Open your Bibles again to 1 John
1. Now this epistle is called the First
Epistle General of John. Similar title is given to the
Apostle Peter's epistle. a general epistle, because it
wasn't written or addressed directly to one person or one church,
but the people of God in general, a general epistle. It was written
by the beloved John, the son of Zebedee, the youngest apostle. He was the youngest of all the
apostles. And then the one that lived the longest, the one who
survived all the others, because John was exiled on the Isle of
Patmos, where we believe he died in his 90s, I'm told. And the subject of this first
chapter, and I believe the subject all the way through this, these
five chapters of 1 John, His subject is fellowship with the
Father and with the Son. Let's look at verse 3. Fellowship
with the Father and with the Son. Verse 3. 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. Now who is better prepared to
write on this subject of love for Christ and love for the Father
and fellowship with the Father and fellowship with the Son?
Who is better to write on this subject than the Apostle John,
who is called four or five the disciple that the Lord loved. John, when he was writing the
book of John, the 21 chapters, he never referred to himself
by name, never ever, but over and over again he referred to
himself as that disciple whom the Lord loved, and who better
to write to us about God's love for us and our love for him and
our love for one another and our fellowship with the Father
than this man who was called by Christ the disciple that he
loved. I'll just read you some of these
scriptures that tell me about this title given to John. Let me read it to you. In John
19, when the Lord Jesus saw his mother and the disciple standing
by whom he loved, he said to the woman, Behold thy son. In John chapter 20, then Mary
came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved
and said, They've taken away my Lord. In John 21, therefore,
that disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, it's the Lord. And then in John chapter 21 verse
20, Peter turning about and seeing John, he didn't call his name,
he said seeing John, the disciple whom Jesus loved following him,
he said, what's this man going to do? Who better to talk to us tonight
about the love of God and the fellowship with the Father and
with the Son than John? You and I know something about
fellowship. Turn to Colossians for a moment,
Colossians chapter 3. We know something about fellowship.
It says here in Colossians chapter 3 verse 14, Colossians 3 verse
14. And above all these things put
on love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace
of God rule in your hearts, to the which also you are called
in one body, and be ye thankful. And let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom, teaching, admonishing one another,
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in
your heart to the Lord. What is fellowship? It's being
together in heart and purpose. That's fellowship. What is fellowship? It's having all things common.
As Peter said in chapter 4 of Ephesians, being one body, one
spirit, One hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one Father. And Paul said, Rejoice with them
that rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Fellowship with the
Father, that's what we're talking about. Fellowship with the Father,
and fellowship with the Son. And when that was proved, of
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, that was the greatest blessing
that unfallen man could possibly enjoy. Adam walked with God. Adam talked with God. Adam knew
God and communed with God as a man communes with a friend. That's fellowship. That's fellowship. That's being together in heart
and purpose. That's fellowship. And here in
Genesis chapter 2, I want you to notice something I looked
at today in Genesis chapter 2. Listen, you talk about fellowship
with the Father. Fellowship with the Father. In
Genesis chapter 2, verse 18, I want you to look at this. Genesis
2, 18. And the Lord God said, it's not
good that man should be alone. I will make him a help me for
him. And out of the ground the Lord
God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air. Now watch this. And the Lord
God brought them to Adam to see what Adam would call them. That's
fellowship. God and Adam. God Almighty made the animals
and the birds and all these things and brought them to Adam, his
friend, and asked him, what do you want to call them? You tell
me. You tell me. Read on. And he brought them to Adam to
see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called every
living creature from then on, that was his name. from then
on, Adam and Eve. Doesn't that thrill you? And Adam, verse 20, gave names
to all the cattle, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts of
the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helpmate for
him. But sin, let's keep our Bibles
at Genesis, and sin entered this relationship. God and Adam. God walked with Adam, talked
with Adam, and a friend, and brought him all these things
that he'd made, and said, Adam, you name them. Whatever you name
them, that's what we're going to call them. And then sin entered
this paradise, and the fellowship was broken, totally shattered. And I'll tell you the results.
Turn to Genesis 3. Genesis 3, verse 23. Now here's this friend, this
fellowship. It's gone now. Adam's fallen. And verse 23 of Genesis 3 says,
Therefore God sent him forth out of the garden. Sent him forth. Sent him forth from the garden
to till the ground. from which he was taken until
he returns to his earth. And then look at the next line.
