We are continuing in our 1st
John study and I want to just kind of recap where we are in
verses 1 through 3 so that we can move forward. The series
that we are dealing with, for those of you who are new, the
book of 1st John is actually teaching us about what constitutes
true and authentic fellowship. For those of you who have had
last week's outline You notice how we dealt with verses 1 and
2. We treated that at length, and
then we moved to verse 3. Those are all basically one verse,
one comprehensive statement that the Apostle John, who wrote this
first letter of John early in his ministry as he was dealing
with the churches, and he had come across a major struggle
in his own sea or observation Episcopate, a rule over several
churches in the region for which he was assigned as the apostle
over those churches. And those struggles required
him to write this letter. And as I said before, all of
the epistles in the New Testament were written primarily as correctives. I remember a person saying to
me years ago, why is it that the church has so many struggles. And what I reminded that individual
was, is because the church is in process. The church is in
process. That's why the church has struggles.
It is so important, child of God, for you and I to have a
proper view of the church, to make sure that we don't paint
a picture of the church that does not correspond with the
Bible. There are a lot of people who
like to do that. They would give an idealistic view of what the
church should be, but they will neither have that in their own
experience nor find it in the scriptures. One of the things
we have learned after 2000 years of church history is that in
a lot of ways, the church is more stable now than it was in
first century AD. In a lot of ways, we have overcome
many barriers and obstacles that the early church struggled with
and in many cases did not overcome. So a proper interpretation of
where the church is, that is the body of Christ, his elect
bride from every nation, kindred, tribe and tongue is this, the
church is in process. And what that means is if you
are a believer, you are in process. What that also means is, is that
when people expect you to be perfect, tell them I'm in process. And if they're part of the body,
whether they know it or not, they heard process too, even
if they're talking like they're perfect. But when it comes to
process, which is the difference between position and perfection,
between position and perfection is process. You guys have heard
me. illiterate these before our position
in Christ is established and secure based upon the immutable
purpose of God and the finality of the cross work of Christ so
that Everyone for whom Christ died is secured in him that was
done before the world began It was affirmed at Calvary and those
who have faith in Christ we find our joy not so much in who we
are or what we're doing but who he is and and what he did. Faith finds its joy in who he
is and in what he did. That's gonna be your safety net
when you get in trouble. Your ability to rise above your
experience, your feelings, your troubles, your failures, your
weaknesses, and find comfort in your substitute. That's what
faith is all about. The ability to look to Christ
and say, you know what? If Christ is okay, guess what? I'm okay too. That really is
what is required for the believer. This is what first John five
will teach us when we get to the next category. The second
objective in our study will be dealing with the three phases
of fellowship. And we'll talk about that in
a moment. But John said in first John, chapter five, the person
that's going to overcome this world is the person who walks
by what faith. And faith rises above feelings. It rises above circumstances.
It rises above events. It rises above things that take
place in the realm of the temporal. And it lays hold of the immutability
of God. That's what faith does. Faith
in that sense is trans normal. It's beyond normal for a person
to find their comfort outside of events and circumstances is
abnormal. but this is precisely why God
gave us faith. And if you know the biblical
definition of faith, faith is the substance of things, what?
Okay, if you stay right there on that last little preposition
and noun, hope for, faith is the substance of things, hope
for, then you also understand that faith does not suggest or
imply that we are in a state of perfection. Faith does not
suggest or imply that right now I have possessed what Christ
says I possess. Otherwise, it's not what faith
when faith and hope, which are two sides of the same coin, are
operating. Faith allows you to lay hold of what was done, while
hope allows you to look forward to what will be done. You still,
however, have to deal with what we call the second P, which is
process. So I rejoice in my position.
I appreciate the process. And I rest in the person of Christ,
knowing that one day when I see him, I'll be just like he is.
Are you guys with me so far? Well, because it's important
to understand this middle area of which I think people lose
all sorts of perspective. This is where religion begins
to lie. And you're going to see that as we unpack the study tonight.
The person that says that they have fellowship with God but
walks in darkness is a liar. We're gonna work through that.
And we're gonna actually ask the question, why would a person
actually make those claims? Why would an individual make
the claim of actually having fellowship with God when in fact,
they actually spend more of their time in communion with darkness? That question is a valid question.
It's not an indictment, it's just a question. Are you guys
hearing what I'm saying? It's not an indictment so much
as it is a question. But the question really is rooted
in what I said. The struggle that we have is
not so much with the position or the person, but the what? Process. The process will shake
you up. Your daily life will shake you
up. And the new testament epistles were written to actually correct
some of those things So the apostle paul is addressing that and he
says in verses one through three Before we start breaking into
our outline for tonight That which was from the beginning
which we have heard and which we have seen with our own eyes
Which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the
word of life for the life was manifested and we have seen it
and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life, which
was with the father and was what manifested unto us. Now, verses
one and two is what we call a long protracted set of conjunctions
that in first century Rome or even 400 years ago, people could
have grasped the basic subject in the text. But what we learned
last week was John opened up his epistle explaining the fact
that God had manifested himself in the flesh. And we were able
to grasp the revelation of God in the incarnation in such a
way that we became witnesses of that incarnated God. That's what verses one and two
are describing that which was from the beginning. that which
took place when Christ assumed a human nature, that which took
place when Christ was manifested at His baptism, that which took
place when He called the disciples and the disciples saw Him, that
which took place when He began to do miracles and the disciples
began to discover that they were looking at Messiah, that which
took place in John 1, 14, John said we beheld his what glory
the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and
truth And what John is saying is we didn't have a passing fancy
or a glance at Christ. We saw him We touched him we
gazed upon him We handled him which gave us the credibility
to be the Apostles that we are and in fact, therefore One of
the things that's also ludicrous in this first century is the
assumption that we still have apostles today. It's just ludicrous. To be an apostle today is to
have the privileged gift of apostleship, which will allow you to actually
speak infallibly among other things. But the apostle Paul
is actually laying down what we call here his credentials
because he has to deal with allegations that have come against the apostles
in the first century church that were not true. Unfortunately,
just like Paul had to defend his apostleship, so John is defending
his apostleship. He said, we saw him. Can you
say that? We touched him. Can you say that?
