Part of 1 John chapter 5 that I want to focus on is beginning there in verse number 16, where there Bible reads, "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death." This morning I want to preach on the subject of a sin unto death. Many people I believe misread the scripture, thinking that it's a specific sin. People have asked the question, "What is the sin unto death?" In reality, this is just saying that there is a type of sin that is a sin unto death, and then there are other sins that are not sins unto death.
The Bible says, for example, in verse 17, "All unrighteousness is sin." Any time we do something that's not right, that's what unrighteousness means. Anytime we do something that's not right, it's sin, but there is a sin not unto death. At the end of verse 16 it says, "There is a sin unto death." What does this mean? If you would, keep your finger there in 1 John 5 and flip over to James 5. James chapter number 5. While you are turning there, I'll read for you a scripture from 1 Corinthians 11 where the Bible reads, "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged, but when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."
The Bible talks about in 1 Corinthians 11, the church at Corinth being chastened and judged by the Lord, and that some of the punishments that were doled out amongst God's people were that many were weak and sickly among them, and others slept. Meaning that people had actually died as a result of God's judgement. Look at James chapter 5 verse 19. The Bible reads, "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." Go back if you would to 1 John chapter 5, but in all three of these scriptures that we just looked at, we are talking about believers.
It's said in James 5, "Brethren, of one of you do err from the truth ..." In 1 John 5 verse 16, it says, "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death ..." This is talking about your brother in Christ. These are all admonitions for the saved. When we talk about committing a sin unto death, we're talking about a believer, we're talking abut a Christian committing a sin unto death, we're not talking about an unsaved person. All three of these examples are dealing with the saved, because it says brother and all of them, but not only that, I want to make it very clear. This is not talking about loosing your salvation. It's impossible to loose your salvation. Jesus said, "I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck then out of my hand."
The Bible says in John 5:24, "Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth My Word and believeth in him that sent me, hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." Those of us who are saved have been passed from death unto life. We have eternal life. We shall never die. The Bible says that we are sealed with the earnest of the spirit until the day of redemption. He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. We can go on, and on, and on, with literally hundreds of scriptures that teach that once you are saved, you are always saved. You have everlasting life, eternal life, you shall not come unto condemnation.
What would Jesus say to the unsaved on judgement day, "Depart from me, I never knew you." Not I used to know you, I never knew you. Look who he is saying it to, people who think they're saved by works, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name we've cast out devils, and I have done many wonderful works," then while prophesying to them, "I never knew you." Any saved Christian who stands before Christ would not be prophesying how many works they did as they are taken into heaven, because they are taken into heaven as the blood of Jesus. It's by faith alone. The Bible says, "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
When you tell people, "Hey, we're saved by faith," they say, "Faith and work go hand in hand." Wrong. The Bible says, "Not of works," so don't try to put works in when he said we are saved by faith, not of works. Don't say, "It's faith ..." no. It's not of works. The Bible says, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth." Some people will say, "If you believe, you are automatically [of 00:05:07] works." Then why does the Bible say, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto to him God includeth righteous without works, saying, 'Blessed are they who's inequalities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.'" That's what the bible teaches over and over again.
It's not about loosing your salvation. You say, "What is it about? What is the sin unto death?" It's about physically dying. That's why he said in 1 Corinthians 11, "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged, but when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord." When he says they sleep, he's talking about the fact that they've died physically. They are asleep in Jesus, but they are asleep nonetheless. They've died physically. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter number 10. Again, when the Bible talks about a sin unto death, the Bible says there is a sin unto death, and in the next verse, it says, there is a sin not unto death. When people try to say that the sin unto death is one specific sin, it doesn't make any sense because when he said there is a sin not unto death, that's not one specific sin. We're talking about two categories of sin. He says there is a sin unto death, there is a sin not unto death.
