Praying for Others

Please remain standing for the reading of the word from 1st John in chapter 5.

We begin reading today in verse 14 to the end of the chapter and sadly, this is the next to last message in 1st

John chapter 5. I hope it's been an encouragement to your faith as we've studied 1st John together. Let's begin reading in verse 14.

This is God's holy and infallible Word. Now, this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will,

He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death.

There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.

All unrighteousness is sin and there is sin not leading to death.

We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him.

We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

And we know that the Son of God has come and given us an understanding that we may know

Him who is true and we are in Him who is true in His Son, Jesus Christ.

This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Amen. Please pray with me. O Lord, we rejoice to be studying

Your Word and I pray today that we would be diligent and earnest and desire to pray for one another and to pray for those who are caught in trespasses.

O Lord, I pray that we would be very unselfish, that we would seek to glorify You and we would seek the good of our brethren in this.

And we ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. This is one of the four or five puzzling verses in 1

John. We'll be considering verse 16 today and 17 of chapter 5.

The title of the message is Praying for Others and my sermon in a sentence is

Intercede for Your Brother in Sin. Intercede, pray for your brother in sin.

Last week we learned that we can have a confidence in prayer when you pray in accordance with His will.

Our God is eager to make us more like Christ. Those types of prayers when we seek to be more godly and more

God glorifying and to love our brother appropriately, God is eager it seems to grant those requests.

We also learned last week that we have a deep propensity for selfishness in prayer.

And the antidote to that is to know God's will, to get this from His word, to meditate on it day and night, believing it is true and best and embracing it wholesale.

This will enable us to pray boldly in accordance with His will.

Today we again take up the subject of prayer. But this subject is intercession for others.

When we pray for others, we glorify God and demonstrate a real love for our brethren.

There is a purity to this kind of prayer. We look to God and show real concern for our brother and we fade into the background.

Very antithesis of what our selfish tendency is. We think of God and we think of our brother when we pray for them.

So let's consider praying for others and interceding for your brother in sin.

What do you do when you see a brother sinning? Well, first, you may be tempted to think poorly of them.

Maybe this would be an expression of your own pride and self -righteousness. I would never do such a thing as they are doing.

Second, you may be tempted to gossip about their sin with others.

And you may feel your sin is justified by theirs because they're doing this terrible thing.

Again, this pride and self -righteousness and self -exaltation enters in.

You are better than them and you want to let everyone know about how much better you are than those who have been fallen into this sin.

Or maybe you write them off as second -class Christians or view them as unbelievers.

However, egregious unrepentant sin may actually indicate unbelief in them.

It's interesting when we see our brother or sister in Christ in sin, we seem to be forgetful about our own sinfulness.

In the grace of God that has been extended to us in Jesus Christ, we become judges and enforcers of the law in those situations.

There's also a danger when we see our brother sinning, we could be drawn in to his sin.

Our text today gives us the proper response to seeing our brother in sin.

Look at verse 16. It says, If anyone sees his brother sinning, a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, this is the interceder asking

God, and God will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death.

For those of you who have need of an outline, I have two points. The first is very simple.

You should pray for your brother in sin. You should pray for your brother in sin.

And second, there is sin that leads to death.

You should pray for your brother in sin. The church must be zealous for holiness.

We are, like our culture, too tolerant of evil.

We are most tolerant of our own evil. And we're tolerant of the evil of those that we like the most.

But the church is a holy body of Christ. A holy assembly of the saints.

The holy ones. So first, we should care about our brother or sister falling into sin.

We shouldn't be indifferent. It would be cold and unloving to not care about it.

But it seems that one of the first impulses of the Christian community is to not love and to pray, but to gossip.

To think poorly of them. To write them off as second -class citizens. All that we just talked about.

Forgetfulness about the grace of God extended to us and Christ.

And what is lost in all of this is the controversy or the difficulty of interpretation.

This seems to overtake the main thrust of the message when you consider verse 16.

We want to talk about the sin which leads to death. The thrust, the emphasis is we are to pray for our brethren who have fallen into sin.

We're going to be more concerned about the controversy or the interpretation of that difficult phrase.

May the Lord help us as we consider all of this. Let's do some exegesis of the text.

Surprisingly, there is a lot to be mined here in verse 16.

If anyone sees. This is why we need a deeper study of scripture than just a cursory reading of the text.

This is why preaching and study and biblical scholarship is needful. We need to peer more deeply into the text to draw out the marrow of the text.

