With regard to this organ, every
year we repair it and spend quite a bit of money on it. And I think
it would probably be a good idea, rather than to get a new one,
to get something that's called a clavinova. And I'm going to
refer all questions about that to Rich and Kelly. They looked
at one. They sound just like an organ,
maybe better. And I love organ music. I've entitled this message, Faithfulness
and Fellowship. And I want to read a verse of
scripture first from Lamentations chapter three, verse 22. Jeremiah
says, it's of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. because
his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. And Paul says to the Corinthians
in verse nine of 1 Corinthians chapter one, God is faithful. By whom? You were called unto
the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Faithfulness and fellowship. God is faithful. He always is what he is, and
he is never not who he is. God is faithful. We sing that song, change and
decay, in all around I see, O thou who changest not, abide with
me. We're all born with the knowledge
that God exists. No one is born an atheist. We may become one because we
don't like the implications of God, but everyone is born with
the knowledge of God. Romans 1.20, for the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen. Being understood by the things
that are made, all you gotta do is look at creation and you
know God is. Even his eternal power and Godhead. Everyone knows. that God is all-powerful
in creating the universe and no one created him. He is eternal. He is all-powerful. Men are born with that understanding. That's not a thing of intellectual
acumen. You're just born knowing this
intuitively. God is. He's eternal. He's all-powerful. Now while
we can know that he exists, We cannot know his character, the thoughts of his heart, his
attributes, apart from him making himself known in his word, this
book we call the Bible. I love the scripture, 2 Timothy
3, verse 16, all scripture, from Genesis 1-1 to Revelation 22,
21, and every word in this book, all scripture is given. Who gave it? God. God gave you this book. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God, literally God breathed. Holy men spake, holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. That's what the scripture
claims for itself. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And it's profitable, beneficial. And then it gives four things.
For doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction,
in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly
furnished unto all good works. Scripture's profitable for doctrine.
Listen, if we're not looking at the doctrine of this book,
we're wasting our time. This is the book of God, and
all doctrine we believe better come from this book, or we better
get rid of it. You believe that? This is the word of God. and
it's profitable for reproof. Now that doesn't mean profitable
to ball us out. I'm gonna reproof you. What that
means is proof. Proof. You see, we don't go to
the word of God to look for scriptures that will prove what we believe.
We go to the word of God to find out what to believe. All truth from this word is absolutely
authoritative. The authority is the word of
God. And that's what we're coming to, to find out proof as to what's
true. It's found in the scripture.
The truth is objective. Somebody says, here's my truth. Nobody cares what your truth
is. I don't mean to say that harshly, but I want to know the
truth. I don't know what your take on
it. I'm not interested in your take on it. I want to know the
truth. It's profitable for correction, and we always need corrected,
don't we? I've given this illustration
before. When a jet takes off, there's a certain arc it has
to get to the desired destination. It's always the wind trying to
beat it off that arc and it's brought back to that arc in order
to get it to the desired destination. We need corrected because we're
always getting knocked off and we need the correction of the
scripture. It's profitable for instruction in righteousness. Now the only way I'll know true
righteousness, the righteousness of God, the righteousness God
accepts, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, how I can be righteous
before God, the only way I'm gonna find the answer to this
is in the scripture. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Paul tells us God is faithful. You know, we wouldn't really
know that without the scriptures. There's all kinds of things we could
guess, but according to the Bible, God is faithful, he's always
who he is, and he always is what he is. I love the scripture. If we believe not, Second Timothy
chapter two, if we believe not, he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. Now, when you and I are struggling
with unbelief, and you do struggle with that, I struggle with that.
