All right, let's take our Bibles
once again and turn to 1 John 1. 1 John 1. It's amazing, I did not even consider this until
I was getting up right now. We're looking at the book of
1 John, I'm looking at Proverbs, and last week in Proverbs we
considered he who is faithful, the faithful man who can find. And today in Proverbs we considered
the just man walketh in his integrity. Now I prepared a message out
of 1 John 1, 6-10, and this is what I've entitled it, the faithful
and just. So this is a continuation by
the Spirit of God's good providence of what we've been considering
concerning the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John chapter
1, I'll look in verses 8 and 9, 10, verses 8, 9, 10, if we say, that we have no sin. We deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. Now let me tell
you the most wonderful thing that Almighty God would do for
a sinner. It is to have mercy upon him,
compassion, that's what he told Moses. When Moses asked, show
me your glory, this is what the Lord said, I'm going to cause
all my goodness to pass before you. And he said, I'm going to have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'm going to have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. As I've said before, the Apostle
Paul, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, in Romans chapter
9, says this concerning what the Lord had said back in Exodus
33, So then, it is not of him that willeth. nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." Now let me tell you the
greatest blessing that Almighty God would ever bestow upon a
sinner, is to do something for him that that sinner could not
do for himself, and then tell him about it. In regenerating grace, Almighty
God, through His Holy Spirit, tells the vessels of His mercy
what He has done for them. And they then know, God has had
mercy on me. Now, if there's anything that
I want to know, this is what I want to know. Can I be clean before God? Now I know according to the will
of God, the Word of God, I know it's not by my will. That's what
He said. It's not of Him that willeth.
I know that. I don't want to be deceived.
I've told you before, we're all going to stand before God. And
I don't want to learn too late. Matthew 7 declares that many,
many, many. How many? I don't know. But the
Lord said, Matthew 7, many were saying to me in that day, we prophesied in your name, we
cast out devils in your name, we've done many wonderful works
in your name. And he said, and I will say unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I don't want to find out that
I've been deceived, that I've been lied to. And I pray this
morning, Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, teach us. Tell me, what you have to say. Because I can tell you this,
what the Lord has to say is the only thing that's going to stand. Last time, this is what we considered. Verse 6 and 7. 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. What can wash away sins? One thing. The blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have fellowship
with God, that we've been redeemed by His blood, that we're robed
in His glorious righteousness, that we are in a state of friendship
with God, being found in the Lord Jesus Christ, and walk,
that is, if the regulation of the conduct of our life is darkness. If it's darkness in that we're
holding to a false gospel, and what is the definition of a false
gospel? I'm going to sum it up real quickly.
I told you before, there's only two messages being preached in
all the world. It's either salvation that God
offers and wants to save you if you'll let Him, by exercising
your free will, which you know I've just read a scripture that
refutes that. John 1, 13, 14, read it. It's either something that you
have to do, and the scripture says, Titus 3, 5, not by works
of righteousness that we have done. What does that leave for us to
do or can do? Nothing. It's either free will
by man or it's free grace by God. That's one of the two. It
can't be both. If we say that we have fellowship
with God and walk in the darkness believing a lie, then we're shown
to be liars. We're shown to be liars. Or if
we say that we believe the gospel of God's sovereign and free grace
in Christ, what are you saying if you say you believe that?
Well, we believe that man was totally ruined by the fall, that
man is totally depraved. We believe that God Almighty,
according to Ephesians 1-4, has chosen a people from before the
foundation of the world. In Christ, that's what the Scripture
says. We believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ, when He died on the cross, for whom did He die? He died for the elect. He died
for the sheep. John 10, 15. I lay down my life for the sheep.
