Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from 1 John, the
first epistle that the Apostle John wrote to the church, 1 John
chapter 2. I've been preaching through 1
John 1 and 2 and going on through. And I hope if you haven't heard
the prior messages, you'll go to our website and listen to
them and order them. But today I'm going to begin
in verse 9. And I'm going to talk about the
fellowship of love and light. That's the title of the message.
Fellowship of love and light. And of course what John is speaking
of here is the fellowship of believers, brethren in Christ. Those who are bound together
by the love of God as evidenced by the truth, which is the light,
and love one another. And last time I dealt with the
New Commandment, which had to do with Christ's commandment
for those who are saved by the grace of God to be bound together
in unity and love in the fellowship of faith. and that's a fellowship
that cannot be broken. That's the church, the true church
of the living God. Now that doesn't include everyone
who just simply claims to be a Christian or everyone who simply
claims to love Christ or to love their neighbor because there
is false Christianity and we need to face that. That's something
that a lot of people today who claim to be Christian, they've
never considered or they don't even want to think about. But
John, as we go on over into 1 John chapter 2, he's going to be talking
about the last days. And he says it's the last days
or the last time. And the last days, technically,
refers to the New Covenant Age, what we call the Church Age sometimes. And that's the span of time that
goes from the death of Christ, the death, burial, the resurrection
of Christ, and He ascended unto the Father, unto glory, and the
New Testament, New Covenant Church was inaugurated at Pentecost
as recorded in Acts chapter 2. So from that time on all the
way to the second coming of Christ, that span of time in the Bible
is referred to as the last days. And the Lord spoke of those to
His disciples, and He told them that there are certain things
that are going to happen as this age goes on. The book of Revelation,
speaking of the seven churches, of Asia Minor, shows the problems
and the successes that the church would go through during that
last age, the last days. And then he told them that as
we get closer to the end of the last, the last of the last days,
you might say, as we get closer to the time of his appearing
in his return, his second coming, that there's going to be more
and more deception by Satan and his minions, his preachers, under
the guise of Christianity. There'll be more and more false
Christianity. He told his disciples in three
places, recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that as we get
closer to the end of the age, that people will come claiming
to preach Christ but they don't know Christ. They're preaching
a counterfeit Christ. And so we have to understand
that when John is speaking of the fellowship of Christians,
he's talking about those who believe the true gospel, the
light of God's glory, how God saves sinners by his free and
sovereign grace through the blood and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's the gospel that Paul defined
in Romans 1, 16, and 17, when he said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and the Greek also,
or the Gentile. He said, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. The righteousness of God. Now
what is that righteousness of God? That's the entire value
and merit and worthiness of the obedience unto death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. as the surety, the substitute,
the redeemer, the life giver, the preserver of his people.
And he says, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, from knowledge revealed to knowledge received
by the power of the Holy Spirit. And he says, for it is written,
the just, the justified shall live by faith. What does that
mean? Who are the justified? Well,
they are sinners saved by grace. To be justified means to be forgiven
of all our sins on a just ground. And John had already spoken of
that in 1 John 1, here when he talks about how the blood, in
verse 7 of 1 John 1, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth
us from all sin. Now it didn't cleanse everybody
without exception. Now whose sins are cleansed by
the blood of Christ? Only those who are the fruit
of God's grace and power, those whom he brings to faith in Christ
and repentance of dead works. And to be justified is to be
declared righteous before God, not based upon our works or our
decisions, but based totally upon the righteousness of Christ,
freely imputed to us, charged to us. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, David said. And Paul wrote about
that in Romans 4, 6, describing the blessedness of the man to
whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without work. God laid the sins
of His chosen people to Christ, imputed them, charged them to
Him. And he went and died for those sins, paid the debt, satisfied
justice, and brought forth righteousness, which God has imputed, charged
to his people. How do I know I'm part of that
blessing? Because God has given me in the
new birth, under the preaching of the gospel, faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. As it is written, the justified
shall live by faith, looking unto Jesus. the author and finisher
of their faith. And so when we talk about the
fellowship of faith, the fellowship of light, the fellowship of love,
we're talking about the union, the unbreakable union bond that
exists among believers, which we receive one another in the
fellowship of faith. And it's by our testimony of
the gospel. who Christ is, who we are, who
God is. And he says, look here in verse
eight, I've already dealt with this, but let's look at 1 John
2 in verse eight. Again, a new commandment I write
unto you, which the thing is true in him and in you, because
the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. You were
in darkness, in unbelief, but now that's past. Why? Because
you made the right decisions? No. It's because God has sovereignly
and invincibly and irresistibly brought you into the family of
God by the power of the Spirit through the preaching of the
gospel. It's like that old blind man in John chapter 9. He said,
I was blind, walked in darkness, but now I see. And that seeing
is the product of God's power. It's not the product of your
will or your decision. It's what God does for His people.