We heard him fully. Can you say that? We handled
him. Can you say that? See, very few
men can say that. But these men who were commissioned
to turn the world upside down did, what they are doing is addressing
now the problems that have entered into the church verse 3 that
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you you see that
first line so the operative word in verse 3 is declare because
what verse 3 does is it reminds you and I that the primary not
exclusive but primary and instrument or a mechanism by which you and
I come to know about this incarnate God, Jesus is preaching and teaching. See the word declare John, James,
Peter, Paul, those brothers were given the call to preach the
gospel. And it's through the gospel that
you and I come to understand who God is. Now notice what he
said. This is, this is so critical.
He said, we are declaring, that's our verb form. We are declaring
unto you that eternal life, which was with the father in order
that you also might have fellowship with us. You know what that means? They understood the potential
of their proclamation, bringing sinners who are on the outside
of Christ into communion with Christ. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? So what I want us to grasp tonight
as we begin to open up verses five and six is that John, right
along with Paul, had no problem saying the means by which men
and women are brought to a saving knowledge of God is through preaching
and teaching. The means that men and women
are brought to a saving knowledge of God is through preaching and
teaching accurate messages concerning God. And that ought to always
be something of the highest importance with regards to the people of
God. Never diminish or play down preaching and teaching. It's
the preaching of the gospel that imparts faith by which you trust
this Christ whom you have never seen, hoping one day to see him. And so he says that in verse
three, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you
that you also may, that's a little participle that means our desire
is that you would enter into, what's our word now? Fellowship. That's what we're dealing with,
true and authentic fellowship, that you may also have fellowship. Because what we're getting ready
to do now, ladies and gentlemen, is talk about this term fellowship. I want to lay down the meaning
of fellowship for us here in a moment. And then we're going
to address the qualifications of fellowship with God. First
thing I want to say about fellowship is that fellowship is not sitting
around beans and cornbread and talking. Fellowship is not hot
dogs and Coke and kicking it. I know, I know. We love to judge.
I mean, we fellowship. And then what we, what'd you
do? Well, we cooking hamburgers and steaks and all that. That's
not fellowship in the real biblical sense. In the real biblical sense,
that's not fellowship. So I wanna, don't get me wrong,
whenever you come to my house, we eating. And when I come to
yours, we should eat too, okay? Don't have me over and we don't
eat, okay? Don't have me over, I'm gonna
help you now. I won't come over again if we don't have food,
but what we must do, what we must always do at all times is
understand that true fellowship constitutes communion between
the people of God and God. So I actually want to deal with
that. That's in your outline. And it's so, so critical. So
in your outline fellowship in and with what the light, do you
have your outline in front of you? Fellowship. That's the title
of our study tonight. Fellowship in and with what? Okay. So now what John is getting
ready to do is actually explain to you and me The nature of fellowship
with God. Now, last week, when we got into
the definition of fellowship, I spoke of fellowship as several
things. Partnership. I'm going to deal
with some of this in terms of about three or four biblical
verses. Communion. Distribution. I want you to hear these terms.
Watch this now. Inheritance. Blessing. Fellowship, koinonia, is partnership. And if you want to, you can put
a modifier there, mutual partnership. Communion, which is essentially
the same thing. Distribution has to do with the
verbal aspect of fellowship. Inheritance has to do with the
source of our fellowship. Blessing has to do with the existential
experience of our fellowship. And all of this fellowship is
what happens when a man or a woman or a people are brought into
union with God. Now, the first thing I want to
say about that again is this. the way John constructs the idea
of fellowship that he seeks for his listeners to have. And in
fact, in the original language, follow me now, when John is writing,
like I'm talking to you and many of you are members at grace and
you know the Lord, I would say this, I am preaching to you and
I am talking to you in order that you might continue in fellowship
with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. Are you hearing
me? In other words, the verb form is in what we call the present
indicative verb form is subjunctive in that that's his desire, but
it's present in that it's a reality. We are under the assumption that
you are believers and because you are believers, you are already
in a state of fellowship with God. Are you hearing me? So here's
what we said last week. Fellowship is not an action. It's a status. Fellowship is
a position. Fellowship is a status. It's
a position. It is a relationship. Please
mark that. Fellowship is a status. It is
a position. It is a relationship. This is
why the other terms are going to make so much sense to us as
we unpack them tonight. Fellowship is not merely what
we do. Fellowship is who we are in relationship
to the one who has brought us into that communion, into that
partnership, into that relationship. So John would have us to understand
when he says, our desires for you to have fellowship is not
to do fellowship, but to be in fellowship. It's a position. It constitutes In reality, a
profound fact that you will never able to fully grasp. And that's
this, that true koinonia in its ultimate sense is God being pleased
to make you equal partners with him. Isn't that crazy? I want you to think it through
now. This is why, you know, we fall in a long ways when we view
fellowship as tacos and Coke and talking from equality with
God in the possession and relationship
that he is choosing to have with his people. True fellowship is
God taking the sinner and raising him to a level and status and
position of equality of relations with God, not equality of essence,
but compatibility of essence in order to establish the quality
of the relationship. Did you guys get that? In other
words, I'm hinting at two things. As we were dealing with our series
in hymn, priesthood, the mediator between God and man must be like
me. in order to be able to mediate for me, but he also must be like
God in order to talk to God. Are you with me so far? So in
order for me to get to God, I need somebody that can represent God
and represent me. That's what Job said in the book
of Job. I need a daisman. I need somebody that can stand
between me and God because me and God got a controversy and
I can't fix it. And that mediator is whom? Christ. What Christ does for the sinner,
the sinner cannot do for himself. You cannot make yourself compatible
with God. Only Christ can. This is what
makes Christ ground zero for us. And the moment you start
thinking and teaching and postulating doctrines outside of Christ,
you disqualify yourself for whatever benefits God accrues to us because
they can only be obtained where? In Him. This is why when I preached
John 17 last week, For me, John 17 was absolutely astonishing. Absolutely astonishing that Christ
would do so much for his people. But that's because he views them
in him on an equal plane as himself. And when you have a sense of
equality with a person with whom you are having a relationship,
you have no qualms with them having everything you have. Am
I making some sense? See, so we are always circling
around the metaphor of the marriage between the man and the woman,
because in the relationship between the man and the woman, position
number one is what? Face to face. And that connotes
not only a sense of honesty, which we're getting ready to
get into when we talk about the light, but it also connotes a
sense of equality, even though there's distinction in the persons.