That we might know the depth and breadth of what is being taught here.

Seeing in this case is what we might think seeing to be in English, but it has this idea of perception attached to it.

Discernment. It encompasses both the physical act of sight with the eyes and the metaphorical sense of perceiving or understanding with the mind.

It includes the deeper understanding or realization of spiritual truths.

It can indicate an insight granted by God to see is to see with the mind.

It could be argued another level to be to be seeing with the spirit. To understand, to discern.

So if anyone sees his brother sinning. Sinning is missing the mark in its literal sense, but it's used to describe that act of violation of God's law or falling short of his standards.

You and I could walk around nitpicking one another for our offenses, and that doesn't seem to be the thrust of the text.

But we could do that with one another and I can tell you that'd be a very unpleasant fellowship to be a part of.

These seem to be egregious sins that are in view. It's a moral failure or transgression in opposition to and rebellion against God and his law.

And it's probably habitual and unrepentant and somewhat scandalous and affects the body life of the membership of the church.

So you and I are observing our brethren. We're not looking to find fault with them.

We are not the designated fruit inspectors of our Christian brethren.

But we do have an obligation to one another to spur each other on to love and good works.

To make sure that we're okay in the faith, that we're walking in righteousness. We have an obligation and duty to one another and all that I've been teaching on the parish and everything in Sunday school all these months now.

We have to have a deeper, non superficial connection to one another.

We can't keep each other at arm's length. We have to be vulnerable with one another. Our lives have to be open to one another so that we can speak truth into each other's lives.

And the culture and most Christians don't want that. But we desperately need it.

But now it leads us to the question. Sin has been identified. A egregious sin, a noteworthy sin.

But what is a sin not unto? Death.

That word unto means towards. Does it lead to, does it tend towards death?

It refers to a direction or an orientation of life.

And so we are all very much sinners. And Jesus came into the world to save sinners like us.

And so we have confidence that he will hear us, that he will forgive us our sins. And we have confidence that our sins are forgiven as we heard in the assurance of pardon if we be united to Christ.

But there's another category of sin, a sin unto death, which we're going to be considering.

Look at the verse again, it says, If anyone sees his brother sinning, a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask,

This is the petitioner, the Christian who's interceding for the other believer who has fallen into sin.

And he, capital H, God, will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death.

To further fill out the picture, we have to see what death is. Death is both physical and spiritual.

It has this like seeing kind of multifaceted layers. Physical death is the cessation of life.

Spiritual death, which what happened in Adam is to be separated from God due to sin.

And eternal death is the final separation from God in judgment.

All of these are encompassed in the word death. It is the literal end of life with the accompanying broader implications of sin and separation from God.

Through Hebraic lenses, the Jewish world would see it as a separation from the covenant community, as a consequence of the sin.

John was very much a Jew. But in the world that he preached, and he seemed so adept to preach, the

Greco -Roman world, it was feared as an inevitable fate.

Death was feared because it was inevitable and there was nothing that you could do about it.

But the Christian worldview is entirely different. Death for the believer is a defeated enemy and foe through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And the Christian mantra really is, it's very perplexing and almost paradoxical, we must die with Christ and to ourselves in order to live.

The whole world is trying to preserve their lifespan, but we must die to self.

I happened upon a trainer, a nutritionist guy, and he's doing all these things.

He's spending all of his years trying to extend his longevity, which

I think is a very ironic thing. His eating, his living, everything is geared.

He's researching, he's laboring, his whole life is consumed. All of his hours are consumed with living longer.

He doesn't have a view of eternity in Christ. He thinks this is all there is. But we have a different perspective.

And we know that death is serious, but for the Christian, oh, it's the entry point into glory.

It's the beginning of eternal life with Christ forever. Oh, what a joy for the death of the saints.

Oh, what a blissful day when the believer in Jesus Christ dies and enters into the presence of God.

But death must be seen in all of its force and implications here.

We need to ask. Look at the text again. It says he will ask. The believer needs to intercede for his brother.

When you see a Christian in sin, the first thing you need to do is to pray for them.

I don't know if you would have asked me a few weeks ago what my first act would be. I might have said, well,

I have to go talk to them. I have to go confront them or something like that. And certainly necessary,

I should do that. But your first course of action should be to pray for them.

Ask the Lord to work in their life. Ask the Holy Spirit to crack into their hard heartedness.

What great practical wisdom there is in Scripture. Seeing my brother sinning,

I need to ask God to help him. And the New Testament is used to ask, is to request, but often with a sense of urgency.