He shines the light. 2 Corinthians 4, 6 calls it the
light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And
that's the light that brings us into the light of Christ.
So he says that the true light now shineth. Now look at verse
nine, he says, he that saith he is in the light and hateth
his brother is in darkness even until now. If you claim to be
a believer in the light of this truth, the true gospel, but you
hate or reject those others who believe that, then you're still
in darkness. Bible says that we're to receive
the brethren. Over in 2 John, let me read you
this passage here. In 2 John, this is a short letter,
but listen to this in verse nine of 2 John. He says, whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath
not God. Now that's an unbeliever. He
transgresses and abides, continues not in the doctrine, the teaching,
the truth of Christ, hath not God. If you want to have fellowship
with me, and I desire to have fellowship with you, the first
thing that can bring us together, it's not mutual likes and dislikes
in this world. It's not the fact that we like
the same baseball team or basketball team or we like the same foods
or have children in common. No. If we're going to have fellowship,
it's got to be based upon the doctrine of Christ, who Jesus
Christ is, what he accomplished on the cross to save me from
my sins. All of that. And he says, if
you transgress and abide not in the doctrine of Christ, you
don't have God. In other words, you give no evidence
at this time that God is your heavenly father, that you're
saved. But he goes on in verse nine, he says, he that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the father and the
son. Now that's a believer. But look
on in verse 10 of 2 John 9. If there come any unto you, and
bring not this doctrine, If somebody comes to you and brings not this
teaching, this gospel of God's grace in Christ, salvation conditioned
on Christ who fulfilled those conditions, who secured the entire
salvation of all for whom he died, by whose righteousness
we're justified before the Father, if they bring not this doctrine,
receive him not into your house, neither biddeth him God's speed.
Now, that's not talking about your individual homes, your individual
houses. You can have visitors. If you're
a believer, you can have visitors who are unbelievers. That's not
what it's talking about. When he says, receive him not
into your house, he's talking about the church, the house of
God. In other words, if they come believing another gospel,
which Paul called in Galatians 1, which is not the gospel at
all, do not receive them into your fellowship. Now that doesn't
mean you can't let them in the door. We invite anybody who wants
to hear the gospel, come in here, lost, saved, whatever. If you're
lost, you need to hear the gospel. That's why we invite you to come
in and sit down and listen to our church, but to be received
into the fellowship of faith, the fellowship of brethren, the
fellowship of Christ, If they bring not this doctrine, he says
in verse 10, then don't receive them into that fellowship. You
cannot recognize them as a brother or a sister in Christ. And I
know this offends a lot of people. I know a lot of people, when
you don't receive them readily, somebody comes in your church
and they say, well, I'm a Christian. Well, okay, I hope you are. But I don't know that until you
bring your doctrine. Your teaching, what do you believe?
Do we believe in the same Christ? There's a lot of false Christianity
out there. And if you don't readily embrace
them as a brother or sister in Christ, they get offended. They
say, oh, that's the most unloving church. Well, I'm sorry. Now,
this is love of the brethren he's talking about there. Now,
there is a sense in which we're to love our neighbor as ourself.
