I invite you this morning to
turn with me to 1 John chapter 1. My subject, as I said earlier,
is fellowship, the fellowship of God's saints. I hear people
talk about fellowship. From time to time, somebody says
to me, we need more fellowship. You have a strong church, but
it needs more fellowship. We need to invite people over
for fellowship. I hear people talk about fellowship. I see this word incorporated
in the names of churches. I have a good friend who pastors
a church, and I've been out there to preach a couple of times in
California called San Diego Grace Fellowship. I did a computer search just
for a minute or two on the name and the list was endless. Fellowship
Baptist, Life Fellowship, Christian Fellowship, Bible Fellowship,
and just plain old Fellowship. All incorporated in the names
of churches. I hear people talk about fellowship. I see the term used in the names
of churches, and I often see announcements on the bulletin
board down at the post office where I go to get my mail. And
it'll say, on such and such a day, the Methodist Church is having
a fellowship dinner, such and such a day, or I read it in newspapers. A few years back, I got called
to preach at a conference, and the title of the conference,
the subject of it, was fellowship. Fellowship. What is fellowship in the biblical
sense? Is there such a thing in the
lives of Christians? Is fellowship a Bible term, a
Bible doctrine? Are we as disciples of Christ
encouraged to have fellowship? And if we are, who are we encouraged
to have it with? I believe this is one of the
most misunderstood terms in the New Testament, fellowship. I selected my text here in 1
John because I believe it goes right to the heart of what true
fellowship is. Now, let's begin reading here
in 1 John 1. that which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word
of life. For the life was manifested and
we seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life
which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That
which we've seen and heard declare we unto you, now listen, that
ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is
with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these
things write we unto you that your joy may be full. This then
is the message which we've heard of Him and declare unto you that
God is light And in Him is no darkness at all. Now the light
he's talking about is the light of this fellowship, the light
of this redemption that was manifested in Jesus Christ. And this is
what he's telling them. In Him is no darkness. God is light and in Him is no
darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship
with Him, with God, I know God. The Jews told Christ, God is
our Father. He said, if God were your Father,
you'd love me, because you've got no other way of knowing who
God is. I came forth from the Father.
I manifested the Father. If we say we have fellowship
with Him that is with God and walk in darkness, we lie and
do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
as he is the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in it. If
we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. Now, what I propose
to do this morning is to give you three things concerning the
fellowship of God's saints, and I hope you'll listen to it. Here's
the first thing. What is the fellowship of the
saints? What in the world is this Bible
talking about when it's talking about the fellowship of the saints? What John says very clearly here
in the text, which I read to you, that it's with the Father
and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Whatever this fellowship is,
it's based on God Himself, on God's will, on God's power, on
God's character, on God's intention. It's based on that. It's not
based on something in us or something in this world. It's our fellowship. Christian fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son. Now, the word fellowship carries
in it a sense of partnership. And we're partners in that we
share an interest in His blessings. John said, I'm writing these
things to you. that you might have fellowship with me. My fellowship
is with the Father and with the Son. And I'm preaching these
things to you, and maybe, maybe, God will allow you to have fellowship
with us. Maybe He will. Who can tell?
Who can tell? We're partners in that we share
an interest in His blessings. We're said to be, in Romans 8,
17, heirs of God. and joint heirs with Christ.