Sometimes people can commit sin, of course, and be killed because of the sin that they commit. They die physically as a result of the sin that they commit, even of they are believers. Then many other times, people who are believers in Christ, who are saved, born again children of God will commit sin. That is a sin not unto death. They are not necessarily going to die physically or be killed as a result of the sins that they commit. I'm going to show you many examples of this in the Bible where people in the Bible committed a sin unto death. I want to start out by pointing this out in 1 Corinthians 10, that the Old Testament stories are relevant unto us today, because a lot of these examples are from the Old Testament. Some are from the New Testament, but a lot are from the Old Testament.
A lot of people when you them a story from the Old Testament, they'll say, "God was different back then. He doesn't really do that way anymore." That's not accurate. The Old Testament is much longer than the New Testament. If you just look at your Bible where the New Testament starts and compare, you'll see that the Old Testament is much longer. There's always going to be a lot more stories and examples from the Old Testament, and we need those stories. Look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 1, "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ." Here is what's funny. The Apostle Paul is speaking to the Corinthians. Are we talking Jews or Gentiles?
Congregation: The Gentiles.
Steven Anderson: You know what he called the children of Israel? Our fathers. Think about that. Why? Because they are spiritual fathers. It's not about flesh and blood, it's not about genealogies, it's not about ethnicity, or race, no. He says to Gentile Corinthians that children of Israel are our fathers. Are our fathers. Tell that to this dispensationalist who think, "The Jews are God's ..." No. It's believers that are the spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Anyway, it has nothing to do with the sermon, but I had to throw that out there. Look at verse 6, or verse 5 rather, "But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness." These things were our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
In the Old Testament, when the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea with Moses, and the Bible says that many of them were overthrown in the wilderness, where God actually killed people. If you read Exodus, if you read Numbers, God killed people in the wilderness, and he says that these things are written as our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. What's the Bible telling us? That we will suffer the same fate that they suffered if we go down the same path that they went down, so don't tell me that God has completely changed in the New Testament. This is saying that we need to look at those stories of sins unto death in the Old Testament and be admonished in the New Testament.
The Bible says in verse 7, "Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them as it is written. The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand." In this case, fornication was a sin unto death for these people, because God killed 23,000 in one day, 24,000 in total. Look at verse 9, "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Those of us now in the end of the world are to look to this as an example. "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
Go back to Joshua chapter 7. The first example of a sin unto death that I want to show you is the story of Achan in Joshua chapter 7. The reason that I want to go to this story first is because I feel that it really ties in well with the scripture in 1 John chapter 5. The story of Achan goes like this. Joshua and the children of Israel are in the process of concurring the promised land and the first battle that they had was the battle of Jericho. This is where they matched around the city seven times, sounded the trumpets, and the walls came crushing down, and God delivered them in their hand. They are coming off of this great victory and they go to fight against Ai, and they suffer a terrible defeat at the hands of Ai, and they don't understand what the problem is. God's with us. We just won this great victory in Jericho, why did we fail at Ai?
Look at verse 6, "And Joshua rent his clothes ..." meaning he tore his clothes. He ripped them, "and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought these people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth, and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?"
The LORD said unto Joshua, "Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant that I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff." Therefore, the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed. "Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you." The reason I feel like this story ties in well with 1 John chapter 5 is that in 1 John chapter 5, it says this, "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it."
In this situation, Achan had committed sin unto death, because of the fact that Joshua is praying, and what does God tell Joshua when he is praying, "Get up off your face. What are you doing praying? You need to deal with this sin. You need to deal with this issue." This was a sin unto death and that's why he's told, "Don't pray for it, deal with it." This also reminds me of the story in 1 Corinthians chapter number 5, where there is a man who is committing fornication and such fornication is as not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife. Here is a guy who is committing this sin openly. The bible says it was reported commonly among them. Everybody knew that this guy in the church is sleeping with his father's wife.
What does Paul say there? "Put away from among yourselves that wicked person." He said, "Deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." In that situation, prayer was not going to fix the problem. Was it? He didn't say, "Pray form this guy." No. He said, "You've need to put away from amongst yourselves that wicked person. You got to deal with the issue." Some sins go beyond the bounds of just pray for people. When people committed sin that's not unto death, not the type of sin that will kill them, or cause them to be killed, or caused God's wrath to be on them in such a way that they would be killed, we need to pray for people and intercede for them and ask God to be merciful to them, but when there is a sin that's unto death, very serious, grave sin, then we need to deal with the problem.
