We have begun to work with verse
five, starting last week, and that's sort of where we're gonna
start out with the outline that you have in front of you now.
Fellowship in and with the light. Fellowship in and with the light. That's where we started last
week. John says very positively and emphatically in verse five,
this then is the message which you have heard of him, we have
heard of him, and we declare unto you. that God is what? And in him is no darkness at
all. John now is getting ready to
establish what we call the conditions and qualifications for true fellowship
with God. The conditions and qualification
for true fellowship with God. As he has already established
for us that they were qualified, that is the apostles were qualified
to be the messengers of the gospel because with all of their faculties,
they were witnesses of the word made flesh. That's verses one
through four. We saw him, we heard him, we
touched him, we handled him in every way possible. We have fully
grasped the revelation of God and the person of Christ and
it is this light and life we are declaring unto you. We are
qualified by virtue of all apostolic designation to tell you who the
true and the living God is. We are therefore letting you
know that God is light. That's what he's sort of establishing
in verse 5 as a closure on verses 1 through 4. God is light. He's getting ready to deal with,
as you and I know, the spurious and false claims of people who
say they know God. And so as he establishes his
premise for proving that it cannot be that these people who say
they know God know God because of the manner in which they speak
of God and how they act, he asserts to the congregation, God is light
and in him is no darkness at all. So in your outline 5B, God
is all light. You guys see that, right? No
place at the table for darkness, right? No place at the table
for darkness. And of course, when we talk about
the table, we are using the metaphor of what? Fellowship. The table
is where the people of God meet in that koinnea fellowship, partaking
of the feast of the gospel under the Assumption that we all worship
the same God and last week we talked about how that it is a
mutually exclusive principle that one cannot be in Fellowship
with God who is all light and no darkness at all and yet that
individual at the same time Walks, which is a metaphor for fellowship
in darkness perpetually it cannot be that I am in fellowship with
God and and at the same time walking in darkness. These are
mutually exclusive concepts that John is getting ready to set
down. Now, as we work through some of the language and some
of the terminology here, inherent in the book of John are some
of the definitions, but we're gonna be looking at them in a
larger, more biblical scope. What I shared with you last week
was that when John used the term light, he was using the term
light, having an understanding in first century Rome of the
full spectrum of the light source We talked about the light that
could not be seen There is that aspect of the light spectrum
on one end where the light cannot be seen. This is your this is
your Intraviolet light then you have your ultraviolet light and
that is the light that can be felt but not seen And then you
have the intraspectrum, which is the spectrum that God uses
to govern this universe, this light spectrum in which you and
I live, where the light can be both felt and seen. And we use the great metaphor
of our cosmos, our solar system to prove it. There is one big
old planet out there, one big star out there that proves to
us this significant metaphor, and it's called the what? The
sun. The sun is a ball of fire that produces for us light and
what? Heat, light and heat. The metaphor of the sun is a
metaphor of the word made flesh and dwelling among us. We can
see the light and we can feel the light. We can see it and
feel it. And therefore we know something
about the light. And so when John says God is
light, he's talking about all three persons of the Godhead.
All three persons of the Godhead bear all of the full qualities
of light. Now, the word light in its rudimental
form simply means energy or power. Light is power. It is a consequence
of energy. It is an energy source that cannot,
in its initial sense, be seen until it operates enough to actually
radiate. Radiation is the same form of
light. When we talk about radiation,
we're talking about what the light emits in terms of us to
be able to perceive its presence. But you don't necessarily have
to see the light to feel it because light being energy produces what? Heat. So, you know, sometimes
we talk metaphorically about the sun not being out, right?
The sun's always out, but it's shrouded by the clouds. But we
can still feel the heat and the infraviolet rays we can also
experience. We can experience the rays from
the sun. It can do us well. It produces
plant life. It fertilizes things. It can
give us cancer. If there's too much of it, as
you know, this is the power of the sun. And even with John,
when he uses the metaphor light, he's saying, be very careful
when you say you have fellowship with God, because when you say
you have fellowship with God, you are saying you have fellowship
with the light. And when you say you have fellowship
with the light, then you are ready for the light to expose
everything about you. You cannot say that you have
fellowship with the light. and yet be having darkness as
part of your life, either shrouding it or veiling it from the light
or from yourself. When we come to the light, this
is what John is saying, we are ready now to be fully exposed
to what all the light brings to us. This is why I said when
John used this language, he was simply borrowing from what the
master said in 1st John chapter 3 verses 19, 20 and following. He says men love darkness rather
than what? Because they do not want their
deeds to be made manifest whether they are wrought in God. So here's
what we're getting at. When a person is authentically
walking in fellowship with God, they are willing to be fully
exposed. You got that? That means the
idea of walking in darkness for them is really an antithetical
concept because their objective is to have communion with the
light. And what John is trying to stress
as he talks about this is people who are walking with the light
are people who are fully open. They are fully exposed. Now,
let me work a little bit through our outline that we have presently
before us. The nature of God constitutes
the basis of our position with him. What we have been talking
about, and I think I closed last week talking about fellowship,
right? Koinonia. And what I said was that this
koinonia, which we talk about all the time, fellowship, is
a number of things. And you had that in your previous
outline. It ultimately means to be an inheritor. and inheritor
of the promise. It has everything to do with
the blessings of God that are given to his people. When we
are a partaker of the fellowship, God has caused us to be a partaker
of the divine nature. To be a partaker of the divine
nature then means that we enter into God through Jesus Christ
and we are brought into a knowledge of God through doctrine. That
knowledge then by the Spirit of God transforms our attitude
and our priorities and then it results in our conduct. We saw
this in Acts chapter 2 last week as we closed, didn't we? In Acts
chapter 2 verse 42, a common passage always quoted, and they
continued in doctrine, the doctrine of the apostles, and in fellowship,
and in breaking of bread, and in prayer. And then we went through
the verses that subsequently followed that. Do you guys remember
that? Go back to Acts 2. I want you
to see this before we break into our text, because I want you
to get this. I know that it takes a little bit of time to divest
ourselves from the hot dogs, hamburgers, and Coke mentality
of what fellowship is. I've said it frequently, fellowship
is not sitting around eating, even though we always associate
it with that. In the biblical context, fellowship
is far more than us having a meal together. Although the meal is
a metaphor, it is far more than that. When we are talking about
having fellowship with someone, we are talking about being in
agreement with that person, being equal with that person and being
mutual sharers in the resources of that person's life. When you
are in fellowship with somebody, you are mutual in partnership. You guys got that? Mutual in
partnership. Does the illusion of marriage
begin to enter into that definition? Mutual and partnership. This
is what makes the idea of the Christians fellowship with God
so profound. Now, if I had more space, I probably
should have wrote it like this. Doctrine, spirit, then conduct,
because our fellowship with God, if we have it, starts with God
revealing himself to us through the gospel. It then proceeds
to transforming us by his spirit and then works itself out in
our life through our conduct. To have fellowship with God is
for God to reveal Himself to us through the gospel, bring
us into union with Himself by Jesus Christ, by His Spirit,
transform our mind, change our attitudes and our priorities,
so that now we are functionally in fellowship with God. Functionally
in fellowship with God. The profundity of the gospel
is what is called the mystery of the fellowship. Have you ever
heard that term? Ephesians chapter 3 verses 1
through 9 is called the mystery of the fellowship. And here is
the mystery, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Here is the other
side of the mystery, you in him. Now we've talked about this ever
since our conference, the In Him conference, that we are dealing
with a very profound concept that the believer needs to spend
the rest of his life, her life, their life considering. What
does it mean to be in God? And what does it mean for God
to be in you? Whatever the implications of
that preposition and pronoun is, you need to investigate because
it is a major statement that we are making when we say that
we are in God. And we are saying that God is
in us. And that's what we really mean when we say fellowship.