We've been predestinated, the Bible said, unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will. He goes on to tell us in Ephesians
111 that in Christ we have obtained an inheritance, this partnership,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. Whatever this
fellowship with is, it has to do with a partnership which we
have through the person of Jesus Christ whom God the Father sent. The fellowship of the saints
is a true and saving knowledge of God through the person and
work of his dear son and made known by the effectual working
of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. That's the fellowship. That's
the fellowship. If you don't have that, you don't
have fellowship. You might have friendship, but
you don't have fellowship. Our fellowship is that which
we have by union with the Lord Jesus Christ who is not only
our representative on earth, but is God's representative to
men. Salvation comes from the triune
God. That's what I'm attempting to
tell you this morning. This fellowship comes with an
understanding of the mystery. We have a fellowship in the mysteries
of God. We understand that salvation
comes through the triune God. There was a Pentecostal church
up in Ashland where I was raised. And this church was called, it
was nicknamed by all the people around, Jesus only. Jesus only. Believers understand. They understand
who Christ is and that Christ not only represents us on this
earth before God, but he represents God on this earth to us. Huh? Salvation comes from the triune
God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
But it's revealed in the Son. Does that make sense? It's revealed. You're not going
to find it studying God the Father. You'll find it in Christ. But
in Christ, you're going to find God the Father. In Matthew 11, verse 27, our
Lord said, All things are delivered unto Me of My Father. What things? What things? All things. What all things is He talking
about? That's a pretty big scope, isn't it? All things. He uses
that term a lot concerning His Son. All things. Everything God has purpose to
do, Everything that the triune God is, it's all been purposed
in Him. It's delivered unto me of my
Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, now listen to this, and he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal it. In the faith of God's elect,
there is a fellowship of the mystery of the Godhead in the
salvation of sinners. Paul opened his letter to the
Ephesians praising the God and Father of Jesus Christ. I'll tell you, that's a mouthful
if you try to study it. He is the God of Christ. I thought Christ was God. He
is. His name shall be called Wonderful
counselor, the mighty God. Listen, the everlasting Father. But he talks about his Father. It's a big subject if you get
into it. He opens this book praising the
God and Father of Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Jesus tells us the same thing,
or James does, that every good gift, every perfect gift is from
above, cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no bearableness,
neither shadow of turn. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. It was the immutable will of
our Heavenly Father, which is the source of our hearing and
believing. And therefore, we're encouraged to be swift to hear,
and slow to speak, and slow to rebel. Paul tells the Galatians,
because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his
son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. I'm told by those
who studied the language that the word Abba comes from the
Syriac language or the Syriac customs. And it's used only in
the closest relationship of family. It means father, but it goes
past that. It means head. It means lord. And so if you interpret it exactly
as the word is, it means head father or father lord. And those servants under that
economy were considered as members of a house. They were never permitted
to use this word abba. They couldn't use it. Forbidden.
Only for children and the wife. Even as Sarah called Abraham,
Lord. Believers understand that God
is their God as He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Believers
understand that God is their Father as He is the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And believers understand that
they are heirs of God only as they are joint heirs with the
Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the brightness,
it says in the scriptures in Hebrews 1. He is the brightness
of the Father's glory and the express image of His person. He is the manifestation of God
the Father. Philip said, Show us the Father,
and it will satisfy us. It will suffice. Jesus said to
him, Have you been so long time with me, and yet hast thou not
known me? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. And believers understand and
have fellowship in the saving knowledge of the Trinity. They
rejoice in it. Paul said he preached the wisdom
of God in a mystery. And believers have the fellowship
of faith. They not only have this fellowship
of understanding, this mystery, this great mystery of the Godhead,
the saving knowledge that God the Father and God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit are all engaged in your salvation. They share
that. And believers have the fellowship
of faith. What's that mean? That means
they believe the same thing. I get so tired of hearing people
talk about we're all just spokes in a wheel. Every spoke all going to the
same place. Believers share a fellowship
of faith. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 4 tells
us there is one body, one spirit, even if you are called in one
hope of your calling, one Lord. Now listen, one faith. How many? One. One baptism. One God and Father of all who
is above all and through all and in you all. This is what
Paul refers to in that same chapter, that he strived to keep the unity
of the Spirit. That's what he's talking about,
this one faith, this one Lord, this one God, this one Savior. He strove, these churches were
to strive to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. Listen to these epistles, how
they begin. Paul called Titus, he said, my
own son, after the common faith. Peter addressed a general letter
to all God's children, calling them men and women of like precious
faith. And we cannot have fellowship
with those who cannot and will not bow to the testimony of God
concerning his son. I can tolerate them, I can be
around them, I can be kind to them. I can love them, I can
pray for them, but I can't have fellowship with them. Because
my fellowship is with God the Father and with His Son. I can
fellowship with those of like precious faith. We have everything
in common. Listen to this scripture in 2
John chapter 9. I mean 2 John verse 9. Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, now
watch this, hath not God. He don't have a right understanding
of God. He don't know God. He's not a
recipient of his benefits. He knows not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. He hath knowledge
of them both. He is a recipient of their benefits. He savingly knows the Father
and the Son. This is what eternal life is.