We are able to look at one another face to face and enter into full
partnership and share in the inheritance that's ours, that's
given to us in the covenant of marriage. Am I making some sense?
And when it comes to entering into communion with God, into
partnership with God, into the inheritance with God and the
blessings that are with God, listen to me, you are talking
about spending the rest of your life discovering what it means
to be in communion with God. And you will never ever exhaust
the category of those things that God has for those that love
him. You want me to help you then just enjoy God and let those
things fall out to you, according to his own sovereign providence.
And it's so critically important. And so I want to drive this home
as we get ready to deal with John's first assertion in relationship
to the claims that we have to deal with. John says, that as
we talk about fellowship, as we talk about communion, as we
talk about a relationship with God, as we talk about distribution
and heritage, and all these terms are very good. Let me just, let
me work this through right quick. I want you to see visually in
your mind what it means to be in communion with God or to be
in fellowship with him. Go to Acts chapter two. I want
you to see this. I want to do this before I move
forward so that you can have in your mind at least a hint
or a semblance of the connotation of communion that the believer
has with his God and what those available resources are in the
context of that communion. Acts chapter two, this is a very
common passage, but in Acts chapter two, I'm going to be dealing
with verse 42 on, and in verse 42 on, you're going to see some
things about communion and fellowship and distribution, inheritance,
blessings, and the experience of what it means to be in fellowship
with God. Now watch this. And this is true of believers
on a horizontal plane as well, because of our vertical connection
with Christ. Verse 42, are you there? And
they continue, that is those who had gladly received his word
and were baptized, they are now visible believers, having been
added to the church, 3,000 souls. And they continue steadfastly,
that is, There was no break. There was what we have in our
present day are people in their hit and miss relationship with
God and in their hit and miss relationship with the church.
We have a completely flawed view of what it means to be in fellowship
with the saints. Notice what the text says. And
they steadfastly what continued in the apostles? What? Stop right
there. So. You know, you've heard the
notion, and you haven't heard it here, but you hear the notion
that we're not about doctrine, we're about Christ. Well, you
can't know Christ without doctrine. Did you hear what I just said?
And the problem with the church today is that we are so ignorant
that we are perishing from lack of sound doctrine. And notice
the thing that compels them and drives them in their koinonia
is doctrine. And we continued in the doctrine
of the apostles. Apostolic doctrine is all the
New Testament writing. That's what that is. We continued
in the doctrine of the apostles and what? Stop right there. See, now I know you're thinking
now tacos and hot dogs, but notice now, come on, tell the truth.
How do you think? Yeah, we're sitting around and going kumbaya and
singing and playing the guitar. Notice, he says, because they
have continued steadfastly in the doctrine of the apostles.
Watch this. What falls out of the doctrine,
what emerges from the doctrine is a revelation of the blessings
that are in Christ. What proceeds from the doctrine
is a revelation of the blessings that are in Christ, of which
now the people of God can enter into those blessings now and
experience them. They come through the teaching
Through the teaching comes the cause and grounds and the method
and the manner of the washes coin and near that takes place
among the people of God. And therefore, this is a logical
implication of that statement. If the teaching is not sound,
the fellowship is not right. If the teaching is not sound,
the fellowship is not right because the fellowship is a fellowship
with God. If we say we have fellowship
with one another, but we are not operating on sound doctrine,
neither is our fellowship with God nor one another accurate. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And now you've got all kinds of troubles because here's what
happens. If the fellowship is not authentic, you're not going
to experience the kind of mutual partnership, the mutual communion,
the mutual inheritance distribution, and therefore, experience of
the blessing of those things that come out of the teaching
that transform the life that Manifest itself in your life
as you seek to walk with God God works through the teaching
to bring us into the realities of the kingdom of God God works
through the teaching to bring us into the realities of the
kingdom of God so watch it here so we know the premise is right
they are continuing in sound doctrine, they are in fellowship,
right? Do you see that? And in breaking
a bread, that's the Lord's table or the common meal. And this
is coupled with what? Prayer. This here was your indigenous
early church structure, preaching, responding to the preaching,
eating meals together and praying. That's the way I want to put
that. Fellowship is responding to the teaching now watch how
it falls out watch how it falls out look at verse 43 and fear
came upon every soul Mark that the first blessing that proceeds
out of sound doctrine is God gives you a fear of the Lord
I'm gonna help you now Where there is no fear of God there
is no truth being proclaimed or I exalted or enforced. Where many women see God or view
God as just kind of a pet or some kind of bellhop to give
them what they want, there's no fear of God. No reverence,
no respect, no sense of awe. A holy biblical fear proceeds
from the reality that God is gloriously holy. More than that,
fear really is in this sense rooted in love. Jesus Christ feared his father
to obey him perfectly because he loved him. Hebrews chapter
five, verse 12, read it for yourself in your own time. And it was
heard in that he feared the apostles saw the life of Christ, that
he was committed to his God so much so that he trembled when
he came to that crux where the choice between going to the cross
and going his own way seized him. He feared because he wanted
to obey his father. And so here the fear of the Lord
came upon the people of God. And whether you know it or not,
God gave them this gift in order for them to fellowship with him,
because immediately after chapter three, we are going to move into
a test. The test is going to come, and
the thing that's going to keep the people of God is the fear
of the Lord. See, the fear of the Lord is
clean, enduring forever. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is to depart
from evil. The fear of the Lord is to cleave
to that which is good. I'm just giving you Bible verses.
See, it used to be long ago, I'm here to tell you, our present
secular culture has dominated the language game, but it used
to be that a person who really was serious about God was called
a God-fearing man and a God-fearing woman. You weren't going to hoodwink
them. You weren't going to get them off their course. You weren't
going to drive them now into habits and practices that are
contrary to their calling. It just wasn't going to happen.
Don't try to pull it on him, man. He's a God-fearing man.
And when you fear God, you don't have to fear anybody else. Listen to it, the first gift
that came upon them was fear is a spiritual gift and many
now watch this. Here's the second gift. This
is what I meant by the fellowship. Do you see it as a sad? And the
gospel was taught and preached and Christ was exalted and glorified.
God filled their hearts with a love and reverence and fear
for him. And then God coupled that with signs and wonders.