And God drove him out. God drove Adam out. Adam didn't
leave by invitation. God sent him forth and drove
him out. You're not welcomed here anymore. No more. Fellowship's gone. Not repairable. And not only that, but he placed
at the east of the Garden of Eden, cherubim with a flaming
sword. Don't you come near anymore. There's no welcome there, is
there? Don't come. That flaming sword is going to
bar your way back to God. from the way of the tree of life. Now let me tell you something. That's serious. And it all sums
up in this story right here. Adam, where are you? Where are
you? I'll tell you this. Friends in
fellowship don't hide from one another. When God was in full fellowship
with Adam, unbroken fellowship. That was a sweetness that you
can't even describe. But now Adam's hiding from God. Friends don't hide from one another.
Fellowship, people in fellowship don't hide from one another.
And God said to Adam, he said, your sins have separated you
and your God. Look at that in Isaiah chapter
59. Isaiah chapter 59, listen to
this. He says here in verse 2 of Isaiah
59, your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and
your sins have hid his face from you, and he will not hear you. The fellowship is indeed broken. And Romans chapter 8 says this
about about Adam's condemnation in Romans 8, verse 7, because
the carnal mind is enmity against God. The carnal mind hates God,
the living God, the true God. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be, and they that are in the flesh cannot
please God. That's what happened. But something has taken place
among religious people. Some insist on entering into
a false fellowship with God. These sentimentalists and the
religious people of our generation talk about a fellowship with
God. And we don't find it in the scriptures. We don't find
it in what, in the condemnation God pronounced upon Adam. But
the religious people, the sentimental, they talk about a fellowship
with God. The fatherhood of God. God's
the father of everybody. And smile, God loves you. And
God loves everybody. But the scriptures don't teach
us that. Psalm 5 verse 5 says the foolish shall not stand in
God's sight. He hateth the workers of iniquity. Psalm 7 verse 11 says God is
angry with the wicked every day. God's angry. And John 3 says
this, He that believeth not the Son, the wrath of God abideth
on him. And Ephesians 2 verse 12 describing
the Gentiles said at that time you were without Christ, aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, having no hope, and without God
in this world. God drove him out. God sent him
forth. God barred his way with a flaming
sword and kept him away from the tree of life. That's what
the scripture says about man's thoughts about God. And this
is a false fellowship. It's not in God's arrangement.
We can talk about fellowship with God, but it's not in God's
arrangement. I'll tell you what the world
talks about. Turn to Isaiah 28 for a moment.
This is that false fellowship. This is that fake fellowship. We profess it
and claim it. And most of the world lays claim
to it. God's not angry. God loves everybody. But that's not what he said to
Adam. And what's this in Isaiah 28? Verse 14. You got it? Isaiah 28, verse
14. Here's this false claim and false
fellowship. In Isaiah 28, verse 14. Wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord now, Hear the word of the Lord. Let's hear what God has
to say. You scornful men that rule this
people which is in Jerusalem. These are religious people. These are those people that rule
Jerusalem and the Pharisees and Sadducees. They claim to believe
God. Now watch this, verse 15. I made
no covenant with you. I haven't restored fellowship
with you. Rather, this is what's happened,
verse 15. You said we made a covenant with
death and with hell. Well, that's an awful covenant,
isn't it? That's a terrible covenant. These scornful men, these rulers
of the Jews and religious people, they said we made a covenant.
I didn't make it, God said. You made it. And you've made
a covenant with death and hell. Now read on. And not only that,
but you've made an agreement, made a covenant with death and
hell, and are at agreement, you've made an agreement with yourself
that when the overflowing scourge and judgment passes through,
it won't come to us. I want fellowship with God, but
I want it on his terms. I want a fellowship that God's
made. I want an agreement that God's made. I want some hope
that God has established. But these fellows said, we've
made a covenant with hell and with death. We're at agreement. We agree with the judges and
the rulers that when the scourge of God comes through, it's not
going to come to us. Do you know anybody in this world
that believes he's going to hell? We've got an agreement. We're
not going to have it. When the flood of judgment and
the earthquakes come to pass and destroy it, it's not going
to come to us. But it's not through yet. Listen.