Now, verse 10. If there come any unto you, and
bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither
bid him God's feed. For he that biddeth him God's
feed is a what? partaker of his evil deeds. You
can't have fellowship with a man who hates God. You can't do it.
We have a fellowship of understanding concerning the Godhead and the
salvation of sinners. And we have a fellowship of faith.
We believe the same thing. We believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ as He sent forth in the Word of God. And then thirdly,
we have a fellowship of experience. I don't have to talk to a man
very long before he'll tell me how God revealed to him what
he was. He's a sinner. He's a sinner. Hopeless, helpless, thought he
was somebody. God brought him to see that he
was nobody. Thought that God was on the shelf
somewhere and he could just go take him off the shelf any time
he needed him. Thought that salvation was an
insurance policy. All he had to do was cash it
in. Just keep in mind where it is
so I can go grab it and cash it in. And one day God let him know
who he was. And let him know it's not so much that he's Lord.
And it's not a question of what you're going to do with your
Lord. It's a question of what your Lord is going to do with you. We have a fellowship of experience. All God's children are called
in one hope of their calling. And the one hope to which all
believers are called is that which is laid up for us in heaven
in the person of God's Son. Our life is hid with God in Christ. That's why He said, set your
affections on things above, not on things of this world. For
we're dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him. Here on earth, it's Christ in
you, the hope of glory. Our hope is to be with Him, to
be like Him, and to know Him in the fullest sense of the word.
The saving glory of God can only be seen in His face. And we're
all sinners, vile, hateful enemies of God, condemned sinners, practicing
sinners, unclean, ungodly, unrighteous. And so we would be yet, so we
would be yet if he had not called us out of darkness, called us
according to his own purpose and grace, and called us to glory
and virtue, called us to be heirs of God and join heirs with Christ.
We are all, Paul said to the Hebrews, partakers of the heavenly
coming. He convinces us of sin, and being
convinced of sin, we lose all hope in ourselves and in this
world. That's why John said those two
things back in the chapter that I read to you. You can't deny your sinnerhood. You make God out to be a liar
when you do that. And you can't say after conversion,
I don't sin anymore. That's what the Nazarenes believed. That's what a lot of religions
believe. I'm saved now. I don't sin anymore. He said, God's Word is not in
you. Not in you. He convinces us of sin, and being
convinced of sin, we lose all hope in ourselves and in this
world. Then He sets before us the all-sufficient Savior, Christ
our propitiation, Christ our righteousness, Christ our atonement,
Christ our sanctification, Christ our wisdom, Christ our Lord,
Christ our intercessor, perfect man, perfect God, perfect Savior. And then he tells us down here
in verse 7 of 1 John, if we walk in the light as he is the light,
the light of what? The light of the true character
of God, the light of God's saving benefits, the light of God's
grace, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. If we walk in that light, that common light, that precious
light, if we walk in the light as he is the light, we have fellowship
one with another. Or what about my sins? The blood
of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. We have communion with God the
Father and God the Holy Spirit as we have a common union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the fellowship of
the saints is. And without this fellowship,
we cannot expect to have fellowship in our marriages. That's why
Paul forbids believers to marry unbelievers. We cannot have fellowship
in our gatherings. I go to every now and then to
our family reunion and I'm miserable. Miserable. The only thing we
share in common is we had the same parents. That's it. That's
it. Maybe if I can keep talking about
fishing or something, we can get along. But that's it. We
don't have this fellowship. Why we don't have fellowship
