
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these people that deny Jesus Christ -
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you deny the Son, you deny the Father.
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Those people that deny.
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Those heretics.
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Those people that are redesigning
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and redefining Jesus Christ.
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I'm not saying to pray for them.
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But here's what he's asking about,
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and here's what's really interesting.
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If you pray for a brother who has
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committed a sin not unto death.
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What happens?
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God will give him life.
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What happened?
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Did he lose life?
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Did he lose his life when he sinned?
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What do you mean
God will give him life?
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I thought when we
first believed upon
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the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have eternal life.
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I thought that Jesus said that
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him who comes to Me, I will not cast out.
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Has he been cast out?
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Didn't Jesus say eternal life?
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No one will pluck them.
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Isn't that what we're told?
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Can it be eternal life if
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a brother who commits a sin
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that's not unto death...?
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Well, wait. He's a brother and
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he commits a sin that's not unto death.
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Where does life even come in?
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Life.
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Doesn't he already have life?
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Did it get taken away?
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Did he lose his life?
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You know, I think what it helps us to do
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is really think about the nature of life.
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We are so, I would say, earthly minded
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when it comes to life and death.
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Because we tend to see people
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who are moving, living...
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In our eyes, even though
we don't regard things
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according to the flesh any longer,
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yet we do see through physical eyes.
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We've been to funerals.
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We look in the casket.
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We see death.
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Oh, that's death.
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They're dead.
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There's no pulse.
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Well, they're dead.
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And I recognize when we come to Scripture,
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we can talk more about spiritual life
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and spiritual death.
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But, do you remember
how John defines life?
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Anybody remember how he defines it?
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John 17:3
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What is it to have life?
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(from the room)
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"This is eternal life,
that they may know Thee,
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the one true God and Jesus Christ
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whom Thou hast sent."
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It's to know God.
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That's the issue.
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It's to know God.
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Life is to know God.
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It's to know Christ.
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Now look, knowing
in Scripture is intimate.
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It isn't just knowing facts.
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To know.
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The word is used in
really interesting ways.
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When Mary gave birth to Jesus,
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Joseph had not yet known her.
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There's sexual intimacy
actually behind that word.
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To know.
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Life - you have to understand
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what Jesus is saying when He says
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that they will have life more abundantly.
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It's like we heard on Sunday.
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It's to embrace the glory of God.
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It's to see the face of God.
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To know God is to have intimacy with Him.
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It's to embrace Him.
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Yes, there's a knowledge
that has to do with it.
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But when we talk life, when we talk death.
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At the deepest level, that's
what we're talking about.
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Now think about this.
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If I am supposed to pray for a brother
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who commits a sin that's not unto death,
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which means he has life,
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and he's never going to see death.
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He's not going to go to hell.
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He's not going to perish.
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What do you mean I pray for him
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and God's going to give him life?
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He already has life.
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Yeah, but remember this.
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He's committed a sin.
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No, the sin doesn't lead to death.
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But what does that seem to communicate
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that if I pray for a brother or sister
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who sinned,
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what does that seem to communicate?
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That God will give them life?
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When you think about
life as John defines it.
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What does it seem to mean?
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I don't think John
wants us to think
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oh, they lost their life -
now they get it back.
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They're in - they're out.
They're in - they're out.
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If you sin, you're out.
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If you get somebody to pray for you,
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you're back in again.
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In and out; in and out;
in and out...
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That's not eternal life.
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Because that's not eternal.
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That's temporary life.
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That's back and forth life.
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That's I'm alive, I'm dead,
I'm alive, I'm dead.
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That's not eternal life.
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For one thing, I think this.
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The Bible uses "life" in different ways
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in different places.
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And I don't think we want
to take it here to mean
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obviously, it doesn't mean physical life.
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It doesn't mean if you sin,
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you die physically.
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And then God will raise you back up.
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Certainly it doesn't mean that.
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And it doesn't mean being saved
all over again,
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because the guy's already a brother.
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It seems to indicate, like he says,
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it seems to indicate fellowship.
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Now you think with me here.
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Go back to 1 John 1.
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Somebody just begin reading 1 John 1:1.
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Just read until we get tired.
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"That which was from the beginning,
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which we have heard,
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which we have seen with our eyes,
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which we have looked upon
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and we have touched with our hands
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concerning the Word of Life.
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The life was made manifest
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and we have seen it and testify to it
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and proclaim to you the eternal life,
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which was with the Father
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and was made manifest to us.
