1 John chapter 2, read verses
1 through 6 with me. My little children, these things
I write unto you that is sin not. And if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And
he's the propitiation for our sins. Not for ours only, but
also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know
that we know him if we keep his commandment. He that saith, I
know him, and keepeth not his commandment is a liar. Truth
is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word in
him or her is barely, truly is the love of God perfected or
maturing. Hereby know we that we're in
him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so
to walk, even as he walked." Now you remember he's writing
of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom he calls in verse 1, the Word
of Life. In verse 2, that eternal life,
the life, the life was manifested, that eternal life. Scripture
says, he that hath the Son hath life. Meaning, he that knows
the Son, and he's going to go on to tell us, hereby we do know,
we know him. He that knows him, and that's
not just about him, that means you've met him, he's come to
you, he's called you, he's spoken to you, he's revealed himself
to you. To know Him is to love Him, like Adam knew his wife
Eve, is to love Him, is to have a union with Him, a communion
with Him, a relationship with Him, even know with Him, love
with Him. And John writes, he says, he
thinks we declare unto you that you may have fellowship with
us, and truly, our true fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son. Though we, you and I have fellowship this morning, it's
around the Gospel. That's the only reason most of
us know each other. We wouldn't know each other.
We wouldn't care for each other. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't
for Christ and his gospel. So that's what this is all about.
And he says in these things we write unto you that your joy
might be full. Man that is born of woman is
a few days and full of trouble. Well, the gospel is called good
news. Glad tidings of great joy. And, you know, of all the troubles
and sorrows and trials and afflictions and sin and the world, this present
evil world we live in, we come in here, we need to hear some
joy, don't we? We need to have some peace, some
comfort. And that's only found in Christ.
These are words of life to those who have been quickened. And
you have to be quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. There was a time I did not care
for this. There was a time, like I see
in the faces of some of your children, that I was forced to
be here, and couldn't wait to leave here. But God, one day, He quickened
me by the Gospel, what you're hearing right now, the Word of
Life, and gave me life, and now, really, And truly, I'm not saying
this because I'm the preacher. I'd really honestly rather do
something else. But, I mean, preach. I'd rather
sit there. But, honestly, there's nothing
I'd rather do than hear the gospel and worship with God's people.
Can you say that? He that hath the Son, hath a
love for the Son, a need for the Son, Whoever you love, you
want to be with, don't you? If you love that man, if you
love that woman, you want to be with them, don't you? You
talk to them, you commune with them, you walk with them. They're
part of you, there's a union. Either have the son, have the
wife. It's like marriage, husband and
wife. You think of each other, you
talk to each other. If you don't, there's no relationship
there. Maybe on paper, you may say you're
married. But if you don't really want
to be with that person, if you don't commune with that person,
there's no union there, is there? So this is who he's talking about. And he says, this is written
for your fellowship and your joy. Verse 5, God is light. Chapter 1, verse 5. This is the
message. God is light and in Him is no
darkness. We saw in John 3 where the Lord
said to he that... I don't want to misquote it.
He said this. He said that everyone that doeth
evil hateth the light. People who don't know God, don't
know Christ, they don't want to be here. They don't want to
hear the light of His Word. It exposes them. They don't come to the light
unless their deeds should be reproved. This is why religious
people don't want to hear the truth. They're fine the way they
are. in a refuge of life. But he that doeth truth, that's
to believe the gospel, come to Christ, repent, come to the light. Come to the light. Sinner though
we be, we come to the light. Convict me, convince me. Search
me, O God. Psalm 139. See if there be any
wicked way in me. Lead me in the way everlasting.
No, we don't avoid the light, but come to the light. And I
told you about Simon Peter. Remember when the Lord first
revealed Himself to him in the boat? He said, depart from me,
Lord. I'm a sinful man. At that time,
he didn't know the Lord, didn't need the Lord, didn't want the
Lord. The Lord began to reveal Himself to him. And it scared
him. He knows my thoughts. He knows
every fish in the sea. He knows me. He said, oh, depart
from me. But three years later, he's still
a sinner. And right after he denied the
Lord, and his worst sin of all, I guess you could say, he couldn't
get to him past tonight. He dove out of the ship to get
to him. Not knowing if the Lord was going to receive him. He
had to get to him. He had the son, and now he knows.