That's who He died for. And every ounce of blood that
He shed, The efficacy. What does that mean? It means
it got the job done. All that the Father giveth me,
John 6.37, shall come to me. We believe in irresistible grace. Almighty God is going to give
His people a new heart. Psalm 110.3 says, Thy people
shall be willing. in the day of thy power. Is God
going to save his people? Yes, sir. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. And we believe in the preservation
of the saints. You who are kept, kept, kept
by the power of God through faith under the day of salvation. Is
that what we believe? Yes, sir. If a man says, I have
fellowship with God, I believe the doctrines of grace. And walk
in darkness. Brother Mahan summed it up about
as succinctly, I guess, as it can be said. That is, if the
manner of our life is unaffected by the grace we claim to possess. That is to say, we walk in a
manner that is inconsistent with the truth that we believe. The general tenor of our life
is one wherein we take pleasure in the ways of wickedness and
the shadiness of the cares of this world. What I'm saying is
this. I say I believe the gospel, but it makes no difference in
my attitude. toward God's worship, toward
God's gospel. We lie. We lie. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. The impartation, the imparting
of spiritual life is not a vain or an empty act on God's part. That is an act that has no effect
on the walk. Almighty God said that His people
hear His voice in the preaching of the gospel. They are known
by Him. They are known as the gift from
the Father. They are known as being purchased
by His blood. They are known as willing servants
in the day of His regenerating power. Do God's people, regenerated
by the grace of God, do they want to follow the Lord? Yes,
sir. Yes, sir, they do. They're made
willing in the day of God's power. What about before they were regenerated? No, they don't want to. Why? They don't know Him. Why? They're dead. They're dead. But if we walk in the light as
He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. Now, I'm going
to try to give myself a little comfort here because I'm going
to tell you something. There's enough inconsistency in me to
scare me to death, Ben. I just... If I say I believe the gospel
and I find myself walking in a spirit of inconsistency, well,
I'm going to tell you right now, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. And if my life before
God is based upon my ability to maintain a perfect consistency,
I'm in trouble. So what is it to walk in the
light as He is in the light? Here's what the Scripture says,
Ephesians 5.8, For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light,
and the Lord walk as children of light. Now here's my question
for me, and you can get in on this if you want to. How does
a child of light walk? You tell me how a child of light
walks. I come to hear the Gospel. I
come to preach the Gospel. And my mind has wandered enough,
Chuck, I mean, I've thought of things
that were just so distracting and distracted in the service
before, and I think, Lord have mercy, what have I done? What is it? To walk as a child
of light. If we be found, enlightened by
the Spirit of God to see and to know, to understand, as the
Lord has revealed, that sin is our problem. Then we walk in
the light of God's revelation of what we are. When Scripture
says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, I'm
going to tell you something right now. That's me. If I recognize
walking as a child of light, that Almighty God has shown me
what my problem is, and that I can do nothing about it, I
cannot not sin. I can't do it. I just cannot
not sin. Say something to me and make
me mad, and I'm telling you, I'm mad. And I try to not be
mad. I try to get over it, okay? Just
give me a second. Give me a second. And I'll be
okay. But here's how a child of light
walks. He walks recognizing what his
problem is. Here's what the Apostle Paul
said, Oh, wretched man that I am. Somebody said, Well, if you walk
in the light, then you'll be about six inches off the ground
and you'll never think a bad thought. I'll tell you this.
I don't know a believer like that. You show me a believer
and I'll show you I can refute that with scripture. Job said, I abhor myself. That's walking in light. I know
what I am. Salvation must be by grace because
I'm a sinner. I'll tell you another thing about
walking in light. We are ever found to be coming
to Christ by faith for forgiveness. He that cometh to me. Christ in the light of God's
word is shown to be my only hope. Lord, forgive me. Let me just read. You stay where
you are. I'll read this to you. Let me
just tell you, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, how a child
of light walks. Here's a child of light. Here's
how he walks. Psalm 51, 1 to 3. Have mercy upon me, O God. This
is David. This is David. What has he done? He'd fallen into sin with Bathsheba.
You think his problem was sin? Sure it was. Yes, sir. What'd
God do? Send him a preacher? And Nathan
told him, he said, you're the man. You're the man. But the
Lord has put away your sin. And David went to his grave with
this attitude. Now here's how a child of light
walks. He knows what his problem is, and he knows the only hope
that he's got. That's how a child of God walks.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
Wash me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for
I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. So when the world would tell
you, well I tell you what, if you're a child of light, then
you're going to walk around, you know, you're going to be
above everybody else and you're not going to have any problems
with sin. That's a lie. That's a lie. Here's how a child
of light walks. He walks in total dependence
upon the Lord. If we walk in the light as He
is in the light, revealing Himself and who we are, Scripture says,
then we have fellowship one with another. We have fellowship with
Him, we have fellowship with other believers who are sinners,
saved by the grace of God. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanseth us. Cleanseth us. Cleanseth us. That's continual. I need cleansing
right now and I can tell you if God allows me to live till
tonight or tomorrow, I'm going to have to have cleansing then
too, Pat. This is how a believer walks. Oh, the indescribable virtue
of His blood. How immeasurable the love of
God toward His sheep. Don't tell me how good I am.
