Now, find in your Bibles the
book of 1 John, over in the New Testament, the first epistle
of John. This morning what I want to do
is I'm going to begin a study of this short epistle, 1 John,
and also 2 and 3 John. John wrote three letters here. And they're short letters, but
they're full of God's truth. full of teaching and instruction
and encouragement for the people of God. I've entitled this message
this morning, Fellowship with God. Fellowship with God. And what I want to do this morning
is I want to sort of give you an overview of 1st, 2nd, and
3rd John before we begin. Sort of a bird's-eye view of
things. You know, sometimes if you've
ever flown in an airplane, get up there. I remember once a few
years back, I flew over the state of Iowa. And from the airplane,
you look down on Iowa, and it's so beautiful. It looks like a
patchwork quilt. Just everything just so neat
and clean. And really, it's the same way
just about when you get on the ground in Iowa. But I remember
when we got to the town we were going to, it was in an air-conditioned
car, and I stepped out of the car, and there was the awfulest
smell. that I have ever smelled. And
what it was in this town, they had a fertilizer plant. And it
was awful. And you know, that's the way
it is sometimes, the thing. The farther you're away from them,
the more beautiful they appear. And you get closer to them, they
stink more. Or they get uglier. Well, I can assure you that this
is not going to be that way. The book of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
John, or any part of the Scripture, we'll take an overview, and it
will look beautiful, because it's God's truth. But the closer
we get into it, the closer we get down to it, it's just going
to be even more beautiful, because God's Word is just such precious,
precious truth to God's people. And that's my hope and my prayer
as I study it and as you study it with me. But 1st, 2nd, and
3rd John was written by the apostle John. one of the twelve apostles. He was the son of Zebedee, the
brother of James. He was the last apostle to die. You know, all the apostles, most
of them were martyred, and they say except the apostle John.
I call it a martyrdom. You know, he was exiled. The
officials, the religionists, had had enough of what he had
to say, so they put him out on an island, the Isle of Patmos,
and he stayed there until he died. And as you Some of you
may know that's where the Lord Jesus Christ revealed the book
of Revelation to John, on the Isle of Patmos, and that letter,
by God's power and providence, found its way into the churches.
And we've been studying that on Sunday night, just about to
finish it up. But he's also the author, the human author, and
I say that, the human author, because God is the author of
Scripture. This Bible is God-breathed, inspired by the Holy Spirit. This is God's work. But he used
human instruments, weak human instruments. And John was one
of those instruments. He's also the human author of
the book of John, the gospel of John, from which our brother
just read, the high priestly prayer of Christ in John 17. And for that reason, I'm going
to probably, throughout this study, as we see these messages,
I'll appeal to the book of John quite a bit, because John's language
in the gospel of John sort of clears up some of the language
in 1, 2, and 3 John, but it's a great book. Look at chapter
1 of 1 John, look at verse 1. Now, I'm going to come back and
do these first four or five verses next Sunday morning, but I just
want to read them to you this morning and show you the theme
of this book. It says, "...that which was from
the beginning, which we have heard," speaking of the gospel
message, "...which we have seen with our eyes." which we have
looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life."
These are men who have been with the Lord Jesus Christ. They walked
with him. He talked to them. He taught
them. When he prayed that high priestly prayer that Brother
Aaron read this morning, these men were in his presence. And
so they're saying this is not something that we have by hearsay. This is not a rumor. This is
not a tall tale. This is no legend. This is no
preacher's tale. This is what I've seen firsthand. We handle of the word of God,
the word of life, which is Christ, who is the word, the living word.
Christ, who is the incarnate word. The word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. Christ, who is the subject of
the written word of God. If you're preaching from the
Bible and you're preaching a rite, you're preaching Christ and him
crucified. Have God save sinners. by his
grace through Christ. And then he certainly is, therefore,
the subject of the preached or the uttered word. Paul said,
I strive not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. He's the theme of my message. He's the center of my message. He's the foundation of my message.
