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1 John 1:1,

2
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"That which was from the beginning,

3
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which we have heard..."

4
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In other words, that which 
was from the beginning -

5
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this Word which was in the beginning.

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He has become incarnate

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so that John and the other 
apostles could hear Him.

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"Which we have heard,

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which we have seen with our eyes,

10
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which we looked upon

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and have touched with our hands

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concerning the word of life.

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The life was made manifest

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and we have seen it

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and testify to it

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and proclaim to you the eternal life

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which was with the Father

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and was made manifest to us.

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That which we have seen and heard

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we proclaim also to you

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so that you too may 
have fellowship with us."

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Now notice that.

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We proclaim this message

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based on what we have seen and heard -

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we proclaim to you with a purpose,

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and that purpose is that you too may have

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fellowship with us,

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and indeed our fellowship 
is with the Father

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and with His Son Jesus Christ.

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Very often when you ask somebody

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about 1 John

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or maybe this swims around 
in your own minds,

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we think about the purpose 
for which 1 John was written.

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Often, 1 John 5:13 is what people go to.

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1 John 5:13 says this:

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"I write these things to you..."

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Again, he's giving a reason

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for why he is writing.

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"I write these things to you who believe

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in the name of the Son of God

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that you may know

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that you have eternal life."

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And people look at that and assurance

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seems to be one of the motives here.

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But I would just come back to 1:3

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and say in the very 
beginning of this letter,

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if there is a predominant reason

48
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that John is setting forth 
right at the beginning -

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and I think we'll see this as 
we go through this letter.

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(incomplete thought)

51
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Time and again, what we are going to find

52
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throughout 1 John is expressions

53
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of what the fellowship looks like

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that we have with the Father.

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And it really is that if 
we have eyes to see.

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Let's keep reading here - v. 4.

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1 John 1:4

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"We are writing these things

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so that our joy may be complete."

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V. 5, "This is the message we 
have heard from Him..."

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John is saying this is the message

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we apostles have heard from Christ.

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"...And proclaim to you

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that God is light

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and in Him is no darkness at all."

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Now that's a very interesting statement.

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It's as though John just kind of says:

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When you sum up all that Jesus taught us,

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if you could put it in one statement,

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that really seems like 
what he's doing here.

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God is light and in Him 
is no darkness at all.

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"If we say we have fellowship with Him

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while we walk in darkness,

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we lie and do not practice the truth.

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But if we walk in the light

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as He is in the light,

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we have fellowship with one another,

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and the blood of Jesus His Son

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cleanses us from all sin.

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If we say we have no sin, 
we deceive ourselves

81
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and the truth is not in us.

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If we confess our sins, He is faithful

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and just to forgive us our sins

84
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and to cleanse us from 
all unrighteousness.

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If we say we have not sinned,

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we make Him a liar

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and His Word is not in us."

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Now, I don't want to move away

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from this idea of fellowship with God

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anytime soon.

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Because I think that there is a lot

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for us to consider about this.

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I want you to think.

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You may recall,

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Jesus Christ gave a purpose

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for why He came into the world.

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Do you remember what He told Pilate?

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For this reason...

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For this purpose...

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I've come into the world. Why?

101
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What was it?

102
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Truth.

103
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To bear witness to the truth.

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What truth?

105
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Do you remember what He said?

106
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Jesus came into this world

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and when He came to people

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He did not say: "This is My truth."

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"It comes from Me."

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Do you remember what 
He said or how He said it?

111
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He said it this way:

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He said, "My teaching is not Mine..."

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Whose was it?

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It was the Father's.

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He said that it was teaching 
"of Him who sent Me."

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He came with the words of life

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from the Father.

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(incomplete thought)

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Now think about this.

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Jesus is the prototype apostle.

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Do you know that the author of Hebrews

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actually calls Him what - 
what does he call Him?

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The Apostle and High 
Priest of our confession.

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He is the first apostle.

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What's an apostle?

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This is one sent.

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Specifically, one sent with 
a message to proclaim.

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Christ is that Apostle.

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He came. He came from His Father.

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He came with a message.

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He was the first one that was sent

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with these words of life to shine

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on those who sit in this darkness,

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the shadows of sin and death.

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He came. He came to expose light.

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Well, you know what happened?