That's called communion with God. The Holy Ghost is now in
that community, working signs and wonders as part of the fellowship. Are you with me? Listen to it. And many wonders and signs were
done by the apostles. Here's another gift. Here it
comes. And all that what? Believed. Now see what's going
on? Do you see what's going on, saints?
As they are hearing the gospel, as they are fellowshipping with
one another, the Spirit of God is imparting unto them the blessings
of the inheritance in order that they might strengthen their communion
with God and with one another. They are seeing the signs and
wonders that the apostles are doing to authenticate the presence
and cross work of Jesus Christ among the people groups and they
are experiencing faith being increased in their life. Faith
comes by what? And hearing by what? And so as
the gospels being preached, as they were seeing signs and wonders,
as they are in the midst of God and God is enveloping them with
his holy fear, they are being blessed with the bounty of the
fellowship. God is now distributing to them
an aspect of partnership with them that only comes with those
who are inheritors of the blessings. Listen to how it goes. And all
that believe were to what? Together. So you don't see it, but I do.
The fellowship is demonstrated by that holy reverence, is demonstrated
by signs and wonders being done by the apostles, marvelous miracles,
marvelous signs to affirm the presence of the Holy Ghost, the
finality of the cross work of Christ, his lordship over the
church. The people of God are believing
the gospel and it's producing unity. And all that believe were
together, were together. Can you see John 17 being fulfilled
here? You heard me preach it last week,
right? Father, I will that those whom
you have given me be with me where I am. I will that you keep
them and sanctify them, make them one. Is the father answering
his prayer? Of course he is. Of course he
is. This is what I meant by true
authentic fellowship. God is present working in the life of
his people and all that believe we're together and had all things
what? Now this is what we mean by mutual
partnership. Do you see it? Mutual partnership. This is powerful. This is powerful
because the narrative of Luke under inspiration of the Holy
Ghost is telling us that that initial blowing of the wind in
that first century church was of such a nature that it brought
people into the kind of community, that's where we get our word
communion, that liberated them from the selfishness that is
rooted in not being connected. Watch this now. with the fountain
of every blessing. They were liberated from the
selfishness that comes with not being connected to the fountain
of every blessing. You know, when you see people
who are selfish running around trying to get everything they
can, it's an evidence that they're not connected to the fountain.
When you're connected to the fountain, you never ever worry
about anything. Am I making some sense? The Lord
is my shepherd. I shall never, ever, ever, ever
lack anything. Therefore, I will not steal.
I will not beg. I will not covet. I will not
be jealous. I will not be envious. I will
not hoard. I will not separate myself. I
will not exalt myself. I will not push you down. I will
not step on you. I don't have to. I'm in communion
with my God. He owns a cattle on a thousand
hills. Look out of how the beauty of
this unfolds and all that believe were together all had everything
in common and they sold their possessions and goods. Do you
see that? They sold their possessions.
They didn't hoard their possessions. They didn't go acquire possessions.
Look how the Lord has blessed me, hoarding possessions. This
is how you know the Lord's really blessing you when you can sell
it, never worried about lacking anything. So you understand that
the motor for which they sold them was in order to glorify
God in the fulfilling of the request of John 17, that everyone
might be one. See, when you love somebody enough
to want them to have the same privileges you do, you're ready
to part with things to make sure that happens. Are you guys hearing
me? It's very important for you to
understand what I'm talking about. And thus we can put a measure
on ourselves here in the 21st century church. And you and I
can know that we have been basically hoodwinked by our secular culture
and the values that have stuck us in our own little cubicles
somehow thinking we're blessed. Right? Now listen to what it
says. They sold their possessions and
their goods and parted them to all men as every man had what?
You can't do that without the power of God. You see it? You can't do it without the power
of God. This is what I meant by, let me go on. And they continue
daily with what? One accord in the temple and
breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with
what? Gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, having
favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church
daily, such as should be saved. You know what that's called?
Fellowship with God. That's being in the sphere and
rim and communion with God in such a way that you can give
up everything because you know it's impossible to actually give
up everything when you're in communion of him that owns everything. But what God is intent to do
is to see to it that the communion that we have, the fellowship
that we have with God be manifested in a Christ-like manner because
love gives. So when we are talking about
being Christ-centric and Christ-exalting and cross-centered, we are talking
about manifesting the love of God in the world first among
the people of God in the same way that God manifested his love
to us. We are not such that hold this
whippy syrupy view that God loves everybody and God loves everything.
No, he doesn't. He doesn't do either of the two. He doesn't love everybody and
he doesn't love everything. Fix that in your theology. God
hates evil. He hates sin. He hates wickedness. He hates the workers of iniquity.
He hates the devil. He hates fallen angels. Are you
hearing me? See, if you're holy, you gotta
hate something. Don't tell me you see, you have
a twisted notion of holiness. If all youth view God as his
love and not hatred at the same time, God plainly says, my wrath
is against everything that's not like me. He has a right to
be that way. Doesn't he? It's a wonder that
God would look on us in love. But the secret to why God can
look on us in love is because of the sacrifice of his son.
You better know that, child of God. You're breathing in and
out, talking about knowing God is because of one thing, in him. Am I making some sense? Okay,
let me go and go back to our text, because I want to bring
you to the next point that I want to develop. I really do want
to develop this Cause I think I got your attention now. First
John chapter one. I'm going to read now. Yeah,
put that down. I'll put it right there. I'll
talk to you later. All right. First John chapter one, verse five,
verse four, and then verse five. Cause I want to carry us into
now the character of the relationship, the qualifications of the relationship,
essential to authentic fellowship with God. This is where we're
going to, We're going to spend a little time. I've got about
25 minutes before I open the floor for questions, but I want
you guys to get this. Please get this. John says that our
fellowship is with the father and with the son, Jesus Christ,
which means there's no fellowship with God apart from Christ. So
when you meet people who say, I know God, but they don't know
Christ, they're lying. You can't know God. And not know
Christ. And this is eternal life that
they may know me. and know you the only true God
and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. You got that? See, God
has shut the human race up to Jesus in order to get to him.