in our marriages and fellowship in our family gatherings and
in our suppers and sometimes even in our worship? All right. This is what fellowship is. Learn
it. Get it in your head. Look at
it. Think about it. Here's the second thing I want
you to see. What fellowship is not? It's not a bunch of folks
getting together with common interest, except that common
interest be Christ. Fellowship, Brother Henry used
to tell us, is fellers in the same ship. Fellers with the same hope. Do
you know that the Bible says these six things? It says we
are fellow citizens. It says, we're fellow helpers,
fellow laborers, fellow servants, and fellow workers. We're fellers
in the same ship. John said, truly, our fellowship
is with the father and with his son. And he said, I'm telling
you this, that you might have fellowship with us and that your
joy might be fulfilled. Brethren, if this fellowship
is not the focal point of all we gather to do, it's not true
fellowship. Occasionally, I go and visit
with my family. As I said to you before, we just
don't have this fellowship. We don't agree. We say, well,
we disagree on some things. I can't find a single point of
doctrine that we can agree on. Maybe you can. But in my family,
we can't. We don't have the same hope.
We don't have the same faith. We don't have the same anything.
Just share our common bond in our parents. We can talk about
childhood memories and we can talk about what a rounder this
one was or that one and so on. We can laugh and tell jokes and
do all those things, but we don't have this fellowship, period. It's not there. I look around, churches go to
extreme ends to build recreational facilities, to earmark certain
days for this and that, and on and on it goes, and all in the
name of fellowship. Fellowship is not just getting
together to eat, it's getting together. Somebody said, when we're together,
we ain't together. Are we on the same foundation? Are we serving the same Lord?
Are we hoping in the same Christ, resting in His sufficiency, looking
for His return? Is Christ being formed in me?
Is He all my salvation and all my desire? What forms the bond
of fellowship is our common interest in Christ. Our common hope in
Christ, our common goal in Christ, our common worship of Christ. And I tell you, there's no one
subject that every Christian loves to talk about more than
Christ. He lights up all over. All you
have to do is start talking to him about his Savior, and he'll
light up all over. He'll tell you. He'll tell you.
It's a joy to Him. It's not work. You're not too fussy about where
you go with it either. Want to talk about His eternal
appointments? That's fine with me. You want to talk about His
incarnation, His types and figures, His creation? His prophecies,
His parables, His redemptive work, His resurrection, His ascension,
His priestly intercession, His present rule, His return. We
fellowship around the gospel. Go where you will. Go where you
will. Now listen to this. 1 John 1 verse 6. If we say we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. Now, it's not just talking about
your doctrine. It is talking about your doctrine,
but it's talking about more than just your doctrine. It's talking
about your life, talking about the tenor of your life. It's talking about your mindset,
your priorities, your goals, your affections. Christ said
this, He that's not with me is against me. Now, there's just
two kingdoms in this work. You either serve one or you serve
the other. No, I'm not for either one. Oh, yes, you are. If you're not
for him, you're against him. That's what he said. He said, he that gathereth not
with me scattereth abroad. Are you gathering with him? How
does he gather? He gathers through what I'm doing
here this morning, through the preaching of the gospel. He gathers
through evangelistic outreaches, through the radio, TV, whatever
means we choose to use, whatever means he leads us to use, through
the internet. It's an evangelistic outreach
when I'm called to go to another church and preach for them. He
that gathereth not with me." If a man is not involved in these
things, if he's not actively participating in these things,
if he doesn't see that his time on this earth is for this, this
is the only reason God has left us here. We're not getting any
better. He's not waiting on us to ripen.
