Six "Ifs"

Q: What does the Bible say about God's love for us?

The Bible emphasizes that God’s love is the foundation for all relationships among believers, urging them to love one another. The Bible teaches that God’s love is profound and transformative, as seen in 1 John 1. John’s epistle continually reminds believers of the necessity to love one another. In verses throughout this letter, John highlights that since God has so loved us—demonstrated through Christ’s sacrifice—we ought to reciprocate that love towards our fellow believers. This genuine love is a reflection of our relationship with God and serves as a vital aspect of Christian fellowship and integrity.

Q: How do we know we are true Christians?

True Christians are known by their deeds and their adherence to the truth of Christ, as well as their love for one another. In 1 John, the apostle John provides clear criteria to ascertain the authenticity of one's faith. John emphasizes that genuine believers display a radical transformation in character and conduct, evidencing their faith through love for one another and obedience to God’s commandments. He asserts that if anyone claims to have fellowship with God yet walks in darkness, their profession is false (1 John 1:6). Thus, the true measure of being a Christian is not merely a verbal claim, but a life that manifests love, righteousness, and truth.

Q: Why is it important to confess our sins?

Confessing our sins is crucial as it aligns us with God’s truth and acknowledges our dependence on His mercy and grace. Confession of sins, as taught in 1 John 1:9, is vital for maintaining fellowship with God. John states that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This confession is not merely listing sins but involves recognizing our sinful nature and trust in Christ's atoning work. Acknowledging our sins enables believers to fully receive the grace and assurance of forgiveness that comes through Jesus. Moreover, it fortifies our humility and dependence on God's righteousness rather than our works.

Q: What does it mean that God is light?

God being light signifies His purity, holiness, and all-encompassing truth in contrast to darkness and sin. When the Bible proclaims that God is light, it communicates His absolute holiness and righteousness. John explicitly states that in God, there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). This metaphor highlights the great chasm between divine perfection and human imperfection, illuminating the necessity of being made righteous through faith in Christ. For believers, walking in the light means living in accordance with God's truth and revelation, demonstrating fellowship with Him. In contrast, walking in darkness signifies rebellion and ignorance of God’s truth.

Q: How does belief in free grace differ from free will?

Belief in free grace asserts that salvation is entirely God's work, in contrast to free will which posits human effort in salvation. The distinction between belief in free grace and free will is foundational in Reformed theology. Free grace emphasizes that salvation is wholly a work of God and His sovereign choice, as laid out in Scripture. Those adhering to free will theology assert human ability to choose salvation through their own efforts. John starkly warns that any religion promoting works for salvation is akin to the doctrine of Antichrist. The essence of the gospel is that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, eliminating human boasting or contribution to our salvation.

turn with me, if you will, to the book of 1 John, 1 John chapter 1. Now, this epistle was written by the Apostle John, not to a specific local church, but to the saints of God in general. It's called a general epistle because it does not address specific issues that came up in various local churches that needed to be addressed, such as those that Paul dealt with at Corinth or Ephesus or Colossae. But rather, this epistle is written to the saints of God in every age, in every generation, in every place in the world, and indeed, even the church epistles and pastoral epistles are addressed to God's saints in that regard. But those epistles address specific issues that arose in specific circumstances. These general epistles speak to us in general about general things that we're going to have to deal with continually in this world. Now as you read through these five short, pungent, powerful passages of scripture, these five chapters here in 1 John, it doesn't become difficult at all to understand why John wrote the epistle, what his object was in writing.

His object, principally, as you read through this, was to promote that one thing that needs constant promotion, brotherly love. The whole epistle just drips with these words of instruction, we ought to love one another. Constantly John's telling us, children of God, love each other, love each other, love each other.

If I could say just one thing to you, as believers, to you who are born of God, I could say just one thing to you, one thing, and send you home with it. This is it. Love one another. Love one another. You'll honor God if you love each other. You'll honor Christ if you love each other. You'll serve one another well if you love each other. Beloved, let us love one another. We who have been loved of God, oh my soul, love redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, saved by God's free grace, raised up from corruption, death, and sin into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. There's no excuse, no excuse whatsoever for failure on our part to display continually that genuineness of love one for another. Secondly, John was anxious to condemn licentiousness masquerading under the name of liberty. Now, this was a problem in those early days, and it's somewhat of a problem today as well.