And that's why John says what he does. Our fellowship is truly
with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. And these
things we write unto you in order that you're what? Joy. I'm going
to talk about this on Sunday. Maybe what? Full. Very seldom do you meet joyful
Christians. Very seldom do you meet joyful
Christians. This is just true. Because a
joyful Christian is a Christian who is knowledgeable of his fellowship
with God. That's in order to be joyful
instead of pretending. Cause you know, we got these
Mary Kay smiles all over religious folk and ain't ain't got no substance
to it. But behind that smile is all kind of hatred and envy
and strife and jealousy and judgment. I'm telling the truth. I know
I am, but authentic joyfulness is a place in a realm that is
a consequence of an awful overflow of the relationship cognitively. Because I know him and he knows
me and that experientially my joy is full Whoa So now watch what he says these
things are I write unto you that your joy may be full this then
is the message which we Have heard of him. I'm gonna be working
through this here briefly, but I want you to stay with me John
says this then is the message which we have heard from him
now Remember the we here in the first context are the Apostles. That's verses 1 & 2, right? We
saw him we heard him. We touched him. We looked upon
him and we handled of the Word of Life That's verse 1. So verse
5 we have heard him heard of him this then is the message
that we have heard of him or from him and Declaring to you
now watch this he getting ready to throw down the gauntlet, which
is going to be our exercise for tonight Here it is. Watch this
God is light Do you see that God is light stay right there
and In him is no darkness at all You have your outline So
in point B of verse number five, God is all light. Do you see that? God is all light
with God. There is no darkness. He's using
a metaphor, but it's far more than a metaphor. It is a reality
because of the nature of light. It is a reality because of the
nature of light that this particular emblem or symbol connoting the
nature of God is so critical to you and me. When he says God
is light, he's actually saying there is no way for you to make
God compatible with any sinful tendency or erroneous notions
or faulty ideas or flawed assumptions or non-truths. Error and truth
do not coexist together in God. When he says God is light, he
is forcing you and I to understand an irreconcilable opposition. And that is this. We can't say
one thing about God and be doing something else in relationship
to God and actually have a relationship with God. Can't be done. It's
important to know that. OK, we're getting ready to go
to work and learn some things here. So I'm not going to bore
you too much with the concept of the light spectrum, but there
are some, a few things that you need to know about light. First
of all, the scriptures makes it very clear that Jesus is the
light of the world. Isn't that what the Bible says?
He says it in the gospel of John chapter one, John chapter eight,
John chapter nine, John chapter 12. I am the light of the world. If any man follow me, he will
never walk in darkness. John said it himself, and he
is the light that lighted every man that comes into the world.
John the Baptist was not that light, but he pointed to the
true and genuine light that brings life to everyone in the world.
Now, why is he using that metaphor? Because the metaphor of light
in relationship to creation is essential to all life. The metaphor
of light in relationship to creation is essential to all life. That God is the source of all
life. That God is the source of all
life. So I'm gonna keep it very simple. For those of you who
know physics and those of you know biology, those of you who
study science, you guys will understand all these things.
I'm just gonna keep it very basic. In your outline, point number
B, five B, because he is all light, there's no place at the
table for what? That's what paul meant when he
said in second corinthians 6 14 verse through 17 How can we say
we sit at the table of christ and then at the table of the
devil too? Does light have any fellowship with darkness? Can
christ have any fellowship with bail? Are you hearing what i'm
saying? So these what we call mutually exclusive concepts that
cannot be reconciled And so when you find people teaching things
that amount to god being able to have fellowship communion
mixture with Coineal with any kind of darkness. Here's what
we know that person does not know God Are you with me so far? I know it's tough, but it's important
to hear and John John is saying what he's saying not because
John is so bent on winning an argument But he's saying what
he's saying because he heard Jesus said Remember what the
text said and this is what we heard of him Jesus said to his
disciples, you guys, I want you to know I am the light of the
world. And then he told them, you also
are the light of the world. You know what he said? And so
now he's establishing what I said about the fellowship and equal
partnership based on a qualitative relationship that's compatible.
Other words, if Christ had called the disciples darkness, he would
have said you can't have any fellowship with me. But if you're
going to have fellowship with me and I am like, you know what
that means? You must also be what? Oh, so now you can start
watching TV and find out whether or not those crits are light
or not. All you have to do is study your Bible and ask what
light is and we're going to deal with it in terms of his metaphorical
form. But in your outline, point number
three, The first three, first two chapters deal with light.
The second two chapters deal with love. The last chapter deals
with faith. All of those are qualifiers for fellowship with
God. The first is light. Our outline works through this.
There are three aspects of light. I want you to see this three
aspects, not hard. Now, actually, there are multitudes of aspects,
almost infinite. aspect when we talk about the
light spectrum. All I'm going to talk about today
is the metaphor of light in relationship to the Trinitarian persons in
relationship to you. In your outline, you have the
light seen and felt. Do you guys see that? And then
you have what is called ultraviolet light and what is called ultraviolet
light or what is called also infraviolet light. And then you
have what is called a spectrum. Now, an ultraviolet light and
an infraviolet light are two extremes of what is called the
light spectrum. If you were to study light, you
would know that there's a end to the light spectrum where there
is light there, but it cannot be seen. There is a light that
cannot be seen. Okay? And then on the other end
of the light spectrum, there is a light that cannot be seen,
but it can be felt. And in between these two extremes
is what is called the light spectrum, which in God's mercy, he uses
to run this world. And it's the light that can both
be seen and felt. Are you hearing me? The reason
you and I can look at each other and do what we do is because
God has given us the availability of light to do it. I'm looking
at you, you are looking at me. If God were to cut the lights
off, we would never ever see anything. And the light spectrum
is there as it's been discovered for the multifaceted purposes
of running this universe. Now, there are three things about
light that I just want to call your attention to. Light is comprised
of three things. the illuminating nature of that,
which we call light. When we use the word light, we're
talking about illumination. OK, just like the light is shining
down. Now you see the light. Then we
have the energy that actually produces the light. You guys
got that. In other words, when you see
light, you know what you're seeing energy. Energy. Light is made up of these waves
and particles that are part of an energy force that really can't
be seen until these waves and particles are operating together.