We have made for ourselves a refuge. We've got a hiding place. Oh,
I read over there in Isaiah. 32 where it talks about a man
shall be a hiding place from the storm. The man Christ Jesus
will be a covert from the tempest. There'll be a man who's the river
of waters in a dry and thirsty land. There'll be the rock, a
mighty rock, a shade in the wilderness. That's God's covenant. That's
God's agreement. That's God's establishment, but
we've made one of our own, and we're going to hold to it. Got
an agreement with hell and death, an agreement with a scourge that
won't touch us. We've got a refuge. We've got
a hiding place. It won't cover us. The cover's
too narrow, and the bed's too short, and your feet hang over
it, and you can't cover up. You've got a refuge of lies,
and under falsehood have you hid yourself. That's man's covenant. And they're holding to it, and
we're not afraid. God loves us. But I'm going to
tell you about a covenant he did make. Look at chapter 28,
verse 16. Now thus saith the Lord God.
Behold, I lay in Zion. I lay in Zion for a foundation. I establish a covenant. Oh, bless
your heart. I'm sure glad to hear about that,
aren't you? I don't like that other covenant, refuge and hell
and death and all this sort of thing. But God said, now wait
a minute, I lay in Zion. Who is this in Zion? This is,
I've set my King on my holy hill of Zion, the King Messiah. This is the foundation of hope.
This is the foundation of mercy. This is a stone. This is a rock
in a weary land. This is the rock Christ Jesus.
This is a tribe stone. I lay it. You don't have anything
to do with it. I lay it. I lay a foundation
in Zion. My king on that holy hill, a
stone. the rock of ages, the rock in
a weary land, a tried stone, he's been tried by Satan, he's
been tried by demons, he's been tried by the cross, the fire
of the cross, he's tried by the fathers to prove his faithfulness
and obedience, he's tried by the elect who put their trust
in him and he's never failed us yet, he's tried. He's a tried
stone, and he's a precious cornerstone. Precious is his blood, precious
are his promises, precious are his elect, precious are those
who die in the Lord. I found him to be a sure foundation. And let me tell you, he that
believeth on him, he'll never be ashamed. Now you can just
forget that other covenant, you can forget that that other refuge. You can forget this so-called
false fellowship with God and rejoice in a true fellowship.
And here's where we're going to look at it now in 1 John 1. This is the one we're going to
talk about. This is that covenant. All right,
watch it. In 1 John 1, verse 1. That which was from the beginning. That which was from the beginning.
This is our Lord Jesus Christ. This refers to his deity. His
eternality. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God. This poor Adam. The Word was
God. All things were made by him.
Without him was not anything made that was made. And then John said this. That
which we've heard. that which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon in our hands of handle of
the word of life, of the covenant of mercy, of the grace of God,
of our King Messiah. We've seen him, we've heard him,
we've touched him. Look at verse 2. For the life,
God's life, God's eternal Not the life that died in Adam, but
the life that lives in Christ. The life was manifested. And
we've seen it, we bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us without
controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh.
seen of the angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on
in the world, receive up into glory. The word was made flesh
and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of God, full of grace and truth." That's our
covenant, that's our hope, that's our fellowship. Look at verse
3, and John repeats this three times. three times. In verse
1, he said, That which we've seen with our eyes and looked
upon with our hands and handle. Verse 2, the life was manifested,
we've seen it, we bear witness, we show it to you. Verse 3, That
which we've seen, I've seen him, I've heard him and declared him
unto you. I've heard him and seen him and
touched him, that eternal life which was with the Father. He
was manifested in human flesh, and we saw Him and heard Him,
and truly our fellowship now is with the Father and with His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There it is. There's our fellowship. Our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is no other
fellowship. There's no other hope. There's
no other covenant, there's no other agreement, there's no other
pipe dream or profession. It's just not that. God has established it. And he
gives two reasons, listen. In verse 3 he said, that which
we've seen and declare and heard, declare we unto you that you
also, that you might have this fellowship." Adam didn't have
it. The Gentiles didn't have it. The Jews didn't have it.
These people with their false covenants and false agreements
and foolish talk and pipe dreams, here it is. Here it is, we declare
it to you that you may have fellowship with us and truly, honestly,
I'm telling you the truth, the fellowship is with the Father,
with his Son, Jesus Christ. That's where it is. And what's
the second thing? Verse 4, and these things I write
to you that your joy might be full. That's it. That's it. He was manifested, came to this
earth to bear our sins in his body on the tree, that we might
have fellowship with God, that God might love us and receive
us, that we might love God and receive him, that we might have
a fellowship with God. We might know God. The Son of
God has come and given us an understanding that we may know
Him that is true, that we're in Him that is true. This is
a true God. And this is His Son. That's it. And that your joy might be full.