Now he knows him. He can't live without him. How
about you? Verse 6 of chapter 1, we say
we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness. We lie. We
do not have the truth. We walk in the darkness of sin.
Sin is our life. Unbelief. Ignorance. False religion. Walk with the
world. The world is in darkness. We
lie. We can fool people. God is not
mocked. God's not mocking. He knows who's
walking with Him. Verse 7, we walk in the light.
He's in the light. We have fellowship one with another.
Fellowship, light of His Word. And light, we saw, we walk circumspectly,
or endeavor to, as in the day, not secretly or in darkness,
but in the light, light of His Word. And we have fellowship
one with another, with God, with His Son, and other lovers of
light. I used to be a companion of people
that loved darkness. We literally couldn't wait for
the night to come. Right? Well, now I can't wait
for Sunday morning to come. The Lord's Day. I can't wait
to sit with lovers of light. Because the Lord brought me out
of... I'm just telling you my story. Is this your story? He
brought me out of darkness into His marvelous light. Called me
from death unto life. This is my... I remember thinking,
you know, people seem to love this, and I didn't, I think. What they see in this, I do now. Maybe somebody's thinking, I
want this. I remember there was a time, thinking, I want this. You know what? I didn't know it, but life had
already begun. Just the desire means life has
begun. Because before there was no desire. It was repulsive to the kind
of repulsive, but when there's a new creature begun, light comes
on, desire, I want, like the woman at the well, sir, give
me this water, I'm so thirsty, I'm so guilty, I can't get anything
from anybody or anything in this world, sir, would you please
give me this water you're talking about, it sure sounds good to
me. He said, I am. And she dropped everything. And
now she's his disciple forever. I hope he's the desire of everyone
in here. Then he goes on to say, if we
say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Religious people.
And there's so many that, you know, I used to be a sinner.
Now, you know, turned over a new leaf and now going to church.
And I used to drink and do this and smoke. and chew and cuss. If we say we have no sin, any sin,
every sin, if we say that there's any sin that we don't have some
kind of problem with, we're a liar. We're a liar. There's the seed of every sin
and every believer. The finest woman in here, if
God took his hand off of you, you'd be a harlot tomorrow. Oh,
not me. Then you don't know the Lord.
You don't know yourself. The Holy Spirit's called the
Holy Spirit, and the thing he does is convict of sin. That's what our Lord said in
John 16, 8 through 11. When he comes, he's going to
convince of sin. Does he quit convincing you of
sin? Does he convince you, you were a sinner, now you're a saint,
you no longer sin? No! If anything, the more light you
come into, the more darkness you see in your own heart. The
more you feel of your sinfulness. Anybody? Verse 9 says in chapter
1, if we confess our sins, what sins? All sins. Not to one another, but to Him.
Why confess unto somebody who can't do anything about it? Confess
unto Him. He's able to forgive us. We confess our sins. Lord, I'm
the chief of sinners. Lord, I'm Mary Magdalene. Lord,
I'm a thief on the cross. Lord, I'm the prodigal son. Lord,
I'm the puppet. Lord, I am the sinner. That's
what the publican in the temple said, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. As if there's nobody else as
bad as him. That's what he thought. That's what every believer thinks.
You know what? Every believer thinks that about
themselves. If not, oh well. And he's faithful, he's just,
verse 10, I know we've looked at this. We can look at this
from now on. Verse 10, we say we have not
sinned. If we haven't thought it, I mean,
if we haven't done it, we've thought about it, haven't we?
Is anybody struggling right now as I speak? With something? Have your thoughts been pure
since you've come in here? Love God with all your heart, mind,
soul, and strength. Ever since you got here, all
you think about is worshiping God. No, you're fighting the
things of this world. You're fighting evil thoughts.
