1 John 5:15-17 - Homiletics

Intercessory prayer: its sphere and its issues.

Connecting Sink: We have freedom in prayer. That freedom will show itself in making intercession for others. At once there is suggested our topic— Intercessory prayer. There are six matters here requiring notice.

I. HERE IS AN OUTLOOK PRESENTED . We are surrounded with brethren—not only Christian brethren, whether those that are really or those that are nominally such; but with "brethren" in the world, those of our own race, of our own flesh and blood, owned as "brethren" by him who took human nature on himself, and certainly not to be disowned as such by his followers. £ Such may be seen giving way to sin. Sins are of two kinds—those "unto death" and "sin not unto death." Inasmuch as all sin persisted in and unrepented of is "unto death," we seem to be shut up to the inference that there is a state of sinning which is beyond the boundary-line of hope; while there are also sins which by no means involve any such sad conclusion. The case they present may be grievous, but it is by no means hopeless. It is to be hoped that the absolutely hopeless cases are rare indeed. "All injustice is sin;" it stains the soul, but need not destroy it.

II. A CASE SUPPOSED . A believer sees a brother sin a sin which is not unto death (for of the hopeless cases we do not just now speak). Such a case may fall under one of three heads.

1 . It may be the case of a real Christian surprised into a fault ( Galatians 6:1 ).

2 . It may be that of a nominal Christian who says he has faith, but has not works.

3 . It may be that of one entirely outside the Christian camp—who is

In all such instances there is cause for grief, there is urgent need of laying the case before God; but there is no need for despair.

III. A COURSE ADOPTED . "He will ask," i.e., he will plead for such a one with God. The apostle does not lay this down as an injunction; he says "he will" do it, as if by the instinctive promptings of an earnest spirit. It is not said for what he will ask; that is understood. He will ask for "life"—for new life where there has been none, for more life where it is feeble, for revived life where it is flagging. Note also that it is here supposed that the intercessory prayer will not lose its point by wandering over general themes and spheres, but will aim at laying the case of one sinning brother before God. How much point and power would our prayers gain if they were more intercessory! How much force would accrue to intercessory prayer if it were more specific!

IV. A BOON SECURED . "He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death ;" and these are those for whom the petitions are offered. There are four points to be noted.

1 . The gift is life. This suggestive word includes all spiritual good in each case as it is needed.

2 . The Giver is God; the Divine name is not specified, but we cannot be in doubt, since

3 . The gift of life is for those who have sinned, but not unto death. These are the wanderers whose case was borne upon the pleader's heart.

4 . This gift of life for the dead and dying ones is God's gift to the anxious pleader. Beautiful gift! To see life from God coming to those for whom we pray is surely the largest gift our hearts can desire. It is the "open reward" of the prayers offered to the Father in secret. Not thousands of gold and silver, yea, not the wealth of worlds, can compare with a boon like this! What must be the joy of him who can point to a thousand living souls turned from the error of their ways in answer to his prayer!

V. A QUESTION RESERVED "There is sin unto death" (not "a sin." Whether that be so or no, it is not what the apostle says here. He is speaking rather of the state than of a specific act). Great obscurity rests on this phrase; for the reason given in division I, we regard it as necessarily meaning a state of sinning that is beyond the hope-line.

1 . What is this state? The following texts sum up nearly all that we know: John 15:6 ; Luke 12:10 ; Philippians 3:19 ; Hebrews 6:4-6 .

Either of these is a state of "sin unto death." There are rocks out at sea in perpetual mist. Such is this rock of fatal sin. We cannot sketch it, nor point out its exact locus. God keep us all far away from it! But granting such a case:

2 . What is to be done? £ Is no intercessory voice to go up for such a one? The apostle is alarmingly silent. He does not say. An appalling thought is here brought into the field of vision. That possibly a man may be so far gone in sin that not the fondest intercessor could offer up a prayer for him, if he knew how far the sin had gone. We cannot venture to write on such a theme without fear and trembling. But we ask the reader to note the words we have italicized, "If he knew," etc. We are never in a position to pronounce a case hopeless; hence there is nothing to bar our pleading for the worst of sinners. Besides, if a man be a man of prayer, the Spirit of God will guide him for whom to pray and what to pray for; and wherever a praying man is borne along by God's Spirit to pray without ceasing for the conversion of this one or that one, such inward groaning, divinely born, is a pledge of a gracious answer. In the life of a medical missionary (Dr. Henderson) we are told by him that he had ten thousand cases under his care in the hospital. For some cases he could not open his lips in prayer. In other cases he was borne along to plead again and again for their recovery; and when this was so, he never lost a case.

VI. THE RESULT , when all such reserved cases are allowed for. The boon secured as touched on in division IV will still remain, a witness to the power of prayer, a seal to the reality of communion with God, and a blessed reward for the "strong crying and tears" of the faithful pleader. Note:

1 . "The apostolic teaching recognizes a mysterious dependence of man on man in the spiritual order, like that which is now being shown to exist in the physical order" (Canon Westcott). Even so. There are wandering souls whose weal is bound up with the intercession of the saints.

2 . It is by this intercessory service that the priesthood of believers is to become a practical reality. We are "kings and priests unto God" ( Revelation 1:6 ). No priest was ever made such for his own sake. Priests are for others. We are to go into the holy of holies, and there to bear precious souls upon our heart before God.

3 . What vast possibilities of life are wrapped up in a believer's prayers! When the breath of prayer rises up from man to God, the breath of life will be unbreathed by God to man.

4 . Who would not wish to spend and be spent in prayer, if we may receive, as God's blessed boon, life for souls! Why are we not more unselfish in our prayers? Why is so large a portion of them for ourselves, so small a portion for others? And why are we not more specific in prayer? Let us call up before us some brother or brethren for whose return to God we long and yearn; for them let us plead, and never, never give up. And if by our pleading many are visited by Heaven's best gift of life, they may never know who prayed for them; but our prayers will go up for a memorial before God, and we shall find it true that "they that sow in tears shall reap in joy."