Thank you. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1, we are going to be in verse 9 again. And I've enjoyed being in one
verse today more than I could possibly describe to you. One
verse all day. Our Bible study was titled, God
is Faithful. Our morning message was titled,
By Whom You Were Called. And the title of our message
tonight is The Fellowship of His Son. Verse nine says, God
is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of
his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. That's what our faithful God
has called us to. Fellowship with Christ. Fellowship with the Lord Jesus
Christ. That is an amazing thing. That is an unfathomable thing. And I'm gonna pause on that. I'm gonna say it again. And let's
see if we can get a hold of this statement. That is an unfathomable
thing. The reason is because the root
definition of the word fellowship is oneness. Oneness with the Lord Jesus Christ. When we think of fellowship,
we talk about we're gonna fellowship Usually we get the image of a
bunch of people coming together. We're going to fellowship. Now we have that little saying,
fellows in the same ship. So we think of a bunch of people
coming together, spending time together, talking, who really
like each other and agree with each other. Fellowship. A bunch of separate beings gathered
together. We're going to fellowship. That's
not what this verse is talking about. That's not what the word means.
This is saying God is faithful by whom you were called into
oneness with his son. Oneness with Christ. That is the relationship that
God's people have been given. Oneness with Christ. Let me show you that in the scriptures.
Go with me to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis 2 verse 18 says, And the Lord God said, It is
not good that the man should be alone. I will make him and
help meet for him. Verse 21, And the Lord God caused
a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. Adam is a picture
of Christ. Christ is called the second Adam. And this deep sleep that Adam
endured, this is a picture of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't say how long he slept,
but I wonder if it was about three days. But this wife that was given
to Adam came from Adam. She came out of Adam. Verse 21 says, the Lord God caused
a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept and he took one
of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. She was in him. Okay, she was
in him. Does that make sense? Like she came from his bone,
inside of him. She was in him. And because God formed her from
that bone, he was in her. She was in him, he was in her. She was literally bone, of his
bones. And Eve represents all of God's
people. Eve is the one who sinned and brought condemnation and
separation from God to Adam. 1 Timothy 2 verse 14 says, Adam
was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
And that's us. That's what we did. We dove head
first into sin against God and Christ had to dive in with us
to redeem us back out of it. And he did that for his bride
because he was one with her. He was one with her. Verse 21,
the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept
And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God
had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and mother. And it's amazing to me that the
Lord God caused Adam to say this. God the Father was his father,
but humanly speaking, he didn't have a mother. He didn't have
a human, mortal father and mother. But this is what he said. This
is the first man and the first woman. Verse 24, therefore shall
a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife,
and they shall be one flesh. And that's why they were not
ashamed, both being naked, as verse 25 says. They were one
flesh. They were one person. Look with
me at John chapter 10. John 10, verse 30, our Lord said,
I and my Father are one. And I know that we just considered
this this morning, but let me remind us of this for the point
that we're trying to make tonight. Philip said to Christ, show us
the Father. And he said, have I been so long
time with you, Philip, and yet has thou not known me? The father and the son literally,
not figuratively, not representatively, not just
mentally or even spiritually. 1 John 5 verse 7 says the Father,
the Son, and Spirit are literally one. These three are one. The Lord Jesus Christ said in
John 17, turn over there to John 17. If we can ever get a hold of
the oneness of the Father and the Son, this will be unfathomable to
us. John 17 verse 20, our Lord said, neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their
word, that they all may be one. As that is, that's an important
word. That two letter word is a very
important word. That they all may be one as thou
father art in me and I in thee. That they also may be one in
us. That the world may believe that
thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them. that they may be one even as
we are one. I in them, thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me and hast loved them as, that's an important
word, has loved them as thou hast loved me." How does God
the Father love God the Son? How could we possibly put that
into words? What does God the Father feel
about God the Son? You can't say that with a man's
mouth. It's not possible for a man to utter that. That's how
he feels about all of his people in his son. As thou hast, you've
loved them as thou hast loved me. That's just, that's amazing. This fellowship is not just a
kindred spirit. It's an inseparable oneness. Just take a trip in your mind
for about five seconds into eternity. past earth, leave earth behind,
this is over, that's already burned up and gone, and the former
things are not remembered, they don't even come into mind. For
never ending eternity, it is absolute, unending, unseparating
oneness with Jesus Christ. How can you possibly? That's
just amazing. Turn over to Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5, let's really listen
to the wording of this. Verse 25 says, Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. Fellas, we should never stop
striving to love our wives until we achieve loving them as we
love our own bodies. That's an incredible love, isn't
it? We love ourselves. We love ourselves,
don't we? So ought men, verse 28, to love
their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. He said, the things
that I'm saying about husbands and wives, he said, I'm talking
about Christ and his called out ones. called into the condition
of being one with Him. Marriage is a wonderful picture
of our fellowship and union with Christ. But you know how in the
scripture, no picture is perfect. No picture does the reality justice. Even all those Old Testament,
the shedding of bulls and goats and all those things, those were
pictures, but they never fully described the reality. And that's how it is with us.
