That line, in the beloved, I
went to the tree. Every time I hear that, I'm just
amazed by that thought. You don't need to turn here,
but Bildad said in Job chapter 25, how then can a man be justified
with God or how can he be clean, which is born of a woman? What a question. How can I be
clean? How can you be clean? I want
to be clean. How can I be clean? Clean before
God. No filth, no sin before God. Clean. We'll turn back to our
text in 1 John 1. Verse 7. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light. Now, before I go on reading this
verse of scripture, most people, when they read this verse of
scripture, and I've talked to people about it, even this week,
they think, well, that means you're not walking in sin. You're
not walking in sin. You gotta not walk in sin to
take this scripture to yourself. And I'm wanting to say, Well,
how you doing, man? How you doing? That is not now walking in sin
is not good. Don't think that I'm these things
right onto you that you're saying not. But if that means walking in
sin, walking in acts of disobedience, breaking God's law. You can't
take this to yourself. My question is, what's the gospel
then? What is the gospel? Let's go on reading. He's talking
about walking in the light of the gospel. That's what this
is all about. If we walk in the light, The
light of how God saves sinners as he is in the light. Don't you love thinking about
that, him being in the light right now? If I walk in the light
as he is in the light. Now, as I'm understanding that,
I'm in the light with him. I'm in him. We just heard that
song about in the beloved, accepted am I. That's the light of the
gospel. My acceptance is in Christ. In the beloved, I went to the
tree. in the beloved God, marvelous grace. It's the light of the
gospel he's speaking of. Now, this is not looking for
an excuse to walk in disobedience or sin in any way, but that's
just not what he's talking about. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship, one with another. This is talking
about fellowship with God. This is talking about me communing
with God. This is talking about God speaking
to me through his word and allowing me to speak to him and having
communion and having fellowship. Oh, what a glorious privilege.
And this is for every believer. walking in the light of the gospel.
We're allowed to have fellowship with God. I think of that passage
of scripture in Revelation where he says he's going to knock and
anyone who opens up, he'll come sit down and sup with him. I'll
sup with him and he with me. That's not talking about a call
to an unbeliever to let him in. He comes in by irresistible grace
to save. That's not talking about him
talking to an unbeliever, but it's talking about his, and I
want to say this reverently, but it's talking about his desire
for fellowship with his people and their desire for fellowship
with him. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and then we
have this promise The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth
us from all sin. Now, the first thing that comes
to my mind when I read that verse, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanseth us from all sin. My first question is, who is
the us? I want to know if I can be included in this group. Who
is the us for whom the blood of Christ cleanses them from
all sin? Obviously, it doesn't mean all
men without exception because all men are not cleansed. There
is a place called hell that men are paying for their sins, even
as we speak. Whose sins have never been washed
away, they died in their sins. So who is the us that he is speaking
of? Well, those who are walking in
the light. That's easy enough, isn't it?
If we walk in the light, as he is in the light. The us is those
who are walking in the light. Now, I would be speaking accurately
if I said this is a reference to the elect of God. It's the
same us as if God be for us, who can be against us? I love
that verse. The us is whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
son. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called, whom he
called, then he also justified. What should we say to these things?
Whom he justified, then he also glorified. What should we say
to these things? If God be for us, that's the
us he's speaking of. Who can be against us? The elect
of God, the redeemed of Christ, those who have been born of God
and given a new nature. That's the us he's speaking of,
every child of God. but they're described as those
who walk in the light. That's their description. They
walk in the light. Look back in verse five. This
then is the message that we've heard of him and declaring to
you that God is light. That's talking about his holiness. When you say God is holy, That's
the attribute of the attributes. His love is a holy love. His sovereignty is a holy sovereignty. His justice is a holy justice. His grace is a holy grace. His independence is a holy independence. His eternity, eternal nature
is a holy eternal nature. Everything regarding God is holy. That is how he's described. Holy, holy, holy. That's what
the light represents. Pure holiness. God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. Verse six. If we say that we
have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and
do not the truth. I was talking to a gentleman
this week. And I pointed out this scripture
to him. And he said, well, that's talking about walking in sin.
Well, we are not walking sin. That's not what it's talking
about. Not in any way. That's talking about walking
in the darkness of salvation by works in any way. If we say, if we claim to have
fellowship with him, I'm a Christian. I love God. He loves me. I pray. I speak to God. He hears me,
I hear him speaking his word, we have fellowship one with another.