And though we preach many things from God's word, for it is a
full book and it covers the whole life of a believer from eternity
past and electing grace all the way to final glory, We don't
preach anything outside the light and the boundaries of the Lord
Jesus Christ and God's grace in him. He has a parenthesis
in verse 2 there. It says, "...for the life was
manifested," that's Christ, "...great is the mystery of godliness,
God was manifested in flesh. And we have seen," now it says,
"...it there," but I prefer him, that it's in italics. We've seen him. And we bear witness
and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father
and was manifested unto us, revealed to us." Verse 3, "...that which
we have seen and heard declare we unto you." This is no secret
society. This is no cult. This is no clique. This is no circle. This is a
public message. This is a message to be shouted
from the rooftop, above board, in the light, walk in the light,
not hidden. Not just for a select group,
it's to be preached to everybody. Now, we know everybody's not
going to believe it. We know only those whom God reveals it
to are going to believe it. And we pray that God will reveal
it to ourselves, to all. But we declare it unto you. You
need this message of grace. Just like when you're sick and
you go to the doctor, if he's got the cure, you need it. That's
simple. You need it. And you're going
to listen to him. If he's got the cure, you're
going to listen, and you're going to say, give me the cure. Well,
this is the only cure for the sickness of sin that plagues
every one of us. The preaching of Christ and how
he, by himself, went in unto God and drank damnation dry and
paid the sin debt for his people. This is the message you need,
and it's to be preached to everyone. Now look at verse 3, he says,
"...that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that
you also may have fellowship with us." And truly our fellowship
is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Now, what
is the purpose of 1 John and 2 John and 3 John? Well, they're
stated in the book of 1 John. Look at verse 4, here's a stated
purpose. Here's why he wrote this letter.
He's got several reasons he mentions in the book. But here's one of
them, verse 4. He says, "...and these things
write we unto you, that your joy may be full." That your joy
may be complete or come to completion. What kind of joy is he talking
about? He's talking about spiritual joy. He's talking about eternal
joy that believers have in Christ. This is not the joy of the world.
This is not just the fleeting happiness that comes in rare
moments in this day and age. This is an eternal, eternal spiritual
joy of the heart that we have in Christ. It begins with confidence
in Christ. Paul wrote in Philippians chapter
3 and verse 3, he said, we are the circumcision. We worship
God in spirit. and rejoice in Christ Jesus."
That word rejoice is confidence. We have confidence in Christ.
And we have no confidence in the flesh, he says. So this joy
begins with confidence in Christ. I am confident that he's my Savior. I'm confident that he's my Redeemer. I'm confident that I'm complete
in him. I'm confident that he took care
of my sin problem at the cross. I'm confident that he's given
me eyes to see and ears to hear and a mind and a heart to understand
and know and love his word, his truth, and to follow him, to
look to him and rest in him. He said in Galatians 6 and verse
14, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. That word glory means confidence,
the same word that he has translated rejoice in Philippians 3 and
verse 3. But the joy here is a happiness.
It is a happiness. It's not the happiness like a
drug. It's not the happiness that comes
in temporary moments. But it's the happiness that a
believer has when he looks to Christ. You see that? I mean,
we look to ourselves, and we can look within ourselves, and
we can get pretty down, can't we? And should. Because it's
not a pretty picture. So all when our eyes are focused
on Christ and what he accomplished, when our eyes look to him, And
even through a trial, that peaceable fruit of righteousness that comes
afterward, I've told you a thousand times, and I'll tell you probably
a thousand more if the Lord lets me, that I never come through
a trial feeling good about myself, but I always come through those
trials looking more and more to Christ and his blood and his
righteousness and his power and his grace. And that's the joy
that he's speaking of. It continues as we walk in him,
as we walk by him, as we grow in grace and in knowledge of
him. Now, no believer's joy will be fully complete in this life. The psalmist said that. Listen
to him as I read Psalm 16 and verse 11. In his prayer he says,
"...thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness
of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures
for evermore." Our joy will not be perfect and complete until
we're with Christ. until we see him as he is. We
have this joy, we who know Christ, we who believe, we who have been
regenerated by the Spirit, we have, he's the spirit of joy. We have this joy now in measure,
in part, but we'll have it complete and perfect in glory, uninterrupted,
you see. By looking to Christ now we have
it, but you see the problem is that while we're still in this
flesh, While we're still on this earth, we have so many rivals
to that joy that we actually possess in Christ that they're
rivals. You think about it. Moments in time, sickness, trouble,
somebody makes us angry, things like that, they all rival our
