Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher - Jim Rickard Sunday, July 12, 2009

1 John 5:16 Virtue Limitations of Prayer

We must exercise virtue inside our prayer life and know when to pray for something and when not to pray for something. See, verse 14.

“If anyone sees”, anticipates that such a situation does not occur every day, but when it does, the following is the pertinent doctrine which must be applied.

“His brother” HO ADELPHOS AUTOS. Referring to a fellow believer.

“Committing sin”. A double emphasis of the Greek. HARMARTANO HARMARTIA

HARMARTANO = “to miss the mark, to do wrong, or sin”. It is a reference to the believer not being obedient to God’s Divine mandates, that is sinning.

This is not talking about the unbeliever. They only have the “unpardonable sin” of unbelief. Mat 12:31; Acts 7:51; Heb 10:26, 29

Therefore, this is for believers only and it has nothing to do with loss of salvation.

1 Cor 11:30 speaks to the “Sin Unto Death” for the believer, but it is not some “unpardonable sin” that a believer unwittingly falls into.

The SUD is a prolonged reversionistic life style and deliberate sinning in defiance of the Word of God, Heb 12:9, something that other believers can see and recognize as rebellion.

Jeremiah was told not to pray for the rebellious Jews in Jer 7:16; 11:14; 14:11; see also Ezek 14:14, 20.

HARMARTIA, the Noun that simply means “sin”. This is the actual offense committed by the believer that is observed by another believer.

Principles: 1. If you observe a fellow believer’s sin then you don’t gossip or malign or judge, you pray for them.

2. It is one thing to see someone fail or to sin, and it is something else to do the right thing about it.

3. The right thing is not to gossip, malign, judge or take revenge; which interferes with their priesthood. The right thing is prayer, except in one case.

4. The believer who observes another’s failure and keeps his mouth shut, recognizes the privacy of his priesthood, but wants to also be helpful. So he prays, turning it over to God.

5. This is speaking to the one on one situation. It is not addressing open sinning that has a detrimental effect on a church / local assembly.

There are instructions on dealing with those issues, just as there is instruction on when it is appropriate to rebuke and exhort a fellow believer.

6. All of these principles are part of the Royal Family Honor Code where we are to apply PSD #5, Grace Orientation.

Grace Offering

Grace Fellowship Church Grace Fellowship Church Sunday, July 12, 2009 Tape # 09S-028 Virtue Limitations of Prayer 1 John Series 1 John 5:14-15; 1 Tim 2:1-3; 4:3-5; Col 4:2-3 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2009