When we talk about fellowship, we're talking about being qualified
to sit in mutual partnership with God. That means God somehow
has made it so you can actually be in partnership with him where
he dialogues with you, you dialogue with him, you mutually agree
and you actually work together to accomplish the purpose for
which you are now in fellowship. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? I want to continue to expand on this point so you can
get it. The idea of fellowship from God's part is to see to
it that men and women from every nation, kindred, tribe and tongue
are made capable of entering into union with him so that they
can be a participant of his grand scheme. The purpose of fellowship
is not merely that you can enjoy the benefits of what it means
to be in communion with God, but that you might enjoy the
process of God's aim and objective in the world. When we are in
fellowship with someone, this is the term Paul uses throughout
the epistles. Speak to my brethren, my true
yoke fellows in the gospel. He was talking about people who
had joined him in the cause of the gospel. That means they were
giving their resources, their money, their time, their energy,
their effort because they were partners with him in the cause
of Christ. Are you guys understanding what
I'm getting at? And so when we talk about having fellowship
with God, we are not talking about simply pulling a lever
and receiving from God benefits. They come, but they come with
an objective as the antecedent or as the premise. Why does God
bring us into fellowship with Him? In order that we might enjoy
the blessings that come through the divine nature. which qualifies
us to enter into the mission and the task for which God has
called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. In the process
of that communion with God, we get to enjoy the blessings, the
constituent blessings that come with being partakers of the divine
nature. Here's a very good model here.
Acts chapter 242. Are you there? And they continue
steadfastly in the apostles doctrine. You guys see that? A couple of
things I said last week, I'll drive it home again. When in
fact we are brought into fellowship with God, doctrine becomes very
important to us. And they continue steadfastly
in the apostles doctrine. Apostolic doctrine is foundational
doctrine. You're not coming into the house
of God without coming through apostolic doctrine. Apostolic
doctrine is the foundation of the church. Every other form
of doctrine is heretical. You're coming through the back
door or through the window and you are a thief and a robber.
Apostolic doctrine is access into the kingdom. Jesus said,
I'm praying for you that they would believe on me through your
words. So we continue in apostolic doctrine
because it is the doctrine by which human beings enter into
fellowship with God. This is how the early church
did it in a very humble, very very simplistic organic fashion. They continued in doctrine and
in fellowship. See what doctrine did? Doctrine
produced fellowship. Then that fellowship was seen
in the practical everyday life in the breaking of bread. You
guys see that? And it concluded in prayer. And
I said verses 43 through 47 gives us an exegetical or an explanation
of the dynamic of biblical doctrine when by the Spirit of God it
actually permeates our life. So let's say metaphorically you
and I are sitting at the table of apostolic doctrine. What it
should result in in your life and mine is the invasion of the
Spirit of God into our life and bestowing upon us certain messianic
characteristic, Christ-like qualities. It then also should result in
us being brought into a unity of the faith that is so evidential
that we are now walking with the same mind, with the same
understanding concerning what God has called us to. Then subsequently
to that transformation of mind, that renewing of mind, it should
break out into the practical, functional evidence of the kingdom
of God. Look at verses 42, 43 and following. I want you to see it again. Watch
the dynamic. Watch the unfolding of true authentic
fellowship. Watch it. Here it is. And fear
came upon every soul. You see that? See, and I've said
it before, this is a messianic gift. This is Isaiah chapter
11. And he will be filled with the spirit of the fear of the
Lord. The gift of fear from God is the gift of wisdom. A gift
that keeps you in filial commitment to God. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of what? Listen, without that characteristic,
you will be inclined to idolatry. Without the fear of the Lord,
you will not reverence this holy God who has made you accepted
in the beloved. Without the fear of the Lord,
you won't say no to temptations. So the church was filled with
the fear of the Lord, not a paralyzing phobia that had them shrinking
away from God in fear of hell. It was that clean fear that David
talks about in Psalm 19 that draws a man or woman closer to
God out of love. Am I making some sense? Watch
it. And they were, and fear came upon every soul. And watch this.
Here are some of the, what I call koinonia benefits. Watch it.
The doctrine was preached. The spirit works through the
doctrine to transform the mind. You guys got the attitude, attitude.
Now watch this, watch what happens. It says, and the fear of the
Lord came upon them. And many signs, many wonders
and signs were done by the apostles. You see that clause there? So
here's, here's what I want you to see. It was always part of
God's objective, particularly in the early church to resource
the church with the spirit of God in such a way that the gospel
would advance affirming Christ person and word through signs
and wonders. These were part of now hear me
now, part of the coin may a gift poured out on the church. The
church is in fellowship with the God of wonders. The God that
does signs and wonders. The God that changes lives. The
God that redeems sinners. They are in fellowship with that
God, right? It would only stand to reason that if we're in fellowship
with the God who does signs and wonders, and he wants to affirm
the authenticity of his son who has come and gone, He's going
to bestow or furnish or qualify or supply his apostles with apostolic
gifts. Signs and wonders. Now, I want
you to mark this. The signs and wonders that are manifested here
among the apostles. It says the apostles, right?
And the apostles did signs and wonders. See, every Christian
wasn't running up trying to pull a lever to get one of the bennies
from God. This is not what this is about. Like today, everybody
wants to be an apostle, bishop, prophet, whatever, miracle worker,
right? This isn't what was happening.
