Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher - Jim Rickard Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009

1 John 5:16 Virtue Limitations of Prayer, Pt 4

1 John 5:16, “If anyone sees his fellow believer missing the mark in sin (that is) not (bringing him) face to face with death, he will ask, and He (God the Father) will give life to him, to those who have not sinned face to face with death. There is sin face to face with death; I do not recommend that anyone should pray concerning that.”

Doctrine of the Sin Unto Death

A. Definition: 1. The Sin Unto Death (SUD) is not a specific sin. It is the believer residing and functioning in the Cosmic System.

2. It is max. Divine discipline (Stage 3, 1 Cor 11:30), the most painful experience in life or it can be sudden. It implies loss of reward and blessing and ashamedness at the BEMA seat of Christ.

3. While you are dying, you can still sin. Sinning when you are in the death ‑ shadowed valley of Psa 23:4, intensifies the suffering in dying.

This includes sins like jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, self-pity, fear, worry, anxiety.

4. There are those who sow to the wind and reap the tornado (Hosea 8:7) in the death ‑ shadowed valley. That is, creating your very own dying misery.

5. God’s Grace challenges the believer to use the 10 PSD’s, Eph 6:10-18, so you can travel through your own death ‑ shadowed valley with the most fantastic blessings. Hosea 10:12; Psa 23:4; Phil 1:21

Hosea 10:12, “Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD until He comes to rain righteousness on you.”

Phil 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

6. The training for the blessing or profit in dying comes from the daily function of the spiritual skills in your life. 2 Tim 1:7

2 Tim 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity (lifestyle of fear), but of power and of virtue ‑ love and discipline (sound judgment).”

B. The Context for the Sin Face ‑ to ‑ Face With Death.

1. The context is Divine Discipline, the sum total of punitive measures by which God judges, corrects, and teaches the believer in time. Heb 12:5 ‑ 6; Rev 3:19

Rev 3:19, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”

2. Divine discipline is confined to time. Rev 21:4

3. Divine discipline results from the believer using his own volition to create his own failures. Psa 7:14 ‑ 16

4. Certain sins are worse as far as divine discipline is concerned, i.e., sins of the tongue that bring Triple Compound Discipline (TCD), Mat 7:1-2.

a) TCD is the worst type of self ‑ induced punishment. It begins with mental attitude sins as motivation for sins of the tongue.

b) Sins of motivating evil are subject to divine discipline. Mat 7:1-2

Mat 7:1-2, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured back to you.”

You receive Triple Discipline for:

You receive Triple Discipline for: 1) The verbal sins: gossip, judging, maligning, slandering.

You receive Triple Discipline for: 2) The mental attitude sin that motivated the verbal sin.

You receive Triple Discipline for: 3) Every sin mentioned about someone else, whether true or not, is put on you.

If you have Personal Love toward God, you have Impersonal Love toward man. 1 John 2:6, 10; 4:7, 21; Psa 64:7 ‑ 8; James 4:11; 5:9

Communion

Grace Offering

Grace Fellowship Church Grace Fellowship Church Sunday, August 2, 2009 Tape # 09S-031 Virtue Limitations of Prayer, Part 4 The Sin Unto Death 1 John Series 1 John 5:16; Hosea 10:12; Psa 23:4; Heb 12:5-6 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2009