joy. Our time gets consumed with other things. But if there's
a joy that God's people have and it's a joy that cannot be
described, It comes from looking to Christ, as Peter said, whom
we have not seen, ye love, in whom though now ye see him not
yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Paul wrote in Romans 14 and verse
17, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, not in this
physical world, but righteousness, righteousness from God in Christ,
and peace, peace established between God and sinners by Christ,
and joy in the Holy Ghost. who leads you to Christ. That's
right. He said in Romans 15 and verse
13, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
want, in believing, in looking to Christ, that you may abound
in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Now, John has
other stated purposes here. Look over at chapter 2, right
across the page there, 1 John 2, verse 1. Here's another stated
purpose for his writing this book. He says, My little children,
these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. He's writing
this to encourage them to obedience, not the obedience of works, but
the obedience of grace. He says that if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Now, even at our best attempt
to obey God, which we should endeavor to do at all times,
even at our best, we are still imperfect, we are still plagued
and contaminated with the influence of remaining sin. Therefore,
even now, as a mature believer, even before you draw your last
breath to inner glory, you are just as much in need of Christ
and his forgiving, saving powers, the Lord our righteousness, as
you ever were. You'll never grow beyond your
need of Christ, his blood and his righteousness for your salvation.
If you have a good day today, and you say, well, I made it,
finally made it. Well, what have you made? What
have you finally made? You're still just a sinner, a
poor sinner, saved by the grace of God. Paul, the apostle in
his old age, prayed this prayer. He said, this is a faithful thing,
worthy of all acceptation. that Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." He never stopped
being the chief of sinners in his own eye, and I don't think
we ever do. I know we don't. He says in verse
2, and he's the propitiation for our sins. What is a propitiation? I've told you that, but I'll
tell you again. It's a sin-bearing substitute who by his death brings
satisfaction. That's what propitiation means.
The key word is substitute and satisfaction. Christ is our substitute,
who by his death on the cross brought satisfaction. Don't tell
me his blood is not enough. He's our propitiation. And it
says that not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole
world. God has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation. That's not teaching that Christ is a propitiation
for every person without exception. For if he is a propitiation,
For every person without exception, then we must conclude that every
person without exception is saved. But that's not the case, and
you know that. John is speaking to the Jewish world here, showing
them that God has a people out of every tribe and nation, not
just of the Jews. Christ has sheep all over this
world. He told them in John 10, he said
he has sheep among the Jews, but he said, other sheep I have
that are not of this fold, them I must also bring. He's going
to call his people. And then he says in verse 3,
"...hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments."
What are his commandments? To believe in him and love the
brethren. That's what he's talking about
there. And it's very interesting to get into how John relates
that, how the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John does. Look over
at verse 26 of chapter 2. Here's another stated purpose
of the book of 1 John. And this is really important
now. He says in verse 26 of chapter 2, he says, These things have
I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. Now, who
is he talking about? He's talking about false preachers
there. False preachers will always creep into the churches, disguised,
subtly, deceptively. Christ called them wolves in
sheep's clothing. And they will try in their way,
in their cleverness, because they are of their father the
devil, to draw people's minds away from the simplicity that's
in Christ. That's their way. In other words,
anything they can say that will get your mind off the Savior
and his glory, worshiping and serving and growing in the grace
and knowledge of him, anything they can do to confuse you, to
divide you, that's the seduction. And they'll do it in the name
of God. They'll do it in the name of love. I'm amazed at how
many people some of the meanest people on earth, spreading rumors,
dividing brethren, and then go brag about their love. And that's
an amazing thing to me. But if so, will God help us not
to fall prey to that? God help us not to be used of
Satan that way. I'll tell you, we're not above
it now. Whenever we get to thinking, well, that's not possible here,
I'm going to tell you something, that's just when God will show
you that it is possible. It's possible anywhere. Paul
told the Ephesian elders, the elders of the church of Ephesus,
he said, you beware in these last days, for false prophets
will creep in and they'll seek to make merchandise of your souls,
they'll seek to draw you away. And John said, the reason I'm
writing, one of the reasons I'm writing this letter to you is
that you won't be fooled. I'm writing this thing concerning
them who would seduce you. They will try to draw you away.