We are frequently accused of being antinomian. That is, folks look at us and they say, you who preach that believers are free from the law, you promote antinomianism. That is, you promote a lawless, licentious way of life. Oh no. Oh no. I don't mind being accused of it, I just don't want to be one. No sir, we're not about to promote that. This licentiousness that John deals with is the principle of life that men and women operate under, pretending that they are living under grace.

Therefore, it does not matter what they do. It does not matter how they behave. Will you listen to me now? Bobby Estes, it does matter how you behave. It does matter what you do. character and conduct are of great importance. Now, character and conduct have nothing to do with our salvation. Our character and conduct has nothing to do with the attainment of God's grace. It has nothing to do with our everlasting enjoyment of God's grace. But I'm telling you, believers are men and women whose character and conduct has been radically altered by God Almighty.

The problem of the Nicolaitans, the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which our Lord said in Revelation 2.15, I hate, was the doctrine that since we're saved by grace, it doesn't matter how we live, and so they lived in utter licentiousness. I have known a few people in my time who behaved in just that manner and whose doctrine was exactly that. The apostle speaks plainly in chapter 1 verse 6.

If we say that we have fellowship with God, now that's what we say, don't we? We have fellowship with God. We're born of God. We walk with God. We live by faith in Jesus Christ and walk in darkness. We lie and do not the truth. Our professions are lies. Now I'm telling you, if you profess faith in Jesus Christ, If you profess to be born of God and you live under the principle and rule and dominion of darkness, if you profess to be a believer and you live in licentiousness, your profession of faith is a lie and you mock God by your profession.

And then thirdly, John was concerned about and gives urgent warning against the false Christ, the false prophets, and the Antichrist by which the souls of many are deceived." Now, Lindsay dealt with this considerably this morning in our study of Revelation 16, and it needs to be understood. John said there are many Antichrists that are going out into the world. Many. Not a few, many.

In the religious world around us, people holding the Bible in one hand, and a hymn book in another hand. and defending their doctrines, and defending their positions, and defending their church, and defending their denominations. Men and women preaching freewill works religion of any kind, of any kind. It doesn't matter whether they're Pathist, Apostolic, Pentecostal, Baptist, Methodist, or anything else. People preaching freewill works religion of any kind, Hindu, or heart and thought in Africa, it doesn't matter. Folks who teach salvation by your doing, by your will, by your works, are promoting that which is the religion of Antichrist.

You understand that? It's Antichrist. It is not a little Christian. It is Antichrist. It is not just a little deviant idea concerning salvation. It's Antichrist. It's Antichrist. There are just two religions in the world, either free will or free grace. You've got to have one or the other. And if you don't worship God in the way of free grace, redemption, and life alone by Jesus Christ, you bow at the altar of Antichrist and worship in the delusion of your soul. And John warns us continually of it. Look in chapter 4.

He says, Now, when he says, believe not every spirit, he's not talking about spirits, as we generally have the idea of spirits. If any of you fellas happen to hear a spirit talking to you, go up and check yourself into a padded cell somewhere. Spirits don't talk to you. When he says, believe not every spirit, he's talking about this preacher right here.

This preacher right here, and every other preacher in the world. Don't believe me just because I'm standing up here with a Bible in my hand preaching to you. Don't believe me just because I come to you and say I'm speaking for God. Believe not every spirit, believe not every preacher, but try the spirits, try the preacher, whether they are of God.

Because many false prophets are going out into the world. And hereby you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit and every preacher that confesses that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh. That is to say, every preacher who confesses that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is coming to flesh, as God revealed it in this book, he's of God. And every spirit who denies it is not of God, but is anti-Christ.

So you take the scriptures. I'm going to be preaching to you this morning from here in 1 John chapter 1. I want you to open the scriptures, and I want you to follow me through the scriptures. I want you to see what the book says. And I'm telling you, I tell you plainly, I tell you repeatedly, as you listen to me, if what I say is not according to this book, don't you ever listen to me preach again. Go find somebody who'll tell you the truth out of this book. But if what I'm telling you is the truth of God, you better pay attention, because your soul depends on your reception of it. your soul's eternal destiny depends upon the reception or the rejection of divine truth.