A person who is committing the sins is listed in 1 Corinthians that are so heinous, that person needs to be thrown out of the church, the Bible even teaches. The Bible talks about people needing to be punished, and people needing to be dealt with, that they are committing serious major sins. There is a really popular doctrine out there in the past few decades that says that all sin is equal. Some of these things that just kind of rolls off the tongue for people, and it just sounds really logical and good to them when they say, "Hey, we see sin as being big sin, little sin, but to God, all sin's equal." That's a lie. It's a fraud, because there is no such teaching in the Bible. In fact the Bible teaches there is a sin unto death, and there is a sin not unto death. Jesus told Pilate, "He that delivered me under you hath the greater sin." He talked about the Pharisees devouring widows' houses and for a pretense making long prayer. He said, "Therefore shall they receive the greater admonition."
How could you have greater sin, greater admonition, sin unto death, sin not unto death if all sin is equal? Because all sin is not equal. That's why God gives different punishments for different crimes. Different punishments for the sins that are willful sins verses sins of ignorance. They're both sin, but one of them is worse than the other. I could go on and on, that's a whole summon in of itself. This was a sin unto death. Go to Acts chapter 5. There is a similar story in Acts chapter 5, similar to the story of Achan in the sense that it had to do with stealing, and it had to do with money. In Acts basically Ananias and Sapphira have lied unto the church. They claimed that they've sold a piece of land and that they've brought all the money to give to the church. Basically, they are looking for praises of men and accolades, "Hey, look at what we've done. We gave all our money to the church," but they really didn't give all of it, they kept back part of it.
They were not obligated to give all their money to the church in the first place, but they lied though and said that they did, so now it becomes an issue of whether they did it or not. God wants these people to be punished for their sin. It says in verse number 3, "But Peter said, 'Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?'" He said, You could have done whatever you wanted with that money, but did you conceive this thing in your heart? It says at the end of verse 4, "Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost, and great fear came on all them that heard these things. The young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. It was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in."
You say, why did his wife come three hours later? Because she was getting ready, and she said it was going to be five minutes, but she shows up three hours later. It says in verse 8, "And Peter answered unto her, 'Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much?' And she said, 'Yea, for so much.'Then Peter said unto her, 'How is it that you've have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.'Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost, and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. Great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things."
Don't tell me God wasn't like that in the New Testament like he was in the Old Testament. Here is an example why he was like that. Not everybody died immediately in the Old Testament either. Lots of people in the Old Testament committed sins and didn't die immediately. Look at the book of Job. They talked about that for chapters [to the end 00:18:42], but the bottom line is sometimes God will step in and he will take someone's life. Not always, we don't always understand his choices, but in his wisdom he will choose to in certain situation, and someone's life right there for committing a sin unto death. Old Testament or New Testament, he'll do it. Some people would say, "These people weren't saved," but we don't have any indication that Achan, and Ananias, and Sapphira were not saved. I'm assuming that they were saved based on the context of the story. There is no indication that they weren't, but here's a guy who was for sure saved where God took him out.
Look at King Saul. 1 Samuel 28. 1 Samuel chapter 28. Here's a man where there is no doubt that he was saved. You say, "Why do you say that Pastor Anderson?" First of all, God handpicked this man to be the king over Israel for a reason because he was a Godly man. Not only that, but the Bible talks about God giving him a new heart which has to do with salvation. The bible talks about him being changed into another man, which has to do with being a new creature, being saved. Not only that, but if yo read the story right here, the Bible talks about the fact that he's going to go to heaven when he dies. Look if you will at 1 Samuel 28 verse 18. This is Samuel speaking unto Saul, "Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me. The the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines."
