Will God Give Me Life? (1 John 5:16) - Ask Pastor Tim

This one comes from Vlad.

That sounds Russian or Romanian.

"If I have sinned,

and sin brings death (James 1:15),

how can I have life

and fellowship with God again?

I've committed a sin

and realize I no longer have the same

relationship I had.

Although I was pressed by God to repent,

and did so.

Can you say something about 1 John 5:16,

"God will give him life,"

because that is what I'm looking for.

I have read somewhere

that the relationship is not broken,

but fellowship can be broken.

Is it biblical to say so?"

Ok. Somebody read James 1:15.

Let's get a feel for
where he's struggling.

Somebody read James 1:15.

"And desire when it has conceived

gives birth to sin,

and sin, when it is fully grown,

brings forth death."

Ok, so he sees desire, sin, death.

But it doesn't just say if there's desire

and it results in a sin,

that there's death.

It says sin does something.

What does it say happens to sin?

When sin what?

Is fully grown.

Now that's not to say that the wage

of a single sin isn't death.

But when he talks about sin fully grown,

it's like there's this growth.

Now he's describing desire.

What's behind sin?

There's desire that fuels our sin.

And then sin, when it's full grown,

then there's death.

More like a picture of the
life of the unbeliever.

You have this desire that percolates

and results in sin, and the sin grows,

kind of like the sin of the Amorites.

It's not yet full.

It grows.

Our sin grows. It multiplies.

And you get to this place

where you're like
Christian in Pilgrim's Progress

where you've got this
huge pack on your back.

It's like God lets it
grow to a certain place

and then it just explodes in death.

But the very fact that James walks us

all the way through;

there's no life - it just goes to death.

That would seem to indicate the growth

of lust and sin resulting in death

in the life of an unbeliever.

It's basically just lost man.

Now he also mentions 1 John.

Let's go over there. 1 John 5:16

Somebody read 1 John 5:16.

Brethren, I'll tell you this,

sometimes the most difficult verses

to understand can really be helpful

in shedding light on some things

when properly understood.

Sometimes difficult verses can be

the foundation for horrible error.

Sometimes they can be really helpful

in helping us to see things

the way they really are.

Somebody read 1 John 5:16.

"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 sin that leads to death.

I do not say that one
should pray for that."

Read it again:

"If anyone sees his brother committing..."

Ok, stop.

Who's he writing to?

Who is 1 John written to?

Who said believers?

Prove it.

Prove it's written to believers.

(from the room)

"My little children..."

My little children - where
does it say that?

(from the room)

1 John 2:1

Quote 1 John 5:13

"I write these things to you who

believe in the name of the Son of God."

I write these things to you who believe.

Ok, go back to 5:16.

"If anyone sees his
brother committing a sin..."

Ok, who is he speaking to now?

He's speaking to those who believe.

And if they see who?

His brother.

What's the implication there?

Is he speaking about seeing a lost man?

Now, see, I would say

James was speaking about a lost man.

Now, he may be speaking about

what would happen to any one of us

if we weren't plucked from that.

But basically, the end is death.

The end for the Christian isn't death.

The end for the Christian is life.

But if we go here,

the idea is that if anybody sees a brother

who's sinning a sin
that is not unto death.

Well, if they're truly a brother,

if they're truly a brother...

now I recognize sometimes Scripture

speaks about what people claim to be,

not what they really are.

And Scripture is charitable

and will regard people according to

what they claim to be.

Scripture can speak about

the righteous.

Jesus talked about He didn't come

to call the righteous.

Scripture calls them
what they claim to be,

not what they really are.

But here, a brother.

You see a brother who commits a sin

not unto death.

Well, anybody that's truly a brother,

truly a Christian, can only

commit sins that aren't unto death.

But in light of the context of 1 John,

what would be a sin that leads unto death?

The feel is - what he's talking about

is you've got these antichrists.

They went out from us, because
they weren't of us.

See, they continue in sin.

They practice sin.

And the idea is,

if you go out after having had this light,

and you go on practicing sin,

that's a sin unto death.

You see, the idea here is,

he's talking to them about something

he expects them to recognize

from his epistle

what he's talking about,

when he talks about a sin

that leads unto death,

when he talks about a sin
that doesn't lead unto death.

If you go through the whole letter,

he's talking about Christians...

"I write to you, little
children, that you don't sin.

But if you do sin, we have an Advocate

with the Father -
Jesus Christ the Righteous."

You know that is a sin that
doesn't lead unto death.

Why? Because,
"my little children."

And we have an Advocate.