Marriage is probably the greatest picture
we have of oneness, but it doesn't come close. It does not come
close. To truly revealing the oneness
that God's people have. With Christ, he made himself
to be one with us. I mean truly one with us in our
sin, in our cross. That was our cross that He made
to be His cross. It was our sin that He made to
be His sin. It was our death that He made
to be His death. thereby making us to be one with
him in his righteousness, in his glory, in his life. What
an amazing fellowship we've been called into. Now, am I included
in the fellowship? Am I included? Let's not assume. Let's not assume. that we are
included in the fellowship, okay? We need to know, I want to know
and I hope that you want to know, am I included in the fellowship? Only the called ones are included. We saw this morning that not
many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble
are called. Not every soul on this earth
is called into this grace where in God's people stand. So how
can I know if I'm called into it? How can I know if I'm in
fellowship with God's son? That true fellowship of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is how we can know. This
is honestly how we can know. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
one. Philippians 1 verse 1 says, Paul and Timotheus, the servants
of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at
Philippi with the bishops and deacons, grace be unto you and
peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I
thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer
of mine for you all, making request with joy, verse five says, for
your fellowship in the gospel. From the first day until now,
every soul who is in the fellowship, in the fellowship with Christ,
is in the fellowship of his gospel. They are all in agreement with,
they are all in oneness with his gospel, not man's false gospel,
God's true gospel. And what is God's true gospel?
Verse six, being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. He started the work of salvation,
and I didn't. I did not start the work of salvation. That was all him. He performed
the work of salvation, and I didn't. I didn't perform one component
of it. He did it all by himself. He finished the work of salvation. He didn't start it and leave
the rest to me to finish it. He did it all. He paid it all.
He satisfied it all. Start to finish. That's the gospel. And all of God's people are one
with His gospel. They love and cherish His gospel. They don't just agree with it. They don't just agree with it.
They don't just acknowledge it to be the truth. They love it. They need it. They live on it. They're one with it. Do you want
to go without the gospel? Just answer in your heart, yes
or no. Are you okay with going without the gospel? Would you
be okay to just walk away from the gospel and say, I just never
listened to it again? Just take me out of this world
right now. God's people love it, they need
it, they live on it, they have to have it. It's life. It's life. That's the evidence of a soul
that's in fellowship with Christ. That soul is in fellowship with
the Word of Christ. That soul is in fellowship with
the Gospel of Christ. Look at Philippians 2, verse
1, it says, If there be therefore any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, oneness in the Spirit. It says if there's any heart,
that's what bowels means, if there's any mercy. Verse two,
fulfill ye my joy, that you be like-minded, having the same
love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done
through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind. Let
each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. who
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things
in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. Every soul in fellowship with
Christ cries, He is Lord. He is King. All glory and all
praise Be unto Him, all of it. All of it be unto Him for who
He is, for what He did to save us. Every soul in fellowship
with Christ has the same mind, the same heart. They are of one
accord and one love. They all love Christ getting
all the glory. They all love Christ sitting
in the top seat. Who do you want to be in the
top seat? Who do you want making the decisions? You know, people hear the truth
of God's word and they say, well, I can't stand that. You're making
me a puppet on a string. God's people say, amen. Just
hold the strings. Move me as you want to. I want
you in the chief seat. All glory be to you. All the glory in salvation, all
the glory in everything. God's people love that. They
need that. I need him to be in the chief
seat. They live on it. They're one with it. Praise him.
Praise him. Tell of his excellent greatness.
Ever in joyful song. If you are one with that heart
and desire, you're in fellowship with Christ and with all of His
people. Look at Philippians chapter 3. Philippians 3 verse 1 says, Finally,
my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you,
to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision, for
we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Though
I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh,
I more circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of
the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the
law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching
the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what
things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea,
doubtless, and I count all things but lost for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may
win Christ and be found in him. not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Verse 10
says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. The fellowship of His sufferings. If His sufferings and His death
on the cross is the only hope you have before God. I mean literally
the only hope you have before God. Most people would say, oh
yeah, that's it. That's the only hope I have before
God. But it's not so because they see themselves as being
worthy to stand before God. But if the Lord has stripped
you and revealed sin to you and made you so ashamed of everything
that you are, to the point that you realize Jesus Christ is all
that I have. He is the only hope that I have
of standing before God. And his righteousness that was
provided through that suffering, that is the only righteousness
I have before God. If all of your worshiping is
in the true and living God. All of your rejoicing is in Christ
Jesus. Leaving you with absolutely no
confidence in your flesh, then you are in the fellowship of
God's dear Son. Jesus Christ our Lord. These
things are the evidences and these are the promises that God
has given to us to cling to, to hope in, And the ground and
assurance of our hoping and our clinging is in the fact that
God is faithful. By whom we were called into the
hope of this fellowship. We rest right there. We rest
in his faithfulness, his faithfulness to his own promise. Go to 1 John
1. I'm going to close with this.
1 John chapter 1. Verse 1 says, That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word
of life. For the life was manifested and
we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal
life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship
with us. And truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. These things write
we unto you that your joy may be full. This then is the message
which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is
light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have
fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not
the truth. But if we walk in the light as
he is in the light, We have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. If we walk in
Christ, he is the light. We have fellowship one with another
in the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all
sin. Every time I read that verse now, I'm going to think of that
story Spurgeon told of the old man who was in the nursing home
and just a wretched sinner. And he told his granddaughter
to come visit him. and asked her to read the Bible. He knew
he was about to die, and so she started reading, and he just
got more and more miserable over his sin. It just condemned him
and convicted him. And finally, she came to that
passage in 1 John 1, verse 7. Spurgeon said, you know it. The
blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. And he said, Is that there? Is that what it said? Yes, grandfather. Read it again. The blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanses us from all sin. Are you sure it's just like that?
Yes, grandfather. Read it again. The blood of Jesus
Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. He said, put my
finger on that. He said, you tell all my friends
I die in the faith of that. The blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanses us from all sin. That is good news. That is the gospel. That is oneness
with Christ. That's what it is. May the Lord,
our God, bring us into oneness, true, true oneness. Amen.