You have bitterness towards somebody. You have some kind of anger in
you. Some kind of resentment or some
kind of... You've been offended. Huh? I'm
guilty. We make God a liar. He says there's
not a just man on earth to do a good sin. But it says we're
just. It says we're... Yes. But there's
an old man still there, and he's not just. He's wicked. And God's
Word's not in. It's called, it's light. And
light exposes the darkness in us. Okay, my little children,
he says in verse 1 of chapter 2. These things write unto you
that you send off. What kind of father would not
tell his child to, don't do this, don't do that. Stop this, stop
that. Do this, do that. Huh? You don't do that. From
the time they're old enough to understand, you begin to tell
them, do right, don't you? It'll be well for you. In fact,
the Scripture says, honor your father and your mother. This
is the first commandment with promise. It gives a promise there. It'll be well with you a long
life. It's a good thing. It's right. It's just, don't
sin. Don't sin. Do I have to explain
that? Don't do it, whatever it is. Don't do it. Don't think it. Well, how? Without Him, it's impossible. With man, it's impossible. You
can't resist one temptation without Him. Adam and Eve. One temptation. Seemed like a small thing then.
God said, don't eat this fruit. That's it. You have everything,
but not that. Satan said, you want that, don't
you? One temptation, a perfect woman,
that looks good. You'd think you're better than
Eve. Adam? Not even close. Not even close. Without him, it's impossible. What does it say, John? With
Christ, I can do all things. With Christ, I can do all things.
That is, how do we resist? Peter said, Dearly beloved, abstain
from fleshly lusts that war against the self. How? Not in the strength
of your flesh. You can't do it. You can resolve
all you want to. He's like, I'm going to quit
this. I'm not going to think anymore. That's what Simon Peter said
then. They may believe you, not me. Okay. Okay. You're going
to be the first. But with him, by him, through
him. Call. This is why he says pray
without ceasing. Call. Ask. Seek. Not. Hear. Heed. You remember Psalm 143? Make
me hear your voice in the morning before I hear anybody else. Because
I heed these voices. I hear these voices. I'm tempted
by these voices. These things I see. Let me see
your face before I see anybody's face. Because these things still
have an appeal to my flesh. Lord, make me. Cause me. Lead
me. Guide me. Direct me. Please help
me. I can't do it. I can't take one step. Without
you, please make me to know your will, make me to walk in your
will, cause me to hear your voice. Don't leave me alone for one
moment. That's it. That's all we want. Read Phil
Potts' article in the Bulletin. You read that? Look into Christ
and crucify Him. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. If any man sin, and we will,
we do. And we bring great shame upon
ourselves, and we feel full of guilt, and we bring hurt upon
other people. This is why I say, don't do it.
Think before you say something. You know, words are the worst
thing of all. The worst thing of all. Pray for me. I'd stand up here
and open my mouth for a couple of hours. A multitude of words
that wanteth not sin. Something's going to come out,
and somebody's going to misconstrue it, and somebody's going to be
offended, and somebody's going to be hurt, and somebody's going to...
LEAVE! Pray for me. I get mad just like
anybody else. You get mad at me, I get mad
at you. What can I say about the sinners? Don't do it. If any man sin, we have an advocate. You want
to hear that message again? One of our ladies, she requested it the next day,
you know, wants to put it on sermon audio as a featured message
and wants other people to hear it. We have an advocate. With the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Verse two. Now, here's the beginning. It's the beginning of today's
study. We already know how we are. It says he's the propitiation
for our sins, and not for ours only, but also the sins of the
whole world. Now, you and I know. Look at verse 15, in case someone
thinks that that means Christ died for the whole world, like
John 3, 16. Look at verse 15 in the same chapter. John 2,
verse 15, love not the world. Love not the world. These are the things of the world.
That means not only the things of the world, but the world,
the course of the world, the people of the world. We're to
love our enemies. But David said, Do not I hate
them that hate thee? Yeah, I hate them with a perfect
hatred. I consider them mine enemies. That's what he said then. Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man, verse 15, if any man loved the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. How do you compare that to John
3, 16? Well, God so loved the world.
If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. God doesn't love everybody in
this world. Hell is full of people. Love never fails. Whoever God
loves, He saves. He doesn't throw people in hell
that He left. Would you? No, you wouldn't. Are you better
than God? No. God loves His people. God loves those in Christ. Romans
8.29. The love of God is in Christ
at 39. All right, what does this mean? He's a propitiation
for our sins, but not only ours, but the whole world. Who's He
writing to? John is an apostle to the Jews. Every single apostle
was an apostle and a priest to the Jews. They stayed in Jerusalem.
None of them left Jerusalem. You know that? When the persecution
of the church began in Jerusalem, none of them left. Who was the apostle to the Gentiles?