I know better, Mark. I know better than that. The
only goodness I have is Him and His righteousness imputed to
me that God Almighty accepts for Christ's sake. I know, Paul
says, in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. We are unclean in ourselves. And there's one cure. I know
it. Here's how a child of God walks.
Here's how a child of light walks. The blood of Christ. Not my will,
not my profession, not my continued reading of the scriptures, not
my... The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sins. And
without His blood being applied to that needy sinner, I can tell
you this, there is nothing but judgment and justice and wrath
that Almighty God is going to spew out. We don't have anything
to brag in, y'all. I'm going to tell you right now.
Save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And let me ask you this. To whom
is the blood of Jesus Christ applied? Who are they? Turn with me. You can hold your
finger there. Turn with me to Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36. We've read this before. Ezekiel
36. Now this is what the Lord says
concerning mercy and grace. He's going to have mercy upon
who? Ezekiel 36, verse 22. Therefore say unto the house
of Israel. Now you do realize that natural,
I've said this before, natural Israel is a picture, is a type
of God's spiritual Israel. God's spiritual Israel is pictured. Was the nation of Israel a chosen
nation out of the world, humanly speaking? Yes, they were. Yes,
they were. And God has a chosen people,
too, out of all nations, kindreds, tribes, and tongues that He's
going to show mercy. So when it says, to the house of Israel,
you look at that spiritually, because we're not looking at
history right here. Therefore saying to the house
of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sake,
O house of Israel, but for mine own holy name's sake, which ye
have profaned among the heathen, whether ye went." And when the
Lord says, I'm going to do something for my sake, that's because He
chose to do it that way. And I will sanctify my great
name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned
in the midst of them, Don't ever think that Almighty God by His
Holy Spirit will ever allow His people to forget what they are
in themselves. And the heathen shall know that
I am the Lord, that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, whom
I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. Now, this
is what He said, I'm going to do for you. I will take you from
among the heathen. and gather you out of all countries,
and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. And all your
filthiness from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart
also will I give you. A new spirit will I put within
you. I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh. I'll give you a heart of flesh
and I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in
my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them." Now
here's what Almighty God said He's going to do. He said, for
my sake, for my sake, for my honor, according to my will,
according to my purpose. He said, I'm going to take you
from among the heathen. And I'm going to gather you out
of all the countries. I'm going to bring you into your
own land. He said, I'm going to gather my people from where
they are, all that are scattered. Scripture says in Ephesians,
we looked at this last time a minute ago, Ephesians 1, 9 and 10, "...having
made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His
good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are in earth, even
in Him." And what did He say, I'm going to do for you? He said,
now here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to gather you.
Did they gather themselves? No. The Lord said, I'm going
to gather you. And he said, I'm going to dethrone
that stony heart that rules you. I'm going to take out that heart
of stone and I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going to
give you a new spirit, a new mind. And you're going to know
that I'm your God and you're my people. And he said, I'm going
to sprinkle clean water. That clean water that he's talking
about is none other than the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'm going to wash you
from all your filthiness in the blood of Christ. Revelation 1
verses 4 and 5 says this, Revelation 1, 4 and 5, to the seven churches which are
in Asia. Grace be unto you and peace from Him which is, which
was, which is to come and from the seven spirits which are before
the throne and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and
the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of
the earth unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins
in His own blood." He promised That He was going to take out
that heart that doesn't believe Him. Leave a man to himself,
and he will not believe God. Why? He's dead. You know the problem we have
being born in Adam? We don't believe that dead is
dead. We don't believe that. The Lord said, you're dead. You're
dead. I can hear with this ear. But for God to give me a hearing
ear, He's got to give me a new heart. Almighty God said, I'm
going to take out that stony heart of rebellion, I'm going
to give you a new heart. But here's a truth that we need
to be reminded of. Though God's regenerated sheep
know by faith that they have been cleansed by the blood of
Christ and are not liable Now listen to what I'm saying. They're
not liable to the guilt, the penalty and condemnation of sins. They're not liable for it. If
Christ has paid the debt of His people, if Christ has paid the
debt, how much do they owe? If Christ has paid the debt,
what I'm saying is God's people know, according to the revelation
of God's Spirit, that they have been cleansed, washed by the
blood of Christ and are not liable, answerable to their guilt, their
penalty, the penalty of their sin. They're not liable. So here's
what Scripture says concerning us being sinners. Verse 8, if
we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us. Now hear me well. Hear me well. Though there has
been, in regenerating grace, the imparting of spiritual life
to God's people, when Almighty God regenerates a sinner, what
happens? What happens? Life is imparted. A new heart. He said, I'm going
to give you a new heart. But there's absolutely no change
in this old nature. There's no change in this old
nature. That's where the struggle comes in. That's where the war
begins. Until Almighty God called me
out of darkness, I didn't have a problem with myself. I thought
I was doing pretty good. I went to church. Every time
I came home from college, Mama made me. I didn't want to disappoint my
mama. So I went to church. I'm as good
as the next person. There is no change. That's why
Paul said, I see in me, that is, in my flesh, in my old nature.