When Samuel says to him, "Tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me," You have to understand, Samuel has come back from the dead to speak to him. Just his spirit has come and spoken to him. When he says, "You are going to be with me tomorrow," he means you are going to be dead tomorrow, but not only that, we know that Samuel is in heaven. He's with the Lord. He's not in hell. He says to Saul, "You are going to be with me tomorrow." Meaning you are going to die, and you are going to go and be with the Lord. You say, "Why is that a punishment?" Because we are all going to die physically unless we make it until the second coming of Jesus Christ. We're all going to die physically on this earth, and if we are saved, we are all going to heaven, but here's the thing, there's a loss of reward associated with not finishing the work that God gave you to do on this earth.
The more work that we do for the Lord, the more glory we are going to share with him throughout the millennial reign of Christ, and the more rewards we are going to earn and so forth. Obviously dying an untimely death is not something that any of us want to do. Who already knows for sure if you die that you'll go to heaven? Put up your hand. All right, who wants to take the next train out? Almost no one. Most of us want to stay here. Some people who like the Apostle Paul might say, "I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ," which is far better, but honestly most of us would rather stay here and do work for God. We want to live our lives, we want to raise our children, we want to serve the Lord, we want to accomplish something. We don't want it just to be over, the race to be over. We want to keep running. That's what the Bible is teaching here when he tells him, "Tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me."
If you read the story, guess what happens tomorrow? They all get killed in battle, him and his sons. I believe that he was saved, and I believe that his sons were all saved. There's no indication otherwise. They were all worshiping the Lord. They all seemed to be believers. With Saul there is zero doubt that he was saved. Let's flip over to 1 Chronicles chapter 13 and see another example of a believer who commits a sin unto death. This would be the example of Uzza. Uzza is not really a super well known Bible character, but this is the guy who puts forth his hand to steady the ark so that it so that it doesn't tip over, but here is the problem, nobody was supposed to touch the ark except the Levites. What happened was, instead the ark on their shoulders like they were supposed to, the Levites were supposed to use those rods that came out of the ark and carry it down their shoulders, they decided to get a little more modern with it.
They built a new cart, and they put it on a wheeled cart and they pulled the ark on a cart, and they said, "This is so much better. Why didn't God think of this?" Except it turned out it wasn't a better idea, because what happened was the oxen stumbled, the oxen that are pulling the cart ... By the way, human beings are more coordinated than oxen. They are less likely to stumble, especially if they are wearing the right footwear. Basically, they stumble and the ark is tipping and it's going to fall over. Uzza gets nervous to see this important object, the Ark of the Covenant crash, so he reaches out to steady it with his hand and he dies, because he committed that sin.
Not only that, but the men of of Beth Shemesh previously looked into the ark. They decided to open it and see what's inside and they died, because they open the ark and look inside and they are killed. That's a sin unto death, but Uzza here commits a sin unto death. Look at verse 7, "And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart, and David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets. And when they came unto the threshingfloor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark, and there he died before God. David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzza: wherefore the place is called Perezuzza to this day."
Then it says in verse 11, "And David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzza: wherefore that place is called Perezuzza to this day. David was afraid of God that day, saying, 'How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?'" Again, we see the fear of God coming upon the people when they see someone committed a sin unto death, and we see a person perish for their sin right then and there, just like in the story with Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament. This is another great example. You are in 1 chronicles. Go to 2 Chronicles chapter 35. I'll read for you from 2 kings 23 verse 29, where the Bible reads, "In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates, and king Josiah went against him, and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him."
In 2 Kings, we don't get a lot of detail. We just see Josiah going out to fight against Pharaohnechoh, and Josiah ends up getting killed in the battle. That's all it tells us, but in 2 Chronicles, we get much more detail. Look at verse 20 of chapter 35. "After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him, but he sent ambassadors to him, saying, 'What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.' Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. The archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, 'Have me away; for I am sore wounded.' His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah."
This is a little bit different of a story in the sense that God did not supernaturally intervene to bring his death, but he died in battle. Sort of like with King Saul, where Saul died in battle, but God told him, "It's a result of your disobedience that you are going to die in battle." In this story, we see first of all Josiah violating a biblical principle, and that biblical principle is not to meddle with strife not belonging to you. Do not get involved in fights that do not concern you. You don't have to just get in every battle and take sides in every war. Would somebody explain this so the people that are running our government please. That we don't have to take sides in every conflict that's going on across the world, but that rather we should not meddle with strife not belonging to us.