Now, look at chapter 5, the last chapter of 1 John. Here's another
stated purpose, and look at verse 13. This is an encouragement.
Now, you know, it's not that John wasn't being a negative
person here. I mean, he said, your joy may
be full. That's a very positive thing.
But you have to realize that in this world, while in this
flesh, while battling the warfare of the flesh and the spirit,
We're always going to have to be made aware of that which would
do us harm. And that's why he mentions the
false preachers. But look here, look at verse 13 of 1 John 5. Here's another stated purpose.
He says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God. These are the people of God,
you see. That you, now listen, you may know that you have eternal
life and that you may What it really means is continue to believe
on the name of the Son of God. I'm writing this so that you
may know. You know, there's a lot of talk about assurance. And
a lot of it goes this way. Is it possible for us to have
assurance of salvation? Well, we know there's presumption. And we certainly don't want to
presume upon the grace of God. But is it possible for a true
believer to have assurance? Well, I believe that any true
believer does have assurance. Paul said it this way, 2 Timothy
1, he said, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day. He wrote in the book of Hebrews,
chapter 6, that God engaged himself by two things. He calls them
two immutable things. One of them is a promise that
God made. Have you ever made a promise
you didn't keep? Well, of course you have. I have too. But you
see, God's not like us. God has never made a promise
he has not kept. Now, that's us. He's the faithful
and the true one. So he made a promise. Now, if
God made a promise, you can bank on it. You can bank on it. And that's enough, really. But
in order to emphasize it and in order to assure the hearts
of his people, he makes this statement in Hebrews chapter
6. There's another immutable thing that God engaged in this
thing, and it's an oath. A promise and an oath. Now, you say, well, what does
that mean, an oath? You know, when you swear an oath, like you go in
court and you're going to be a witness, they say, do you swear
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
You swear an oath. They make you put your hand on a Bible,
which doesn't mean anything to most people. But God swore an
oath. And he makes this statement in
Hebrews 6. He says, now, when men swear an oath, that's the
end of it. Now, we know that men swear oaths
they don't have any intention of keeping. But technically speaking,
if you had two honest men or two honest women, they swore
an oath, that's the end of the matter. All right? Settled. But
when they swear an oath, they have to swear by something greater
than themselves. I mean, if I was going to swear
an oath, you know, they wouldn't bring a copy of Harry Potter
up there and say, put your hand on Harry Potter here and swear
an oath. Well, would they? That'd be pretty sham, wouldn't
it? Pretty shallow. You may like the book, but there's
nothing great in there. There's nothing real in there.
You know, it's a children's story. It's a fantasy. It's good entertainment,
but you don't swear by it. So what do they do? They bring
the Bible. Greatest book ever written. The words of this book are greater
than any man's words. So we swear by something greater.
Well, then how can God swear an oath? Because there's nothing
greater than God. How could God swear an oath?
I'll tell you how. It says it there in Hebrews 6. He swore
by Himself. God swore by Himself. And what
that means is this. When God made that promise, He
engaged Himself to fulfill that promise. So that if God were
to go back on that promise, what would he be doing? He'd be denying
himself. Two immutable things. God cannot
tell a lie and God cannot deny himself. Two immutable things.
And I'm telling you, now you know who that oath and that promise
are to? You say, well, who did he swear
it to? He swore it to his son, the Lord Jesus Christ in the
covenant of grace. and thereby all who come to him
for salvation." That's who God swore it to. A sinner who comes
to Christ, who comes to God pleading the merits of the blood and righteousness
of Christ, you have two immutable things that ensure your salvation
and are meant to assure your heart. God cannot lie and God
cannot deny himself. And that's what John's talking
about here in 1 John 5. It's an encouragement of assurance
in Christ. Now, what is presumption, then?
Well, presumption is any assurance of salvation that's not based
on God's word, not based on God's promise or God's oath. Oh, people
will have false assurance. Any sinner who imagines that
God would save him, bless him, keep him, reward him, based on
anything but the blood and righteousness of Christ is presumptuous." Did
you know that? Cain comes before God, bringing
his works and his efforts, the fruit of the field. And Cain,
in his mind, in his twisted, sinful mind, was just assured
that God would accept this. This is the best I have, he said.