Salvation is in Christ. We're already ripe. Isn't that
what He said? My crop is ripe, ready for the
harvest. Why did He leave us here? To
be fellow laborers in the Gospel of Christ. That's why we're here. And if we're not gathering with
Him, what are we doing? They're scattering abroad. You're
helping the other side. He didn't say He's lost. He just
said, if you're not with me, you're scattering abroad. You're
helping them. He that gathereth not with me. All right. Thirdly, how is this
gospel fellowship practiced? It begins with an acknowledgment
of the truth. Listen to this in Acts chapter
2, verse 41. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized. And the same day, there were
added unto them about 3,000 souls. And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine, now watch this, and fellowship, and
in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Doctrine comes first,
and then fellowship. then fellowship, and then the
ordinances, and then our service. The fellowship of the saints
begins with doctrine. And then secondly, the fellowship
of the saints is practiced through submission to the will of God.
It's God's ordained will that believers be baptized. You're
going to walk in the light as He is the light, and you're a
believer, but you refuse to be baptized. You're still walking
in darkness. Don't do it. Don't do it. If you're going to have fellowship
with Him, you're going to have to walk in the light. Whatever
light God's given you. I don't say you have to be a
theologian to be a believer. I'm just simply saying what light
God's given you, and He gives you first the light of doctrine. The fellowship of the saints
is practiced through submission to the will of God. In Galatians
2, Paul's recounting his experience at the church in Jerusalem. And
there he tells him of his calling to the Gentiles and God's confirmation
of his calling. And in Galatians 2, 9, it says,
when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived
the grace that was given unto me, received that will of God
in him, perceived his calling, perceived all these things. When
they perceived these things, they gave unto me the right hand
of fellowship." He shook his hand and said, you go. You go,
and you go with our blessing. And I'm telling you, we live
in the gospel age. The will of God for His church
in our age is that the gospel be preached to everyone who will
hear. We see this in the Word of God, and we recognize His
preachers by their message. And we fellowship in our submission
to the will of God. And we practice our fellowship
in the preaching of the gospel and in the revelation of these
mysteries by the Holy Spirit. And then, fourthly, true fellowship
is practiced both in our sufferings and in the benefits of His sufferings. Paul said, oh, he said that I
might know Him. that I might know him and the
power of his resurrection." Now listen, and the fellowship of
his sufferings. Paul didn't delight in suffering,
but he delighted in suffering for the namesake of Christ. He
could rejoice in that. Oh, he found something in common.
Something in common. Paul wanted to be like Christ,
even in his sufferings. To suffer for a righteous cause,
to suffer for the same that others might live, and to suffer for
the glory of God. Peter said in 1 Peter 4.14, if
we be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you. Happy are you. For the Spirit
of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part, he's evil
spoken of. On your part, he's glorified.
And he also tells us not to be shocked by those sufferings as
though some strange thing happened to us. We're going to suffer separation
from our blood kin over the gospel. We're going to see separations
from mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers over the
gospel. We're going to find separation from old friends, old churches,
and old neighbors. They're going to separate with
us over the gospel. And this is a type of suffering
that we experience in which we fellowship with His. And the
other part of that fellowship is we fellowship over the benefits
derived from his sufferings. And maybe that's the biggest
part of what this verse is talking about. We have fellowship in
his sufferings. Oh, I'm glad I do. He suffered
the just for the unjust. I had fellowship in that, Russell. He was made a curse for me. Cursed as ever who continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
He suffered for me. And I counted in honor if he
will allow me to suffer for him. Don't you? Fellowship. You see what I'm talking about,
this fellowship? Today that word's used to describe
playtime. It's not playtime. We have fellowship. And truly, our fellowship was
with the Father and with His Son. Now, if I had this fellowship,
I can fellowship when we eat, I can fellowship in my marriage,
I can fellowship anywhere. Huh? Knowing what this fellowship
is. And that's why I said, he that
loveth him that begat, loveth him also that begotten of him.
Why? Because we have fellowship. Fellows
in the same ship. Thank you.