But when we do not express love to our neighbor by telling them
a lie about salvation, receiving them when we know better, that's
a lie. So look, he says in verse 11,
a second John, he says, for he that biddeth him God's speed
is a partaker of his evil deeds. You see that? In other words,
if somebody comes to you claiming to be a Christian, seeking your
fellowship, but they don't believe the true gospel, that's evil
deeds. And if you receive them in your
fellowship, you're a participant, a fellowshipper in their evil. But now go back to 1 John 2.
What John is talking about is the fellowship of light. and the fellowship of love that
is based on that light. This is the special love, the
heavenly, godly, as we call it the agape love, that exists only
between brethren in the faith. And he says in verse nine, let's
read it again. First John 2, nine. He that saith
he is in the light believes the truth, believes the gospel, and
hateth or rejects His brother is in darkness even until now.
Over in the book of 3rd John, we won't turn there. It's a short
book, you can read it. There was a man there named Diotrephes. And he was high up in the church
there where John was writing. And John sent preachers of the
gospel to that church to help him. But Diotrephes, because
he wanted the preeminence, he would not receive them. He rejected
them, and it was only his pride. These were men who claimed to
believe the true gospel. But Diotrephes would not receive
them. Well, diatrophies would come under the heading here in
verse nine, he hateth his brother and he's in darkness, even though
he claims to believe the truth. So you see what I'm talking about.
We who believe the gospel are to receive into our fellowship,
recognize as our brothers and sisters in Christ, every sinner
saved by grace who believes the true gospel. But we cannot receive
those who believe a false gospel. Well, look at verse 10. He says,
he that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there's none
occasion of stumbling in him. Whenever a person who claims
to believe the true gospel rejects a brother or sister who knows
the true gospel, that's an occasion to cause that person to stumble.
And we don't want to be a stumbling block. We want to be an encouragement. We don't want to be someone who
tears down everything. We want to be someone who builds
up the body of Christ. But we want to make sure that
we do it based on truth, light, and not a lie. So we want to
show love to our brethren. And the first step of that love
is to receive them into fellowship. Now we show that love in different
ways, in helping one another, especially when we're in need.
John speaks of that later on in 1 John 3. But what he's talking
about here is the fellowship of light receiving into that
fellowship and the fellowship of love and not being a person
who causes people to stumble. Look at verse 11. He says, but
he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness
and knoweth not whither he goeth because that darkness hath blinded
his eyes. That person like diatrophies
that I mentioned over in third John. who claims to believe the
real truth, but who will not receive others who profess the
truth. That person's walking in darkness.
And he really doesn't know where he's going. He doesn't know.
If he doesn't believe the gospel, I know where he's going and you
know where he's going, the Bible tells us. But he doesn't know
where he's going because he's walking around like a blind man.
He's blind to his own sinfulness. He's blind to his own need. because
he's rejecting true brothers and sisters in Christ over things
that mean nothing, over pride. In verse 12, he says, John says,
now listen to this, he says, I write unto you little children.
Who are the little children there? That's young believers. I write
unto you young believers because your sins are forgiven for his
name's sake. I'm writing unto you, you young
believers, who are in a forgiven state, forgiven by the blood
of Christ. Your sins are forgiven for His
name's sake. His name is who He is. It identifies
Him and distinguishes Him in the glory of His person, the
Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, and in the power
and success of His finished work. He accomplished salvation. John
says in verse 13, I write unto you fathers, those are elders
in the faith, because you have known him that is from the beginning,
you've known Christ, and Christ is from the beginning. I write
unto you young men, that would be something between the children
in the faith and the fathers, because you have overcome the
wicked one, you've overcome the devil. You know, young believers
like that, not children now, they're on fire, they're ready
to do battle. And he indicates that. You've
overcome the wicked one. And that's the devil. Overcoming the devil. Now that's
an interesting occupation, isn't it? Who is the devil? Well, he's the fallen angel.
He's Lucifer. He's the one who is set up as
the prince of this world, in essence. In other words, the
evil, unbelieving world. And how do you overcome the devil?
