Words Of Comfort, Conviction, Exhortation

Q: What does the Bible say about fellowship with God?

The Bible emphasizes that true fellowship with God is only through Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that true fellowship with God is found through a relationship with Jesus Christ. In 1 John 1:3, the apostle John states that he writes to confirm that our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. This fellowship is based on our union with Christ, who is the mediator between God and man. Fellowship with God means participating in that divine relationship, which is characterized by understanding His nature, walking in His light, and being cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Moreover, this fellowship leads to a transformative joy that comes from a shared life in Christ.

Q: How do we know that Jesus Christ is God?

We know Jesus Christ is God because He is described as the Word who was both with God and was God in John 1:1. The deity of Jesus Christ is established in scripture, particularly in John 1:1 which states, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' This passage affirms His eternal existence and divine nature. Furthermore, in 1 John 1:1-2, John emphasizes that Jesus, the Word of Life, was not only with the Father but was manifested in the flesh—demonstrating that the God-man walked among us. The apostles' witness of His ministry, His miraculous works, and ultimately His resurrection serve as conclusive evidence of His divine identity.

Q: Why is the blood of Jesus important for salvation?

The blood of Jesus is crucial for salvation because it cleanses us from all sin and represents the atonement for our sins. The significance of the blood of Jesus in salvation cannot be overstated. In 1 John 1:7, it is declared that 'the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.' This cleansing means that through His sacrificial death, Jesus paid the penalty for sin once and for all. The blood serves as the ultimate atonement, as seen in the Passover, where God passed over the houses marked by the blood of the lamb. This foreshadowed Christ’s redemptive work. Salvation, therefore, is not based on our actions but solely on the merit of Christ's sacrificial blood, which fulfills justice and extends mercy to all who believe.

Q: What does walking in the light mean in the context of 1 John?

Walking in the light means living in accordance with God's truth and presence, reflecting His holiness. In the context of 1 John, walking in the light signifies living in accordance with God's truth and being in a genuine relationship with Him. 1 John 1:5 states that 'God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.' This metaphor emphasizes the moral purity and truth of God. To walk in the light involves recognizing our sinfulness, relying on the cleansing power of Christ's blood, and pursuing righteousness. It also reflects the idea of fellowship with God and with fellow believers, as walking in the light fosters genuine community and accountability among Christians.

Q: Why do Christians confess their sins?

Christians confess their sins to maintain fellowship with God and receive His cleansing grace. Confession of sins is an essential practice for Christians as highlighted in 1 John 1:9, which states, 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' Confession helps maintain a right relationship with God, acknowledging our ongoing need for His grace. It is not merely a ritual but a heartfelt acknowledgment of our weaknesses and failures. Through confession, believers can experience the assurance of forgiveness and cleansing, which reinforces their identity in Christ and encourages a lifestyle that is increasingly aligned with God's will.