So that doesn't lead to death.

Whereas those who
professed to be Christians

at one point, but denied Jesus Christ -

to deny Jesus Christ doesn't mean

you say Jesus doesn't exist.

It means you deny something about Him.

They continued in this sin.

They went out from among the Christians

because they weren't
really of the Christians.

They continued in unrighteousness.

He's saying, look, I say to you,

you pray for those brothers -

those who are faithful,

those who have stuck by the Christians,

those who show that they
have a love for the brethren;

those who keep the
commandments of Jesus Christ

as a rule;

those who are following Him.

Those who are not given to worldliness.

Those who have not gone out from us,

because they are of us.

When they sin,

you pray for it.

You pray for that kind of sin,

because that's a sin that

doesn't lead to death.

Whereas these people
that continue in sin,

these people that deny Jesus Christ -

you deny the Son, you deny the Father.

Those people that deny.

Those heretics.

Those people that are redesigning

and redefining Jesus Christ.

I'm not saying to pray for them.

But here's what he's asking about,

and here's what's really interesting.

If you pray for a brother who has

committed a sin not unto death.

What happens?

God will give him life.

What happened?

Did he lose life?

Did he lose his life when he sinned?

What do you mean
God will give him life?

I thought when we
first believed upon

the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have eternal life.

I thought that Jesus said that

him who comes to Me, I will not cast out.

Has he been cast out?

Didn't Jesus say eternal life?

No one will pluck them.

Isn't that what we're told?

Can it be eternal life if

a brother who commits a sin

that's not unto death...?

Well, wait. He's a brother and

he commits a sin that's not unto death.

Where does life even come in?

Life.

Doesn't he already have life?

Did it get taken away?

Did he lose his life?

You know, I think what it helps us to do

is really think about the nature of life.

We are so, I would say, earthly minded

when it comes to life and death.

Because we tend to see people

who are moving, living...

In our eyes, even though
we don't regard things

according to the flesh any longer,

yet we do see through physical eyes.

We've been to funerals.

We look in the casket.

We see death.

Oh, that's death.

They're dead.

There's no pulse.

Well, they're dead.

And I recognize when we come to Scripture,

we can talk more about spiritual life

and spiritual death.

But, do you remember
how John defines life?

Anybody remember how he defines it?

John 17:3

What is it to have life?

(from the room)

"This is eternal life,
that they may know Thee,

the one true God and Jesus Christ

whom Thou hast sent."

It's to know God.

That's the issue.

It's to know God.

Life is to know God.

It's to know Christ.

Now look, knowing
in Scripture is intimate.

It isn't just knowing facts.

To know.

The word is used in
really interesting ways.

When Mary gave birth to Jesus,

Joseph had not yet known her.

There's sexual intimacy
actually behind that word.

To know.

Life - you have to understand

what Jesus is saying when He says

that they will have life more abundantly.

It's like we heard on Sunday.

It's to embrace the glory of God.

It's to see the face of God.

To know God is to have intimacy with Him.

It's to embrace Him.

Yes, there's a knowledge
that has to do with it.

But when we talk life, when we talk death.

At the deepest level, that's
what we're talking about.

Now think about this.

If I am supposed to pray for a brother

who commits a sin that's not unto death,

which means he has life,

and he's never going to see death.

He's not going to go to hell.

He's not going to perish.

What do you mean I pray for him

and God's going to give him life?

He already has life.

Yeah, but remember this.

He's committed a sin.

No, the sin doesn't lead to death.

But what does that seem to communicate

that if I pray for a brother or sister

who sinned,

what does that seem to communicate?

That God will give them life?

When you think about
life as John defines it.

What does it seem to mean?

I don't think John
wants us to think

oh, they lost their life -
now they get it back.

They're in - they're out.
They're in - they're out.

If you sin, you're out.

If you get somebody to pray for you,

you're back in again.

In and out; in and out;
in and out...

That's not eternal life.

Because that's not eternal.

That's temporary life.

That's back and forth life.

That's I'm alive, I'm dead,
I'm alive, I'm dead.

That's not eternal life.

For one thing, I think this.

The Bible uses "life" in different ways

in different places.

And I don't think we want
to take it here to mean

obviously, it doesn't mean physical life.

It doesn't mean if you sin,

you die physically.

And then God will raise you back up.

Certainly it doesn't mean that.

And it doesn't mean being saved
all over again,

because the guy's already a brother.

It seems to indicate, like he says,

it seems to indicate fellowship.

Now you think with me here.

Go back to 1 John 1.