I believe, remember where the man says, I believe, help thou
mine unbelief. When I'm struggling with my unbelief,
my sinful unbelief, he doesn't deny me because he's faithful. If he would deny me because of
my eternal union with Jesus Christ, he would be denying himself. That's why he will not deny a
believer. If he did, he'd be denying himself. That's how close, that's how
real this union with him is. He has given us this book, the
Bible, to tell us who he is. I didn't wake up one morning
and think, you know, God must be one God in three distinct
persons. Nor did you. Why do you believe
that? because of the authoritative
word of God. That is how God reveals himself
as one God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
One God, not three gods, one God revealed in three distinct
persons. Now somebody says, do you understand
that? No. Do you believe it? With all my
heart. Now in the Bible, God makes known
his character or what are otherwise known as his attributes. You
and I have attributes. There are attributes about each
one of us, which make us who we are. Everyone has a personality. Everyone has attributes. Everyone
has characteristics. God. is always faithful to who
he is. Unlike us, we're so changing. One day, everything's great.
The next day, it's not great insofar as the way we feel. Up, down, over here, over there,
God is utterly faithful to who he is. That's why he's utterly
trustworthy and utterly reliable. Great is thy faithfulness. Now I think of the attributes
of God. I love to meditate upon and think about the attributes
of God that he's revealed in his word. We've already seen
God is faithful. Well, God is infinite. Somebody
says, what in the world does that mean? You know, I don't
even know if I can answer that. How do you define infinite? Infinite. He has no boundaries like you
and I are. He's not bound by space. He's not bound by time. He's
infinite. He's independent. He's the only
independent being in the world. All other beings are completely
dependent upon him. He has no needs. He has no needs
outside of himself. I think it is akin to blasphemy
when people say, well, God made creation because he needed to
have someone to have fellowship. No, he had infinite, perfect
fellowship with himself in all three persons of the blessed
Trinity. He's utterly independent, infinite, no needs, absolutely
sovereign. That means his will is always
done. And I mean always done, whatever happens, it's His will
being done. He doeth according to His will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou?
Give account for yourself. He gives no account of His matters. You know, when you save your
kids, you've probably said it, do it because I said it. Well,
they're gonna get irritated. I'd like a better reason than
that. And I understand somebody rebelling against that. Do it
because I said it. But you know when God says believe
it because I said it, there you go. That's enough of a reason. I've seen a bumper sticker on
cars on numerous occasions. God said it, I believe it, that
settles it. Oh no. God said it, that settles
it whether you and I believe it or not. His word is established
in the heavens. God is holy, other, separate
from his creatures, unique, none like him. God is immutable. He
cannot change. He doesn't mutate. God is omnipotent. He has the power to do whatever
He wills. He's omniscient. He's never learned
anything. He's never been informed. He knows all. He's never been
surprised. Everything that happens is what
He purposed to happen. He's omnipresent. There's no
limitation to Him and His power and His knowledge and His presence.
He is God only wise. He's good all the time. What do you say to that? He's good all the time. He's absolutely just, justice
and judgment are the habitation of his throne. He's merciful,
he delights in mercy. Listen, he delights in mercy. You come to him for mercy, he'll
lavish you with mercy. He delights in mercy. He's gracious, he's long-suffering.