A lot of people make that claim. If you would ask the average
religious person, do you have fellowship with God? Of course
I do, of course I do. Now if we make that claim, I
have fellowship with God, that's a big claim, isn't it? Yet walk
in darkness, the darkness of salvation by works, that which
is opposite to the light What's John say we're doing? He says,
with such decisiveness, we lie and do not the truth. I love
the way John speaks with such decisiveness. He says, if we
say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie.
That's what we're doing. It's all a sham. And we're not
practicing the truth. But If we walk in the light of
the gospel, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ, the light of how God can look
at me and say, I'm pleased with you. You're altogether lovely. You're perfect. You're righteous.
There's no sin in you. Thou art all fair, my love. All
fair. Now, there's only one way God
can say that to me, and that's through the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, if we walk in the light
as He is in the light, you think of His communion with His Father.
You think of His love to His Father. You think of the way
the Father accepts Him and views Him. He dwells in the light,
which no man can approach to. He dwells there. If we walk in
the light as He is in the light, Now if that's talking about the
straightness of your walk, that means you have to be sinless
in your walk, as He is in the light. And I want to be sinless. I don't want to sin. This is
not talking about an excuse for sin. But if this is talking about
your behavior being dependent upon whether or not you're going
to have your sins cleansed, what's the gospel? That's a denial of
the gospel in the first place. If we walk in the light as He
is in the light, we actually have fellowship with God. Fellowship with the Father, fellowship
with His Son, fellowship with the Holy Spirit. And here's the
glorious thing about the gospel. The gospel makes people fit for
fellowship with God. Isn't that amazing? I'm fit! I'm someone God can desire to
have fellowship with through the Gospel. I Corinthians 1.30, Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Now somebody like that is fit
for fellowship with God, aren't they? You know, we as believers can
have communion with God that the angels don't know anything
about and are not capable of having. They don't know anything
about the forgiveness of sins. They don't know anything about
what it is to trust Christ alone. They're not partakers of the
divine nature. Now, they're unfallen beings,
and they're not jealous of us because they're unfallen beings.
They're sent to be ministers of Him who is to be heirs of
salvation, but they could never enter into what a believer does
as being fit with fellowship. They cry, holy, holy, holy, and
they cover their face and they cover their feet. They're humble
before the Lord. They realize he's God, but they
don't know the fellowship that the believer has. And it's not
like they're jealous. They're God's creatures. They're glorious
creatures. But they don't know the fellowship that the believer
is allowed to have, being made a partaker of the divine nature,
knowing the joy of salvation is of the Lord. They've not been
placed in a position where it's impossible for them to fall.
We have been. You see, we're a lot better off
now than we were before the fall because of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that every believer is fit for fellowship
with God. We love him as he is. We really do. We love him. Somebody
says, well, I don't love him enough. I know you don't. But
don't you love his sovereignty? Aren't you glad he's in control
of everything and everybody? Don't you love His grace? How free it is? How sovereign
it is? How saving it is? Don't you love
His justice? That He's absolutely just? In
Him is no darkness at all? Don't you love the fact that
He's immutable? That He never changes? Don't you love the fact
that He has no needs? that he's utterly independent
in complete control of all things. We love him as he is, every one
of his glorious attributes. We have fellowship with God.
We have fellowship with Christ. We think the same thing of Christ
that the Father thinks. We have something in common in
this thing of fellowship. He knows Christ is all, and we
know Christ is all. He knows Christ is altogether
lovely, and we know Christ is altogether lovely. And we trust
Christ the same way the Father does. How much of your salvation
does the Father look to Christ in? All of it. You know what? We look to Christ
for all of our salvation, just like the Father looks to Christ
for all of our salvation. And there is a fellowship. There
is communion with God. And it's only through the blessed
Spirit of God that we have this fellowship with God. But what
a blessed privilege. The Lord allows me and even wants
fellowship with me because of who I am in Christ Jesus, because
who Christ is and who I am in Christ. Every believer, this
is not talking about some select few, every believer is fit for
fellowship with God and God desires such. What's like this in the
world? Nothing. fellowship with God
in the Trinity of His sacred persons. Now, who is the us that
have the blood of Christ cleansing them from all sin? They who walk
in the light. Now, I want you to remember this.
You can't take a promise to yourself unless you fit the character
of the one the promise is made to. For instance, here's a promise. 1 Timothy 1.15, ought to be everybody
in here's favorite scripture. This is a faithful saying, and
it's worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom Paul says, I am the chief. Now, who has the right to believe
that Christ came to save them. There's only one description
given. Sinners. What's a sinner? He's the one who does the sinning.