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The Lord was not going to be here long.

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And as His time was drawing to an end

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when He would depart out of this world

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and return to His Father,

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what was He doing?

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I mean, just think about John 14, 15, 16.

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What is that all about?

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He's leaving. What's He doing?

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He's preparing these who He said:

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You guys are now going to be My witnesses.

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In other words, I came from 
My Father with a message.

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This was not My message. It was His.

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It was the message of Him who sent Me.

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Now I'm going out of the world

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and I'm leaving you.

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He carefully was training

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and discipling men who would remain

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in the world.

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He wasn't praying that God 
would take them out of the world,

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because they need to remain in the world.

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And through all the ages,

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we need to remain in the world.

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Why? Because we are going 
to have this message.

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We are going to bear witness to it.

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He was training men who would remain

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in the world and continue proclaiming

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the very message that He Himself

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had received from His Father.

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And the thing about all this,

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the thing that I'm really 
building up to is this:

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The apostles did not and were never asked

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to simply dream up a message.

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The apostles were not asked 
to dream up their own thing.

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What were they to do?

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They were to pass on to mankind

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the revelation that they received

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from God the Son

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which He had received from God the Father.

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And that's what this is all about.

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We have John coming

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and he's giving us the fact

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that he saw this.

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He was a witness to it.

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And I'll tell you this,

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believing this divine revelation

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that these apostles are handing forth

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is life and death.

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And it's clear to me

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the way he talks here,

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the way he so strongly, badly

187
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is interested in persuading us -

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it's clear John understands

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that this message requires

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the strongest evidence.

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You get the feeling.

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We heard it.

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Our hands touched it.

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You get this feeling:

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John is saying, look,

196
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we did not believe this lightly

197
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and we don't expect you to.

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You know one of the things

199
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that often Christians are charged with?

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We're charged with having a blind faith.

201
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But that's not the idea here.

202
00:09:21,924 --> 00:09:23,313
John and the other apostles

203
00:09:23,313 --> 00:09:25,103
did not believe these things lightly.

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They don't expect us to just

205
00:09:26,623 --> 00:09:28,534
accept these things on a whim.

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John's faith was solid. 
It was built on something.

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It was built on what his eyeballs saw.

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(incomplete thought)

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You think about these guys.

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Their faith was not some irrational thing

211
00:09:38,854 --> 00:09:40,876
of crazy men.

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You think about what they did.

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00:09:43,154 --> 00:09:44,525
They looked at Him.

214
00:09:44,525 --> 00:09:46,135
They looked at His works.

215
00:09:46,135 --> 00:09:47,424
They were able to examine.

216
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They saw whole crowds healed.

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00:09:49,511 --> 00:09:51,981
Think about them walking back

218
00:09:51,981 --> 00:09:54,448
with a basket full of the remnants

219
00:09:54,448 --> 00:09:56,692
leftover from the feeding of the 5,000.

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00:09:56,692 --> 00:09:58,705
You remember, there were 12 baskets.

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That number was probably not random.

222
00:10:00,625 --> 00:10:02,848
It was meant that each 
one of those apostles

223
00:10:02,848 --> 00:10:04,513
would have a basket for themselves.

224
00:10:04,513 --> 00:10:06,492
So while they're coming back with it,

225
00:10:06,492 --> 00:10:08,080
their eyeballs are looking at it.

226
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They're processing.

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00:10:09,136 --> 00:10:10,403
They're registering.

228
00:10:10,403 --> 00:10:13,805
This five loaves, two fish -

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now we have 12 baskets full

230
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and that's what's leftover.

231
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They processed.

232
00:10:20,433 --> 00:10:24,138
Their faith was calm. It was collected.

233
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It was rational.

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00:10:25,815 --> 00:10:28,833
It was built on historical truths.

235
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It was not some craziness.

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00:10:30,719 --> 00:10:33,483
It was not something that came

237
00:10:33,483 --> 00:10:35,721
from dreams and hallucinations.

238
00:10:35,721 --> 00:10:38,553
These men weighed these things out.

239
00:10:38,553 --> 00:10:42,998
The apostles personally 
observed these things.