Let's go back to the book of
1 John, chapter 1. 1 John, chapter 1. This epistle, or letter, is written
to believers. This is written to God's children. That's how John refers to them
many times throughout this letter. You read it there in chapter
2, verse 1. My little children. The family
of God is who he is writing to. The family of God. Our Lord said
this. He said, except ye be converted
and become as little children, ye will not enter the kingdom.
So all those who are God's people are as little children. They
come before God's word as little children to be taught, to learn. They're nothings and nobodies.
They're not lifted up with pride, but they're little children before
their father, needing to be reproved, rebuked, as Paul wrote, instructed,
corrected, chastened, encouraged, comforted, built up, mature. They need these things. They
come to be taught by him. And as with any large family,
the family of God, as with any large family, if any of you were
members of a large family growing up, the more children you have,
the more problems there are that arise, more problems. You have
children of different personalities. Then there are conflicts, there
are troubles, there are problems, there always seems to be a prodigal
in the family. A prodigal, someone out of sorts,
always. So this whole letter is written
to the family, written to God's people. May you be as one of
these little children. Now, in verses 1 through 3, let's
look at these verses. gives a word of confirmation
or affirmation to establish and confirm who Christ is. Verse 1, John says, that which
was from the beginning, which we have heard. You remember the
angels when they announced the birth of Christ's child. This was such a unique thing. never been anything like this,
the God-man, God manifest in the flesh. That the angels didn't
know what to call it, and they said, that holy thing that is
in Mary's womb is of God, that, the God-man. That's what they
said about the manna. Remember when the bread fell
from heaven. They said, what is it? When it
first fell, that's what the people cried out. What is this? This
is bread from heaven. What is it? And that's what the
word manna means. What is it? Something unique. Well, John said, that. That. This unique one. That which was from the beginning.
Which was God from the beginning. came to this earth. Read on. That which was from the beginning. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God, John wrote.
All things were created by Him. God came here. Which we have
heard. John said we heard Him. We heard God speak. Which we have seen with our eyes.
We looked. Now, Paul wrote this. who dwells in light which no
man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see. But John said we have seen him.
God veiled himself in flesh, veiled himself in flesh to speak
to men. Read on. We have heard him. We
have heard him. We have seen him with our eyes
which we have looked upon. We not only have heard him and
seen him, but we've observed him to be the sinless one, to
be the sovereign one, to be who he was, which we have handled. We touched him. Our hands have
handled of the word of life. Life, the giver of life, God
whose spirit became flesh. Read on, verse 2, for the life,
life was manifested. Life was manifested and we've
seen it. and bear witness and show unto
you, we're trying to show unto you that eternal life which was
with the Father and was manifested unto life, the life giver. Verse 3, that which we have seen
and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship
with us. So John's saying he was here. God became a man. Peter wrote the same thing in
2 Peter chapter 1. He said we haven't made up a
cunningly devised fable. He said we didn't make this thing
up. Cunningly devised fable. When we made known unto you the
power, sovereign power and coming of who it was that came, coming
of our Lord. But he said we were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. We were there. We saw him. John
said we heard him. We handled him like itself. God, Paul said, without controversy. No matter what anyone says, Paul
said this is without controversy. God became a man. God was here. That was no mere mortal man.
That was not just a man born of a woman named Jesus, but that
was the Son of the God. Under us a child is born, Isaiah
said, but the Son, the Eternal Son, who was with the Father
from the beginning, is given. The Eternal Son inhabited or
entered into the body of a human being. The Eternal Son, who was
with the Father from the beginning, borrowed a woman's womb to be
born, to be made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law, His people. So God became a man
without controversy. And so John says, we write these
things unto you. We declare what we've seen and
heard unto you. And we keep declaring it. And
Peter, one time, he said, we can't help but speak the things
we've seen and heard. What was the theme of the apostles
preaching everywhere they went? They didn't take up political
issues. It wasn't against Roman tyranny.
It wasn't against abortion. It wasn't against the social
issues of the day. They had all of these things
that we have. They didn't address these things. They didn't enter
into these issues. No. The issue, and that which
every human being is concerned with, or should
be, is who was this that walked this planet? What did he do?
What's that mean to me? What did he say? If it was God
speaking, It's not an option whether to believe him or not,
is it? And what he did, if it was God that walked this planet,
what he did is of eternal consequence, isn't it? And where he is now,
and everything concerning him, is of eternal consequence. And
so John says, we declare these things unto you. We're writing