Paul. Paul. He went everywhere. The
priest said, I'm not just an apostle to the Jews, but to the
Gentiles. He went all over the world. Go in all the world and
preach the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. God has a people out of every
kindred, tongue, nation, and people in the world. Out of the
world. All people in the world are not
His people. He has a people out of every... This is how good
God is, how merciful God is, how gracious God is, how loving
God is. He has a people that no man can
number, but He has the number. He has them numbered. They're
His elect. They're His chosen. He chose them. If He didn't choose
somebody, nobody would choose Him. And He chose the people
as the stars of the sky, as the sands of the seashore, to love
Him, to believe Him, to trust Him, to come to Him. If He hadn't,
they wouldn't. And Christ came to die for His
people. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. And He turned to some Pharisees
and said, you're not my sheep, you're goats. He didn't die for
them. But he did die for a people out
of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven. Out
of the world. God so loved the world. His orderly
creation. His humanity. Mankind as a species. I love
dogs, but I don't love all dogs. I don't love all dogs. There's
many a dog I'd like to shoot. They deserve it. They're not lovely. Huh? Not lovely. God has to change
the nature of a wild dog to make them lovely. But that's not what
made him lovely. He loved them even while they
were yet sinners. But he knew what they would be, what he would
make out of them, just like Christ. God can't love people and hate
Christ. Do you? It's impossible. If he loves
those that He chose and will someday make to love Him, love
His Son. Propitiation, what does that
mean? Go to, a few more minutes. I've
got five minutes to deal with propitiation. That's a big word,
isn't it? Genesis 6. I'm going to show
you two verses, two passages. Genesis chapter 6. Right in the
middle of that word, according to God's providence, and creating
the English language. Vicki, I always marvel at God's
creation of the English language. Words just, it's amazing. Propitiation. Somebody in Anglo-Saxon whatever
said, let's make up a word about this and we'll call it propitiation. I mean, really, somebody somewhere
got it from the Latin. Right in the middle is pitch.
Well, that's exactly what it meant. The word means covering. This is the story of Noah's Ark,
OK? Who did God love? Did God love the world? He said,
I'm going to destroy man. The whole world, he said, earth
has corrupted my way. He said, it repented me. I wish
I had never made it. To speak like a man. You know,
God speaks in a language we can understand, like baby talk. When
you talk to little babies, you can't, you know, you've got to
talk on their level. And God speaks baby talk to us.
He says, it repenteth me that I've made a man. We can understand
that, can't we? I wish I'd never made him. Well, God doesn't,
you know, wish. God doesn't repent. He's not
a man, but He's telling us in a way we can understand that
man is so bad, so evil, God says, I wish I'd never made him. But
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Salvation is by
sovereign electing, choosing grace. All right, look at it.
Genesis 6, Genesis chapter 6, verse 5. God saw the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Is man better
now? If anything, he's worse. I mean, he's no worse, really,
but there's more of him. And our Lord said, as in the
days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. The whole
world is corrupted his way and full of what? Violence. That's what described the generation
right before God said, that's it. I'm going to destroy them
all. Violence. Never been a more violent
world, bloody man, sports, and people loving him. Corrupted
his way, the way, the truth. Verse 6, he repented him. Verse
7, I will destroy a man whom I have created. You don't destroy
who you love, do you? No, sir. But Noah, verse 8, found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. All right, go down to verse...
Propitiation, alright? The Lord spoke to Noah and revealed
Himself to Noah and revealed the way of salvation to Noah. It was called an ark. A vessel
of mercy. A vessel of mercy that would
take all the wrath of God upon it. And only those who are saved
are going to be in it. Verse 14, make an ark of gopher
wood. Room, shalt thou make it. Plenty
of room. Because we're going to have animals
out of every tribe, gender, nation. How are they going to get there?
Well, we're going to go outside and we're going to say, anybody
willing to come in the ark? Hey, elephant of your own free will,
come on, you want in here, don't you? Lion? You want in here,
don't you? The last thing a lion wants to
be is it cooped up in a boat. God said, come, and they come. Didn't they? They wouldn't be
there. All right? They're all in that ark now.