What was happening was that God was working through his apostles
to bring men and women into authentic fellowship with God. And the
gifts of the spirit that were producing signs and wonders,
were doing it according to people's needs. This was not a religious
show. This wasn't Sunday worship. This
wasn't your tent meetings. This wasn't your evangelism trail. This was the work of the Spirit
of God among the people of God meeting, what's the word? Needs. See, because fundamental to fellowship,
fundamental to fellowship, is care of our fellow brethren. The objective then is for God
to not only bring men and women into a revelatory knowledge of
Christ, but to affirm it by furnishing the gifts that would bring about
healing, which would affirm the presence of the spirit of God
and the authenticity of the message of the gospel. Am I making some
sense? These are just some of the things
that were poured out and they were poured out for the comfort
of the church. Here, they were affirmed that
God was among them, working through the apostles, doing signs and
wonders. Now watch, now watch verse 44. And all that what? See, on the foundation of this
koinonia, or this fellowship, is you and I believing the doctrine.
And all that believe were, what's the next word? So see, remember,
and I think I said this last week, I don't want to belabor
it too much, but I do want to drive this home. Fellowship requires
agreement. You have to be in agreement with
that partner who is willing to work with you, associate with
you, identify with you. How can two walk together except
they be what? That's our Amos text. verses
3 chapter 3 verse 2 it's impossible for us to have authentic fellowship
with God and God says one thing and we say something else it's impossible for you to tell
me you have fellowship with God and I hear God's Word say one
thing you say something else it's not possible And now we
also have an understanding of faith here. Faith is not a leap
in the dark. It's not some narcissistic gift
that allows you to just run willy-nilly and do whatever you want so people
can look at you. I told you about Peter's type
of faith. Lord, let me walk on the water. Oh, okay. Come on, man. Come on. Get on
out that boat. Start walking on that water.
Peter started walking on the water in a few minutes. What
happened? It wasn't even a few minutes. I guarantee you it wasn't 30
seconds. What'd he start doing? Sinking. Why? Because his motive
was flawed. He was seeking one of those look
at me type faiths that people want that causes them to stand
out against the other brethren. He always had this insecurity
of wanting to prove to the master that he was more noble, more
wiser, more committed, more faithful to Jesus. And the Lord let him
sink. He cried out, Lord, have mercy
on me. Now he's embarrassed himself. God has to save him, right? Put
his butt back in the boat. And he gets to the other side,
right along with the rest of the 12, right? You guys got the
message now? He never should have got out
of the boat in the first place because a look at me type of
faith is not the kind of faith that comes from God. It's not
about you. It's about God's glory. When
God gives us faith, it's an order for us to get behind God and
affirm his agenda, not in front of him so we can blow ourselves
up and shine. So now here the text says he
gave them faith that resulted in unity and they all had everything
in common. Do you see that? And all that
believe we're together and all had all things in common. Now,
you know, it takes the Holy ghost to produce that kind of unity
among hardheaded, selfish people. Isn't that right? I mean, even
in a family, you don't get this unity in a family. I'm talking
about between a husband and a wife. You need to be full of the Spirit
to walk in this kind of unity, where we're not arguing about
how to spend the money, let alone thousands of new converts to
Christ. But look, I want you to see the
koinonia, I want you to see the fellowship. Now the church in
Acts chapter 2 is reflecting the kind of unity that the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost have. Are they not? The Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost walking in fellowship, don't they? They agree together. They work together. They partnership
together. They do everything with the same
mind. They are distinct in persons,
but they operate together. They are often subordinate in
their roles, but they operate together. Do they not? They're
not in conflict with one another. They're not trying to steal each
other's glory. And so what I'm saying is when we understand
true biblical quinea, what the church will become is a reflection
of the Godhead. When we understand it authentically,
what the church will become is a reflection of the Godhead.
When you're understanding the biblical doctrine is correct,
and your attitude is transformed by that doctrine, you will no
longer tolerate being selfish. It's inconsistent with the character
of the God who has brought you into communion and fellowship
with Him. So what you are looking at in verses 43 through 47 is
the outworking of the dynamic of fellowship. So mark it, verse
45 through 47. And they sold their possessions in goods, imparted
them all to everyone as every man had what? See it? This was
not a social institution with a social program just to show
how philanthropic we can be and how much we love people. The
distribution of goods was according to need. It was according to
need. And this year is a reflection
of the gospel too. And they continue daily with
what one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to
house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.
I said this on Sunday. One of the evidences of the kingdom
of God as well is that there is this perpetual sense of joy
because you have been brought to not brought nigh to God through
Jesus Christ. When you meet a vast group of
Christians and they are joyless, their fellowship is impeded if
they have any at all. It's impossible to be in communion
with the true and the living God and not be happy. It's impossible
to be in communion with the true and the living God and not in
the core of your being be happy. It's impossible. Are you hearing
me? You are impeded. in some aspect of your life,
mentally, emotionally, spiritually, practically, if in fact you are
a Christian where the joy is cut off because a fundamental
evidence or anointing that God gives us by which the world knows
that we are His is the oil of gladness. Are you hearing me? This is why
when Nehemiah was all troubled about the kingdom and he had
to go before our desert seas and serve him his cup, his continence
was sad. And he said, man, I better straighten
up because they're liable to cut my head off. Because you
don't go into the presence of the king sad. That's an implication
on the king's inability to make you happy. Am I making some sense? And so Nehemiah had to hurry
up and fix that problem because it reflected on him. And so it
was, so it is with us. God resources us with so many
blessings that if we would count them, there would be reason for
joy almost all the time. Oh, but I can't wait till we
get to verses six through nine. Because one of the things we
got to confess is that there's so much weakness and carnality
in our flesh, in our fallen nature. If there's one, listen, if we
were stupid enough to be idiots walking around like these cats
with these false claims, I don't sin. I have never sinned. There's
no sin in my life. You and I know there's one sin
in our life and that's we don't give God as much glory as we
ought to. Am I telling the truth? I don't sin. You've got to be
delusional. So we'll work through that. But
what I'm sharing with you is when you look at Acts chapter
two, you see the early church had already entered into a full
orb fellowship. They started getting in trouble
by Acts chapter five. Remember Ananias and Sapphira?
Now they want to keep some of the stuff. So the Holy Ghost
wore off a little bit, didn't it? No, you know, you're going
to be tested with people who are going to struggle with what
we call the value system of the kingdom. They're going to be
people who after a while, and this is a challenge with you
because fellowship, let me just say this now to keep it very
practical. Fellowship is relationship. You mark that down. Fellowship
is relationship. You're going to see this when
we get into verses five through nine. When John says in 1st John,
go back there. When John says in 1st John 1,
verse 7, these words, here's what he says. But if we walk
in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with
one another. Do you see it? And the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. You see it?