to you. Things we've seen and heard declare we unto you, that
you also may have fellowship with us. And truly, he said, truly, our
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. That you may have fellowship,
he said, we write, we declare, we confirm who this was that came. Now he's
writing to people that believe this. He's writing to those that
believe that this was God who came. And he says, we're writing
to confirm to you. And everywhere they went, they
would just speak the same thing. Paul said, to write the same
things to you is not grievous to me. No. Just as speaking of
someone you love is not grievous to you. You get around a mother
and eventually her conversation will come around to her children.
You get around a grandmother and it's doubly so. She'll want
to talk about those she loves and are dear to us, a wife, same
way with a wife, her husband, husband, his wife. Well, so it is with those who've
seen Christ's glory, a true preacher of the gospel. If he's truly
seen Christ and taken up with him, like these apostles, Christ
will be his theme. Christ will be his message, always,
every time, everywhere. And Christ is who everyone needs
to see and hear and believe, just like John and the apostles. And he said, we want you to have
this fellowship, too. And truly, our fellowship is
with the Father and with his Son. There's no fellowshipâ€”this
thing of eternal life and this thing of heaven, this thing of
life after this life, is all a family. It's all a family thing. In Ephesians 5, he said, out
of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is made. This whole
thing is a family affair, and everyone that's not in the family
is not going to be there, is not going to be in that fellowship,
truly our fellowship with the Father. There's no fellowship.
God is not pleased with anyone outside of Christ. God does not
love anyone outside of Christ. That's what Romans 8.39 says.
The love of God is in Christ Jesus. God loves those that are
in his Son. Outside of Christ, John 3, verse
36 says, the wrath of God abides on men and women. So this fellowship,
the love of God, the favor of God, just like it is in any family,
is all around Christ. It's all centered in Christ. A fellowship in a family is a
is a special thing, is it not? A family fellowship is very special,
very intimate. No outsiders are allowed. No outsider. Let me give you
some things about a fellowship of a family. Number one, it's
based on blood. A family, that fellowship that
you enjoy is based on blood. That is, your parents. You all
have the same parents in the family, the brothers and sisters
and all. It can be adoption also, but
it's the same, based on the parentage, the blood. Family fellowship
that you enjoy is because all of you have similar characteristics.
When you come from the same father and mother, you have similar
characteristics, so you're very much alike, are you not? And
so you enjoy this fellowship together. You have mutual experiences
when you grow up together in a family. There were four of
us, three boys and one girl, well, two boys and one monster.
And a girl, one girl, whom I tormented to no end. But nevertheless,
we had a fellowship. We were a family with mutual
experiences growing up under the same father and mother. Mutual
experiences, we all went through the same things together. Mutual
likes and dislikes, when you live in a family for very long,
you'll all come to like and dislike the same thing, pretty much.
Similar thoughts and opinions, when you're raised by the same
father and mother, you will grow up, pretty much guarantee it,
if your father and mother were Republican or Democrat. I know
what you say. Nevertheless, we have similar
thoughts and opinions based on who it is we are raised under. We have a life together. So all
of these things apply to this fellowship of God's family. Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter
4, Father of us all, believers that is. God is not the father
of all mankind. Oh, no. Romans chapter 9 tells us
plainly there that he is the father of the children of the
promise. He is their father. Our Lord said to some self-righteous
Pharisees, he looked at them and said, you are of your father,
the devil. Did he not? And none of us are
born, that is, John 1.13 says, we're not born of the will of
the flesh, the will of man, or blood. We're not born as children
of God, per se. We're adopted into the family.
God chooses or adopts his people. But they're born again. We are
born again by the Spirit of God. But everyone is not. But many
are. They're God's people. They have
the same Father. They have one blood. What blood
is that? The blood of Christ. They are
all under the blood. They all have the blood of Christ
coursing through their veins. They all have mutual experiences. They have all been saved the
same way. They were all lost sinners until Christ found them. particles until the Father calls
them to himself. They all have mutual likes and
dislikes. They believe, again there in
Ephesians 4, it says, there is one Lord and one faith. There
aren't many different faiths. Scripture doesn't say that. Different people believe different
ways. They all believe the same God
and are all going to the same place. No, sir. No, sir. One
Lord, one faith. the common faith that is delivered
to the saints, the faith which is Christ alone, Christ alone. Mutual likes and dislikes, similar thoughts and opinions.
You find very little that God's people disagree on, truly, truly. These denominations, I've brought
this up to you many times before, all of these denominations are
man-made. There's no division in the church.
This denomination on our building is unfortunate. It was there
when this place started and for the sake of, because people know