The waves and particles that make up our light spectrum go
from everything to microwaves, to gamma rays, to x-rays, to
all of the stuff that our military and our doctors and all of them
use to penetrate darkness and to see things that can't be seen
with the naked eye. like an x-ray machine allow to
pierce through and see our bone structure. That is an aspect
of light that is beyond this light spectrum that you and I
have because the light spectrum that operates on a practical
level allows us to see the external framework of our body. But the
x-ray, that ultra light allows us to pierce through the body
and see the skeleton. There is piercing light that
is so piercing that it moves into the realm now of what is
called heat. So there are three categories
to the light. It's the light that allows us to see. It's the
energy that produces the light. And then it's the heat that comes
from the energy that produces the light. Are you with me? You can take your little typical
translucent light bulb Let it stay on for hours and be happy
cause you can read your book. But if you want to be silly enough
to take your finger and stick it up on the glass, guess what
it'll do for you. And you know why it'll burn you?
Because that's energy that's emitting from the waves and the
particles that's producing the light. Now watch this children
of God. There's a light that cannot be
seen. These are the subatomic light particles that really are
comprehended on a mathematical level. They can't be seen, but
we know they're there. And that represents God the Father.
He's there, but not seen. Then there's a light that can't
be seen, but it can be felt because it produces heat. Are you hearing
me? And that represents God the Holy
Ghost. He can't be seen, but he can be felt. And then there's
the light spectrum that can be both seen and felt. And that represents Christ because
he can both be seen and felt, and he represents both the Father
and the Holy Ghost for the well-being of the human race. Now, let me
say this also. When John and Paul, who used
this term all through the New Testament said, God is a light
that no man can approach nor see. It's because he understood
that not only is it illuminating, translucent, but it is so energized
that for a person to see God in his native origin would be
to be consumed by the heat of that light. We have two elements in our world
that are rudimental and fundamental to it. Do you know what it is?
Fire. Am I making some sense? God gave
us fire as a phenomenon is rooted in physics. And he gave us this
big old ball that's sitting out there 93 million miles away from
us that essentially testifies to what I just said. It produces
light. and heat, doesn't it? It keeps this world going and
it keeps us warm. And sometimes to let us know
we in trouble with God, it gets hot down here. Are you with me? So if you want to just say, well,
you know, he getting all whacked out. Listen, open your eyes.
Creation testifies to the glory of God. Here are the functional
aspects of the light that I want to bring to the equation of our
fellowship tonight. When we say that God is light,
we are saying that God is two things. He is a source or the
source of revelation and illumination, which means exposure. When you
cut the lights on, you are exposing what's there, right? You aren't shaping anything.
You aren't forming anything. You aren't making anything. All
you're doing is exposing what's really there. Am I making some
sense? When we talk about walking with God, we are talking about
walking in the naked truth. When we are talking about communion
and fellowship with God, we are talking about God seeing us just
the way we really are. And when we are talking about
the reciprocal partnership with God, we are actually talking
about agreeing with God for the way God sees it. Because to agree
with God for the way God sees it, it's for us to walk in the
light. Am I making some sense right now? See, you cannot be
walking in the light when you don't agree with God, who is
the light. All we're doing when we agree
with God is say God can see it all. And I agree with what he
sees. That's the first true second truth is. And there are many
applications to the life spectrum of which you can teach all kinds
of gospel truths because everything glorifies God. It just does.
But the next element of the light is purgation or purging or purification
light. purges. Heat purges. Fire purges. Are you hearing
me? It cleanses. There is a cathartic
element to the light. This is true with diseases. Are you hearing me? This is where
the light must come down upon the diseased body or the malignancy
or the tumor in order for healing to take place. This is the, the
photosynthesis of light is essential for the life of all plant life,
human life as well. In our Greek, uh, in our Greek
Bible, the term is photon from which we get photosynthesis and
photos and pictures and all of that type of stuff. That's our
Greek word there for light is dominant all through the new
Testament. And what John is saying is as we think about fellowship
with God, and you know, everybody talks about knowing God, okay.
Here is the criterion for communion and fellowship with God. Watch
this now. God is light. And in him is no darkness at
all. Now, if you take the preposition
in and the noun him and apply it to yourself, you are saying
that you are in God. Right, isn't that what the text
says? So if I am in God, It only follows
as a logical syllogism that I'm walking in the what? So John's
getting ready to go to work. Can he go to work? He has to
go to work because the argument on the part of the apostates
in the heretics is God is not who he is. When John heard and
saw and handled the light. Now, listen to what it says.
I'm over at the next statement in our outline before I move
on to the nature of God. The nature of God constituting
the basis of our position with him. I'm going to develop that
for five minutes and I'll open the floor for questions. I hope
you're thinking actively tonight. The error and fallacy of the
heretic frequently is to accuse God of something that cannot
be true. The error and fallacy of the
heretic frequently is to accuse God of something that cannot
be true. Their system or interpretation
frequently depicts God as less than pure, holy, righteous, just,
and wise. Their interpretation of God,
I'm talking about the heretic, is at best accommodating, at
worst compromising His, that is God's character and attributes. Did you hear what I just said?
When the heretic talks, what he basically does is tell you
that God is something that God is not. He is telling you that
God does something that God does not do. He is ascribing to God
character traits and attributes that cannot be true of God. Now,
what I have just described according to the Torah in Exodus chapter
20 verse 2 is called idolatry. Are you hearing me? Am I putting
you all to sleep? Do we need to close in prayer? Okay. Idolatry
is man's definition and interpretation of God. And wherever man is left
to define God, he will always misdefine God because man by
nature is darkness. You and I don't have any intrinsic
light. We are born in darkness. We are
blinded in our minds, in our heart. We cannot tell people
about God until God tells us about himself. If after God has
told us about himself and we are still persisting to walk
in our own ways We will not be able to frame our lips to tell
people about the accurate nature of God without Exposing the fact
that I don't have fellowship with this God. I'm explaining
See what I'm getting at this is why false religion is so deceitful
and because it finds ways to misrepresent God. And all it's
doing is looking for people who are ignorant of God to deceive
them. Are you hearing what I'm saying? It's always looking for
people walking in darkness. So now I'm going to show you
what what John is doing in the pastoral aspect of this concept
of of of who God is as the criterion for our fellowship. He says this
verse five. I want you to hear that I'm going
to get into verse six for a few minutes. Then we're going to
come back and work verses six through 10 next week. The Lord
willing, this then is the message, which we've heard of him. We
heard it from Christ and we declare it unto you that God is light. And in him is no darkness at
all. If we say, if we say that we
have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and
do not the truth. See verse six. So verse six is
predicated upon verse five. Verse five establishes the conditions
of the relationship between God and the person who is in communion
with God. What John says is because God is light. God is knowledge. God is revelation. God is understanding. God is wisdom. God is perfection. God is blissfully perfect. He's
impeccably perfect. And therefore, those that are
in communion with him must possess some of those qualitative attributes
that allow for fellowship to be there. This is what is required. And therefore, if we say he's
using that little inclusive first personal, first person, plural
word. If we say, if we are saying,
actually it's in the past, it's in the Aries form. If we have
said, if it's going about to everybody that we have said,
and I want you to mark this, this, this assumption, because
we're going to pick this up next week. If everybody is hearing
that we apostles are saying that we have fellowship with God,
but in fact, we are walking in darkness, then what we are are
false prophets and false teachers. You see that phrase we lie is
Greek. It's literally the Greek word
pseudo meta. It is a word that can be translated
false prophet or false teacher. What John has basically said
is if the logic fails, that God cannot walk with darkness. But
we are saying that we have fellowship with God and yet we are walking
in darkness. We are the ones who are lying.