So John right there is establishing the nature of the relationship
over against the grounds by which that relationship is sustained. John is describing in verse seven,
the nature of the relationship between us and God and the grounds
by which that relationship is sustained. He says, if we are
walking in the light, right? That's a progressive unfolding
and revelation of what takes place as we continue to enter
in. The preposition in, E-N in the
Greek is a penetrating preposition. You guys got that? I talked to
us about that before. It's a penetrating preposition. It's not like the
preposition upon or around or above or beneath or besides or
before or after. It's a penetrating preposition.
A penetrating preposition is a prepositional idea that means
to enter into the thing and experience the thing. Did you get that?
To enter into it and experience it, to experience the dynamic
of it. And if you're not careful, become
like it. It is the impregnation principle. So to believe into Christ is
to enter into him in such a way that there is a union that takes
place on a spiritually conjugal level, that you become like him. You got that? It's powerful.
It's very powerful. We've talked about that before.
Prepositions are very important. And so when John says, if we
say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we
lie and do not the truth. Let me go back because I want
to make sure we break into that. He's using the metaphor of light.
I need to touch on that in your outline as well. Of course, we
see that in verse seven, but if we walk in the what? So in
your Bible, the concept of light can be underscored by several
terms. The first I want you to understand
is light is a metaphor for knowledge. Okay? If we walk in knowledge,
biblical knowledge, Christian knowledge here it is my people
perish for lack of what? That's right. And so when we
talk about light we are talking about knowledge 2nd Corinthians
chapter 4 verses 4 through 7 verse 6 The Apostle says and God has
caused the light To shine out of darkness and has shown in
your heart. He's penetrated the dark heart
of man and has given us the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ we call it the gospel you guys
see that go back there I want you to see it again 2nd Corinthians
chapter 4 so when we talk about walking in the light we are talking
about fundamentally walking in knowledge so he says it over
in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and this is the impact that the gospel
makes when it comes to you in power when the Gospels revealed
to you in not merely in your intellect, but in the whole of
your being, particularly your heart. But this is where he says
it makes its designation. Verse five, for we preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus, our Lord and our Lord, our Lord,
the Lord and ourselves, your servants for Christ's sake, for
God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined
in our hearts. You guys see that? To give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the person the
word face means person So if you take that last clause the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ We call that the gospel that's verse 4 So what we're
saying is there's no true knowledge of God apart from Christ You
got that when we talk about God has used the light to show his
glory to human beings What he's saying is he's revealed Christ
to you. I Christ is the face of God. He's the revelation of
God. He's the person of God. He's
the image of God. He's the knowledge of God. The
only way to know God is through Christ. When Christ is revealed
to you, God is revealed to you. Do you guys see that? And we
call that the light, the light. Listen to it in verse four. in
verse three and four, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid
to them that are lost in whom the God of this world had blinded
the minds of them which do not believe, lest here it is, the
light of the glorious gospel of who? Now watch what he says,
who is the image of what? should shine unto them. So now
what we're talking about is the effect of the radiation of the
sun reaching our planet, that is our heart, and permeating
our heart and manifesting God's glory. That's what we're talking
about. So this is a work from the outside in, isn't it? It's
a work from the outside in. And the net result is it produces
in us faith in God. It causes us to know God. This
is what the term knowledge means. The other concept of light in
the scriptures are several very clear metaphors. The idea of
the light in the scriptures has to do with the word of God. That's
true, right? Thy word is a what? So the word of God itself is
able to illuminate, open our understanding, give clarity,
expose, reveal to us God. The other idea of the light is
with regards to the spirit of God. The spirit of God is God's
light. You guys know that. In the Old
Testament, temple, tabernacle in the wilderness, temple in
the promised land, God says, take the oil, mix it with the
ointment of the apothecary, That would be mixed with myrrh, aloes,
frankincense, certain cinnamons. These were all ointments. They were like perfumes that
would be reflective of the atonement of Jesus Christ mixed with the
oil because wherever the atonement of Christ is, the Holy Ghost
is. And wherever the Holy Ghost is, Christ is. The two work together. Are you hearing me? They never
work opposite of each other or antithetical. The Holy Ghost
glorifies Christ. And so the anointing that illuminates
is a consequence of the atonement of Christ. So in the temple,
what the priests were told is, don't create any light that doesn't
have as its premise or as its compound, the atoning work of
Jesus Christ. This is why the woman who loved
Christ so much bought that alabaster box of ointment and poured it
on his head. He said, this was done for my burial. And this
is what precedes or antecedes the outpouring of the Holy Ghost.
So the Holy Ghost never works where the gospel is not honored.
The gospel is the light, the Holy Ghost is the energy that
produces the light. When the light is made manifest,
it makes manifest a person, and that person is Christ. You say
you know God, then the question is, do you know Jesus? You say
you have the Spirit of God, then the question is, do you know
Christ? Because you can't have the Spirit nor know God if you
don't know Christ. Christ is the revelation. The energy of that revelation
or the mechanism or the power we call it the efficient cause
is the Holy Ghost You guys understand that the goal of the Spirit of
God is to exalt Christ make him a reality in your life and so
the Word of God is a light the The idea of light is knowledge
or insight or revelation and there are multitudes of verses
in your outline there for that So in your outline there it says
the synonyms for the knowledge of God the Word of God the Spirit
of God the Spirit through the word shows us Christ as John
5 39 Revelation 9 and 19 verse 10. One of the arguments we have
been establishing here in the Bay Area for 16 years is that
the whole objective of God giving us this Bible is to show us his
glory in the person of Jesus Christ. This book is about Christ.
It's a hymn book. You guys understand that. You
can never talk too much about him. You can never exhaust him
too much. You can never exhaust the person
and work of Jesus Christ. True sinners who have been redeemed
by the grace of God want to know everything they can about God,
right? Well, if Christ says, if you've seen me, you've seen
the father, that means I want to know Jesus. Because to know everything
about God has to be filtered through the person of his son
has to be. I can never, ever at one time
be disinterested in the son and not say I'm not disinterested
in the father. I'm utterly disinterested in
God. If I am bored with Christ, and if I'm bored with Christ,
I haven't seen his glory. Okay. And so in 1 John, we wanna
work through this now. What John is aiming at, and we're
getting ready to get into this now for the next 15, 20 minutes,
and I'll open the floor for questions. I want you to be thinking now.