Now, in this epistle, John also carefully refutes the heresies that constantly surround the person and work of Christ in the religious world. There were some who denied the doctrine of the Trinity, so John says they're freed by record in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, these three are one. And he wrote by divine inspiration. Now, Bill Rodder reads that, He reads that and says, well, John said it, right there it is, in the word of God, written by divine inspiration. Yes, sir, that's what the book teaches.

That's what the book teaches, and we bow to it. Somebody else reads that and says, well, I don't know. Now, we're going to have to investigate that a little bit. We're going to have to search that out and try to get it so that we can fit it into our teeny brains.

Well, you've got two choices. You either believe what God says or you go to hell. That's the only two choices you've got. Now, Pastor, you ought to be sublime. I want to be as blunt as I can possibly be to keep you from everlasting destruction. You will either believe what God says in his word or you'll go to hell. Those are the only two choices there are.

There are others who deny that Jesus Christ is truly God. They say, well, we believe that Jesus is a God. We believe that Jesus is a manifestation of God. We believe that Jesus is a great creature of God. We believe he is the first and greatest creature of God.

But they can't say that a man is God. No, I can't say that. But God can. And God did. God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. Yes, God Almighty, whom the heavens cannot contain. God Almighty, whom no man has seen nor can see. God, whom no man can approach unto. God, who is everywhere pleasant and nowhere limited.

God came into this world in the body and soul of a little child. He did. and he was just as much God when he was in his mother's womb, depending upon the fluids of his mother's womb for his existence, as when he created this world. He is God when he nurses at his mother's breast and must have the milk of her breast or die. And yet he's God who gives milk in her breast.

God Almighty. He is God who hangs upon the cursed tree. God who cannot die. God who cannot change. God who cannot be affected by anything. God hung on that tree in human flesh. And God died in the person of a God-man. And he's God who gives strength and wisdom to the soldiers so they'd grab the nails in his hand and put spirit inside. He's God Almighty. He's God Almighty. and yet he's a real man. A real man.

Now in a word, John's desire, his object, his aim, was to show forth the greatness and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fullness of God's rich, free grace in him, for the joy, comfort, and assurance of every believing heart. Now let's look here at verse one. That which was from the beginning he's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ from the beginning, from the beginning. He's not talking about his humanity, but he's talking rather about him in his deity, in his eternal Godhead. He is from the beginning. Before anything was, he says, I am. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, John says, now I'm not giving you second-hand information. I'm telling you what we've heard for ourselves.

We heard him speak with our ears. We heard his discourses. We heard his prayers. We heard him, who is God Almighty, that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes. We saw him. We saw it physically. We saw God standing in front of us in a man. We saw it. But more than that, we've seen him with eyes of faith. We've seen him. We know him after the faith, but more than that, we know him after the spirit. John says, I'm telling you now of him whom I have seen and heard for myself. Now then, look at it. Which we have looked upon. That word is not a redundancy. John's not saying we've seen him, we've seen him.

He's saying we've seen him with our eyes. we gazed on him. We gazed on him. Oh, he ravished our hearts. We looked at him, watched him, and we saw him. For three and a half years, we saw him. We gazed upon him. Gazed upon him when he was transfigured before us. We gazed upon him when he suffered for us. We gazed upon him when he arose from the dead. When he ascended up into heaven, we stood there just overplayed and gazed upon him as he was received up into glory. Gazed upon him.

We don't. And our hands have handled. You folks came in here, I believe I shook hands with everybody who walked in here this morning. I handled you. the Son of God, so really and truly a man, that Larry, when John shook hands with him, just like I shook hands with you, he shook hands with God Almighty. Our hands have handled this. Our hands have handled this.