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That which we have seen and heard,
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we proclaim also to you,
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so that you too may
have fellowship with us.
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And indeed our fellowship
is with the Father
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and with His Son Jesus Christ.
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And we are writing these
things so that our joy
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may be complete."
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Right. Fellowship.
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Our fellowship.
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Brethren, I'm going to
take my best stab at this.
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But I think what John means
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is that sin interrupts
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not life altogether,
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but if life is knowing God...
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Listen, Scripture's serious when it says
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don't grieve the Holy Spirit.
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Sin interrupts your life.
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Sin interrupts your knowing God.
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Just even at that level,
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Adam knew Eve and she conceived.
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At that level, if I sin against my wife,
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it interrupts that life on that level.
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If life is to know God and to know Christ,
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sin interrupts.
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It seems like the issue here is this:
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that if we pray for one another -
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brethren, I'll tell you this is big.
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I really think this is big.
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For one thing, it really helps us feel
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the reality of what life is all about.
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It really helps us feel the reality
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of how sin interrupts life.
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It really helps us feel
how important it is
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to pray for other Christians that you see
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falling into sin.
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Because you think about the promise here.
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Life will be restored to them.
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The fellowship will be brought back.
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The sweetness will be brought back.
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The intimacy, the closeness.
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Sin interrupts our fellowship with God.
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We lose something.
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We lose a sight of the glory.
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We lose the face of God.
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He hides.
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That's a reality.
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And that's one of the
greatest pains of sin.
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Look, for the Christian, it's
not just the consequences
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of getting caught in my sin.
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A lot of times, brethren,
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the grief of the Christian behind sin
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is how it's going to affect
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my fellowship with the Lord.
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That's the heart of the true Christian.
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Brethren, a text like this,
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just think about what it says about
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how terrible sin is.
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How awful.
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It brings a death of sorts.
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Because what?
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It removes the smile of God.
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Brethren, I'll tell you this,
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when you read in
Scripture about eternal death,
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you need to recognize
what we're talking about.
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What makes death death is not the fire
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or the worm that never dies,
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or the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
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It is that you are so
separated from God -
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that's what outer darkness means.
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God is light.
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To be in the outer darkness means
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you are away from His smile.
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Oh, you're in the presence of the Lamb
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and of His angels - no question.
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Scripture says that.
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You are horrifyingly in
the presence of the Lamb.
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But there's no smile.
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There's no intimacy.
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There's no fellowship.
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That's death.
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That's what this says to us.
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And so I would say yes to Vlad,
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that that is right.
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That this has to do with relationship.
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This has to do with fellowship
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as stated in 1 John 5:16.
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That seems to be the only thing
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that you can possibly
make sense out of this text
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as far as its meaning,
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and in the context of 1 John, I think,
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that it makes sense.
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It seems to be consistent
with that context.
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Otherwise, I'm afraid you end up
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with some sort of doctrine
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you don't want to end up with.
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Anybody else have any comments about that
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or observations?
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But like I said before,
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undoubtedly a hard to understand text
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can result in all manner of error.
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But sometimes, the hard
to understand verses
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can really be useful in helping us
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to understand...
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brethren, the horrible,
foul, ugly thing that sin is
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and what it does to the
smile of God in your life.
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What the real idea
behind death is all about.
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And how critical that
we pray for one another
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when we see other
Christians falling into sin.
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Brethren, you see anything about me
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that seems less than Christlike,
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please pray for me.
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And I'm serious, because
I know you do see that.
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We see those things in one another.
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I beg you, pray for me when you see them.
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(from the room)
Can we rebuke you?
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You can rebuke me too, but if
you're going to rebuke me,
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promise to pray for me.
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I'll let you rebuke me,
if you pray for me.
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I'll let you rebuke me otherwise...
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Ok, brethren, let's pray.
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Father, we thank You for Your Word.
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Lord, we want our fellowship with You
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to be unhindered, unclouded;
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Oh, we want the smile
of God upon our life.
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Lord, drive sin away from us.
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Lord, put a hatred within
each one of us for it.
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May we detest it as
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the most detestable thing imaginable.
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Anything that would bring a cloud
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between You and us,
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Oh, what fools we are!
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To choose sin over You.
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Foolish.
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Deceived.
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Blind when we do that.
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How wretched that we would ever
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choose that which would mar
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our fellowship with You.
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Oh, Lord, we want to be wise.
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We want life more abundantly.
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Lord, give us the fullness of that life.
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Burden us, Lord, to pray for one another
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all the more.
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We pray in Jesus' name,
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Amen.