where this is and now know what we preach, we've left it there. But we're not Baptists. We're
not Methodists. The Church in the New Testament
was not denominated by anything but the Church. The Church at
Ephesus gave that as a location. The Church at Colossae. The Church
at Philippi. The Church at Corinth. The Church
at Galatia. The Church. That's how it was
denominated. But there was no denomination
because they all believed the same thing. There were no differences
of differences. They all believed the same God,
same book, same Lord, same thing in salvation, salvation of the
Lord. So this fellowship, they all
have the same thoughts and opinions. They all have a life together. A life together. I've heard preachers
talk about there's a cancer in the body of Christ. No, no, no,
not in the body of Christ. Not in the church of Christ. As I say, little problems that
creep up, but the body of Christ is complete. It's whole. It's
whole. God's family. John is writing here and he says
that you may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship
is with the Father. and with his son, Jesus Christ. Now in verse 7, he talks about
this fellowship again. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. As with any family, some get
out of fellowship. Some get out of fellowship for
whatever reason. The reason is always The reason is always found
in that person. You can't blame it on anybody
else. Whatever reason, some of the children get out of fellowship
like wandering sheep. Wandering sheep, like prodigal
sons. And for whatever reason, they
go out to sow some oats or greener grass or whatever. They get with
bad companions. Scripture says evil companions
corrupt good manners. Like in a natural family, a child
can get on drugs. So it is with God's people. They
become inebriated with or overindulge in things, things of this world. Whatever it may be, persons,
family, places, or things, they become... Peter said, be sober,
and he didn't mean stay off the liquor. He meant don't be intoxicated
with anything, anything. Be inebriated with it, not talking
about alcohol at all. He's talking about the things
of this world which intoxicate men and women to the point They're
not in their right mind. They don't think about those
things that are truly needful. All of us have been here, the
drugs of whatever, right? Always. But if God's child, if
someone is truly God's child, he'll bring that prodigal to
themselves. He'll bring that prodigal son
or daughter to themselves, like the prodigal there in the story. He'll make them feel so all alone
and out of fellowship that they come to themselves and realize,
look at me, I'm in the hog pen. When the servants at home are
enjoying comforts, and God will bring them back. So he says,
and so this message is to you, that you may have fellowship
with them. Now truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with the
Son. This is the fellowship. This
is what it's all about. What it's all about. Verse 4,
he says, These things write we unto you, that your joy may be
full. We write these things unto you,
who Christ is. This blessed fellowship we have,
that your joy may be full. David wrote, At thy right hand
are pleasures for evermore, and thy presence is fullness of joy. Well, we can't go to the right
hand of God right now, can we? We can't see God, but he said where two or three
are gathered, that's where I am. That's where he is. That's where
his presence is, in the worship of the Father and the Son and
his fellowship. And he said, that's where your
joy will be found. There's no real lasting joy out
there in the world and the things of this world. Our Lord said,
the water of this world leads you thirsty. But he said, the
water I give you will be like a well springing
up. And you come back here and go back to the fountain. Keep
filling up. So he says here, we write these
things unto you that your joy may be full. Fullness of joy. There's no joy outside of the
fellowship. But your joy may be full if you're found fellowshipping
with the Father and with his Son and with his people in the
gospel of Christ. Verse 5, this then is the message
which we have heard of him. This is the message that we have
heard of him, and declare unto you. God is light. And in him
is no darkness at all. God is light. What does that
mean? Well, it's impossible to really explain, but I quoted it a moment
ago. He said, God dwells in light,
which no man can approach unto. The true God of the scriptures
is infinitely above and beyond us mortals, he's infinitely holy
so that mortal man, sinful man, God, Scripture says that man's
too sinful for God to even look upon, but in Christ he has dealings
with man. In Christ I represent it, through
the blood of Christ. He has dealings with man. But
God is light in the sense that all-seeing, all-knowing, all-encompassing. James wrote, "...in whom there
is no shadow." If it were possible to have light around us in every
direction, there would be no shadows. Right? No shadows. You have light from under and
around and above and all. There would be no shadows whatsoever
around. Nothing hidden. from view. Nothing's secret. Things that
are in the dark seem to be hidden from view or secret. God is light. David wrote this in Psalm 139. He said, the darkness is light
unto him. There's no darkness to God. In other words, so God sees all,
knows all. Our Father is omniscient and
omnipresent. omniscient and omnipresent. Thou,
Lord, seest me, David said. You see me. You know me. Every thought in my head, every
word in my mouth before I speak it. You knew me, he said, before
I was ever created, before I was into my mother's womb, he said.
You knew me. Everything about me. I'm predestined.