The Word of Life. The Word of Life. The revelation of God. He is God. The Word, God, the Revelation, He is that One, the only One through whom, in whom, and by whom God speaks to man. He's the Word of Life. If you would know God, you got to know Him. If you would hear from God, you got to hear from Him. If you would walk with God, you got to walk with Him. You see, God is the Spirit. And the only way you and I can ever know him who is spirit is if God the Spirit assumes human flesh and walks in front of us and talks to us and speaks to us so that we see and hear him as we would see and hear any man. And so Jesus Christ comes, the Word of God, and he says, this is what God is. This is who God is.

You see me? You've seen the Father, you've heard me, you've heard the Father, you've touched me, you've touched the Father. Read on, in verse 2. For the life was manifested, and we've seen it. We've seen it. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And then John said the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." We've seen it, and bear witness.

Now I'm telling you what I've seen and heard. He keeps repeating himself. I'm not giving you second-hand information. I'm not dealing in gossip now. I'm telling you what I've seen and heard and felt for myself. I'm here to tell you, I'm talking to you about God whom I have seen for myself. whom I have paid for myself, whom I have known for myself. All right?

And show you that eternal life. Jesus Christ is eternal life. He is eternal life. People everywhere get wrapped up in religious controversy, religious issues and religious debates and get turned aside, this thing or the other thing, we take the teachings of Christ and we become so enamored with the teachings of Christ that we ignore Christ himself. God help us not to do that.

Our wife got up this morning and put on that red jacket and those blue skirts she's wearing I said, boy, you look pretty now. You look pretty. But I'm not about to take that red jacket and blue skirt and lay down with it tonight. There's not much want there. There's not much personality there. And you would think I'd lost my mind if I was to walk around holding that red jacket and blue skirt all the time.

It's on her that it has appeal. You understand what I'm saying? And the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the gospel, the doctrines of the grace of God, all the things revealed in the scripture show forth beauty and radiance and love and joy only as they are seen on him and in him and flowing from him. Isolated from him, they're dead and dry and cold and hard and calculated. You understand the difference?

Jesus Christ is eternal life. This is life eternal, he said, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. John Gill wrote, Christ has everlasting life in himself, as he is the living God, and he has eternal life for all his people. Not only the purpose and promise of it are in him, but eternal life itself. The beginning of it lies in the knowledge of him, and the consummation of it will be in the everlasting vision and enjoyment of him. This is eternal life. Jesus Christ the Lord.

It's not a decision. It's not walking the church aisle and getting baptized and joining the church. It's not reforming your life. It's not turning over a new leaf. Oh, no. Eternal life is Jesus Christ. If you have the Son, you have life. doesn't matter what else you don't have. And if you don't have the Son of God, it doesn't matter what you do have, you don't have life. Do you understand that?

This is eternal life, which was with the Father. Here again, John is describing the eternal deity of Christ and his eternal equality with the Father in the Godhead. As our Mediator, the Son came and did the will of the Father, and became obedient unto him for our salvation. But as God Almighty is with the Father, he's with you, face-to-face with you, one with you, everlastingly united to him, perfectly equal with him, and was manifested to us. He came and made himself known to us.

And then John tells us his reason for writing this epistle, his reason for preaching. He says that everybody, everybody who will hear my voice, everybody who will read what I write, this is my purpose. That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

Ron and I were talking, I believe it was Ron and I a week or so ago, about this business There are many things in this book that I do not understand, and I don't stand up here and try to talk to you about things I don't understand. I'm not an infallible apostle, and I don't claim to be. But I'm telling you what you hear from these myths in this pulpit is not a subject up for debate. That which I have seen and heard what I declare to you.

That which I know God has taught me in his word, by his Spirit, that's what I declare to you. And my reason for declaring to you these vital issues of truth, these vital issues concerning the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, my reason is this, that you may have fellowship with us.

Oh, I want so much for you to be part of this I want so much for you to be part of this kingdom. This everlasting kingdom of God. This everlasting family whose names are written in heaven. This everlasting family named after Jesus Christ the Lord. Because you see, it's not just that you're uniting with us. It's not just that you come into the family. It's not just that you come into the kingdom of God. But we have fellowship with the Father. And with His Son, Jesus Christ. And if you get in on this, you've got it too. If you give him this, you have everlasting life.