The Bible here is telling a story about how the King of Egypt is fighting against the King of Assyria. Not in a brew with Israel. Josiah decides to side with Assyria for whatever reason, and to go against the king of Egypt. Pharaohnechoh warns him, and actually God is using Pharaohnechoh to warn him. In fact, the words that Pharaoh speaks are actually coming from the mouth of God, the Bible says. God's using Pharaohnechoh to prophesy this to him and to tell him, "You need to stay out of this. God told me that I should go fight against the Assyrians." For some reasons, sometimes God will use men like the king of Egypt to go carry out his will, just like he used Nebuchadnezzar to carry out his will.
Nebuchadnezzar and the captain of his host, Nebuzaradan, they both knew that they were doing God's will. When they showed up, they told it to Jeremiah, "We're here because you've sinned against the Lord." God had revealed that to them. God has revealed things under Pharaohnechoh, and Josiah refuses to listen to God's word at the mouth of Pharaohnechoh, and he's also violating a scriptural principle that he should have known. Let me say this, Josiah is one of the greatest men in the Bible. He is one of the greatest Old Testament characters. When you stay the life of Josiah ... He was not just a good king. He was an excellent king. He as the greatest king since David, the man after God's own heart. Very Godly man, very righteous man, but even he could commit a sin unto death.
God could have protected him in the battle. Even though he made a mistake, God could have protected him, but God chose to allow him to be killed as a result of his sin. Obviously Josiah is in heaven. He was a righteous Godly man. He loved the Lord. No question about the fact that he worshiped the Lord and him only. He did not go after other gods or anything like that. He's definitely a believer, but even he, when he went out to the wrong battle could get himself killed. I think that this example right here is an example where ... I don't even think God stepped in supernaturally whatsoever. I think with Saul, God was with the hand of the Philistines to defeat Saul, because God said, "I'm going to kill you tomorrow with the Philistines as my instruments." Whereas in this story, I think that sin had its own built-in consequences. He went out to a battle that was not sanctioned by the Lord and he got killed. People often die in battle, don't they?
This brings up another subject when it comes to the sin unto death, because most of what we talked about here is what God in heaven decides to bring death unto a believer because of their sins. Basically to just take him out, take him home. They are done. There is also I believe an application when the Bible talks about the sin unto death. I also believe that a sin unto death can just be a sin that physically gets you killed even without God's intervention. That's a sin unto death. What is praying for that person going to do if they are killing themselves with sin. Sin often brings death. I think a great example of this is in Proverbs chapter 6 with the sin of adultery being a sin that can lead to death. First of all, back in the Old Testament in the nation of Israel, adultery was punished by the death penalty. That's definitely a sin unto death where you go and commit a sin and then you are being arrested and executed under the Old Testament laws unlike our United States law, which basically says adultery is fine, which is wicked by the way. It should be against the law.
In Proverbs 6, the Bible talks about another way that adultery can be a sin unto death. Look at verse 27. The Bible says, "Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry, but if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold. He shall give all the substance of his house, but whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding. He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. For jealousy is the rage of a man, therefore, he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts."
The Bible is talking about here committing adultery with another man's wife can often lead to you being killed, because of the jealous rage of that husband. He talks about here getting a wound. Getting dishonor, but it can also lead unto death, because he will not spare in the day of vengeance. You can't even placate him with gifts, or bribes, or try to talk him down. I had a friend where his wife, he caught her in adultery, in the very act. He walked in on her with a strange man. He ended up grabbing this guy who was not wearing any clothing and hurling him through the front window of the house. As you can imagine, this isn't like the movies where people just get thrown through a window and they are unharmed. These old westerns or whatever where they are breaking bottle and breaking windows, and nobody gets hurt. In real life, if you get thrown through a window, you are very likely, especially if it's that single pane kind of glass, very likely to be killed.