Everything concerning me. That's the God of the Bible. Nothing unknown. Nothing hidden.
takes him by surprise. Nothing is out from under his
absolute sovereign will and purpose and direction and nothing hidden. You see that? God is light. God is all-knowing, all-seeing,
all-encompassing. No darkness at all. No darkness
of sin. No darkness of ignorance. These
things describe us. No darkness of absence. Verse 6, he goes on to say, if
we say now we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness,
we lie and do not the truth. If we say, now this is what our
Lord said concerning the Pharisees and concerning the hypocrite.
Every time he mentioned them, I believe it's Matthew 23, he
said, they say and do not. all that they say, they say,
they say, they say. In other words, they're big talkers. And the scripture says we're
not heard for our much speaking. We can be impressed with what
someone says. God is not listening to the words
of man. Scripture says he looks on the
heart. That's all of this confusion and noise and religion. God is not impressed with all
the sights and sounds and voices and carryings on of religion.
What is he looking at? The heart. With the heart man
believeth unto righteousness. My son, give me thine heart.
God is worshipped in spirit. That means from the heart. Not
worshipped with men's hands. from the heart and in truth. God's listening for his truth.
He's listening for his word and those who are really interested
in his word. Not just making a commotion of
religion. That may impress men, but God's
not taking notice of that. Not like those prophets whom
Elijah stood before on Mount Carmel. Remember that? They were
jumping and shouting and carrying on and jumping on an altar cutting
themselves and crying out and screaming. It sounds just like
one of these so-called spirit meetings today. God wasn't there. Elijah spoke about a 45-second
message and fire fell. Well, if we say, if we say, we
can say what we will to men, but God doesn't listen to word.
It was a fellow named Simon Magus. If you'll read his story, it
sounded like what he said was good. It sounded like he was repenting.
Remember, he wanted to buy the Holy Spirit. He was interested
in the gifts of the Spirit, so to speak. He said, let me have
this, I'll give you some money. And Peter, I believe it was,
said, your heart's not right. Oh, then he started saying something.
If we say we have fellowship with him, with God. Oh, I believe
God. I hear that so much. Everyone,
when they find out I'm a preacher, they've got to tell me how religious
they are. Everybody. That's the reason I don't introduce
myself as a preacher or a pastor. They'll find out eventually.
But everyone's got to tell me how religious they are, or that
the fact that their uncle's cousin's brother's nephew is a preacher
over so-and-so. Oh, I believe in God. But I sure
don't believe that election. Or I don't believe that predestination.
Or I don't believe this. Or I don't believe that. Oh,
wait a minute. You mean there's something God said in his book? that you don't believe? That
you take issue with? I mean, is there anything in
God's Word that you take issue with? God's Word? If we say we have fellowship
with Him, with the Father, with God. If we say we believe God,
then you believe God. Read on. Say we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness. We lie and do not the truth.
Those who walk in the darkness of ignorance. Nobody believes
God who doesn't know God. God Almighty is God. You don't
let Him be God. God is either God or somebody
else is. God means absolute sovereign
ruler and controller of all things. All-wise, all-powerful, sovereign
ruler. That's what the word God means.
Capital G. Capital O. Capital D. Well, wait a minute. That's when
you're in darkness, because this book from cover to cover tells
us about the God who works all things unto the counsel of his
own will, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, You can't
do that. He says, I'm the potter, you're Clary. What can Clary
say to the potter? Now, if anybody says they believe
God and walk in the darkness of ignorance or superstition. I was thinking the other day
about all these pilgrimages that people might pilgrimages that people make.
The Muslims make their pilgrimage to Mecca. The so-called Christians
make their pilgrimage to Israel. That's ignorance, people. That's
superstition. There's no holy place on this planet. There's
no holy land on this planet. It's all a ball of dirt. If you
could find the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified, it
would do you no good. none whatsoever. It's just a
piece of wood, that's all it is. The Shroud of Turin, all of these
things that men and women hold dear, that's the darkness of
superstition. Who was it? It was Hezekiah who
found the brozen serpent that Moses and Aaron created. Remember
the brazen serpent lifted up on a pole to whom all that were
bitten by that serpent could look, which was a picture of
Christ. That was a picture of Christ
crucified. Hezekiah king found that thing. What did he do? He was afraid that people would
worship that thing, that they would hold it dear as some religious
relic. What did he do? He ground it
to powder. He had it ground up. And he called it Nehushtan. That's a word he gave for it.
Nehushtan, a Hebrew word meaning a worthless piece of brass. God
is spirit. He's not worshipped with things.
You don't see crosses and pictures and signs and all these things
around here. Paul wrote in Philippians 3,
the true circumcision, the true people
of God worshipped God in spirit. They don't need visual aids. Besides, God forbids images. Didn't he say that? Don't make
any graven image of anything in heaven or anything on earth.