God is glorious. That is the infinite beauty of
all of his perfections. God is glorious. And he is all of these things
I've mentioned because he's faithful. His faithfulness causes him to
be what he is and who he is all the time. God is faithful. Turn with me to Psalm 40. Psalm 40. Verse six, sacrifice and offering,
thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt offering
and sin offering, hast thou not required? Then said I, lo, I
come, in the volume of the book is written of me, I delight to
do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. Who's
speaking? That's Jesus Christ speaking. Quoted in Hebrews chapter
10, directly from this passage of scripture. This is Jesus Christ
speaking. Now, he gives us in verses 9
and 10 a summary of his preaching. You know, if I'm preaching the
truth, if God is blessing my preaching, it's him doing the
preaching, not me. That's the only way it can be blessed. I
can't bless anybody, I can't be a benefit to anybody, I'm
just like you, just like you. If the preaching is ever blessed,
it's because he by his spirit is making himself known through
his word. Now look at the Lord's summary
of his own preaching. He said, I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. He's talking about the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God, the only righteousness
we can be justified by. This is what Christ preached. This is what Christ preaches
right now. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Now here
we see in our Lord's preaching, he speaks of God's faithfulness. Now I want you to turn with me
to this verse of scripture. First John chapter one. This
is a scripture that's not generally used as a scripture that demonstrates
the faithfulness of God, but let's read it together. First John chapter one, verse
nine. If we confess our sins, he. is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we
confess our sins. Now, here's what we're tempted
to do. We think, well, we'll be forgiven,
we'll be cleansed if we confess our sins. We gotta confess our
sins, and in confessing our sins, we'll be forgiven and we'll be
cleansed if we confess our sins. Now, confessing sin, if you could
articulate each sin you've ever committed and confess it, that'd
be a good thing. I wouldn't say anything against that, but there's
a problem with that. Most of the sins that you and
I have committed, we don't even know they're sins. And if I confessed every single
sin that I've ever committed, there are not enough hours in
the day for me to be going through that process. Now that's so. He's not saying if we confess
our sins, then he'll forgive us our sins and cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. Now this thing of confession,
the word means to speak the same thing. When I confess my sin
before God, oh would to God that he would enable each one of us
to truly confess our sin before him, not somebody else, to him. Now, if I don't know what they
all are, how can I confess them? Confession of sin is agreeing
with what God says about my sin. It's taking sides with God against
myself and agreeing with Him. If we confess our sin, now here's
the language I want us to notice because when we read something
because these preconceived conceptions we have, we don't read what's
really said. We think, well, if we confess
our sins, then he'll be merciful and gracious to forgive us of
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But that's
not what this verse says. It says, if we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. That's what the
Bible says. You know how he's faithful? He
determined for those sins to be forgiven in the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. He determined to put those sins
away before they were even committed, and he's being faithful to his
faithfulness. If he determined to do it, it's
done. It's done. He's faithful because
he determined to do it. As far as that goes, if you confess
your sin, you know why you confess it? because He's faithful. He
determined for you to confess that sin before Him. And what
a blessed thing it is when the Lord enables us to take sides
with Him against ourselves with regard to that sin. Well, no,
it's cleansing. Well, no, the blood of Christ
is cleansing, but it makes you feel better. It really does do
that. I don't wanna call anything cleansing, but the blood of Christ.
But it sure makes you feel better to come before Him in your need
of His mercy, confessing your sin. If we confess our sins,
He's faithful. Faithful to Himself. He determined
to do it. And He's just. to forgive us of our sins. You
see, the very justice of God demands the forgiveness of all
my sins because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, putting
them on the all way, him giving me his righteousness and I stand
before God without guilt. He's faithful and he's just. to forgive us our sins. The very
justice of God, the law of God demands the forgiveness of everybody
that Jesus Christ died for. Now there's the faithfulness
of God. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and he's just to
forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And because God is faithful,
we have what Paul calls a faithful saving. This is a faithful saying,
coming from the faithful God. This is a faithful saying, and
it's worthy of all acceptation. You ought and I ought to receive
this as the very best news we've ever heard, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. And my dear friend, if you're
a sinner, he came to save you. What a glorious, faithful saying. Now in our text, it says in verse
nine of first Corinthians chapter one, back there with me, please. God is faithful, by whom you
were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord. By whom, by him you were called. Well, who's the you? Well, everybody
called. Everybody called. Yes, the church at Corinth. that
were believers. Yes, he called those people,
but I love the passage of scripture. Romans chapter 8 verse 29 says,
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Called by invincible, irresistible
grace. And what did he call us to? And
this staggers my mind. He called me to the fellowship
of his son, Jesus Christ, the Lord. This high, heavenly, holy calling. to fellowship. Fellowship with
Jesus Christ, the Lord. I love Henry Mahan's definition
of fellowship. This is the best definition I've
ever heard of fellowship. Fellowship is fellows in the
same ship. We're in the Lord Jesus Christ. and we have fellowship in him. Fellowship. Now, fellowship,
it doesn't mean friendship, although friendship is included. Getting together with people
you enjoy being around and calling it fellowship, well, I'm sure
fellowship is included, But that's more friendship than anything
else. Being around people you enjoy being around. Fellowship
is fellowship in the gospel. We have the same gospel, we believe. We have the same hope, Christ
Jesus. We have the same object of faith,
Christ Jesus. We have the same word, the Bible.
