Turn to 1 John chapter 1. 1 John
chapter 1. That which was from the beginning,
in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God, the same was. This is speaking of the eternal
I Am. The same was eternally. 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. Now when he was speaking of his
experience of the word, what did he speak of first? Hearing. Hearing. Verse 2, for the life was manifested. Not simply his life, but the
life. This is the life that I will
stand before God on judgment day. His life. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. Christ our life before God. For thee life was manifested
and we have seen 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." Now that's a witness. That which we have
seen, that which we have 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, and these
things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. That's my reason for writing.
That your joy, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but
righteousness, His righteousness, the peace that comes as a result
of that, and the joy of the Holy Ghost. I'm writing these things
that your joy, might be full. I want to have fullness of joy.
And I don't want to make it up. I don't want to work it up. I
want to don't want to stir it up. I want it to be something
that he has given me by seeing the glory of his son and the
completeness of his salvation. Let's go on reading verse five.
This then is the message. We've heard of him. and declare
unto you, this is not our message, this is the message he gave us
to declare to you, John says, that God is light. And in him is no darkness at
all. God is spirit. He's not physical. He's invisible,
he's omnipresent, and he's indivisible. He's everywhere, all of him is
everywhere at all times. God is spirit. God is love. Not loving. God is love. Independently, eternally, Sovereignly
and savingly. God is love. Not here is love
and God meets that description. God is love. And God is light. This speaks of his holiness.
God is light. And in him is no darkness Now
this is the message, which we've heard in declaring to you that
God is light and Him is no darkness at all. If we say, verse 6, if we say
that we have fellowship with Him, somebody makes this claim,
I communion with God, And he communes with me. I speak to
him. He hears me. He speaks to me. I have fellowship with God. I have a relationship with God. I know God. A lot of people make
that claim, don't they? Every religious person you know
makes that claim. I have fellowship with the living
God. Quite a claim. If we say that
we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and
do not the truth. There is no credibility to anything
we say if we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness.
Now what is John saying? Is he saying that if someone
claims a relationship with God, but in the darkness he practices
sin that no one knows anything about. Well, that's not a good
thing, but that's not what John's talking about. If we say we have
fellowship with him and walk in the darkness of salvation
by works, that's what he's referring to. If we say we have fellowship
with Him and walk in the darkness of salvation by works, we lie. We don't have any relationship
with God. It's all talk. We lie. And we do not the truth. We do not practice the truth. There's no truth in this Confession
of fellowship with God. If I walk in the darkness, and
that's the point, the darkness of salvation by works. Do you
remember when the Lord said, I'm the light of the world? There
in John chapter 8, verse 12. He said this right after he looked
at that woman who was caught red handed in the act of adultery. And he says to that woman, where
are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, No man, Lord. He said, Neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. I am the
light of the world. I am the light of how this can
be. Now that's the light he's talking
about. And if someone claims a relationship with God and walks
in darkness, he lies. And he does not the truth. But, verse 7, if we walk in the
light, the light of how Christ can look at that woman who was
caught red-handed and say, I do not condemn thee. The light of
the gospel, the light of justification by grace. The light of how God
can take a sinner and make them perfectly righteous in his sight.
If we walk in the light as he is in the light, oh he dwells
in the light of which no man can approach to. If we walk in
the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. Now I can have fellowship with
that person. And I hope that person can have fellowship with
me that looks only to Christ as everything in their salvation.
I can relate with that person. I can have fellowship. We're
fellows in the same ship, aren't we? We're saved by grace. We
look to Christ only. He's all in our salvation. We
have fellowship one with another. Now that person who makes that
religious claim that's not real, I don't have any fellowship with
that person. Don't even like him. Don't want to be around them.
The things they say that are derogatory toward the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, I hope the Lord saves them,
but as of yet, they've never bowed the knee to Christ. But
that person who looks to Christ only. Oh, what sweet fellowship
there is in the gospel. And look what he says next. He
says, in the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us. Presently, right now, constantly,
and I need this constantly, don't you? The blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Verse 8, if we say We
have no sin? What? We deceive ourselves and
the truth is not in us. Now there the word sin is a noun. He's talking about our nature. Right now, if I would say to
you right now, I do not presently have a sinful nature. I would be deceiving myself,
I would be deceiving you, and I have no credibility. If we
say we have no sin right now, we deceive ourselves. Self-deception. No credibility. The truth is not in us. Someone
that makes a claim like that is a liar and a deceiver and
the truth is not in him. Verse 9, if we confess our sins. Now the word confess is made
of two words which means speak the same. Speak the same. say the same thing God says. That's what it means to confess
your sins. It doesn't mean... Now, if you can confess all your
sins, go for it. Problem is, you don't have enough
time in the day. And the other problem is, you don't know what
they all are. You really don't. You and I are ignorant of this
thing. What is it to confess your sins? It's to speak the
same thing God says concerning your sins. It's to take sides
with God against yourself. It's agreeing with God. And that's what it is to confess
your sins. If we confess our sins, oh may
the Lord enable me and you to do that just now, to agree with
Him, to take sides with Him against ourselves. Now look at this promise. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just. Not simply merciful and gracious,
although that would be great, and He is merciful and gracious,
but that's not what it says. It doesn't say He's merciful
and gracious to forgive us of our sins, but He's faithful.
Faithful to do what he'd already determined to do before time
began. He's faithful and he's just. The very justice of God demands
the forgiveness of all for whom he died. Now, if we confess our
sins, he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse
us. from all unrighteousness. Verse 10, if we say we've not sinned, and
there the word sinned is a verb, it's with reference to anything
that we do. Right now, I hate saying this,
but if I did it, it's sin. If I'm involved in it, it's sin. And with regard to anything you
or I do at any time, if we say we've not sinned, we make him
a liar. And his word is not in us. You see, to make a claim like
that is evil. It's against the truth of God,
if we say we've not sinned. Now, my little children, this
chapter division is man-made, and I think this is so interesting.
My little children, chapter 2, verse 1, these things write I
unto you that you sin not. You have a sinful nature. You're
to confess your sins, and you can't say with regard to anything
that I didn't sin. Now, I'm writing this to you
that you sin not. Make it your resolve, by the
grace of God, to never sin again. That is the only right thing
to do, to never sin again. gives no excuse for sin of any
kind at any time. John says, these things write
I unto you, that you sin not. There's never a reason for sin. Amen? When you do. That word, if, It's also translated,
when, and that's really what it means. When you do, we have an advocate with the
Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. He's no crooked lawyer. He's
Jesus Christ the righteousness. Now our advocate is the son of
the judge. And he's never lost a case. And he makes all of his clients
plead guilty. And every one of them are justified. That's our advocate. And here is the ground of his
advocacy. Now, understand this. He was
the advocate before the sin. He's the advocate during the
sin. And he's the advocate after the
sin. And how many sins have you committed
over and over and over and over and over again? Does he say, forgive him again,
let him off the hook this one more time? No, no. His advocacy
is his propitiation. And what does propitiation mean?
We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,
and he is the propitiation for our sins. Now that word means
a sin-removing sacrifice. That's what he's done. He's removed
the sin. And that's all that needs to
be said. is propitiation. I love that
passage in Hebrews chapter 8 where he says, I will be merciful. The word is literally, I will
be propitious to their unrighteousness. I'm going to remove it by the
sacrifice of myself and their sins and iniquities. I will remember
no more. How is it that God can forget
something? because there's nothing there
to remember. That is how he removed our sins. That is his advocacy. He is the propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only. Not just the Jews, but the Gentiles
as well. He's the propitiation for the
sins of the whole world. Thank God for our advocate.