Somebody just begin reading 1 John 1:1.

Just read until we get tired.

"That which was from the beginning,

which we have heard,

which we have seen with our eyes,

which we have looked upon

and we have touched with our hands

concerning the Word of Life.

The life was made manifest

and we have seen it and testify to it

and proclaim to you the eternal life,

which was with the Father

and was made manifest to us.

That which we have seen and heard,

we proclaim also to you,

so that you too may
have fellowship with us.

And indeed our fellowship
is with the Father

and with His Son Jesus Christ.

And we are writing these
things so that our joy

may be complete."

Right. Fellowship.

Our fellowship.

Brethren, I'm going to
take my best stab at this.

But I think what John means

is that sin interrupts

not life altogether,

but if life is knowing God...

Listen, Scripture's serious when it says

don't grieve the Holy Spirit.

Sin interrupts your life.

Sin interrupts your knowing God.

Just even at that level,

Adam knew Eve and she conceived.

At that level, if I sin against my wife,

it interrupts that life on that level.

If life is to know God and to know Christ,

sin interrupts.

It seems like the issue here is this:

that if we pray for one another -

brethren, I'll tell you this is big.

I really think this is big.

For one thing, it really helps us feel

the reality of what life is all about.

It really helps us feel the reality

of how sin interrupts life.

It really helps us feel
how important it is

to pray for other Christians that you see

falling into sin.

Because you think about the promise here.

Life will be restored to them.

The fellowship will be brought back.

The sweetness will be brought back.

The intimacy, the closeness.

Sin interrupts our fellowship with God.

We lose something.

We lose a sight of the glory.

We lose the face of God.

He hides.

That's a reality.

And that's one of the
greatest pains of sin.

Look, for the Christian, it's
not just the consequences

of getting caught in my sin.

A lot of times, brethren,

the grief of the Christian behind sin

is how it's going to affect

my fellowship with the Lord.

That's the heart of the true Christian.

Brethren, a text like this,

just think about what it says about

how terrible sin is.

How awful.

It brings a death of sorts.

Because what?

It removes the smile of God.

Brethren, I'll tell you this,

when you read in
Scripture about eternal death,

you need to recognize
what we're talking about.

What makes death death is not the fire

or the worm that never dies,

or the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

It is that you are so
separated from God -

that's what outer darkness means.

God is light.

To be in the outer darkness means

you are away from His smile.

Oh, you're in the presence of the Lamb

and of His angels - no question.

Scripture says that.

You are horrifyingly in
the presence of the Lamb.

But there's no smile.

There's no intimacy.

There's no fellowship.

That's death.

That's what this says to us.

And so I would say yes to Vlad,

that that is right.

That this has to do with relationship.

This has to do with fellowship

as stated in 1 John 5:16.

That seems to be the only thing

that you can possibly
make sense out of this text

as far as its meaning,

and in the context of 1 John, I think,

that it makes sense.

It seems to be consistent
with that context.

Otherwise, I'm afraid you end up

with some sort of doctrine

you don't want to end up with.

Anybody else have any comments about that

or observations?

But like I said before,

undoubtedly a hard to understand text

can result in all manner of error.

But sometimes, the hard
to understand verses

can really be useful in helping us

to understand...

brethren, the horrible,
foul, ugly thing that sin is

and what it does to the
smile of God in your life.

What the real idea
behind death is all about.

And how critical that
we pray for one another

when we see other
Christians falling into sin.

Brethren, you see anything about me

that seems less than Christlike,

please pray for me.

And I'm serious, because
I know you do see that.

We see those things in one another.

I beg you, pray for me when you see them.

(from the room)
Can we rebuke you?

You can rebuke me too, but if
you're going to rebuke me,

promise to pray for me.

I'll let you rebuke me,
if you pray for me.

I'll let you rebuke me otherwise...

Ok, brethren, let's pray.

Father, we thank You for Your Word.

Lord, we want our fellowship with You

to be unhindered, unclouded;

Oh, we want the smile
of God upon our life.

Lord, drive sin away from us.

Lord, put a hatred within
each one of us for it.

May we detest it as

the most detestable thing imaginable.

Anything that would bring a cloud

between You and us,

Oh, what fools we are!

To choose sin over You.

Foolish.

Deceived.

Blind when we do that.

How wretched that we would ever

choose that which would mar

our fellowship with You.

Oh, Lord, we want to be wise.

We want life more abundantly.

Lord, give us the fullness of that life.

Burden us, Lord, to pray for one another

all the more.

We pray in Jesus' name,

Amen.