If you hear the gospel, if you believe on Christ, you'll never come into condemnation, but you will forever enjoy fellowship, union, and unity with God the Father and with his Son by the power of his Spirit. And these things rightly unto you, that your joy may be full. I'm going to talk to you a little bit about joy tonight, so I'll just mention this now. Some of you don't have the least idea of what joy is.

Your hearts and your lives are pain and misery, sorrow and trouble. I've been there. You try to drown your misery with drugs or alcohol, and all it does is stupefy your mind for a little while, but the misery's still there, sorrow's still there, because it's trouble in your soul, trouble in your heart. And the trouble is rebellion against God. The trouble is sin. The trouble is condemnation. The trouble is you've got no hope before God. No hope. Now, here's a man talking to you who once existed in that morbid, morbid state of rebellion against God, who now lives in joy.

Oh, I'm talking about joy. I'm not talking about giddy, pretentious laughter joy, no. I'm not talking about that kind of stuff you see from religious hucksters on television when they're trying to get you to send them some money and they're standing around with their painted faces and smile like possums eating briars. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about joy.

Real joy. Joy in the knowledge of God. Joy in the blessed confidence that sin is part Joy in the blessed assurance that God Almighty looks on me, righteous in His Son. Joy in the blessed, blessed, peaceful, peaceful confidence that this world is not my home.

I'm just passing through. How about you? I have been made a citizen of a heavenly city. an eternal kingdom, an eternal family. Jesus Christ, my God and Savior, has made me an heir of heaven. Oh, I'm preaching to you now because I want your joy to be brought on. The joyous knowledge of God in Christ Jesus.

And then John says in verse 5, this then is the message. And I've read this verse for years. I think it's one of the most simple and, at the same time, the most profound statements summarizing the gospel in all Scripture. This, then, is the message. Not a message, this is the message. This is the message. This is the message which we've heard from Jesus Christ and declared to you. This is it. This is what Christ came to reveal. This is what Christ has made known. This is what God's servants are sent to declare. God is light. And in him is no darkness at all. Light. He dwells in light which no man has seen or can see. He dwells in that light which is a consuming fire to everything outside that light. God is light. God is light.

What does that mean? The gospel is a declaration. Jesus Christ is the revelation of this fact. God is holy and pure and righteous. and just, and he won't tolerate sin. He cannot. In him is no darkness at all. No darkness of ignorance, no darkness of sin, no darkness of untruth. God is light. Now then, if you would dwell with God, if you would enter into fellowship with God, If you would be made accepted with God, if you have hope before God, you must be made as God is, holy, righteous, and pure.

Because God will not tolerate sin. The Lord Jesus came here, and he was made to be sin. For us, he who do no sin, made to bear our sin. Because there's no other way in which we could ever be accepted before God Almighty, because God saved the soul that sinned, it shall die. And so Christ died as our substitute to satisfy the justice of God, that God who is light may be just, and yet justify the ungodly.

Now then, let's wrap this up and look at the next few verses. In verse 6, beginning of verse 6, John raises some issues. He raises some things that need to be considered and understood by us all, things that we must realize. And he uses the word if every time. I want you to see these six ifs that John mentions, and I'll wrap this up. First, he says in verse 6, if we say, if we say.

If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. Now, with that statement, John is telling us that salvation is something more than a profession of faith. Salvation is something more than saying the sinner's prayer. Salvation is something more than joining the Church. Anyone who professes faith in and fellowship with God Almighty, who is yet walks in darkness is a liar. His very profession of faith is a liar, and he does not the truth, for what communion hath light with darkness?

Now John is the one who wrote in his epistles and in his gospel more about love than any other inspired writer. John John is that one who was referred to as the beloved disciple. John is that one who is looked upon above all the others as the tender-hearted, compassionate disciple. But John recognizes that love demands confrontation. Love demands that I tell you the truth. Love demands that I show you what the scripture says.

And the scripture says, no matter what you profess, if you walk in darkness, you're a liar. You've deceived yourself. The truth is not in you. That's what John says. They who walk in darkness of sin as a principle of life. Walk in sin as a principle of life.