It is the act of petitioning or making a request, in this case to God.

And to ask God, particularly in light of last week, it demonstrates a reliance on God for provision and guidance.

We trust and depend on God to answer. It is the seeking of help from the superior, from the inferior.

We cry out to God, Oh God, help our brother who has fallen into sin.

Grant him, give him gifts, grant him the authority to have life.

Set him free from this sin. We would pray that our brother would be relieved of this burden.

God generously gives, gives life, physical, spiritual, eternal life.

And this is of course the opposite of the aforementioned death that we have been considering.

This is life in Christ in its fullest sense. It encompasses both physical and the spiritual realm.

It is used to describe the eternal life granted through faith in Jesus Christ.

This life is not merely an unending existence, but a quality of life that is abundant and fulfilling, characterized by communion with God.

It comes from and is sustained by God's self -existent life.

True life is found only in God himself. Sadly, our brethren around us are still dead in their trespasses.

They have physical life, but they don't have spiritual life. Christ brings physical, spiritual, eternal life.

He comes to give us life abundant, life to the full. A very different life.

The Christian life is the best life. Far superior to the mere physical life of the unbelievers walking in spiritual death.

This is important for us to remember. So basic, yet so profound, Christ gives life.

In contrast, true life is found only in God himself. But in contrast, in the ancient world, life was associated with the physical and temporal existence.

And I think that pagan world has reemerged in our time. This is just a physical and temporal existence.

Look at the culture. Everything screams this. In the

New Testament, true life in Christ, in contrast with the temporary and unfulfilling life that is offered by the world,

Christ has come and he's come to grant us life in abundance.

The granting of life is gospel grace. It removes the presence and power of sin.

It gets us back to walking in the newness of life in Christ. When we restore an erring brother, he again walks in newness of life.

This is such good news for sinners like you and me. Christ came into the world to save sinners like us.

Point one, you should, you must pray for your brother in sin.

But now we transition to point two. Here still in verse 16, it says there is sin leading to death.

These harder sayings of Scripture often grab our attention. We can't lose sight of the main thing.

We have to intercede for our brother in sin, but we do have to get to the bottom of this. What does this mean?

We do have to clarify what this curious statement is about. What sin leads to death?

Well, we have to see it in its full scope. Physical death and spiritual death were brought in by the fall in the broadest sense.

Sin brought death into the world. The original cause of death is sin.

So the first conclusion to be drawn is that God may judge a believer in his chastening love.

And that may result in the physical death of a genuine believer on account of their unrepentant sin.

So the broadest category, there's sin in the world. Rank unbelief leads ultimately to spiritual death.

We start to close in a little bit on it. There's about four of these. God can actually and has struck genuine believers to death that they might not sin anymore.

It's fearful, right? It should bring a little pause in our own life. This should cause us to have a measure of circumspection.

That means literally to look on all sides, look around, to be cautious, to be prudent.

Is there anything that you're doing in your life that would draw the friendly fire of our

God? That he might take you out? He might kill you because you're not repenting of your sin?

Oh, we shouldn't have unrepentant sin. Particularly that scandalous unrepentant sin.

God may see fit to save our soul by killing us.

We need to be watchful in every way with attention to guard against any surprise or danger.

Unrepentant, egregious sin may cost you your life. And it may be a merciful act of God to prevent greater evil.

He could do it to also warn the church corporately to maintain its peace, unity, and purity.

Now, if some Christian dies an untimely death at a young age, we shouldn't immediately assume that God is striking them dead because of their sin.

But maybe we should consider it. It's all very sobering. Galatians 6 .1

says, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.

This should remind us to see how serious sin is. There are sins which lead to death.

What else does it mean? One of my favorite passages of Scripture.

I don't know if what it says about me is Exodus chapter 4. And I am utterly amazed.

And I mean this in the truest sense. Every time I still have the sense of amazement that God speaks to Moses out of the burning bush, causes him to be the prophet and king over his people, to deliver them out of Egypt.

And while he's on the way to accomplish the mission, God appears to him and is on his way to kill him.

Because he didn't circumcise his sons, keeping covenant. And his wife,

Zipporah, circumcises, I bet you very painfully and very harshly, in all of the drama of this, she circumcises her sons and averts the just wrath of God.

God is serious about his holiness. God is serious about his word. And Moses, one of the biggest men in the

Bible, is in danger of death. Because he fails to keep covenant.

No doubt one of the instances that pops in your mind when you think of this is found in the book of Acts.