He's the one who commits the sins. Ask the sinner, can you
not sin? Can you go five seconds without
sin? No. Can you look down your nose at
anybody? No. Do you have any claims on
God because of any goodness in you? No. Are you like that? No, I'm not. Well, you're cutting
your own throat. You don't have the right to think
that Christ came to save you. But if you are a sinner, You
fit the description of the one the promise is made to. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the
chief. Now the us of the blood cleansing
us is only those who walk in the light and have fellowship
and communion with God. The blood of Christ cleanses
them from all sin. Now there's several scriptures
that deal with this thing of cleansing, and I'm awful interested
in this, aren't you? I want to be clean before God. And I don't
mean positionally clean, I mean really clean, to where I'm clean
before God. I am very interested in this. We're said to be made clean by
the will of Christ. Do you remember the leper? If
you will, you can make me clean. Two things this leper knew, he
knew he wasn't clean. And he knew the only way he could
be clean is if Christ willed it. Do you know that? Do you
believe that? And I think of the way the Lord
answered him. The scripture says, he was moved with compassion
and reached forth his hand and touched him and I said, I will
be clean. thou clean and immediately his
leprosy was cleansed but the cleansing is only because of
the blood that's the only reason the cleansing
is because of the blood of the lord jesus christ hebrews 10
11 says by the witch will we are Sanctified once for all through
the offering of the body, that's the blood, that's the sacrifice
of Christ. We're made clean once for all
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. God said to
Peter in Acts chapter 15, what God has cleansed, call not thou
common, he cleansed us. That's the way we're clean, he
did it, but how did he do it? By the blood. Only by the blood. That's all that cleans. That's
all that makes clean. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I love that scripture in Hebrews 9 where it says, almost all things
are by the law purged with blood. And without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. Now you think the Old Testament
worship, it was bloody. I mean, before you could use
the altar, you'd have to put blood on it because man had touched
it. Before you could use any of the utensils of the tabernacle,
you'd have to sprinkle blood on them. When the people made
their all that you say will do, what Moses do first thing he
did was start putting blood on them. He knew they wouldn't.
What about the priest? Before the priest could offer
a sacrifice, there had to be blood shed for him first before
he was fit to offer the sacrifice. It's the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. That's all. Peter said in Acts 15.9, how
that God put no difference between us and them, purifying our hearts
by faith. But what's there, where's that
faith? Faith in his blood. God has set him forth to be a
propitiation, a sin-intoning victim through faith in his blood.
Do you have faith in his blood that it's all that's needed to
make you clean? Do you really believe that? The Lord said, now are you clean
through the word I've spoken to you. He that's washed, He
that's washed is clean everywhere. Well, how were we washed? His
blood. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. But understand this, I'm not
cleansed because I confess my sins. I'm cleansed because of
the blood of Christ. Now, how can I be clean? Now, I want to make Seven statements,
and they're not very long, but seven statements regarding this
verse of scripture, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth
us from all sin. Now, the first statement, if
let's consider the greatness of this statement. The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. The greatness
of this statement, first of all, because of the greatness of the
sin. Now, let me remind you that the
only way that you can see the greatness of your sin is by hearing
Christ cry out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That's
the only way you can see the greatness of your sin. When it
was made Christ, God forsook him. He felt the awful forsaking
of God being left to himself. That's what my sin deserves.
to be left to myself. You think, I'll find out all
kinds of reasons where my sin's not that bad. I had an excuse.
I mean, good grief, look at the position I was placed in. Look
at the pressure I was under. Look at the temptation I was
facing. Look at the, no, you can't really see the greatness
of your sin by looking at the sin itself. You'll figure out
ways to justify yourself and vindicate yourself. The only
way to see the greatness of the sin is by seeing the greatness
of Christ being forsaken. by His Father because of my sin. Think of the greatness of the
One who suffered. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. The greatness of the One who
died to cleanse in the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of the greatness
of his love, the love that gave him. God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son. And think of the greatness this
has, the greatness of the effect this has on believers. I think
of Paul. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the greatness
of this statement. Now, the next statement I'd like
to make about the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses from
all sin is the solitariness of this statement. Nothing is said
about ceremonies. Nothing is said about sacraments.
Nothing is said about works. Nothing is said about emotions. Nothing is said about feelings. Nothing is said about experiences. Nothing is said about anything
cooperating with the blood to make it work. Nothing is said
about our faith. Nothing is said about repentance.