This man thrown nude through a front window was lacerated and sliced up. He was beaten and thrown through the window, and he was taken to the emergency room. He was taken to the intensive care unit, and he survived, but he barely survived. Thank God that he survived because otherwise my friend could have been in trouble with the law, whereas because he survived there wasn't as big of a deal since it was understood that he caught this guy violating his wife. He was thrown through the window. That was a good friend of mine. That's goes to show you how this can be a sin unto death. There have been other stories that didn't end that way, where the guy gets thrown the window and he's dead, or the guy is beaten, or shot, or whatever because of the fact that he committed adultery with his neighbors wife.
That's something to think about right there, that adultery is a very wicked sin. We shouldn't even think about doing it just because of the fear of God, but here is another aspect to it, men might kill you if you commit that kind of sin. Obviously murder ... Do I even need to prove that from the Bible, that murder can be a sin unto death. You murder someone, you are very likely to be murdered as well, or killed as well, or executed, or even just .... The avenger of blood will come and get you as the Bible says, but not only that, if you think about other sins that kind of have their own built-in consequences. Flip over if you would to Proverbs chapter 10. What about gluttony? There are people who shave years off their lives by eating junk food, by not taking care of what they eat. How about laziness? Slowfulness? People who are just lazy and sedentary, they are shaving years off their life.
People will die young from heart disease, and from cancer, and different things. I know you say, "I can get those things anyway?" Yeah, but you are more likely to get them if you are gluttonous and lazy, than if you are eating nutritious food and working six days a week, you are less likely to have those problems than if you are sitting on a couch all day. Another aspect of this could be smoking. Smoking has been proven to shave years off of people's lives, because of lung cancer and [Eczema 00:35:52], and other diseases. This can be a sin that can lead to your death, even without God stepping in and getting enraged. What about fornication? The sin of fornication. We saw in 1 Corinthians 10 that fornication could be a sin unto death in the sense that God did cause people to lose their lives in the Old Testament because of fornication, but how about just the diseases that you could pick up through fornication?
It's not just AIDS, but AIDS is a major disease that harms people and can even lead to their death. Even though AIDS started out as being 100% ... In the early 80s, in the United States, the only people who had AIDS were homosexuals. You have people who lie about that and try to act like that didn't happen. That's why I put together that video, the AIDS, the judgment of God video, because I showed just all of the ... It's just clip, after clip, after clip, after clip, where all of the Tom Brokaws and Dan Rathers and all of the news, people back in the early 80s are calling it a gay cancer, and saying everybody who has it is a homosexual. When it first came out, "Hey, we've got 60 cases of it. They're all sodomites, they're all homos." Why? Because of their filthy lifestyles and spreading it in the bath houses of San Francisco in New York. That's where it started in this country. Period. That's a fact.
You say, "But there's all of these straight people that have it." Right. That's because of the fact that number one, these bunch of filthy sodomites go both ways, and spread it to the straight people. Number two, many people have gotten it through a blood transfusion from one of this freaks. However else, they can come into contact, but the bottom line is that if you commit fornication today, even if you are not a filthy sodomite, if you commit fornication today, you can pick up all manner of diseases through fornication. In fact I saw a statistic not too long ago that 25% of the population of the city of New York City is infected with STDs. Think about that. 25%.
That means some young person in New York City who says, "Hey, I'm going to go out and sell my wild oats," has a one and four chance of picking up an STD, but I'll take a step further, they have a much more than one and four chance because the type of people that you are going to run into at these type of bars, and night clubs, and partying, and in the college, or campus are much more likely to be the one out four than the people who are not living that lifestyle. The three out four are the type of people that are going to slap you in the face when you try to commit fornication, and so forth. The bottom line is that today the population of the United States is filled with STDs through promiscuity. Period. It didn't just come by osmosis. It's not just an accident. No. It's he lifestyle in New York City. It's the lifestyle in Los Angeles, California. It's the lifestyle anywhere where people are committing fornication, adultery, and this type of lewd behavior, they spread disease. It's a judgement of God.