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00:10:42,998 --> 00:10:44,043
John is saying:

241
00:10:44,043 --> 00:10:47,656
Hey, my preaching is not just some hearsay

242
00:10:47,656 --> 00:10:48,883
or opinions or myths

243
00:10:48,883 --> 00:10:51,736
or some kind of tradition or conjecture.

244
00:10:51,736 --> 00:10:55,254
You get the idea in all 
of this John is certain.

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00:10:55,254 --> 00:10:58,283
You get that when you read John.

246
00:10:58,283 --> 00:11:01,194
You don't see John waffling.

247
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It's like: We know.

248
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We know. We've seen this.

249
00:11:07,105 --> 00:11:08,443
Over against what?

250
00:11:08,443 --> 00:11:09,834
(incomplete thought)

251
00:11:09,834 --> 00:11:12,672
Remember this. Remember 1 John 2:26.

252
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"I write these things to you about those

253
00:11:14,607 --> 00:11:19,274
who are trying to deceive you."

254
00:11:19,274 --> 00:11:23,125
There were deceivers that 
were afoot in the land.

255
00:11:23,125 --> 00:11:24,343
And you know what?

256
00:11:24,343 --> 00:11:30,845
Those who do not observe Christ firsthand,

257
00:11:30,845 --> 00:11:31,674
what do they do?

258
00:11:31,674 --> 00:11:33,324
We have people all over the place.

259
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They stand over there

260
00:11:34,514 --> 00:11:36,313
and they want to say: Oh, no, no, no.

261
00:11:36,313 --> 00:11:39,493
It didn't happen that way.

262
00:11:39,493 --> 00:11:43,543
No, Jesus was not really like that.

263
00:11:43,543 --> 00:11:44,793
He wasn't that way.

264
00:11:44,793 --> 00:11:46,405
But John is saying what use is it

265
00:11:46,405 --> 00:11:48,683
for someone standing 
over there at a distance

266
00:11:48,683 --> 00:11:50,043
to argue that Jesus Christ

267
00:11:50,043 --> 00:11:52,474
is different from what 
the apostles say He is.

268
00:11:52,474 --> 00:11:54,391
John says it's of no use.

269
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We've seen Him.

270
00:11:55,503 --> 00:11:57,752
We've seen the living 
Christ with our own eyes.

271
00:11:57,752 --> 00:12:00,411
We've touched. We've heard.

272
00:12:00,411 --> 00:12:02,774
John says we're no fools.

273
00:12:02,774 --> 00:12:06,543
(incomplete thought)

274
00:12:06,543 --> 00:12:08,314
You remember that's what Peter said.

275
00:12:08,314 --> 00:12:09,943
Lord, we did give everything up.

276
00:12:09,943 --> 00:12:11,524
They were no fools for doing it.

277
00:12:11,524 --> 00:12:13,975
There's a lot of people 
out there that are fools.

278
00:12:13,975 --> 00:12:15,343
There are a lot of people

279
00:12:15,343 --> 00:12:17,298
that follow the Jim Jones' in this world

280
00:12:17,298 --> 00:12:20,624
and they go off to Waco.

281
00:12:20,624 --> 00:12:23,992
There are all sorts of 
people following error

282
00:12:23,992 --> 00:12:26,122
and following leaders that are in error.

283
00:12:26,122 --> 00:12:27,965
It's happening all over the place.

284
00:12:27,965 --> 00:12:31,366
But he's saying we're not fools.

285
00:12:31,366 --> 00:12:34,526
We're no fools for laying down our lives.

286
00:12:34,526 --> 00:12:36,803
John seems to mock at the idea

287
00:12:36,803 --> 00:12:39,072
that trusting Christ is just some blind,

288
00:12:39,072 --> 00:12:41,493
foolish faith as though what?

289
00:12:41,493 --> 00:12:43,254
Believers are just idiots

290
00:12:43,254 --> 00:12:45,325
who believe in Christ

291
00:12:45,325 --> 00:12:47,182
contrary to all that's reasonable,

292
00:12:47,182 --> 00:12:48,630
reliable, rational.

293
00:12:48,630 --> 00:12:51,117
John did his investigation.

294
00:12:51,117 --> 00:12:52,617
He analyzed.

295
00:12:52,617 --> 00:12:53,813
You can see those guys.

296
00:12:53,813 --> 00:12:55,302
Their eyes were on Christ.