Let's turn there, Acts chapter 5. There's a great outpouring of generosity between the brethren and the church in Jerusalem, immediately after Pentecost.

It says in chapter 4, With great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the

Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all, nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them.

And brought the proceedings of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet, and they distributed to anyone as they had need.

And Joseph, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, a

Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

But a certain man named Ananias, this is chapter 5 verse 1, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

Now, it should be pointed out, the partial gift was probably fine and lawful, it was however that they were lying about it.

They said, oh we sold this land, we're giving all the proceeds to the church, but they kept some back.

Verse 3, Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the

Holy Spirit, and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?

While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?

Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last, so great fear came upon all those who heard these things.

And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened, and Peter answered her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much?

She said, yes, for so much. And Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the

Spirit of the Lord? Now I should point out to you, this seems to be a recurring theme in the sins that lead to death.

Lying to the Holy Spirit, putting the Spirit of the Lord to the test. It says, look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.

And immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband.

So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

It seems that lying to the Holy Spirit is a sin that leads to death. Now this should cause us to be mindful, to be circumspect.

In the context of 1 John, let's go ahead and turn back to our book that we're in, 1 John. There are false teachers espousing heretical doctrine.

You guys remember that? They denied that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, meaning they denied

Christ and his gospel themselves, and were leading others astray.

That's not something you want to do. It'd be better for you to have a millstone tied around your neck than to cause one of the little ones to stumble.

1 John 2 says, who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the

Christ? He is Antichrist who denies the Father and the

Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the

Son has the Father also. In 1

John 4, testing the spirits, that section, in every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the

Antichrist which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world.

Their condemnation is just if they refuse to repent.

Another category of sin unto death that would have been before John, and maybe we don't include in this, and I don't know why we wouldn't, but it doesn't seem naturally to follow, but I think it's very much this.

What about the national rejection of Christ by the majority of the Jewish people? Sin unto death.

And in fact, death is going to come. The sword, physical and spiritual death are coming in AD 70.

The blood is going to be like a flood through the streets. The blood of the Jews who reject

Christ. What about the destruction of the temple? The decimation of the people?

These seem to be sins unto death. The next category, and I think maybe this gets more people are in grief.

Some of these are controversial that I've offered, and these are more consistent with what most people think are the sins that could lead to death.

And the next category of sin is apostasy. Some of the harshest words of Scripture are given to the apostate.

In the Bible, apostasy is the act of a baptized Christian who completely rejects their faith in Christ and the essential teachings and tenets of Christianity.

If you are a person who's done that, you are in grave danger of physical and spiritual and eternal death.

That's why we're always calling people to repent and to come back. 1

Timothy 4 says, Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.

2 Timothy 4, The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.

Take heed, Paul would say, to Timothy, to your life and your doctrine.

This will save yourself and others. Do not tinker with the essential tenets of the

Christian faith. Do not entertain the false teachers. They are on the path and on the way to death.

I'm going to ask you to go to one more place. I think this is probably my central textual evidence for this kind of idea.

Let's go to Hebrews chapter 10. I want you to just see it.

I have one more that's probably the most clear example of this.

This is probably the second, and the one in Matthew will be the most clear.

I'll read that one, and you won't have to turn there. Hebrews 10, verse 26.

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

This is all, I think, tied to apostasy. Verse 29. Of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the

Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and here it is again, insulted the spirit of grace.

For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, the

Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living

God. But recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated.

For you had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.

Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.

For you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

Oh, Lord, I cry out to you with the deepest earnestness. May it never be said of any little one or any of us that we turn back away from Christ.

Oh, Lord, please don't ever let that happen to anyone here, not to our children or our grandchildren.

Oh, Lord, please. I cry out to you. I beg for mercy. Do not let any of these shrink back.

If anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition.

Praise the Lord. But of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

These are serious matters. We talk about the things of the faith.

Sometimes in a very trivial and very casual way. These are matters of eternal and physical life and death.

Well, the final instance, and probably the most glaring of this, again along the lines of, you don't have to turn there, you can in fact turn back to 1

John, is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit section found in Matthew chapter 12.

There is a sin unto death, and apparently this is it. There may be some debate about the earlier ones, but as we've gotten closer, there's great certainty here.

The final category of sin unto death, blasphemy against the

Holy Spirit. I'll begin reading in verse 22, if you want to follow along,

Matthew 12, 22. Then one was brought to him who was demon -possessed, blind and mute, and he healed him.