Anything! Nobody knows what Jesus Christ looked like. That's an
idol, that picture of him. A cross. That's a graven image,
people. True worshipers worship God in
spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus. They're not rejoicing in their
denomination or their church or their little religious gathering. They don't rejoice in the fact
that they were baptized. They don't rejoice in what they
do, their works for Jesus, anything. They rejoice in Christ Jesus.
All of their rejoicing, their fellowship and rejoicing, is
centered around him. They come to hear about him and
worship him. And they put no confidence in
the flesh, he went on. Worship God in the Spirit, rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. Nothing to do with
the flesh. So this is the darkness that
people walk in. We say we have fellowship with
him and walk in darkness of ignorance, superstition, sin. We lie. We're lying. I don't care what
we say. It doesn't matter. We lie. And do not the truth. How do you do the truth? How do you do the truth? They
asked the Lord this one time, what must we do that we might
do the works of God? And many people are going about
to establish their own righteousness, Paul wrote. They're going about
to turn over a new leaf. do this and do that, they abstain
from this, or they do this and that and the other, thinking
God is pleased with what they have done. No, it's not by works
of righteousness. No man is saved by works of the
flesh. No, no, no, no. But by faith. By grace, you say, through faith. Our Lord said, this is the work
of God, that you believe on him. whom he has sent, that you believe
on Christ, that you look to Christ and Christ alone. Don't look
to the cross he hung on, look to the Christ who hung there. We don't cherish an old rugged
cross, we cherish the Christ who hung there. That's all the
difference. Don't worship things or places,
but a person. A person. If we say, we lie,
I do not, the truth. Verse 7, I've got to hurry. But
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, 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, cleanses us from all
sin. We walk in the light. What is
it to walk in the light? What is the light? What does
the word of God say is the light? Let me ask you again, what does
the word of God, say, is the light. David wrote, Thy word
is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. The word of God, the entrance
of thy word, David said, giveth light. Without this, there is
darkness, there is ignorance. Without this, without a clear,
forthright consistent, verse-by-verse, line-upon-line, precept-upon-precept,
declaration of God's Word and entering darkness. And they come
up with all sorts of concoctions. The natives or the people out
from under this have made up all sorts of gods. It can be
any god that you can imagine. This is life, the life of the
knowledge of the glory of God. And where is that saying? in
the person of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6. This is light. The entrance of
thy word giveth light. We walk in the light as he is
in the light, the light of God's word, the light of God's Spirit,
God's Holy Spirit. He says he leads us by his Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2, he said we are
led of the Spirit. Romans 8, the whole chapter is
about this, being led as many as are the The Spirit of God
doesn't make people talk like bloomin' idiots. I hear a lot
of that today. All this talk about the Holy
Spirit makes people talk like bloomin' idiots. You've heard all this yabba-dabba-doo.
I call it Flintstone. Fred Flintstone. Yabba-dabba-doo. Show me in the scriptures where
anybody talked like a blooming idiot. You won't see them laying around
on the floor doing all this stuff today. That's a spirit, all right?
It's another spirit, not the spirit of God. There's a story
about a man who was possessed of a devil. I think
it's Mark chapter 8. The man was possessed of a devil.
And the Lord took, now the thing he was doing, it says he was
crying and shouting and running and jumping and doing all of
these things and nobody could chain him down. Do you remember
this story? Jumping and shouting and carrying
on and all that stuff. Babbling. But when the Lord came
to him and the Lord crossed the ocean just to get to that one
man and save him. And he crossed the Sea of Galilee
in a boat, and that's when the disciples, remember, the storm
arose, all of that. But he was going all the way
across the ocean to deal with this one man. That was one of
his sheep, one of his elect. Anyway, he crossed over, and
there was that fellow in the tombs. That's a picture of dead
religion, crying, shouting, jumping, carrying on, talking foolishly
and all that. What did the Lord do to that
man? When the Lord got through with that man? took out that
evil spirit out of him, and put the Holy Spirit of God in him.
Where was the man after that? How did you find the man? What
was he doing? He wasn't jumping and shouting
and carrying on, talking foolishly. It says he was seated, had all
his clothes off, and in his right mind. What was he doing? Listening
to Christ. Listening to Christ speak. You
can't hear from God when you're talking. This is how God speaks
to you. You can't hear from God. If this
is open, this is shut. There's a string between them.
One's open, the other's shut. And faith cometh out by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God. This is the reason God has chosen
this thing of preaching, which the world calls foolishness.
I understand that. But this is what God chooses.
Why? Because men and women have to come and sit down and shut
up and be subject to this book. Now, argue with it, these share
sessions, these things are one-on-one, because people are waiting for
