The Sin Leading to Death

• Sermon, Dr. Rayburn


• text: 1Jn 5.13-17


• Apostacy is the sin that leads to death, the "unforgivable sin".


• Besetting sin and backsliding are not the same as apostacy.


• The mortal sin can only be committed by a "Christian", that is a member of the Church.


• The mortal sin is not a particular transgression of God's commandments raised to the nth degree; it is nothing other than the sin of unbelief in turning away from the Gospel after we have received it. His sin has placed him beyond the possibility of forgiveness. It is a rejecting, opposing, and blaspheming of Christ and his way of salvation after one has accepted and tasted in some measure the goodness of the Gospel and of the Saviour. It is the willful desertion of the Gospel after one has accepted it.


• If you are worried that you have committed the mortal sin, your anxiety is a sure sign that you haven't.