Fellows in the same ship, in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is
where our fellowship is. It's in the gospel. I want to
read a passage from 1 John chapter 1. You can turn there if you
want to. But fellowship means association with His Son. Communion with His Son. Joint participation with His
Son. Intimacy with His Son. Communication with His Son. Friendship with His Son, where
Jesus Christ calls me His friend. And that's true of every believer.
Don't think that this is some special thing that only a few
attain to. Every believer is the friend of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he's made what's most precious
to him known to you. That's what friends do. They
confide in each other. And the Lord has confided into
you his gospel, the most precious, glorious thing there is. He's
called you unto fellowship with His Son. Now in 1 John chapter
1, John says, that which was from the beginning, which we've
heard, which we've seen with our eyes, which we've looked
upon and our hands have handled of the word of life for the life. I love the way John calls the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ, the life. That's my life before
God. He said, I am the way, the truth,
the life. That's my life before God. The
life was manifested and we've seen it. and bear witness and
show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and
was manifested unto us, that which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with
us. And truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Fellowship with Jesus Christ. Our Lord. He's the Son of God. This is the one way I fellowship
with. He's the Creator. He's the brightness of God's
glory in this express image of His person. Fellowship with Him. Association with Him. Intimacy
with Him. Communion with Him. Friendship
with Him. The Son of God. I love the parable
of the marriage feast that begins this way, and you'll understand
God's objective in everything he does, if you can get a hold
of it, if I can get a hold of this, the kingdom of heaven is
likened unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son. That's why God does everything
he does for his son. I want you to remember this. You were made for Christ if you're
a believer. Well, if you're an unbeliever, you're going to glorify
His justice, but you were made for Christ, for His bride, for
Him. For Him. That's your purpose.
For Him. The Son of God. The Son of God,
the second person of the Trinity, Colossians 2.9, in Him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body, and I have fellowship. fellowship with Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Now what higher privilege can
there be than to have the faithful God call you to fellowship with
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how He could love me, have fellowship
with me, That's what this is. Fellowship, communion, joint
participation, association with, intimacy with
his dear son, to know him, to see his beauty, to see his glory,
to love him, to rely on him, to be able to say with Paul,
you know, this statement doesn't even make grammatical sense,
but it makes more sense than anything I've ever heard for
me to live as Christ and to die as gain. To live is Christ. And to die, best thing to ever
happen to me, because I'll be ushered straight into his presence
in perfect conformity to his image. Now Paul called this fellowship,
in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 9, fellowship in the mystery. Don't you love the mystery of
the scripture? The mystery of godliness, the
mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory, the mystery of
eternal union with Christ. These two shall be one flesh.
I speak a great mystery. I speak concerning Christ in
the church. Mysteries. Now, mysteries are not It's a
mystery to me, kind of like a mystery novel, trying to figure out who
did it. A mystery is something we would have never known had
God been not pleased to make it known in His Word. And a mystery
is something we believe. We believe. We believe the great
mystery of godliness, that God was manifest in the flesh. We
believe the eternal mystery of union with Jesus Christ. Fellowship
in the mystery. And I love the way the Bible
is mysterious. I love the way that I just got
to believe it because I can't understand it. I have no problem
with that. Somebody says, well, what are
you doing preaching if you don't understand? I don't know. I don't know how
to answer that question, but I know I'm preaching God's truth.