The Bible teaches it clearly. Look, there are even straight people who pick up AIDS. Think about all the famous people who got AIDS, who claimed they were straight, and everybody who knew them said that they were straight, but yet they picked up AIDS, because they are with somebody who has been with somebody, who has been with somebody, who has been with somebody who is a sodomite, who gave them to them, and they spread this junk around. We need to realize that there is a consequence to our actions, and that when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. There are two kinds of death. There is spiritual death, as in going to hell, and then there's physical death where you just physically die. God told Adam and Eve that in the day that they eat of the forbidden fruit, that they will surely die, but they didn't die physically, they died spiritually.
We that are saved, we cannot die spiritually, because he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? We can't be hurt of that second death, but can we be killed physically on this earth? Absolutely. You think God is going to miraculously cause that junk food that you are eating all the time to not harm you? You think God is going to just miraculously perform a miracle, and you seat down the couch all day, but he's just going to make your arteries get bigger and pump blood better? You think he's just going to make your heart beat better as you seat down the couch and watch TV and collect a welfare check, and eat bond bonds just because you are saved? It's just going to be fixed, everything? You think that God is going to look down from heaven and see you a believer in Jesus Christ, a born again child of God commit adultery and he's going to protect you from the rage of that man who comes to kill you? Probably not. He's probably going to step back and allow you to suffer the consequence for your actions in that situation.
You think you are just going to smoke and God is just going to heal your lungs everyday as you smoke cigarettes, as you smoke weed, as you destroy your body through laziness, gluttony, drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, fornication? You are destroying yourself. In fact God says in the book of Hosea. He said, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself." When we talk about a sin unto death, it's not a big mystery because the Bible gives us plenty of examples of the sins unto death. A lot of people who make a mystery, "What's the sin unto death? What's he talking about," because they misunderstand it, that it's a specific sin. Just as much as the sin not unto death is not a specific sin, there is a sin unto death, there is a sin not unto death. Sin can bring physical death to our lives. Number one, through God's wrath. You make God mad enough, he'll just end your life. You push things too far, it can get to the part where you are harming the cause of Christ more than you are helping the cause of Christ, because Jesus said, "He that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad."
If God looks down and says, "You are doing more to hinder the gospel than to preach the gospel," he might just decide to bring you home, because you are doing more damage than good at that point. Imagine if your boss sent you out on a job and you are breaking stuff and you are not making ... He says, "Just come back to the shop." Why are we on this earth? To seat or to serve? God has us here to work. If God looks down and we are breaking stuff, and we're not getting the job, he'll say, "Just come back to the shop." Here is the problem with coming back to the shop, when you are sent home early, you don't get the full paycheck, do you?
Congregation: No.
Steven Anderson: Same thing. One last verse for you. Proverbs chapter 10 and verse number 27, just to sum things up. "The fear of the Lord prolongeth days ..." This isn't saying that you are going to have 25 hours in your day. When the Bible says the fear of the Lord prolongeth days, it's saying you are going to have more days. "That thy days may be long on the earth," the Bible says. He says, "The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened." If you want to live a long life, then be careful not to commit sin that leads unto death. Stay away from the sin unto death, and be sure that you: number one, sin as little as possible. Number two, don't sin willfully. Number three, don't do the specific things that God gives us a ton of examples of him killing people. Those are just the rule of thumbs. Stay away from those sins especially. Those are examples unto us upon whom the ends of the world thou come.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for salvation, Lord. We thank you for the forgiveness of sins through the blood of your son Jesus Christ. Lord we pray that you would please spare those in our church, Lord, that would be prone unto the sin that leads unto death, Lord. Help us not to commit these awful sins Lord, because I would pray for all of us here that you would allow us by your grace to live a long life, and actually if it will be your will Lord, and if we're living in that generation, I pray that myself, my family, and also that the members of Faithful Word Baptist Church would be able to be alive and remain all the way until you come in the clouds, Lord. That would be a very exciting thing to be alive for it Lord and to not even see death even in the physical sense, Lord. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. I pray Lord that you will help the sermon to sink down our ears, and that it will cause us to evaluate our lives, and to get the sin out of our lives, in Jesus name we pray, amen.