There's no good thing. It never was there. But now he
sees it. Now he knows it. Now he realizes
it. In regenerating grace, there's
an imparting, there's something put in to a believer. Life. There's a new nature. 1 John
said, that which is born of God sinneth not. There's a new nature
there that doesn't sin. There's an old nature there that
doesn't do anything but sin. And that's the battle. All of
our corrupt pursuits and desires and affections that you had before
you were converted, guess what? You still got them. Somebody said, well, I just don't
think like I used to. According to God's Word, you
do. I have just as great of battles right now as I ever did. The grace of God does not change
the old man. You know what's going to put
that old man away? Death. Death. Who shall separate me from the
body of this death? Paul said in Romans 7, 24. the Lord will, in precious death, precious sight
of the Lord. Paul said in Romans 7, 22-23,
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see
another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members. John Gill, made this statement
right here, and I thought, I think I can enter into a little bit
of what he was saying. When Paul says, bringing me into
captivity, I'm in this body, and as long as I'm in this body,
Pat, I'm going to have to deal with sin. I know that. I know
that. As long as I'm in this body,
in this flesh, sin is with me. I know that. That's what David
said there. I acknowledge my transgression.
My sin is ever before me. It's there. I know it is. But
do you know, before the Lord regenerates His people, they're
in bondage of sin. They're in the bondage of sin.
Okay? Willingly. Willingly. Willingly. They don't bother Him. They don't bother Him. But after
regeneration, and this is what Mr. Gill said. He said the difference
between a man that knows God and a man that doesn't know God.
The man that doesn't know God, sin is all that's in him. A man that does know God, now
a new life, new heart, new will, new love. He's been regenerated. He's a believer. God's given
him a new nature. But he still has this old nature.
And he sees he's in captivity. He can't get away from it because
he's in this body. I just can't get away from it.
I'm the problem. Whenever a man, a soldier, this
is the part that Gill said. He said whenever, if a soldier,
a patriot of the United States government, a soldier, a real,
I'm talking about this, there's some real soldiers. There's some
soldiers that love this country. If they were to be captured by
the enemy, They may be there, held against their will, but
I'm going to tell you, in their heart, I'm afraid they're still
a patriot. They don't love that captivity.
Before man's regenerated by the grace of God, he loves to rebel
against God, and doesn't even know he's doing it. Thinks himself
alive. But you give a man a new heart
in regenerating grace, and Paul says concerning that law and
his members warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members, he said,
it's there, I know it's there, but I don't love it. In this
body I'm held here, but I tell you this, I have a new mind that
loves God. The only thing that'll separate
us is death. Flesh lusts against the Spirit,
Spirit against the flesh, they're contrary one to the other, so
you cannot do the things that you would. If we confess, verse
9, our sins, you will never think of all the
things that you've done against God. Now you know some of them. But I'm talking about everything.
You won't. If we confess what we are, we're
sinners. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful. Faithful to His covenant. I will
have mercy. Mercy is for sinners. I will
have mercy. He's faithful and just. to forgive us. Where does the
justice of God come in, in the forgiveness of sin? Christ paid
our debt. Christ paid the debt of His people.
The debt's been paid. God is just. It's justly been
paid, and in justice, He forgives our sins. It's right. It's right. Christ paid. If we confess our
sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. The faithful and
just God. Faithful. Faithful to His promise. Faithful to His covenant. faithful
to the blood of Christ that's been shed for His people. When
I see the blood that was shed for you, that paid your debt,
that put away your sin, when I see the blood, and thanks be
unto God He ever sees it, He said, I'll pass over you. May
the Lord bless these words to our heart, for Christ's sake.
Amen.