So that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw, and all the multitudes were amazed and said,

Could this be the son of David? Now when the Pharisees heard it, they said,

This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.

And there it is. Ascribing the work of God and the

Son of God to Satan. To say, this isn't the work of God, this isn't the work of the

Son of God, this is the work of Satan, this is blasphemy against the

Holy Spirit. Jesus knew their thoughts, verse 25, and said to them,

Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?

Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man?

And then he will plunder his house. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad.

Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, men. But the blasphemy against the

Spirit will not be forgiven, men. Anyone who speaks a word against the

Son of Man, it will be forgiven of him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for a tree is known by its fruit.

Brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things?

For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

This was reminiscent of James. Oh, we better take control of our tongues. Man, the words we speak, reflective of the hearts and minds that are not sanctified.

He says, But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

We need to learn to shut our mouths, be careful with our words, and not spout lies.

We might find ourselves saying wrong things about God and the Holy Spirit, denying

Christ. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

There is sin that leads to death. I don't say we should pray about that.

John would say. All unrighteousness is sin.

There's sin not leading to death, and I thank the Lord that there is forgiveness for all those in Christ who turn and repent and confess their sins.

But what should we do? We can't ultimately intercede for those who are persisting in unbelief and unrepentance.

But we can pray for our brethren who fall into trespasses.

Like assurance of salvation, I think if you're worried about sinning a sin unto death, you're probably not going to sin a sin unto death.

Does that make sense? If you are concerned about the assurance of salvation, that's a very good sign about your heart.

If you don't want anything to do with the sin leading to death, that's a good sign of the condition of your heart.

So you shouldn't be walking around fearful that you're going to commit this sin, but oh, may we be circumspect and wise and careful.

While time is running on, I need to give you a couple words of application about how to do this before we go.

Intercede for your brother in sin. Don't be forgetful about your own sinfulness.

Restore one who has fallen into temptation and sin with the spirit of gentleness.

Don't be drawn into their sin. Don't think poorly of them.

Don't gossip about their sin with others. Don't write them off as second -class citizens.

Don't immediately designate them as unbelievers. All of this seems to happen out of our own spiritual pride.

So what do we do for our brother? First, very simply, we pray. We pray and we ask the

Lord to intervene. In our prayers to God, it usually works that he calls us to intervene.

When we pray for someone, God will often call upon us to act.

So be ready for that. The second thing we need to do is we need to teach.

Some people are sinning and they are ignorant to their sinfulness because they're immature

Christians. They haven't been properly taught. It's very important that we teach them the truth of God's word and this requires a little bit of investment.

We actually have to do some confrontation and talk to people about their sin.

This isn't a work for someone else. It's the work for you to do. When we teach them, we move on to admonishing them.

We're urging them, we're beseeching them, we're pleading with them to turn from their sin.

We then call them to repentance and we continue to teach and admonish them until they repent.

And according to our text, if we pray and we ask, the Lord will grant them repentance.

In that sense, we restore them to full fellowship. We restore them. We forgive them ourselves.

We encourage them to continue to persevere in faith.

So what are you going to do the next time you see your brother sinning? We have to resist those natural inclinations.

We all have those. Intercede for your brother in sin and win your brother.

Sound good? We have a brother who has interceded for us.

This is very Christ -like. Let's pray together.

Oh Lord, we thank you for hard messages. I pray that we'd have an appropriate confidence in prayer to boldly approach the throne of grace, but also compassion on the weak, that we would see that there's great danger for those who apostatize or blaspheme the

Holy Spirit. We know that these folks are not recoverable when they commit the most egregious sins and they are, it seems, given over to this.

They can comfortably blaspheme your holy name. If they can walk away from the church, never to return.

Oh Lord, I pray that you would draw all the erring and wandering sheep back, that they would not commit the sin that leads to death.

Oh Lord, I pray that we would never be those who wander from your truth, who embrace false teaching, to deny that you come in the flesh to save sinners, to deny that you are both

God and man. Whatever it would be, Lord, that would push us away from your truth and from salvation.

I pray that you would restrain us and protect us and keep us. Oh Lord, I pray that we would come appropriately to the

Lord's table, that we would not be divisive, because we know that, according to your word, there are many weak and sick among us, and some have even died because they have been not unified at your table.

Oh Lord, I pray that we would always come to your table unified. Lord, we are great sinners, but you have brought a great salvation in Christ, and in this we rejoice.

Against the dark backdrop of sin leading to death, we rejoice that there's a