And it's all mysterious. And I love it that way. The mystery
of godliness, the mystery of Christ in you, the mystery of
the resurrection. It's a fellowship in the mystery
of the gospel. And Paul spoke to the Philippians
of their fellowship in the gospel. There's one gospel, the gospel
of Jesus Christ, the gospel of His Son, and truly, our fellowship
is in the gospel. Now you, in this room, there
are people who are very different, different interests, different
backgrounds, different people, and we're one in Christ. And
that is the fellowship in the gospel. People that love each
other. that rejoice in the gospel each
one believes. It's a fellowship in the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then Paul spoke in Philippians
chapter 3, 10, oh that I might know him and the fellowship of
his sufferings. There's where the word is used,
the fellowship of his sufferings. I want to know that I have fellowship
in his sufferings. What that means is I want to
know that what he did, he did for me. Now, faith is not believing
Christ died for you. Faith is believing Jesus is the
Christ. That's saving faith. Believing Christ died for you
is assurance You see if if by the grace of God you can enter
into Christ you have in fellowship in his sufferings What more do
you need for assurance? You'll need anything else. You
see the only hope I have is that Jesus Christ died for me. That's
the only hope I have I have no other hope And I want to know
my fellowship, my participation, my communication in his sufferings. Paul said, oh, that I might know
him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings. And it is a fellowship of light. God is light. Verse John 1, 5,
God is light. In him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship
with him, a lot of people make that claim. If you go out tomorrow
and ask folks you work with, do you have fellowship with God?
I bet a lot of them say yes. I speak to him, he speaks to
me. I pray to him, he hears my prayer.
I have fellowship with God. What does John say? If we say
we have fellowship with him, I'm walking darkness. the darkness
of superstition, the darkness of human religion. We lie, and
we do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
as he is in the light, the light of how God can save me for Christ's
sake, that light, the same light of how that woman taken in adultery,
Christ could say to her, I don't condemn you because there's nothing
to condemn her for because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the light. If we walk in the light, as He
is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. Now, 2 Peter
1.4, there's a fellowship of nature. He says in 2 Peter 1.4,
we're partakers of the divine nature. Every believer, Being born of
God, birthed by God, fathered by God, born of the Spirit is
a partaker of the divine nature. Now, God can't beget anything but
that which is of Him. If He begets me, He begets me
with His own likeness. Scripture says that, partakers
of the divine nature. I know that God doesn't have
DNA or anything like that, I realize that, but you realize even seeing
in human people when somebody is Your child, somebody says,
I see whose child that is. You have characteristics, you
have the DNA of your parent. Well, when somebody's born of
God, they're partakers of the divine nature. And you wanna talk about people
who have fellowship. People who have fellowship are people who
are all partakers of this divine nature born of Him. Now, finally,
there's a word fellowship is derived from. is derived from
the word common in the original. Common. Common. Here's a word. The common salvation. What's the word mean? Does it
mean common? Well, that's just common. No. It means that which
all believers have in common. The common salvation. The common faith, that which
all believers believe. I've heard preachers use the
term common grace. How could grace be common in
that sense? Common means what all believers
are partakers of. the faith of God's elect, the
acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness, the common
salvation, that's fellowship. Our fellowship is in the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't have fellowship
in the gospel, I pray, if I don't have fellowship in the gospel,
I pray that God would reveal it to me. and let me enter into
the fellowship of his dear son." God is faithful. Who has called you into the fellowship. We weren't talking about a reason
to live. Called you into the fellowship of his dear son. There's nothing mundane about
being a believer. I don't care what you're doing.
I don't care if you're digging a ditch. I don't care if you're
ruling a country. There's nothing mundane about
being a believer. Called into the fellowship of
his dear son. If you believe the gospel, you're
called into that fellowship. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for who
you are, how we thank you that by your grace we've been called
into the fellowship of thy dear son. Lord, enable us, give us
grace to enjoy beholding his beauty, to believe his sufficiency,
to trust his righteousness, to trust his precious blood, to
trust his intercession, to look forward to His return. And Lord,
enable us to enjoy one another in this fellowship we have in
Jesus Christ the Lord. Bless this word for the Lord's
sake, in His name we pray, amen.