There is no other joy. That's where the joy is. But
there's no other. There's not. Now what is this
fellowship? Let's see. Verse 5 says, this
then is the message which we've heard of him and declare unto
you. That God is light and in him
there's no darkness at all. We say we have fellowship with
him and walk in darkness, we lie. We do not the truth. But
if we walk in the light, as he, Christ, is in the light, we have
fellowship. One with another. Who's this
one with the father? With the son. Sure we have fellowship
with one another, sure we do. But our main fellowship, our
fellowship with one another, depends on our fellowship with
him and with Christ. We have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us, purifies
us, sanctifies us, justifies us, redeems us from all sin. We belong to him. My friends,
this is no pipe dream. This is no idle claim. This is
no empty profession of faith by some religious who wants to
make a little cash along the way. Our fellowship, like Adams
before the fall, except greater. I'll tell you that in a minute.
Our fellowship is again with the Father and with the Son. And we walk with him in communion,
the same communion that Adam came with God, and God said,
Adam, name them, and that's what you're going to have them, that's
what they'll be named from now on. I said so. I said so. We walk with God in
agreement. We walk with God in submission.
We walk with God in love. We walk with God in goodness
and mercy. We walk with God all the days
of our lives and we'll dwell in his house forevermore because
he's entered into a covenant with us in his Son by his blood. And we have fellowship with God. It takes your breath away, doesn't
it? I'll tell you another thing it takes away. It takes Paul's
hope away and gives you the only hope in him. Let me show you five things before
I close. Now listen carefully to this.
This fellowship with God, fellowship with God the Father and with
the Son, it's a sweet agreement with God. in his eternal covenant
and purpose. It's got to be that way. He's
the boss. He sets the rules, the ground
rules. He made the covenant. It's all
his. It's like when Eli, God was going
to speak judgment to Eli, and young Samuel came and told him
that the Lord was going to destroy his sons. And you know what Eli
said? Well, it's the Lord. Let him
do what seemeth him good. And so that's the agreement.
And that's the sweet fellowship that we have with him. Whatever
he says, that's best. Whatever he does, that's right.
Whatever Christ says, that's ours. It has to be that way.
You can't have two wheels in this thing now, God and man.
It's got to be here. I will be done. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but I will be done. That's fellowship. Secondly,
this fellowship is a sweet agreement with God in his promise to Abraham
and his seed. That's what he said over here.
It's got to be in the seed of Christ. Now listen to Galatians
chapter 3. Galatians 3 verse 14. Galatians
3 verse 14. That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. That we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after
the manner of men. Though it be but a man's covenant,
yet if it be confirmed, nobody can disannul or add thereto.
So, now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made, no
other promise, God's promise. And he says, not to seed as of
many, but as of one, to thy seed which is Christ. So that's our
agreement, that's our fellowship. Every purpose is His purpose.
Every will is His will. And that purpose is in Christ,
in the Son. That's right, in the Son. Thirdly,
this fellowship is a sweet agreement with God to provide all the means
of grace. Nothing in our hands we bring,
except that to His cross we cling. And this fellowship is a sweet
agreement. with God to provide through Christ
all the grace and mercy and needs to redeem his people. All things
are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by his Son. Let
me read that over here in 2 Corinthians. Listen to this. All things are
of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and
hath given us the ministry of reconciliation to wit that God
was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and has committed to us the word
of reconciliation. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." It's all in Christ. God willed it. I'm in agreement. Christ Almighty is the only Redeemer. We're in agreement. And Jesus
Christ by his obedience, by his righteousness, and by his blood,
redeemed us from our sins. And we're in total agreement.
Total agreement. Fourthly, listen, and this fellowship
is a sweet agreement between God the Father and the Son upon
the objects of his love. He that loves him that begat
loves him that is begotten. That's right. He that loves him
that begat also loves him that is begotten. We agree with that.