I don't want you to go to sleep on me. Don't be passive. I told
you about that. No passive listening. Active listening. What's on your
heart? What did I say that didn't make any sense to you? I gotta
get my stuff. What is he saying that I don't
agree with? Don't like. Don't care for. Don't understand. Don't you sit and listen to anybody
for 20 minutes and don't have something to say. You're not
listening. You just wait until the program
get over with. Oh, that was a good message. What did he say? I don't
know. You weren't listening. Either I'm lying or telling the
truth are part of both, but you wouldn't know because you weren't
listening. Am I telling the truth? You got to listen. Preacher,
you said this. Will you explain yourself? Cause
that don't make any sense to me. Okay. So what I want you
to understand in this outline is that there are seven heresies
here, a heretical claims that are addressed in the book of
John seven fundamental heresies that he is actually dealing with
now heresies. What is the heresy? It is that
which is other than truth. Heresy is that which is other
than true. That's what heresy is. Literally
the word means to choose, to choose. I want you to understand
that because this here is the idea that was brought in and
inserted in Genesis chapter three. Verses 1 through 7. What the
devil told the human race is, you have a choice. And that doctrine
has permeated the world ever since. Even Christians think
they have a choice. We even use that idea when we
tell people you need to be saved, you need to choose Jesus. But
you read nowhere in the Bible that it says choose Jesus. Nowhere
in the Bible that it says choose Jesus. And yet theologians and
pastors say, well, essentially it means the same thing. No,
it doesn't. To believe on Jesus and to choose Jesus doesn't mean
the same thing. You can choose something that
you don't know anything about. You can be cajoled and you can
be manipulated into choosing something. A salesman can come
to your door and force you to buy that vacuum cleaner. And
then you find out after you buy it, you were sold a bill of goods.
And that's how false religion works. They sell you on a Jesus
you don't know. God never meant to sell you on
a Jesus you didn't know. And he never meant for you to
make a choice. He meant for you to believe. And you know what
believing requires? Knowledge. It requires a revelation
of the subject in front of you that is so compelling and so
overwhelming, the end result is, I believe that. Are you hearing
me? Not a choice. Well, I'll argue
against decisions for Jesus. Listen, by virtue of our fallen
nature, if we make the choice, we'll always make the wrong choice.
Be careful about that. But here's what's going on with
John. And the devil knows this. The
devil told Adam and Eve, Hey, look, man, God, he told you,
you can't eat of that tree. He's taking your choices away.
See, now all of a sudden our dignity is marred and we want
to act like God. I want my choice. See, if you
actually exercise your choice, you're going to commit heresy.
That's what Adam and Eve did. It's called choice. Truth is
not a choice. Truth is truth. Rejection of
the truth is not a choice. It's sin. Rejection of the truth
is not a choice, it's sin. You see how this pluralistic
culture tries to play down rebellion against God? Well, that's choice.
No, all choices are sin. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? When God comes to you with the
plain naked truth, he's not coming to you telling you choose this
or choose that. If I loved you, I'm not going
to tell you to choose this or the other. I'm going to tell
you to take this. I'm not giving you a choice. God doesn't give
us choices. No. We assume that we have a
choice because the door was opened by our four parents, Adam and
Eve, under the deception of the devil. We don't have a choice.
We're on our way to hell. The truth comes and says, believe,
and we continue in the choice we already made when we were
born. God should ever cause you to see his glory, though you'll
believe on him. It'll be obvious. It'd be so evident. And so the
seven claims, I want us to see the seven claims. We're going
to back up and just deal with the first one in verses and verse
six to tonight. Cause we ought to take our time
and work through this. I don't want to be here too many weeks,
but I do want to deal with this because it actually gets into
the whole idea of confession. And it's important to know the
struggle that the church has had around this. So here we are
chapter one, verse six. Are you there? Here's the first
false claim. If we say, do you see it? If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we are lying and do not the truth. So the first false claim is in
verse six. The second false claim is in
verse eight. Listen to it in verse eight.
Are you there? If we say that we have no sin, do you see it?
We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. You got it. So the first one is, if we say
we have fellowship with him, but our lifestyle is contradictory
to that, we are lying and we're not doing the truth. If we say
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So
there is a cause and effect. to our assertion that a thing
is so, but because our lifestyle contradicts our assertion, there's
a consequence to it. Do you guys see that? And John
is following through on the fundamental syllogism of the argument here.
He's saying, you're saying one thing, you're doing another,
this results in this. If you say one thing, but you
do another, it will only result in this. Logic says this must
be the result. Are you following me? If you
are saying one thing, and you are doing another, Logic says
this must be the result. See, that's called common sense.
If you say you love me, but every time I come into your presence,
you take a back to my head. I know that you don't love me.
And if that's love, that hurts too much. Stop loving me. Right
now, I'm being humorous because it's been about 45 minutes and
I know you're on a brain freeze right about now and I need to
click you out of that. But here's the problem. Unfortunately,
in religion, people check their brains at the door when it comes
to people's assumptions and propositions and their claims. One of the
things that is just remarkably fascinating to me is how frequently
Christians will say, oh, he's a Christian. Oh, she's a Christian. And then I say, well, how do
you know that? Watch it. Because they said so. That's
exactly where we are. That's what our text is dealing
with. This is why we got to deal with this for the first next
couple of weeks. Because see, when you say something,
you know what you are doing? You are confessing something. You are not just articulating,
expostulating something. You are confessing something.
It means something. and in relationship to the true
and the living God, the God of glory. When you say something
about his majesty, there are far reaching implications to
that. Are you hearing me? So when a person says they're
a Christian and you who say you are a Christian said, Oh, okay,
they're a Christian because they say they are a Christian. You
are now perpetrating that same misnomer because what you say
does not constitute what you are. This is why I've taken it
so far in my own exhortation to the saints at grace is to
tell you, don't tell people you are a Christian. I'm not saying
be ashamed of the word Christian. I'm saying, just stop telling
people you're a Christian. People don't need to know that
you're a Christian by you saying it. I'm a Christian. So what?
What does that mean? I'm a Christian. Well, you know,
I'm a Christian. What does that mean? What good
does it do for you to tell somebody you're a Christian? Other than
they get ready to see how religious you are, how hypocritical you
are, how self-righteous you are, how bigoted you are. Am I making
some sense? Oh, okay, you just put your flag
up, you're a Christian. Now, let's see. Because you said
it. Because you said it. Now, had
you just lived out your Christianity, everybody would know something's
different about you. And then they would come ask,
you know, I see something different about you. Can you tell me what
that's all about? Am I making some sense now? But
for you to go around to, I'm a Christian. Listen, do you know,
you don't know this, but I'm gonna help you right now, just
between you and me. Christianity has a bad rap in the world today. Like, like watch this now, I
want you to get this now. If you're trying to get a job,
don't tell the employer you are Christian. Please don't. Don't do that. Because christians
lie christians rip off their bosses christian cheat on their
time clock christians leave people in bankruptcy Don't use the word christian
Lord don't have him to ask me that because see if they ask
me then i gotta say it But i'm not gonna say it if they don't
ask me Lord help me lord. Don't let them ask me because
they're Assumption is based on a track record of people who
fall into the category that we got to expound now Are you hearing
me? Yeah, I'm a Christian don't mean
nothing. Sorry Seven assertions the first is
in verse six the second is in verse eight. The third is in
verse ten. Look at verse ten if we say That we have not sinned
We make him a liar and his word is not in us. Do you guys see
that? I see what John is doing. John is building an airtight
case against the hypocrisy of a superficial confession. You
don't see it, but I do. If you go back to every one of
these verses, he actually increases, he ups the ante of the consequences.