Are you hearing me? If I'm going to follow the syllogism,
God is light. God can only fellowship with
those that are in the light. Therefore, if God is fellowshipping
with someone that's in the light, he cannot be walking in darkness. For if he's walking in darkness,
he's lying about his fellowship with God. Do you see that? So
what the believer has to do and this is quite remarkable to me
in the 21st century, when we actually buy propositions without
testing those propositions, you know, we don't judge nobody.
That's what we say. Right. Don't judge. Don't judge
that preacher. Don't judge him. Don't judge
her. She says she's a Christian, so she must be a Christian. No,
the book says you examine the proposition, the claim by their
lifestyle. If it's consistent with the nature
of God in terms of what qualifies for communion with God, then
we might be able to say their claim is authentic. But if their
lifestyle and if their doctrine is contrary to the character
and nature of God as revealed in scripture, what we must say
is they don't have communion with God. Am I making some sense? So now John is being pastoral
here when he uses the inclusive phrase, we, because as I told
you, according to first John chapter two, verse 19, 18 and
19, several people have been deceived in the churches that
John were ministering to and they left the church. Maybe you
have never experienced it, but I have, I've experienced people
being hoodwinked and manipulated in con by very good false prophets. They sneak up in the church and
they're the nicest people in the world. And then they start
espousing things that are contrary to the gospel. And what they
are really looking for is the unstable and the unlearned. Or they're looking for the unregenerate
because the unregenerate person doesn't have the gift of discernment.
See, that's part of the fellowship. When you're born of God, God
gives you the capacity through mutual partnership with him to
know what truth is. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me and they will not follow another. He gives them discernment.
But the people that are drawn away, like Judas Iscariot, was
drawn away. Simon the Sorcerer was drawn
away. Demetrius was drawn away. Several
of the false teachers among Paul's day were drawn away. Alexander
the Coppersmith, Hymenaeus was drawn away. Many of them were
drawn away because they were walking in darkness, pretending
to walk in the light. And they began to espouse teachings
that were contrary to apostolic teaching. Are you hearing me? So now watch this. What John
said was now if we are saying what they're saying and we're
not. But if we were, then we would
be like them. False prophets and false teachers,
too. So John is speaking to his own
assembly, helping his own assembly understand what I'm sharing with
you is a 21st century problem. Just because a person says, Lord,
Lord does not mean they're in the kingdom of God. You guys
get that? So I'm gonna leave it right there
and we're gonna come back next week and take it up. Any questions?
Anybody got questions? Somebody cut that mic on. Let's
run some questions for a few minutes before we go home. We'll
come back and work this through. Pastor, you've heard me talk
about my friend of mine for many years before. He uses, and I
say uses, Acts 2, 42 and following to to deny fellowship in the church
because he doesn't see this in the church, particularly the
selling the possessions, all that. That tends to be his focus
there. Can you speak to that? Because
certainly you don't see this. It's just simply a matter of
him not reading the context. It's simply when a person takes
a verse like Acts 2.42 and talk about house fellowship, because
is that is that his emphasis house fellowship? Actually, his emphasis is about
possessions, that we should be that Christians should actually
be more like socialists. Well, then his premise is flawed. If he's saying, I'm not going
to join a church, because the church ain't every week coming
to church with big old bags of clothes and money, giving them
to somebody. Well, let him keep his butt out there in the cold.
I don't have a problem with that. because that's not the way that
passages is to be understood or exegeted or applied. Local
churches should be able to address the spirit of that text in terms
of what needs are available at that term. Obviously, in first
century Rome, when the first century church gathered together,
they were extremely poor people and there was a need for those
who were wealthy to be able to assist them. As the churches
grew, and we've got 2000 years of history, this is why I said
it earlier, Now we know how to manage the needs of the body
in a way that is not so elaborate as it was in the first century.
Our churches know how to meet individual member needs and to
also address social needs or charitable needs. There are ways.
See, this is the churches developed today. is not as it was in the
first century, organic and very, very novel. It was in its very
infant stages at that time. It was very much in its native
stage. So what we see is the dynamic
of people responding to need. It would be the same way for
my brothers and sisters at Grace. I know at least 90% of the people
at Grace, if I said, we've got this need, they would respond
right away. Do you understand? But the goal
is not to take that model of Acts chapter 2 and then try to
find a need all over the world. If you'll notice that the need
was in the body. It was in the church. It wasn't
doing social programs in the world. Social programs in the
world have to be part of an evangelical anchor. When you're doing evangelism,
which is what we're called to do, if you want to evangelize,
By using the tool of helping people with material things,
you can do that. Certainly, that's a method of
reaching people, but it's not a necessity. We're going to see
that this Sunday when we deal with Jesus sending out the 70.
He didn't tell them to go out and bring a bunch of clothes
or build houses or start charities. He said, preach the gospel. So
when people pluck a verse out and start building a whole system
out of it, it just means they don't understand the context.
What does the prophet of man, if he gained the whole world,
lose his own soul? What's the point in giving somebody material
things and don't give them the gospel? You understand? But what
the church is, is an institution whose primary job is worship
and then witness. And in that witness, we seek
to prudently meet needs. Does that make sense? Next question,
over here. So yeah, I would say to that
brother, and I probably would be mean by saying this, so how
often do you give? That's what I would be saying.