Let me show you that from John, a couple of verses. John 13,
listen. John chapter 13, verse 35. John 13, 35. 31. Now listen, when Judas was gone
out, he left these people, these disciples. And Jesus now said,
now is the Son of Man glorified and God's glorified in him. He's
got his inner circle now, all of them. Judas is gone. And if God be glorified in him,
God shall also glorify him in himself and shall straightway
glorify him. Yet a little while I'm with you,
and you'll seek me. And as I said unto the Jews,
whether I go you cannot come. So now I say to you a new commandment
I give unto you, that you love one another as I've loved you,
that you love one another. And by this shall all men know
you, my disciples, if you love one another." And John says in 1 John 4, Let
us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that
loves is born of God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love." Don't want to miss out on that
fellowship. By the will of God, it's the
Lord, let him do what he will. Only in Christ. I would agree
with that a year or two, 100%. It's Christ and Christ alone.
only by his own obedience, sacrifice and death. He had to fulfill
all that God gave to us. And we love it that way. We love him who begat, we love
him that is begotten. We love those who are begotten
and those who are his children. That's the fellowship. And the
fifth one, in closing, is this. This fellowship It's a sweet
agreement. It's a sweet agreement of a continual
walk, of a continual walk in fellowship with God. If we say,
verse 6, that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness,
we're not telling the truth. But if we walk in the light,
and our walk is a tenor of our lives, it's a bend of our will,
it's the direction we walk in, it's unto the Lord, we walk in
the light as he's in the light and if we do we have fellowship
one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses and
keeps on cleansing and purifies and keeps on because I tell you this verse
8 I want to show you verse 8 a minute you know our Lord deals with
things as they are there's no God deals honestly with us, honestly,
and we deal honestly with God, honestly. Man deals in fiction,
God deals in fact. Man recognizes things as they
appear, God recognizes them as they are, not as they appear,
as they are. This is just the way it is. Men
are impressed with dress. They're impressed with show. They're impressed with all kind
of things. God Almighty says everything's
naked before Him with whom we have to do. You don't dress up
for God. You don't put on. Put on. Now, sir, men look on the outward,
God looks on the higher. So, verse 8, if I say I have
no sin, I deceive myself. And the truth's not in me. I'm
not telling the truth. I'm dreaming a pipe dream. I'm professing. I'm claiming
what I don't have. And that's not fellowship with
God. I don't run and hide. It's all open between me and
God. And look at the next, and he
says here in verse 9, and if I confess my sin, if I confess
my sin, and I do, don't you? He's faithful and just to forgive
me my sin, and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. That's truth, that's fact, that's
things as they are, not as they appear to be. This is like that
it is, that's the way we are. And if I confess my sin to my
Father, he'll forgive me. He'll cleanse me of all unrighteousness.
But now if I say I have not sinned, verse 10, if I say I have not
sinned, I wouldn't, I'd be a liar. I'd make God a liar. This is
worse. I'd make God a liar. And his word's not in me. Well, what do we do when we do
sin? Well, look at the next verse. Verse 1, My little children,
these things I write unto you, that you sin not. God doesn't
give anybody permission to sin, but we do. The Lord can't say to us now, He can't encourage us to sin.
He cannot. He just cannot encourage us to
sin. He always has to say, Be ye holy as I am holy. Be as merciful
as your father in heaven is merciful. Walk before me in honesty and
truth. I have to say it that way. I
have to teach our children as if they didn't sin at all. We
have to do that because God doesn't permit sin. He doesn't allow
for sin. He doesn't encourage sin. He says don't do it, but if any
man sin, but. if any man sin. And you know it's not if any
man sin. The word is when a man sins. We don't get up here and preach
without having some thought of foolishness. The first thought
of foolishness is sin. So when we do sin, thank God,
we have an advocate. We have an advocate, which is
Jesus Christ the righteous. If any man sin, we have an advocate. An advocate is not for people
who don't sin. A lawyer is not to help somebody
that never gets in trouble. That's why we've got an advocate,
because we're sinning. That's why we've got to have
an advocate. If any man sin, we have an advocate. And he's not just anybody. He's
not that covenant with death and hell and that agreement with
overflowing scourge and that agreement, that refuge. This
is Jesus Christ the righteous. And he's the propitiation for
our sins. He's the mercy seat for our sins.
He's the covering for our sins. He's the one who puts away all
our sins. And not only ours, 13th Street
Baptist Church, Not only the Jews, but the Gentiles too, but
he's a propitiation for the sins of all who believe on him. Truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. What a hope, what
a blessing, what a treasure, what a heritage. What a blessed people we are.
God help us, how blessed we are. Don't ever let us slip away.