The first one, he says, if our profession is a sham, we are
lying and we're not doing the truth. The second one, if our
profession is a sham, we have deceived ourselves and the truth
is not in us. See how he ups the ante? And
in the third one, you know what he says? We are making God a
liar. His word is not in us. My goodness. Now help me, saints. Help me
as I wrap this up right here. Help me. Help me now. If we say
something that is not true, and it amounts to us making God a
liar. Don't we want to do everything
to avoid that conclusion? Whatever I do, I don't want to
make God a liar. And that's what John just said
we do. See what I'm getting at? He tightens
it up. But there are a couple more that we have to see that's
in our outline too. Chapter 2, verse 4. Chapter 2,
verse 4. Now watch what he says. He that
saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar,
and the truth is not in him. You see that? That's chapter
two, verse four. Now see, John is so politically incorrect,
he wouldn't stand in the pulpit today in most of your churches.
You guys understand what I'm saying? He wouldn't make it.
He just would. If he stood on this axiom, and
demanded that Christians walk in consistency with this truth,
he wouldn't make it in your average church today. Because this would
require a standard of obedience that most people are not submitting
to. Are you hearing me? That's why
most people don't read their Bibles, because they don't like
this kind of stuff. Now, notice what he goes on to say. This
is not just chapter 2, verse 4. It's verse 6 and 9. Look at
verse 6. He that saith, he abideth in
him, Watch this now. Ought himself also to walk even
as he walked. There you go. Do you see it? Watch again now. Watch this.
Here it is. Well, I abide in him. I abide
in Christ. Well, there ought to be a necessary
consequence to that assumption. And that should be, you should
therefore be walking like he walked. Whatever that means,
we'll get a chance to unpack that over the weeks and months
to come. This is going to take a year to get through 1 John.
Whatever that means, you can, you know, bury yourself in condemnation
and guilt and all that by the apparent implications. But if
you haven't studied it through, just wait till we unpack it because
you need to, you need to see it unpacked. But you can ask
yourself, what does it mean to walk like he walked? Right? since we say that we abide in
him. See, these are powerful terms,
aren't they? See, when we use these little phrases, Christ
is in me. Oh, is he? You mean omnipotent
God is in you? Oh, yeah, honey. Is he? What do you look like? See what I'm getting at? What
do you look like? I mean, because you're talking, you're talking
some real good company there. Our answer is just religious
talk. And notice what he goes on to
say, this is not only verse nine, did we get to nine? No, verse
nine, look at verse nine. I got two more and then we'll come
back and we'll answer some questions and then we'll come back next
week and unpack your outline, the light and the blood. I want
to take the time to unpack that. I will just probably do a little
Notice on it tonight verse 9 he that saith he is in the light
and Hated his brother is in darkness Even until now you see that now
all of these claims that John is drawing out. We got one more
to go our claims that are rooted in in the Context in which John
had to deal with the division that took place in his church
all these claims are claims that are rooted in the context of
which John, the apostle, had to deal with the divisions that
had taken place in his church. We learned this when we opened
up the introductory study, didn't we? that John is actually recuperating,
recovering the understanding of his people. After that, heretics
had entered in giving false claims about their walk with God and
had deceived masses of them. And when they left, these other
people left too. Have you ever experienced a split
in a church as a consequence of a heretic or a false prophet?
This is what John is dealing with. Are you hearing me? So
the people that are still there, and if you know anything about
the tenuous nature of sheep after they have been raped and pillaged
by false prophets who creep in unawares, affect the body politic
and then take a whole group of people with them. Everybody's
timid now. Everybody's unsure. Everybody's
shaky because the vast majority of your Christians in today's
generation, and obviously in first century Rome too, are not
so rooted and grounded that they can handle that type of trauma
without shaking them up mentally. Are you hearing me? This is one
of the reasons why false prophets and false teachers do it. Let
me give you a minute. We'll go to the last verse. I'll open
the floor. This is why for me, one of the essential tools of
my teaching is a polemic. Why I expose false prophets. Why I say this is true and that's
not true, is to help strengthen the weak believer. To help strengthen
the weak believer. Because the weak believer is
weak in that what they know is good, but what they don't know,
which they should know, is what keeps them vulnerable and in
danger. And when you are going to be a faithful shepherd over
the people of God, you must tell them what is true and what is
a lie. You must warn them against that
which is so attractive and so alluring and so popular and so
pervasive. Because if they are really thinking,
they know something is wrong. They just don't know what it
is. And if the preacher is not telling it, then maybe they are
somewhat out of kilter, or maybe they're being hyperjudgmental,
or maybe they're being too sensitive. And over time, their heart hardens
and just let that thing run amok too. Am I making some sense? And then after a while, you realize,
oh, I was right the first time. I just had an unfaithful pastor
who didn't tell me the truth. He let me believe that lie. let's see here chapter 4 verse
20 chapter 4 verse 20 here's the last one and then
we'll come back next week and work through your outline if
you want to I did a very cursory fashion of this 1st John 1 7
1st John 1 9 and 10 I'm gonna come back and unpack it deal
with its tenses because tenses are critical With these first
three claims in first John very important to understand what
first John is saying about the relationship of the believer
in terms of communion with God and his his Relationship to God
in light of the blood how important the doctrine of the blood is
if your understanding of the doctrine of the blood is correct
You won't make these silly claims like you don't sin anymore You
guys get that if your doctrine of the blood is correct you won't
make a silly claim like you don't sin anymore because your understanding
of the blood is directly related to your understanding of your
need. And if you understand your need
over against your of the blood, which actually sustains your
fellowship with God, you won't be talking like you don't need
the blood. Right. All right, let's look
at the last No, I haven't sinned in, I don't know how long it's
been since I sinned. It's been at least a year. I
heard a preacher say this a couple of years ago. I almost ran off
the side of the road. He said, he said, this is a well-known
preacher too. I don't want to name his name.