All it says is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth
us from all sin. Nothing else is said. What can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
nothing but the blood of Jesus. When God passed through Egypt
that night, He said, when I see what? The blood. He didn't say anything else. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. And don't fail to see the completeness
of this statement. The blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleanseth us from A-double-L, all sin. Past sins, present sins, the
sins you've committed since you've been here, sins of the future. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. Sins we confess, sins we're ignorant
of. Sins of omission, sins of commission. The sin of my nature, Adam's
sin, being passed down to me, actual sins, sins of practice. All sins are cleansed from that
great singular word, the blood of Christ, his son, cleanseth
us from all sin. Now here's something I don't
think I've ever, I've always wondered why it's worded this
way, but notice it says the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son cleanseth
us. It doesn't say it has cleansed,
though it has, but it says it's actually in the original, it's
in the present active. That's talking about the presentness.
of the blood of Christ cleansing us from all sin. Now, how often
do you need the blood of Christ to cleanse you? Is there any circumstance, is
there any one second of the day where you're okay? No, there's
a presentness to this. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Yesterday, it cleanseth us from
all sin. Today, it cleanseth us from all
sin. Tomorrow, it cleanseth us from
all sin. We sing that hymn, and I love
the hymn. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more. Now, There's never a time when
the blood loses its power. Even after the church is saved
to sin no more, the only thing that's going to keep them that
way is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Christ
doesn't reach a point where it's no longer needed. Blood washed nonstop. And notice the certainty of this
statement, it doesn't say perhaps the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, will cleanse us from all our sin, or we hope the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. It says the
blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us, cleanseth us from
all sin. Cleansed in eternity, cleansed
in time, cleansed when time will be no more. The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin. No potential cleansing
here. No, nothing like the blood of
Jesus Christ. His son cleanses us from all
sin. If we fill in the blank, if we're walking right, If we're
doing this, or if we're doing that, if we're refraining, no,
it's just a glorious statement. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. And I see such divinity in this
statement. What do I mean by that? Only
God can say this. Only God can say this. This is
something that God says. You know, one of the things I
love about the Bible is you can tell God said it. He speaks with such
authority and such power that this is the Word of God. This
is not the Word of men. A man can't say anything. They
couldn't even think it. But oh, the divinity of this
statement. This is something God can say
because it's so real. The blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. It recommends itself and rings
as true as being the very Word of God, doesn't it? Here's the last statement I want
to make. I see such wisdom in this. The blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. Now, I see God's wisdom
in making a way, first of all, in making a way to be just and
justify somebody like me that honors his righteous, holy character. Could man ever come up with this?
No. I see His wisdom in making a
way for Him to be just and honor His own righteous justice character
and take somebody like me and make me perfectly righteous.
What wisdom. And I see the wisdom in this
that this secures His glory only in our cleansing. You know, He
does this in a way where we don't have anywhere to look but Christ,
do we? We don't have any confidence in anything but His blood. God
has fixed it to where we can't look anywhere else at any time
except for the blood of Christ for our cleansing. Nothing we
do, but he did. And this has put us in a better
place than we were before we sinned. Adam in the garden walked with
God in the cool of the day. And I have no doubt that he had
fellowship with God, but not this kind of fellowship, because
he did not yet have the nature of God created in him through
the new birth. And while he was in the garden,
he always had the potential to fall. Anything that is not God has
the potential to fall. Anything that can mutate, that
is not immutable, has the potential to fall. And you see, Adam wasn't
holy in the garden. He was innocent. He had an innocent
nature, but he wasn't holy. You see, holiness cannot fall. Holiness cannot sin. I mean,
he tells us in the third chapter of this book, he that's born
of God cannot sin. God's seed remains in him. He
lacks the ability to see. You see, this makes it to where
I've got a holy nature that can't fall, that can't leave God. I'm preserved. Is that better
than before the fall? You better believe it is. If we walk in the light, as he
is in the light, the light of the gospel, The light of how
God saves sinners by Christ, by his blood, by his grace. Oh,
the beautiful, glorious light of the gospel. If we walk in
the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,
fellowship with God, fellowship with each other. Let's talk about
our fellowship with each other, just for a moment, for a second.
Don't you love folks who really believe that Christ is all in
salvation? And you can identify with those people. Now somebody
that gives man some of the glory, you can't have fellowship with
anybody like that. But oh, how we love those that are begotten
of him. We have fellowship with him too.
But there's not a more glorious statement in all the word of
God. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son. Just the blood. cleanseth us from all sin. And that answers the question
as to how somebody born of woman can be clean. The blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, so satisfied God that he looks at everybody
that Christ died for and he sees cleanness. right now. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
precious blood of your son that actually cleanses us before
you. And Lord, we really believe that
in him, in his precious blood, we are clean. And Lord, may you,
for Christ's sake, cause each person here to say with the leper,
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. and enable us to have
our hearts purified, made clean by faith, looking to Christ and
His precious sacrifice alone. Bless this message for the Lord's
sake. In His name we pray. Amen.