The devil's powerful. How do you overcome him? Well,
it's not by our works or our will or our determination. We
overcome him, as Revelation 12 tells us, by pleading the blood
of Christ. You know, the devil is called
the accuser of the brethren. He hurls accusations. And think about it this way.
If you were to accuse me in this way, if you were to accuse me,
say, well, Pastor Parker, you're a sinner. You know what, that
accusation is true, I am a sinner. But I'm a sinner saved by grace.
And those accusations which call me a sinner, which I am a sinner,
I turn them back by pleading the blood of Christ. It's the
blood of Christ that by which God forgives me of my sins. The
Bible says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justified. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. You see
what I'm saying? Well, he goes on in verse 13.
He says, I write unto you little children because you have known
the Father. So he's emphasizing these things. Verse 14, I've
written unto you fathers because you've known him that is from
the beginning. I've written unto you young men because you're
strong and the word of God abideth in you and you've overcome the
wicked one. He's emphasizing these things
to encourage all people who are in the family of God, young,
old, and in between. And he's writing to men and women
who believe. And he tells them, look at verse
15, love not the world. Now that's the things of this
world. Don't be in fellowship with the world, neither the things
that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. If you will compromise the
gospel to be friends with the world, then the love of the Father
is not there for you. And he says in verse 16, for
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, that's our
natural physical desires, the lust of the eyes, what we see,
acting upon what we see instead of what God says in his word.
And he says, the lust and the pride of life, the things that
we hold dear that make us proud in this life, that's not of the
Father, that's of the world. That's how the world walks. by
what they see, by how they feel. He says in verse 17, and the
world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the
will of God abideth forever. Now what is the will of God?
Well, we could talk about that for a long time, but basically
let's boil it down to this. The sovereign will of God, is
that all whom He chose before the foundation of the world,
who are justified by His verdict, and it's based upon the redemptive
work of Christ on the cross, taking their sins unto Himself,
their sin debt, substituting Himself in their place and dying
for their sins, paying their sin debt, was buried and arose
again the third day, bringing forth a perfect righteousness
by which God can be just to justify the ungodly. And we see the sovereign
will of God to bring all for whom Christ died into a saving
union, spiritual union with Christ. And how does he do that? He does
that by the new birth. whereby Christ sending the Spirit
to bring them under the preaching of the gospel and give them spiritual
life. You see, we don't have spiritual
life by nature. We are born spiritually dead
in trespasses and sins. That means we have no capacity
or desire or ability to believe and receive the things of God,
the things of Christ. But what the Spirit does in the
new birth, He gives us spiritual life and knowledge. By nature,
as we're naturally born, we're spiritually blind. But He gives
us eyes to see. See things that we didn't see
before. Value things we didn't value before. He gives us ears
to hear. By nature, we're spiritually deaf. But He gives us spiritual
ears. And He gives us a new heart,
the scripture says. He gives us new life, a new spirit. And He makes us willing in the
day of His power to receive Christ. And it's the will of the Father
that we believe on the Son, that we rest in the Son, and that
we follow the Son, His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what He means. He says, He that doeth the will
of God. Doing the will of God, you know, somebody says, well,
that means we're to keep His commandments. Well, we're to
be diligent in our efforts to keep His commandments, whatever
Christ says, but we're never going to keep them perfectly.
We're sinners. We're either sinners lost in our sins or sinners saved
by grace. And the only way that we're going
to find the perfection of the law is as we look to Jesus Christ. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. And if we believe
that, that's a miracle of God's grace. That's a gift of God.
That's nothing for us to be proud of. I cannot say, when I was
brought to believe in the gospel, believe in Christ, I couldn't
say, well, I rose above the crowd who refused and made my decision. No, it was God all along. It
was God who brought me. and made me willing to do His
revealed will by way of commandment, which is to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and plead His blood and righteousness as my whole
salvation. And that's the will of, and to
follow Him in His word. Not go according to the world.
The world goes awry, they go astray, they go into the way
of sin, but to go and follow Christ. I hope you'll join us
next week for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
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today and may the Lord be with you.