I don't want to embarrass him. But I almost ran off the side of
the road when he says it's been about 11 months since I sinned.
I said, my goodness, Lord, don't smite him down. Don't smite him.
Don't, don't smite him down. He just lost his mind for a moment. Now, let me share something with
you on that. I like to just play because I'm a teacher, so I do
these kind of things. Do you understand that if you know when
you sin and when you don't, you are operating almost on omniscience? Did you hear what I just said? So verse 20, if a man say, I
love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom
he hath not seen? You guys see that? See, John
is actually, he's strengthening his own congregation. He's working
with this congregation because he understands that his congregation
has really been affected by these false prophets. That's 1 John
2, verse 19. He said, they went out from us
because they were not of us. For had they been of us, they
would have no doubt remained among us. But they went out that
it might be proven that they were not of us. So he let them
know why they left. And he told them they are in
the world. And all that we'll get a chance
to unpack. So be patient in the study. All right, we're gonna
open the floor for questions for 10 minutes. Anybody got any
questions, any issues? I need somebody to run the mic. Yes, you do. All right, get on
over there. Yeah, because people this is
recorded people listen to the yeah Hustle on over there brother
Phil Donahue Pastor just tell me what heresy means again. Mm-hmm. It means to choose Literally,
the word is to choose to make a choice Had a sia if you look
it up in your Bible the Greek word had a sia is It will be
translated in verb form to choose to make a choice. Okay. That's
what that means. Somebody else? Pastor, what is,
uh, when, when you talk about these seven, uh, heresies, are
they not addressed through sanctification and the gaining knowledge as
we process through growth Don't we get better at these heresies? Um, I said, that's a convoluted
way of putting it. I think, I don't know if I would
want to just use that blanket statement that you just made.
You know why? Because some of this has to do
with particular, uh, propositional issues that have to do with doctrine.
And so even though yes, sanctification in a general sense encompasses
what we call the whole of Christian experience, That would be like
stating the obvious way over the top. Sanctification solves
everything. Go ahead, my brother. Good evening,
Pastor. When you say checking our minds
or checking our minds at the door, can you talk a bit about
1 Corinthians 14, where Paul talks about exercising our mind
and not talking in tongues at the same time? Can you expound
on that? Yeah, you're talking about 1
Corinthians 14, and you sound like you're assuming that there's
a distinction between speaking in tongues and using the mind.
It sounds like you're establishing a dichotomy between the two.
Well, I'm just talking about the confusion that's going on
in churches today, especially in some of the charismatic churches
where everybody's talking in tongues. Uh, can you clarify
that issue? Yeah, that's big. Well, I'll
just deal with one cause it really requires time to unpack. I do
have a series on first Corinthians 14 called the CEO of first Corinthians
chapter 14 clarity edification and order. Cause that's what
first Corinthians is about. Clarity edification and order. Paul is correcting confusion,
which leads to disorder and cannot edify. You got, you got that.
So what he says in 1 Corinthians 14, probably where you are struggling
with is the whole argument of speaking in tongues and whether
or not the speaking in tongues is something that can be proven
to be fruitful or not. So we read over in verse 19,
verse 18. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 18, 19.
I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all. You guys see
that? Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with
the understanding that with my voice I might teach others also
than 10,000 words in a tongue. You guys see that? The word unknown
is not there. So when Paul is using that phraseology,
he is speaking to what happens when the gift of tongues is actually
operating. What he has said in 1 Corinthians
14, which is a standing ordinance with the gift of tongues, wherever
it's exercised in a place where people don't understand that
tongue, it requires an interpretation. So if a tongue is being exercised,
a language is being brought forth that the person is gifted by
the spirit to articulate, it requires interpreter so that
the understanding can be what fruitful are you following me
that is a far cry from the Babel that we are dealing with in our
present charismatic churches because what's being assumed
is tongue equals Babel when the word tongue here simply means
languages glossolalia And anybody's tongue can appear babble to someone
else until they understand that dialect or that genre. Am I making
some sense? So what Paul is saying is this,
and this is what I've said to my charismatic brothers over
and over and over again. Every time you speak in tongues
in the church and there's no interpretation of that tongue,
you are sinning against God. Every time. Do you hear what
I just said? Every time. because Paul is curtailing
this look at me attitude again, I got the gift. Well, if you
got the gift, you better exercise that gift right or you're going
to hell. So he tells the church at Corinth,
do not engage in this childish behavior of going off in a language,
whether you want to call that language, uh, angelic language
or spiritual language. We could argue that we'd have
to go through the scriptures to argue that, or you want to
call it foreign languages of which I believe that it is, it
still amounts to the same thing because it's foreign to the ears
that have not been given an interpretation of it. Are you following me?
far into the ears. So whether a person is speaking
in a so-called unknown tongue or speaking in Russian or speaking
in Czechoslovakian or whatever, Hebrew or whatever, and you don't
know that language, it all sounds the same to you until it's clarified,
until someone stands up and says, this is what that means. Now,
the reason God did that is so that he could stop the lying
that goes on in the church in the name of tongues. At least
if you're going to lie, let two people lie. let the person that
stands up and babble and then let somebody stand up and have
the audacity to give the interpretation. It hurts, doesn't it? It hurts, doesn't it? See, and
without enforcing this rule, you advocate confusion in the
church. Without enforcing this rule. Every time I hear a pastor
go off, he getting excited, preaching, getting excited. Oh, shall I
look on the arkada? Well, why you do that, man? What's
the point? Hold on. What's the point? I'm asking you, what is the point?
You're showing off. What's the point? What's the
point? To get somebody to be coveted,
to want to do what you just did. Oh, so now all you're going to
do it and nobody's giving interpretation. I need understanding. Did you hear what I'm saying?
Are you are teaching us to close our minds down? All right, somebody
else. Good evening. My question is
about the Holy Spirit. I was in conference with several
other Christians and they were also talking about the tongue,
excuse me, and we were discussing and I told them that I didn't
believe that the way that they were doing it was correct in
the church, you know, cause they didn't have an interpretation
and they all attacked me and said, well, how do you know you're
being filled with the Holy spirit if you don't have the utterance?
I didn't have a response at that time. I needed to go back and
study. And that's when I went and read the whole chapter of
first, uh, first Corinthians 14 cause they were just only
reading. These are only scripture readers. They only read like, you know,
1414 and that's it. They don't read the whole thing,
right? Yeah. Well, um, the argument
is how do you know you have the Holy Ghost? You can, um, Ephesians
chapter one was substantiate that for you. Romans chapter
eight to the way you know you have the spirit of God is because
you actually believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. A person that is
a true believer in Christ has a spirit of God. You cannot believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ without it. Have you received the Spirit
of God since you believed? And that term since is not a
really good translation of the word in Ephesians 1. Have you
received the Spirit of God when believing? Because the faith
in Christ is a consequence of the work of the Spirit of God.