you to get through so they can have their turn. But now when
God Almighty brings his people in and sits them down like this
man, shuts and opens a word, and a man, if he's studied to
show himself approved, he'll bring a message line upon line,
argument upon argument. And God Almighty is pleased by
the Spirit of God to take this one word and slay that heart. But this is the only thing that
will. This is life, this one word from God. The power of God's
Spirit can dispel all the darkness of ignorance and superstition
and religion. I see this all the time. I see
people come and sit and listen. They've been in religion and
heard this and seen that and done that, and they don't know
what they're looking for, but they come and sit and they listen
and listen and listen, and finally one day, they say, that's exactly
what Peter said, until the day spring arises in your heart,
until it dawns on you. What dawns on you? It ain't a
what, it's a who. Do you see? Hey, salvation is
not, it's of the Lord. This thing's in God's hands.
I mean completely. If it's God, it is. And the one
that came down to this earth is God. What'd he do? Why'd he do it? Who'd he do it
for? Where is he now? Did he succeed? Well, if he's
God, he did. And so this is the light. We
walk in the light. As he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another. Fellowship one with another around
the gospel and the blood of Jesus Christ. His Son cleanses us from
all sin. Thank God for the blood. Our salvation, the salvation
of all of God's people, depends one hundred percent on the blood
of Jesus Christ. It doesn't depend on our work,
our morality, anything like that, our decision, our keeping ourselves. The salvation of God's people,
like those children of Israel in Egypt who are in those houses,
God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Not when
I see how good a little boy and girl you are. Not when I see
if youâ€”do you really mean it? When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you," he said, in mercy and grace and salvation. When
I see the blood, thank God, salvation is the blood. Thank God the blood
of Jesus Christ makes atonement for my old sinful soul. Thank
God, like the song says, Jesus Christ paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin left the crimson stain, washed
it white as snow. Thank God the blood is on the
mercy seat. You know what that mercy seat
is? Why, the first five books of the Bible talk about it. What's
the mercy seat? The blood of Jesus Christ is
on the mercy seat right now before the Lord. Yes, it is. The great
high priest has names on his breastplate, scars in his hand. Blood on the mercy seat. Thank
God the blood is on the lintel and the doorpost of my tabernacle. And I didn't put it there, but
the Spirit of God did. Do you know what that means?
The blood, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from how many
sins? What past sins? All sin, past,
present. And we're not done sinning yet.
And on our deathbed, it's not going to depend on us making
penance or some fellow reading rites over us. There's a man
right now at the right hand of God. And all my forgiveness is with
him, not a fellow in Rome, not a fellow behind a dark booth,
but a fellow who dwells in the light where God sees the blood. He said, I'll pass over. Thank
God for the blood. He said, when I see the blood.
But John, every now and then I need to see the blood too,
buddy. I told you before that our salvation doesn't depend
on us seeing the blood. Those children of Israel, they
were in those houses. They couldn't see that blood
on the doorpost. It was on the outside. God saw it. But Betty, when they walked out
of that house free, You ask them why the Lord spared
them. Every one of them. Ask every
one of them, why did the Lord spare you? Why did he kill the
Egyptians at the first point? Why didn't he kill you? Blood. And I need to see the
blood. You know, that's what we're doing
this morning. That's why you're here. We come in here to see
the blood. We need to come here and hear
about the blood, don't we? That makes atonement, that cleanses
us from All, A-double-F, all sin. That's good news to a sinner. This is not a message for righteous
people, self-righteous people, for good Christians. This gospel is all about a blood
atonement for sinners. When that sacrifice was being
made out there in the wilderness, The ones that needed it were
sinners. The unclean, the lepers, that's
who came. So it is now. I've always wanted
to put over top of this building, sinners only, no good people
allowed. And read on, look at the next
thing. Because he says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the
truth is not in us. See that? If we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves. People are confused. They misread
and misunderstand chapter 3 of 1 John. I don't have time to
deal with it. But see, he starts this out by
saying, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. I like what Brother John Chapman
said about that fellow he went to school with. The fellow got
religion, you know, and wanted everybody to know it. And he
quit everything, quit all his sinning, you know, and he actually
told John that he didn't sin anymore. He was without sin,
living the victorious life and all that. John said, No, he's
a liar, because I know him. He said he's deceiving himself.
He may think he's not, but I know him. He just did sin when he
said that. He just did. It says in verse 10, if we say we
have not sinned, we make God a liar. This book, from cover
to cover, talks about the guilt of man, does it not? Past, present,
and future guilt of man. And man is a guilty sinner until
the day he dies. I don't care what he does. knows
or thinks he is. He's a European sinner before