They came to Noah, who is a picture of Christ. And God said to Noah,
pitch it within and without. With pitch. That's propitiation. Do I need to tell you what that
means? What that stands for? Cover this boat. It's going to
look ugly to the world. It's going to look ugly to the
world. This black tar, this blood of an evergreen tree. It's the
tar, it's the sap out of an evergreen tree. A tree planted by the rivers
of living water. It's going to be wounded and
bruised and cut. And the sap, that's the balm
of Gilead. That's murder. Take that sap
out of that tree, Noah, and cover this ship. My wrath's coming
down. My rain's coming down. If this,
the only thing that's going to keep those within from being
under the wrath of God, the rain, the judgment of God, is this
pitch. Cover it good, not only on the
outside, but on the inside. Let them see it. They're going
to see. Everybody in that ark is going to know there's one
reason that we're going to be kept. That pitch, this ark. Ask them all. Ask animals. Ask
the dumbest animal on earth. Ask a dumb old ox. Ask him. He'll
tell you. What's your salvation? This ship.
That bitch. That picket top. Ask any true
believer on the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll tell you. What is your
salvation? Christ. It's the blood. Not me. Not anything I've done. Not my
faith in it. It's the blood that makes the
atonement for the salvation. And God said in Exodus 12, take
that blood, put it on a doorpost, and little, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. And over in Romans, propitiation
is used twice in Romans and here in 1 John. But the same word
is atonement. It's the exact same word, atonement,
covering, pitch. Brethren, we're a bunch of sinners. Okay? Our only hope is to be
found in Christ. In that great day, when Christ
comes back, He's going to take home with
Him those that are saved by His precious blood, and they know
of it. And He's the propitiation for
our sins. He's the covering. He's the atonement,
not for Jews. You know, the Jews knew something
about the atonement. They tried to Remember the Lord
told the Jews. Who did the high priest go in
and offer up the blood atonement in the holy place? Who did he
do that for? Jews, not Gentiles. All right, the Jews knew something
about that. They weren't looking to Christ in that. It became
a form. It became a ceremony. It became
just a duty. And they went through the motions
and all that, just like Christians. So many Christians sit here today.
Not here. Well, I hope not here. But in
other places, they hear things about the blood. They hear about
Jesus dying. They hear about this, that, and the other. And
it's just a form. It's just a ceremony. Just going through the motions.
And they're going to go on their way and not think a thing about
it. And God says, a stench in my mouth. And my Son, what it
took to put away the sins of my people, is for me to make
my Son a bloody sacrifice. Amen. And so he tells the preacher,
you preach the blood, you preach Christ, you preach my Son. How
do you lift it up? When I see the blood, when I
see those who really and truly know and love and believe in
the Son, And call unto me for mercy, for grace, for help, for
salvation through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll pass
over. I'll have mercy on you. Is that
you? Oh, don't go through the motions. Don't go through the
motion. Do you need pitch? Ask Noah. Ask Noah. Boy, he's sitting in
that boat. You think he has perfect faith.
You think Noah has perfect faith, do you? Do you really? Come on,
man. He's a man just like that. He's sitting in that boat. And
he's hearing people scream and holler at him. And boy, the boat's
rocking and shaking. He's getting sick. He's never
been on a ship before. He's sick. And there's thunder
and lightning. Thunder and lightning and a big
thunderstorm still scare you a little bit. Come on. Come on,
Ricky. You're a strong man. You liar.
Listen, one time, my dad, you remember this man? We were living
in that mobile home right here by the church house. You remember?
One of the most horrific thunderstorms ever. Dad and Mom were staying
with us, okay? And it woke me up. I woke up and there my dad was,
woke up. He was standing in the window, you know, looking out.
You know what I thought? Sure glad my dad's here. That thunder and that lightning
was rolling. That boat was shaking. His children
are in there. His children are in there. Ain't
only eight people in that church. And it's rocking, and it's rolling,
and they're scared. They're all scared. Oh, what
you hope. I sure hope that pitch holds
up. Do you know not one drop of water
landed on one single person? God is faithful. Be just. Noah, come down in the ark with
me as your safeguard. Believe me. Trust me. You'll
be scared, but I'm faithful. I'll keep you. I want to be found
in Christ, don't you? I'm a sinner, and I need the
blood. I need propitiation, I need recovery,
I need atonement where we have one in Christ. Thank you for the question. I did a little better than you
did. The first message didn't get
past the word that.