Does that mean believers don't commit sin? Oh no, we'll talk about that in a minute. Does that mean believers have no more to do with the struggle and warfare with sin? No, no, a thousand times no. It does mean that sin is not their way. It does mean sin is not their master. It does mean that sin is not the path they tread. They don't walk in sin. They don't walk in darkness.

More than that, God's people do not walk in the darkness of spiritual and religious ignorance. They're taught of God. John 6.44 tells us that if any man be taught of God, he comes to Christ. Now those who are born of God are taught of God, and being taught of God, they understand truth. They're made to see that which is truth.

Turn over to chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2 verse 20. Now, I don't even pretend to imagine that all of God's saints can give a theological definition of and write out a theological treatise describing the various doctrines of the gospel. I don't even pretend to imagine such a thing.

But I am telling you, if you're Christ, you know the truth. If you belong to God, you know the truth. I'm not the least bit concerned about any of you who are believers. Turn on your radio when you start home today and listen to some freewill worksmonger. preaching, and you say, well, you know he's got a little truth, but we'd rather listen to him. No, believers are cross-sheep, and they hear his voice. Know what the book says? And they won't follow a stranger. Look what it says here.

You have an unction from the Holy One, an anointing, and you know all things. Not perfect knowledge, no. But you know that which is needful for you to know. You know all that God has revealed concerning the gospel of His free grace in your soul. You know it. You've been taught of God. Verse 27.

The anointing which you have received of Him abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you. That is, you don't need someone to come along and show you again the way of salvation and life. But as the anointing teacheth you of all things and is the truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." Now, what does this mean? God's people know the truth. They don't walk in darkness. They know who God is. They know who God is.

I don't have to be more quain than I have often done to try to illustrate it like this. glass of water here. Now, if I could convince you that that glass of water is God Almighty, and Jesus Christ, I call it Jehovah, I call it Jesus, I call it God, I sing praises to it, I give my money to it, I bow down and worship it. Now you might think I'm crazy, but if I can convince you that's what I believe, no matter how sincere I am. No matter how devoted I am, that doesn't make that glass of water God, does it? That doesn't make that glass of water Jesus Christ.

And I'm telling you that the God of modern America, the God of 20th century religion, the God of both the conservative and the liberal, the God of freewill works religion, is no more akin to God than that glass of water is akin to God. God's people know who God is.

He's not helpless. He's almighty. He's not frustrated. He does His will. He's not trying to do anything. He does what He will. And He always does His will. God's people know who Jesus Christ is. They know that he is God come in the flesh. God who came to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and they understand that he did it. He has put away our sins. He has saved us from our sins. God's people understand and recognize what they are. Sin. That's all. That's all. They understand how God saves sinners by grace. through a substitute, no other way?

Now then, look at the next step, verse seven. But, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. All who are born of God walk in the light of divinely revealed gospel truth and righteousness, living by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if that's true of you, and true of me, if we walk in the light of divinely revealed gospel truth, if we walk by faith in Christ, in his righteousness, then Rex Bartley, you and I have fellowship with God.

That's what he says. Then we have fellowship one with another. That is, we have fellowship with him who is the light. More than that, we have fellowship with each other. Walking together with God in the light, as we have fellowship with God, we have fellowship with each other.

Can't help it. Can't be walking in the same light. walking the same path, walking with the same God. We have fellowship with one another. Believers do. Their hearts are uniting. Oh, yeah, we have various things that clockwork from time to time because we're sinners. No question about that. We have various things that Satan uses to attempt to divide us. No question about that.

We have various things that happen that Take one person this way and one person another, but I'm telling you, believers walk with God in fellowship with God. And if they do, they have fellowship with one another. They do. And if you and I can't fellowship with one another, I'm not talking about sit down and have dinner together. I'm talking about if we can't walk with one another in love, one of us doesn't know God. That's right. Believers have fellowship with one another.

And the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth, I like that word, cleanseth, cleanseth us from all sin. There is in the sin-atoning blood of Christ, and only in the blood of Christ, Not in baptism, not in the sacraments, not in the ordinances, not in church attendance, not in good works, but only in the blood of Christ. There is a perpetual, vicarious, effectual power and merit so that our sins are perpetually cleansed from us. Perpetually cleansed. Do you see that? It doesn't say the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, has cleansed, though that's true. It says the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin.