a holy God. We'd call him God a liar if we
say we're without sin. The thing is that people have
sin categorized as either in a bottle or a box. That's what
people think sin is, either a bottle or a box, or the way you wear
your clothes or hair or whatever. If you quit, if you can put down
a bottle and do without the box and not go in certain places
and look certain ways, you're not a sinner anymore. Adam didn't
have any of those things. Adam and Eve didn't have a barter
at the end, didn't have a cigarette, didn't have a beer. They plunged this whole
race into sin. Adam didn't go anywhere or do
anything, or he was naked! Your holiness depend on the clothes
you wear? He was naked! And clothes were a covering for
his sin! That's significant, that we take
pride in our clothing, when it's just wouldn't even need it if
you weren't a sinner. Oh, how ignorant man is. If we
say we had no sin, no original sin, well, I didn't do what Adam
did. You're not going to blame me
for what Adam did, original sin. That's what God's Word says.
By one man's sin entered the world, and death passed by sin
for all of sin. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners, guilty. That's what it says. But that
argument won't hold. If you want the righteousness
of Christ and the blood of Christ, you weren't there when he did
that either. So unless you take part in Adam's
sin, unless you say, oh, I'm guilty in Adam, you can't be
innocent in Christ. If you say there's no original
sin, if you say there's no indwelling sin, well, I've quit sinning
now. Look at me. That's the worst sin of all,
self-righteousness. God hates that worse than anything.
Oh yeah, hates that worse than anything. Self-righteousness
calls God a liar. Self-righteousness said Jesus
Christ didn't have to come here. Salvation of a human being is
one way, is by that God-man coming down here and doing what he did
for them for thirty-three years and dying to death. What do we
deserve at the hands of God? What Christ got at the cross.
Nothing less. And for a person to say, well,
God accepted me because of this, is to say Christ didn't need
to come here and die. God hates that. Self-righteousness. I've got to quit. But if we confess
our sins, verse 9, you didn't think I'd get to this, did you,
Brother John? If we confess our sins. If we confess our sins, you know
confession is a wonderful thing. We're all guilty. We're all guilty of sin, aren't
we? Confession is a wonderful thing,
but there's only one that you confess to. Scripture talks about
repentance toward God. We don't confess our sins to
a man. We're seeing that very clearly,
aren't we? That these men are great sinners themselves. What
can they do about my sin, I confess to them? Nothing. They can't
take care of their own. Oh, but there is one. We have an advocate,
he said in verse 1 of chapter 2, with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous, who confesses our sin while he's faithful,
meaning that he's always forgiven. He's forgiven every sin that
comes to him, every sin that they confess, and the ones that
don't. David said, cleanse me from secret sin, from presumptuous
sin, from what I don't know that I'm doing, not doing. What I'm
not doing, it ought to be said, cleanse me, help me, help me. He's faithful. He's ready to
forgive. He always has, always will, every time. All unrighteousness. Oh yeah, that's what it says.
All unrighteousness. It's the best news a real sinner
ever heard. Faithful and just. He's just
because the blood paid for him. And he will cleanse us, it says,
from all unrighteousness. All forgiven and forgotten. Forgiven
and forgotten. Where are you going to hear all
of this? Where are you going to hear about this? In the gospel, what we're doing.
And so he says, in conclusion, if we say we have not sinned,
we're calling God a liar, his word is not in us, that is the
light, we're walking in darkness, his word's not in us. My little
children, chapter 2, verse 1, my little children. We're just
little children, aren't we? These things I write unto you,
that you might have fellowship with us, he said, these things
I write unto you that you sin not, just like a parent says,
don't do that. How many times does a parent
have to say that? I wish some of these parents
wouldn't say it quite so many times. I wish they'd do something
about it. If you don't quit that, I want ninety-nine times. If
you don't quit that, I wish they'd just go ahead and do it. A right of duty, sin not, don't
do that. Don't sin, but not now. The word,
and, is either and or but. But, if any, and, if any man
sin, and who hasn't, who won't? What's your hope? We have an
advocate with a father. We have an advocate, a lawyer,
a daisman, an umpire. a mediator, a substitute, blood,
righteousness, with the Father. With the Father, we're His children.
We're His children because of Christ, that's why. No other
reason. Because of Christ, by faith in
Him. All right. Brother John, if you'll come
up. What number is that?

Words Of Comfort, Conviction, Exhortation

What does the Bible say about fellowship with God?

How do we know that Jesus Christ is God?

Why is the blood of Jesus important for salvation?

What does walking in the light mean in the context of 1 John?

Why do Christians confess their sins?

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Words Of Comfort, Conviction, Exhortation

What does the Bible say about fellowship with God?

How do we know that Jesus Christ is God?

Why is the blood of Jesus important for salvation?

What does walking in the light mean in the context of 1 John?

Why do Christians confess their sins?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

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