It's just not this ostentatious stuff that they are clamoring
for. And, you know, if I was there, I probably would further
the argument with them by saying, Where in the scriptures does
it say that you actually have to speak in tongues in order
to evidence that you are saved? Then I would also say do you
know do you know I know a whole bunch of hell-raising sinners
who speak in tongues a Bunch of hell-raising sinners. I know
so many unsanctified tongue-speaking folks who live like hell Are
you hearing me? So, you know our you know As
far as I'm concerned, tongues don't do anything to sanctify
you. It doesn't do anything to grow you. It doesn't do anything
to give you more knowledge. It doesn't give you an accurate
understanding of Christ. It doesn't do anything for you
but make you clamor and clap and make a bunch of noise. People
that speak in tongues don't demonstrate any advantage over people who
don't speak in tongues. Did you hear what I just said?
No advantage. To speak in tongues doesn't give
you any doctrinal advantage. It doesn't give you any greater
commitment to Christ. It doesn't give you any greater
sanctification. So I'm asking for the people
who do speak in tongues, tell me what it gives you other than
some personal experience with God. Because it didn't give you
a greater understanding of the gospel. It didn't show you through
tongues how you believed in the heresy of works religion. Am
I making some sense? Now I know that every gift that
God gives us is for edification. Every gift. So somehow tongues
has to be used to really exalt Christ and give clarity to the
gospel and bring about sound doctrinal unity and edification
But if you are babbling and your life is like first John chapter
1 that we're dealing with you're saying one thing and doing another
I don't want that gift See the gift better it better
glorify God it better it better make you fall in love with Christ
and It better, it better, it better adorn the doctrine of
grace. It better exalt God exclusively. It better not cause people to
trip up and stumble and think they're saved because they speak
in tongues and they're filled with all kinds of vile passions
and lusts and have no control over their nature and still are
in bondage to all of the cultural sins that everybody else is.
All right, one more question, we'll shut it down. Right here,
pastor. Where we at? Over here? Okay. My quick question,
well, it's a statement first, and then it's a question. The
statement that you made about proclaiming that you're a Christian
to people, it kind of hit me in a weird way. I was kind of
thinking to myself, well, if you're a Christian, what is really
wrong with telling people that you're saved? And the Bible says
that everyone will hate you because of me. it really shouldn't matter
on whether you tell them or not because you're going to be hated
regardless. And if you don't get a job because of it, I mean,
it's all in God's will. It's all in his plans. Anyways,
and I see that gay people can be on a sidewalk shouting that
they're gay and doing whatever they want to do. And Buddhists
and Hindu, they can just proclaim their religion, but yet nobody
really cares the same thing. But once a Christian says something,
it kind of, it's like, We have to be quiet or we have to stand
down. That kind of, I don't know, it kind of bothered me a little
bit, but if you can kind of explain or maybe tell me in some way
where in the Bible can help me understand a little bit on times
that we should say something and times that we shouldn't.
Yeah, well, you know, you can read Ecclesiastes 3. There's
a time to speak, a time to keep silent. You know, the Ecclesiastes
3 also talks about a wise man discerneth both time and judgment.
The scriptures are very clear, too. that a wise man, Proverbs
chapter 15, dilleth in knowledge. He's prudent with his words.
He's careful about what he says. James chapter one, verse 19 says,
be slow to speak, quick to hear, slow to rap. James chapter two
says, if any man's religion is filled with words and not deeds,
he deceives himself as well. And what I was saying earlier
is this, much of Christianity around the world today is viewed
as a wordy religion. All we do is talk. We talk. And I gave the example of if
you just live for Christ, it will actually, through that aroma
of your living for him and the choices that you make and the
convictions that you walk with, attract a person enough to where
they will want to inquire as to why you do what you do. Now
you can tell them it's because. But the idea of throwing out
I'm a Christian in the forefront, the reason why people hating
that today is because of what I said. You got a whole bunch
of false Christians or either weak Christians or misguided
Christians or unbiblical Christians that have left a trail of all
kind of offenses for which people justly despise Christianity. Did I make some sense there?
I don't, I wouldn't really want you as a child of God to be identified
with the corruptors of the gospel because you are practicing the
same thing they're doing, throwing out your words before manifesting
your life. So you can read it for yourself
in Matthew chapter 12. His voice wasn't heard in the street. He
didn't draw great crowds to himself. It was the character of Christ,
Matthew chapter 11 or 12, where it says that a smoking reed he
wouldn't quench, a bruised reed he wouldn't break, a smoking
flax he wouldn't quench. And he would not be one of those
ones out there shouting at the top of his voice, hey, look at
me, I'm the Messiah. He did what he did and it drew
people to him. and then he told them about the
Father. Now that is hard, because what that means is you have to
take your walk with God serious enough for God to be pleased
to cause you to be attracted to people by your koinonia. Am I making some sense? Yeah, and I'll tell you this,
my little sister, and all of you guys, You take Islam, which fundamentally
is an extremely flawed, incoherent system of religion in many ways.
The reason they've made so many entrails in our culture is because
they did the opposite methodology than Christianity, going around
making all kinds of noise, becoming politically active and all of
that stuff. They just quietly went about their practice and
they started drawing people to themselves because of their quietness.
See, quiet people make a lot of noise too. Are you hearing me? Quiet people
make a lot of noise too. And then you might even be a
fool until you open your mouth, like the Proverbs says, right?
A fool is known by his multitude to the worst. Now watch this,
this is my point. Christians are so foolish today, because
they're not sound. The Bible tells me in 1 Peter
3, it tells me also in Galatians 5, it tells me in, 1st Corinthians 14 and throughout
the tenor of scripture particularly concerning my sisters that they
are to operate in a meek and quiet spirit you guys throw that
off in the Christian Church by and large you're clamorous you're
loud you're like the whore of Proverbs and then my brothers are no better
because my brothers are supposed to walk with dignity and chivalry
in a sense of meekness and strength But they capitulate where they
need to be talking. And then they talking where they don't
need to be talking. These are my brother. Because they have
fell back and let the women take over. And that's a stench in
people's nostrils today. It looks bad. It looks bad. I told my wife and daughters,
don't you dare stand up and start saying, well, I'm the pastor's
wife. I'm the pastor's daughter. and then live like hell. Don't
you dare do it. Do you guys understand what I'm
talking about? All right. Somebody else? I should be shutting
it down right here. No more questions? Right here. OK. Right over here, brother.
One more.