What you giving up? You look pretty fat and healthy
and everything. You ain't giving up much. I'm always amazed at those people
that want you to give up everything you got, and they ain't giving
up nothing. You start. OK. I've looked up. this reference scripture you
have 2nd Corinthians 6, 14 through 17 and I was really amazed that
you mentioned that it's talking about darkness because I was
taught that that only meant marriage. You weren't to marry someone.
You see the litany of verses there dealing with a spectrum
of things right? He said, be not unequally yoked
with unbelievers. And what he does is use that
as a premise to give you what are called examples of what cannot
be brought together. So it's more than marriage. Of
course. OK. And so what he's saying is that
as a believer is light and an unbeliever is darkness, You wouldn't
want a believer marrying an unbeliever because how does it follow that
you sit at the table of the Lord, he sits at the table of the devil,
you walk in the light, he walks in the darkness, does Christ
marry Baal? And the answer is no, right?
Those are all rhetorical no's. Okay. Back here. Good evening Pastor. How you
doing bro? Good. Can you speak about how uh, preachers and some
churches talk about speaking to situations and how they can
have so much power in speaking to things and it'll be accomplished.
Yeah, definitely. That's a, that's just a form
of ancient paganism. It's a, it's the incantation
mode of, uh, of, of mysticism that comes out of our pagan culture
where we are functioning, um, almost as deified mediums. where we are able to decree curses
and blessings. These are high exalted notions
that you don't find in the tenor of scripture. Please be very
careful. First of all, they'll pluck out
a text like Proverbs chapter 4. where it's not Proverbs 4
but a portion in the Proverbs where it says life and death
are in the power of the tongue. That's a proverb they'll pluck
out and then they'll pluck out the other portion that's in Isaiah
and also in Romans 4 to speak those things that are not as
if they were. And these are verses that they take out of context
and completely misapply. Now what it is is a very rhetorical
method. I want you to hear this now.
It's a rhetorical method on the part of false prophets. This
here is This here is just false teaching 101. And that is 2 Peter
3 talks about when they use great swelling words designed to deceive,
telling you that they have the ability to liberate you, they
themselves are slaves and servants of corruption. And Peter warns
in 2 Peter 2, he warns in 2 Peter 2, be careful. For of whom a
man is overcome, the same is brought into bondage. Now, I
know you didn't get that, so I'm going to give you, I'm going
to help you with this. I want you to get this now. The moment
you take your allegiance from Christ, and give it to that prophet
or prophetess, you become a slave of that prophet or prophetess.
You are brought into bondage to them. They actually have the
ability to burden you, control you by their decrees and by their
prophecies and by their prognostications because for you, the Pericle
is not Christ. It's that preacher. And I saw
this, me and my wife and my family, we went to to the Pleasant and
Fair again this year. And we always enjoy it. And for
some reason, some of my kids have the fetish of wanting to
go see the hypnotist. And the hypnotist is this lady,
her and her daughter, that knows how to actually put people into
hypnotic states. And they play the full gamut.
Now I've said it to our congregation before, they use all of the methods
social psychological control. The methods are the same in the
church as they are in motivational speaking groups, as they are
at football rallies, as they are in sports rallies, the rah-rah
to get you outside of objective critical thinking mode and getting
you all hyped up and all energized and moved into realms of what
are called expectation. See, false prophets will come
in just like this lady does, and they will start working the
crowd, talking to the crowd, and getting you in expectation
mode. The thing that false prophets hate are people that just sit
there and check you out objectively and critically and won't be moved
by what you say or what you do. They don't like you. Like the
hypnotist, when she goes around to put people to sleep, she has
to do a number of things. She has to talk to them in a
calm mode. She's got music playing in the
background like your religious churches do. Because that's the
subtextual conversation going on to kind of disarm you and
loosen you up. And as she goes around talking,
she repeats certain things over and over and over. Isn't that
how they do it in false churches? And then they touch you. Because
touching you is a form of taking authority over you. When you
let someone touch you, you are letting them have authority over
you. Are you hearing me? You are letting them have authority
over you and they can disarm your critical thinking skills.
And then because you are desperate and the mass is doing it, you
are now willing to enter into that way. And so they start talking
and they say the same things over and over again, get louder
and louder. until you buy into the proposition.
Now, at the end of the day, in 99% of your churches, the only
thing that that whole experience and charade amounts to is him
or her getting a whole bunch of money in their pocket because
they made you feel like you were the point of worship. Do you
hear me? That's right. 1% of what goes
on there is demonic. I'm talking about a real experience,
a real demonic experience. 1%. I'm still waiting for the
crooks to come and prove to me. that their power is of God. And
there are secular hypnotists and secular cons who also understand
the power of darkness and demonism. They will tell you, psychiatrists
and psychologists who know how to work crowds, they will tell
you that there is a dark power that works with these people.
In fact, not only does it work through them, but it drains them
too. You're able to look into these people's eyes and see how
drained they are under these false powers. Don't have anything
to do with it. Does that help, my brother? Yes,
sir. Yeah. Next, next. No more questions? Over here. A couple more over
here. Just these two, and we'll shut it down. Right here, Miss
Virginia, and then we'll get our brother in the back. You guys may not like what I'm
saying, because you may not be grounded enough to know the difference
between teaching that's in the light and teaching that's in
the darkness. But there's a thin line between
teaching that's in the light and teaching that's in the darkness.
The thin line between teaching that's in the light and teaching
that's in the darkness is that teaching that is in the darkness
almost always demands that you dismantle your critical thinking
skills and give yourself over to emotions. Are you hearing
me? Amen. I love what you're saying,
Pastor. I love it. I wish I could have
known what I know now like 20 years ago, but, um, It used to
baffle me with all the mega churches and all the Joel Osteen's packing
out stadiums all over the world. You know, and wow, you know,
and when I listen to him, I get nothing. That's why I quit listening
to him a long time ago. I never listened to any of them.
But the thing is, they're doing what you said. they're extrapolating
from the word and twisting the word. Well, Joe Lowstein has
a great deal of psychological knowledge. He has a great deal
of psychological, he knows what to say, he knows how to craft
things to work the ground and he uses repetitive techniques
as well. So he's real subtle at it, but
he's real good.