1 John 5:16 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. (KJV)

Before I get into this, let me just say that I’m glad that I have persons around me who are not just yes men. I enjoy the conversation. So let’s consider:

If there is a sin that we are not even to pray for, for a brother who sins it, and that point is definitely made here by John. What then do we think of the man who rejects God altogether in favor of evil, even while he is professing to be good? Can you tell me what our position is to be on that? If we don’t know then did David know? Did John know? If it is, that we maybe should not pray for a brother who committed such a sin; which seems to be John’s message; then what are we to do with those in the world, who have fully embraced evil? The answers to these questions must be knowable.

The Holy Spirit inspired both David and John to understand and to write about sin and evil which seems to be beyond our prayers ability to change things. And He (Holy Spirit) did it in such a way so as to imply that we would possess that same knowledge. Actually, we have no excuse not to, because He indwells us and is teaching us all truth, provided we are listening.

Apparently there are things that God will not forgive if they become one’s method of operation. What might they be?

This may take some meditation, but listen:

Psalm 5:4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. 6 You destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. (NASB1995)

Seeing as though Jesus died for all sin, it is then impossible that there could be a sin that could not be prayed for and forgiven, is there? But that is not really what we see here nor is it what our Lord teaches. At the time the gospel is presented to man, man is found to be receptive to it or not. So when we see the hatred by God of evil sins, in the Old Testament are those sins not paid for under the new covenant.? But in the above verses there is a truth proclaimed about God, who hates not just the sin but the persons “who do iniquity”.

Psalm 139:19 O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. 20 For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take [Your name] in vain. (NASB1995)

There is an obvious overlooked truth that jumps out at us from Scripture. God’s Holy Spirit works on the hearts of men, even from our childhood we have conscience that affects our understanding of ourselves when we do wrong. The very creation speaks to us of a creator (Romans chapter1).

God has placed laws of nature and of human nature into creation. One law of human nature is that we as parents are to train up a child as he should go, and when he is old he will not depart that training. That is meant for believers, but its principle is true even for unbelievers. We know from Scripture and from just watching that men are able to do good or to sear that conscience, and there is evidence, that rebellion against parents for the lost and against God for the saved will have similar adverse consequences. If the lost harden their hearts against even the very concept of God and against that conscience, which defines within them both good and evil; then there is yielded within that man a hardness of heart, which the seed of the gospel and the mind of Christ cannot reach.

The fact that man knows both good and evil was sealed in the garden when Adam partook of that tree, and therein is man’s propensity for both.

Jesus declared in the parable of the sower that the seed sown on the rocky soil will not produce fruit.

Man thus can actually become so rocky from that evil or that rejection of God, that he himself is choosing and producing, that he will only continue to produce within, that which God hates and thus, he will reap God’s wrath.

It is because man can actually go against the very nature that God intended for nature and with it, his own propensity to love, which he was born with. Through reciprocity he brings to himself a transformative reprobate rocky heart. In the same way the once saved man who takes his salvation for-granted and, who eventually denies his Lord will find himself, without hope and in the throes of iniquity.

James 5:19 My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. (NASB1995)

The key to finding Christs love in one’s life is belief, the man who refuses to believe is already well on his way down the broad road to destruction. The law of reciprocity can be seen as the law of reaping. You reap what you sow. If you sow only unbelief or only erroneous doctrine; then you are likely, short of a miracle, (which one can pray for), to reap more unbelief or more error. If you eventually come to the place of not even being able to recognize your plight; then the seed falling upon you no matter how good that seed is, it just simply cannot grow in your hardened heart.

Scripture states: that today is the day of salvation; so seek God while He can still be found.

So are you in danger of having committed this sin unto death? Not if you have read this far. For you have either done so because you have a desire to understand God’s word, and to see how, that it is, that it does not contradict itself. It simply requires honest prayer and study to understand, or you are still here because Holy Spirit is still calling your name even though you may not have before seen.

The believers walk with our Lord Jesus in His word, is the most amazing journey that one can take.

If you hear a man telling you that you should pray for your enemies though that is true, still there comes a point within your enemies life that his sin cannot be forgiven, (you don’t know that time but God does) it is only true because he will not repent, because he cannot. You can still pray for the miracle, but God may have already given him over to the reprobate mind and a hardened heart. For you to know and understand that point in another requires that you are abiding in Christ and His Spirit is leading you into all truth.

“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love”
John 15:10

I sense that you need one example where there was needed discernment on the part of the church:

I give you Hitler. He was the leader in Germany for whom Christians were under Scriptural obligation to pray. But how do we pray for such a man Lord? There came a time when Christians began to secretly oppose him, by hiding Jews in whatever secret room they could construct. Did they pray for Hitler, likely for his demise, which did come, but the carnage was unimaginable.

We who are in Christ are there to know and understand Him and His will. Jesus came in the promised new covenant to destroy the impact, which the knowledge of evil from that tree in the midst of the garden had had when it entered humanity as Adam ate of that tree, and mankind fell into a knowledge that he could not control.

1 Corinthians 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (KJV)

If you do not have His mind, and the power of His Spirit over evil you cannot control evil when it is unleashed upon you. You need Jesus. I pray that you find Him before it is too late for a man denying Christ will acquire a reprobate mind. It is his wages for his sin, but there is good news Jesus offers you life eternal with Him. He came to take away the sin of your world.