It continually, with perpetual efficacy, cleanses our hearts and cleanses our consciences from dead works, cleanses our souls, and cleanses our record in heaven, so that even before we sin, his blood's effect shall be put away our sin, and therefore blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin. his blood cleanseth us from all sin. Now look at this 30th in verse 8.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. What does that mean? That means exactly what you think it means. Say people know the plague of their own Folks who imagine foolishly that they have no sin, they don't know God. They just don't know God.

If we say that we have no original sin, well, I know my heart. I wouldn't do that. Oh, I'm afraid you don't know your heart. I know my heart. I don't think like that. I'm afraid you don't know your heart. If we say that we have no indwelling sin, that is, if we say we weren't born in this world with sin, and that sin in all its evil and all its hideousness, in its seed, is not in us, if we say in our hearts we're not guilty of lust and adultery and blasphemy and lying and murder and all that, we deceive ourselves. We deceive ourselves. It's in you. It's in you. And it's in me.

And if we say that we have no actual sin, we deceive ourselves. Now, I haven't committed any sin today. I hear these folks talk about living above sin and living without sin. Give me five minutes. I'll guarantee I'll show you they've got some sin. Because they're telling their lies. You're a liar.

You haven't lived without sin. You haven't lived without sin since you breathed your last breath. Sin's part of what we are by nature. We're sinners. Sometimes we get to singing songs that are so contrary to the gospel, we ought never to do it. In our handbook, we've got that song, The Quincy Way. It's a pretty good song, except for what it says. The second verse goes like this, I rise to walk in heaven's own light above the world in sin. Do you now? Since when? Since when? Oh no, you're not walking above sin. You're not walking above the world.

That's silly self-righteousness. Anyone who denies that he's a sinner, present tense, is a liar. Christ is not in him. Believers know and acknowledge they're sinners. Sin is ever-present with us. It's mixed with everything we do. That's the reason Paul said, oh, that's it, man, that I am. Who said there's never making the bottom of the sea? He said, when I would do good, evil is present with me. I am sin. That's it. Now then, look at the fourth one in verse 9.

If we confess our sins, not to a preacher, not to the church, not to a priest, oh no. If we confess our sins to God, against whom we have sinned. Now what does that mean? confess our sins. Well, people say if there's any unconfessed sin in your life, it's not talking about sitting down and listing your sins. It means that we don't know our sins. We don't know our sins.

So, he's not talking about sitting down and saying, I remember once I stole the watermelon when I was a little boy and I cheated on my wife when I was a young man. I lied at work one time, and I picked up something over at Wal-Mart the other day I didn't pay for, and I had some lust this morning. No, that's not what we're talking about. It's not talking about enumerating sin.

To confess my sin is to cry like the public. It is to open your heart before God and say, Lord, this is what I am. This is what I am. Against thee, the only, have I sinned, done this evil in thy sight. God, I'm guilty. I'm sorry. Will you confess your sin to God? To God. Now, I'm going to be honest with you.

It's a whole lot easier to do business with me than to do business with God. Preaching will get you to come down to the aisle after the service is over, and you sing Just As I Am and shake their hand, and you'll come up and start whispering in their ear and confess your sin. That's easy stuff. That's easy stuff. I'm talking about confess your sin to God. Listen to what it says. If we confess our sin.

A wise man said in Proverbs 28, 13, He that covereth his sin shall not prosper. Put on your fig leaf and cover it up, you'll go to hell. Put on the waters of baptism, cover it up, you'll go to hell. Put on a religious profession, cover it up, you'll go to hell. He that covereth his sin shall not prosper.

But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. The basis of forgiveness is the blood of Christ, and the assurance of forgiveness is the character of God. God, I confess my sin. I confess my sin looking to Christ alone as my Savior and Lord. I confess my sin. I have no atonement for sin but his blood. I have no righteousness but his righteousness. I confess my sin.

And God is faithful. to his word, faithful to his son, and just, just. You mean just? Just to forgive our sin. How can God be just and forgive our sin? Because Christ has paid for our sin. We confess our sin. God is faithful. He said he'd forgive it. If you confess your sin, I'm telling you right now, he'll forgive your sin. And he's just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from our unrighteousness. God cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding, sureth his hand, and then again at mine."