I've worked hard to get this stuff here. I've gathered the
first fruit. And he brings the first fruit
and he offers them to God, and God says, I'll not have it. I
never made a promise, King, to save any sinner based upon their
best works. God never made that promise.
And for any sinner to come before God pleading his best works is
presumption. But now here comes Abel with
the blood of the Lamb. And he's accepted. Why? Because
God had engaged his promise and his oath to save a sinner through
the blood of the crucified one whom Abel's Lamb pictured. You
see the difference? Now, where is your assurance?
You say, well, I don't believe enough. Well, you never will,
if that's your assurance. You say, well, I don't read my
Bible enough. Well, how much is enough? Show
me, somebody show me from Genesis to Revelation where it says that
if you read the Bible this much, this will make you righteous
before God. Where does it say it? It doesn't say that, does
it? It says the only righteousness you and I as sinners can ever
have is in Christ. Now that's what this book says.
Now you look to him. Shouldn't I read my Bible? Yes.
More than you do. More than I do. But that's not
my salvation. That's not my righteousness before
God. Christ is. That's what John's saying here.
See, this book here, all three of these books, 1st, 2nd, and
3rd John, are written with a pastor's heart. That's why they're sometimes
referred to as pastoral epistles. You know where that word pastoral
comes from? It comes from a shepherd in the
pasture of his sheep. He's keeping the sheep. He loves
his sheep. He cares for the sheep. He protects
them, he feeds them, he guides them, he chastises them when
they need. That's what Christ is to his
people, he's the great shepherd. Gone as the under-shepherd of
God unto these people, he had a concern for the people of God
over whom God had called him and equipped him and appointed
him. Now, what is the theme of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John? Go back
to 1st John 1 and look at verse 3 again. Here's the theme of
them. He says, "...that which we have
seen and declared we unto you, that you also may have fellowship
with us." John says, "...I desire that you have fellowship with
us." And then he says, "...and truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." The theme of all
three of these books is fellowship with God in Christ and with his
people. And I'm going to be talking a
lot about fellowship as we go through these verses. This is
a subject that every true believer ought to be well-schooled on.
Christian fellowship. What is Christian fellowship?
Well, it's a spiritual fellowship. Therefore, it's sometimes called
the fellowship of the Spirit, the Spirit of God. It's an eternal
fellowship. Therefore, it can never be broken.
We may mess it up and lose sight of it for a while, but it's there.
if we're in Christ, because this spiritual eternal fellowship
is union with Christ, and therefore union with his people, whether
you like them or not. Whether you like them or not.
Whether you like them or not. That's right. See, this is not based upon our
likes and dislikes. It's not based on personality.
You may not You may hate my personality. I can't understand why you would,
but you may. But that's not what this is based
on. See, this fellowship here, it's a fellowship with Christ
and his people and his people with him and with each other.
That's why I had Brother Aaron read that high priestly prayer
in John 17. That prayer is full of descriptions
of our fellowship with Christ and with each other. And he says,
Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. In other words, the basis of our fellowship with each other
is our fellowship with the Father and with the Son. Now, when he
says that in verse 3, he says, Our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Now, let me say this because
of some confusion that I believe is becoming prevalent today about
the Holy Spirit. He's not excluding the third
person of the Trinity here. when he says our fellowship is
with the Father and with the Son. Christ told his disciples,
for example, listen, in John 16, he said, I'm going away.
Now, he told his disciples, I'm going away. He meant he's going
to the cross and he's going to do the work that God sent him
to do. He's going to redeem them. He's going to justify them. And
then he said he would return. But in the meantime, he made
this statement. He would send them a comforter. Another Comforter,
he said. He was their Comforter, but he
said there is another Comforter, and that word another there in
the original language means another of the same kind. In other words,
this Comforter is going to be God, just like Christ the Son
is God. But he is the Holy Spirit by whom we would enter into this
blessed fellowship. And look over at 1 John 4, look
with me here at verse 13. He says, Hereby know we that
we dwell in him, and he in us. We dwell in Christ, and he dwells
in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. That's the
Holy Spirit. How does Christ dwell within
his people, within our hearts? By his Spirit and by his Word. That's what the Scripture teaches.