Now look at verse 10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Now isn't that just exactly what he said in verse 8? No. No, he said in verse 8, if we say we have no sin, Here it says, if we say that we have not sinned, anyone who foolishly imagines that he has not sinned, even in the performance of his most holy deeds, calls God a liar, and his word has no place in it. You remember in Proverbs 7, when the wise man describes the harlot, and she has seduced the man, and she gets up in the morning She wipes her mouth and says, I have not sinned. I have not sinned. That's exactly what it's talking about right here.

No matter what you do, no matter what you do, I don't care if you're talking about praying, tithing, going to church, keeping the Sabbath, keeping the law. I don't care if you're talking about reading your Bible. I don't care if you're talking about witnessing. I don't care if you're talking about your highest, noblest, holy ambition.

When you've done it, you wipe your mouth and say, I have not sinned. You're a liar. That's what it says right here. And make God a liar. His word's not in us. You see, the wise man Isaiah, in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit Christ, our righteousnesses are stripped of age. You mean what we're doing now? You mean listening to the Word of God? Seeking to understand the things of God? Our righteousnesses are filthy rags in God's hands? If that's the case, what about us then?

Same thing. Same thing. Because everything we do is so marred and defiled with the corruption of our hearts that we can't do good. We can't do good. We can't perform righteousness. We cannot offer to God anything from these polluted hearts that's perfect. Can't do it. You may preach that God won't accept sincerity. James, he won't accept sincerity. He won't do it. It must be perfect to be accepted. It must be perfect to be accepted.

If that's the case, If everything we do is sin, if even our righteousness in our righteous deeds as believing men and women is sin, it must be acknowledged that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is by grace alone. If everything we do is sin, then we cannot be justified by what we do, we cannot be sanctified by what we do, and we cannot be rewarded in heaven by what we do, because everything we do is sin. Well, what's the conclusion? Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation by grace alone.

Well, look at one more thing now. I'll quit. My little children. John was a faithful pastor and he looked upon God's children as his children. Some of you are considerably older than I am, but in this relationship, I'm still Compelled to look upon you, compelled not by any force, but the love God's given me for you as my little children. My little girl is getting married next week, but she's still my little girl. You understand what I'm saying? Merle Hart's sitting back there, my little child, my responsibility. I care for him as my child.

These things write unto you that you sin not. Don't sin. Don't sin. Don't sin. Don't ever make any excuse for sin. Don't ever say, well, I know I shouldn't have but. Don't ever make an excuse for sin. Make it your life's goal, your heart's desire. to be free of sin. Oh, that I could rise above the world and sin. Don't sin. Don't sin. But don't ever imagine that you're going to attain that here. It's not going to happen.

But what about when I do sin? If any man sin, if any man sin, don't despair. We have an advocate with the Father. If any man sin, it doesn't say we've lost, it says we have an advocate. Somebody plead our cause before the throne of God. We have an advocate with the Father. And the Father will hear it, his name is Jesus, our Savior, the Christ, anointed of God, the righteous, whom God Almighty must accept, and he's the propitiation for our sins. That is, he has already taken care of the promise. He's already satisfied the justice of God on our behalf. He has forever put away Now in the light of these things, I bid you, my brothers and sisters, to walk with God Almighty by faith, looking to Christ, only to Christ. And I urge you, who know not our God, to come to Christ.

Confess your sin, right where you are. Don't say a word. Somebody say, well, what am I supposed to say? Don't say anything. What am I supposed to do? Oh, don't do anything. Right where you are. Right where you are. Open your heart to God. Confess your sin. Do heart business with God. And if you confess your sin, he's faithful. just to forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Amen.

Six "Ifs"

What does the Bible say about God's love for us?

How do we know we are true Christians?

Why is it important to confess our sins?

What does it mean that God is light?

How does belief in free grace differ from free will?

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Six "Ifs"

What does the Bible say about God's love for us?

How do we know we are true Christians?

Why is it important to confess our sins?

What does it mean that God is light?

How does belief in free grace differ from free will?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

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