Now, some people want to make more of that and make it some
kind of a mystical, actual divine thing that they're changed into,
but the Scriptures won't bear that out, and I'll show you that
in just a moment. But you see, this is fellowship with the Father
and the Son that we enter into by the Spirit. God the Father
being the ultimate goer of our faith, Christ being the immediate
object of our faith, and we enter into that by the Spirit. So that
in Christ, who has the preeminence as appointed by the Godhead from
the foundation of the world, We honor, worship, serve, and
have fellowship with the eternal Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit." So don't get confused by this language that's going
about today. But now listen to this. Christian fellowship is
not based on natural situations or circumstances. And what I
mean by that, I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 12. Turn with
me there. We all have earthly families, and we should cherish those earthly
families. We should deal rightly and responsibly
and lovingly, caringly with our earthly family. They're there. Private joke. But we all have
these earthly families now. But all of this, now listen to
me. Christian fellowship is a spiritual
family. It's not an earthly family. You
understand what I'm saying? Now, it's a double blessing to
me, and I know to you too, when members of your earthly family
are also members of your spiritual family. That's a double blessing,
isn't it? But in order to understand Christian fellowship, and that's
what it is, it's a heavenly, spiritual family, the household
of God. We need to have things put in
perspective, and our Lord did that right here in Matthew chapter
12. Look at verse 46. Now listen to this. He says,
"...while he yet talked to the people," Christ speaking to the
people, he's preaching the gospel. Verse 46, "...behold, his mother
and his brethren," now this is earthly family, he had half-brothers,
because he had no earthly father. And it says, "...his brethren
stood without, desiring to speak with him." In other words, the
setting is like this. Now, you've got to stop what
you're doing. Mama wants to talk to you. Your
brothers want to talk to you. Well, look at verse 47. It says,
"...then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand
without, desiring to speak with thee." Verse 48, "...but he answered
and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother, and who are
my brothers?" And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples
and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren, for whosoever shall
do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my
brother and sister and mother." In other words, this is my family,
and nothing takes precedence over my spiritual family. That
doesn't mean we should neglect our mothers and our fathers and
our physical families, not at all. But we have an eternal family. a spiritual family that takes
precedence over all families. And, my friend, that's our brothers
and sisters in Christ. And he goes even further back
in Matthew 10. Look back there. Look at verse 34, Matthew 10. He says, "...think not that I
am come to send peace on earth. I am come not to send peace,
but a sword, for I am come to set a man at variance against
his father." What he's talking about here is a son who is a
believer and a father who is an unbeliever. They have a physical
relationship, but there's no spiritual relationship, and they're
at variance, they're at difference, they're at odds. You see what I'm saying? And
he says, "...and a daughter against her mother," not over personalities
or likes and dislikes, but over the gospel. and the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of
his own house." So John, when he speaks of the fellowship here,
he's talking about a spiritual fellowship, an eternal fellowship. It's not based on natural interest.
It's not based upon natural abilities, likes or dislikes. It's a spiritual
union and communion that is founded and grounded upon fellowship
with God the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Fellowship
is salvation in its widest scope. When we come to know Christ,
we come to learn this about fellowship. It's a fellowship of electing
grace. If you're in this fellowship, you've been chosen by God's grace. It's a fellowship of redeeming,
justifying grace. If you're in this fellowship,
you've been bought with a price. You don't belong to yourself.
You belong to Christ. He justified you on the cross
when he died for your sins, paid the debt in full and made you
righteous in himself. That's the fellowship. Everyone
in here today who knows Christ, we have the same righteousness.
That links us together. We have the same pardon, equally
saved, equally justified, equally chosen of the Father. That links
us together. You see? And that can't be changed. You can't change it. It's there. That's what fellowship is. It's
a fellowship of regenerating grace. Everyone here who knows
Christ has been empowered and given life and called into the
kingdom by the Holy Spirit. And that's a link that cannot
be broken. That glues us together as such. So, therefore, it's
a spiritual fellowship. It's an eternal. It's a fellowship
of love. We love God because he first
loved us. John's going to speak of that.
We love each other. You say, well, maybe sometimes
that's harder than it sounds. It is. We have rivals for our
love. None of us love perfectly yet.
That's another way we're linked together. We confess our sins,
John says. We know what we are. And those
who get above that, they're not linked with us. Those who talk about perfection,
Look over at 2 Peter 1. Let me show you this, just one
book back. There are many fellowship words
in the Bible, many words that are used to describe fellowship.
Peter speaks of it here. Look at verse 1 of 2 Peter 1.
He says, "...Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ
to them that have obtained light, precious faith." We all believe
in the same Savior. That's what he's saying. Like
precious faith. Our faith is alike, not because
we all have the same degree. There are some who are more mature
than others. Not because we're at the same
stage of growth. Our faith is alike because all
our faith, if our faith is saving faith by the power of the Spirit,
everybody who truly believes here believes in the same Savior. who accomplished the same thing
on Calvary, who is able to save to the uttermost all them that
come unto the Father by him. And then he says, with us through
the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, we have
the same righteousness. Now, listen to me. There is not
one person in here who is more righteous than I am. That's right. Because, you see, I don't have
any righteousness, but that which sits in heaven, Jesus Christ,
the Lord my righteousness, has been charged to me. And if you're
righteous, that's the same boat you're in. I don't see any of you in here
who are more sinful than me. And I can say that honestly.
I'm not just talking. I'll tell you why I can say that
honestly. Now listen to me very carefully. I know myself better
than I know you. See, I can't see your thoughts,
but I can see mine. I hope you can see yours. We're
sinners saved by the grace of God. Our righteousness is Christ,
our holiness is Christ. And then he says in verse 2,
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord. Now, there are some in here who
are more knowledgeable than others, but we all know the same Christ,
the same Savior. That's fellowship, you see. according
as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness." Now, there are some whose life and
godliness will manifest itself more at times. But we all are
linked together here because we have all things that pertain
to life and godliness, look here, through the knowledge of him
that hath called us unto glory and virtue through Christ. We're
blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
Verse 4, now listen to this, "...whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises." Promises of God that
are in Christ, yea, and in him, amen. "...that by these," that
by these promises now, you remember God's promise and God's oath,
"...that by these promises you might be partakers of the divine
nature." having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust." Now, that word, partaker, has been shot around all over
the place by many people. And you know, in our modern English
language, we'll talk about partaking of something as if we're eating
it. When you sit down at the meal today and you're going to
partake, you're going to infuse that into your body and it's
going to be digested. And that's okay for modern English,
but that's not what this means. That's not what they had in mind.
The word partaker here is a fellowship word. In fact, it's the same
original Greek word that John used in 1 John 1, 3, fellowship. You say, why did they translate
it different? Because it's a different tense, different form, but the
same word. And it doesn't mean to eat. It
doesn't mean to have something infused or imparted. It means
to share. It means to have fellowship with.
It means to enter into union with. And what he's saying here
is that by the promises that God reveals to us by his Spirit
in Christ, we become in union and in fellowship with the divine
nature. Now, what is the divine nature?
John said it over in 1 John 1 verse 3, "...truly our fellowship is
with the Father." and with the Son." There's the divine nature.
The divine nature is not something that God changes you into. The
divine nature is not something that God creates in you because
divinity cannot be created. The moment you talk about God
creating something divine, you have just leveled it to being
not divine. Divinity can't be created. God
has no beginning and no end. God cannot create anything divine.
Because God is never anything but divine. He's the Alpha and
the Omega, has no beginning and no end. So what we do is when
God the Holy Spirit brings us into fellowship with the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we become partakers of the divine
nature. We share in the divine nature. We see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. Now, that's just the Apostle
Peter's way of stating the same thing that John says here in
1 John 1 verse 3. Our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son. Now, wouldn't you like to have
fellowship with the Father and with the Son? Wouldn't that be
something? Oh, I'm telling you. Well, look to Christ for all
your salvation. That's the hope. That's how you
become a partaker of the divine. That's how you share in the divine
nature. That's how you brought into fellowship
with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Look to Christ.
and rest in him. All right.