297
00:12:55,302 --> 00:12:57,013
Not only did they look at baskets,

298
00:12:57,013 --> 00:12:58,973
they saw people.

299
00:12:58,973 --> 00:13:01,107
They saw people rise from the dead.

300
00:13:01,107 --> 00:13:02,781
They saw this firsthand.

301
00:13:02,781 --> 00:13:05,213
Jesus is saying I'm doing 
this in your sight

302
00:13:05,213 --> 00:13:06,843
that you guys might believe.

303
00:13:06,843 --> 00:13:07,783
They saw Him.

304
00:13:07,783 --> 00:13:09,706
They saw the resurrected Christ.

305
00:13:09,706 --> 00:13:11,308
(incomplete thought)

306
00:13:11,308 --> 00:13:13,423
And you know, not only that,

307
00:13:13,423 --> 00:13:15,342
but when you read the Gospels,

308
00:13:15,342 --> 00:13:17,443
it says later on they recalled

309
00:13:17,443 --> 00:13:19,542
that Scripture said...

310
00:13:19,542 --> 00:13:21,153
like "zeal for Your house..."

311
00:13:21,153 --> 00:13:22,132
Things like that.

312
00:13:22,132 --> 00:13:24,603
What they were doing was they were

313
00:13:24,603 --> 00:13:26,402
going to the Old Testament Scriptures

314
00:13:26,402 --> 00:13:27,606
and they were saying:

315
00:13:27,606 --> 00:13:30,272
this all lines up!

316
00:13:30,272 --> 00:13:33,034
This works! This is Him!

317
00:13:33,034 --> 00:13:38,084
Everything points to it being Him.

318
00:13:38,084 --> 00:13:40,473
That's what's happening.

319
00:13:40,473 --> 00:13:41,745
He saw the miracles.

320
00:13:41,745 --> 00:13:43,574
He saw the fulfillment of prophecy.

321
00:13:43,574 --> 00:13:46,079
They knew that John the Baptist had come.

322
00:13:46,079 --> 00:13:48,267
There was a forerunner that was predicted

323
00:13:48,267 --> 00:13:51,256
and there he was and he came and he left.

324
00:13:51,256 --> 00:13:53,224
You know, even the enemies,

325
00:13:53,224 --> 00:13:55,732
they said we couldn't take Him.

326
00:13:55,732 --> 00:13:56,993
No man speaks like Him.

327
00:13:56,993 --> 00:14:00,083
Can you imagine they sat 
under His wisdom day by day?

328
00:14:00,083 --> 00:14:03,124
And if people at a distance could say

329
00:14:03,124 --> 00:14:06,603
the demons don't talk like that...

330
00:14:06,603 --> 00:14:09,812
Can somebody with demons open the eyes...?

331
00:14:09,812 --> 00:14:11,595
Even if those at a distance -

332
00:14:11,595 --> 00:14:13,202
can you imagine those guys

333
00:14:13,202 --> 00:14:14,573
that sat under His shadow

334
00:14:14,573 --> 00:14:15,914
and heard Him talk

335
00:14:15,914 --> 00:14:16,933
and they recognized?

336
00:14:16,933 --> 00:14:18,543
You know what, they knew Him

337
00:14:18,543 --> 00:14:21,193
closely enough

338
00:14:21,193 --> 00:14:25,061
that there was no sin in Him.

339
00:14:25,061 --> 00:14:27,803
They saw that. This Man doesn't lie.

340
00:14:27,803 --> 00:14:29,806
This Man doesn't cheat.

341
00:14:29,806 --> 00:14:33,878
This Man doesn't steal.

342
00:14:33,878 --> 00:14:35,673
He's blown away by it.

343
00:14:35,673 --> 00:14:39,043
You go to 1 John 5:20.

344
00:14:39,043 --> 00:14:45,214
"We know the Son of God has come."

345
00:14:45,214 --> 00:14:48,713
We know it.

346
00:14:48,713 --> 00:14:50,235
They knew it.

347
00:14:50,235 --> 00:14:52,291
They had no doubts about it.

348
00:14:52,291 --> 00:14:53,872
And here they are telling us.

349
00:14:53,872 --> 00:14:55,943
And you know the 
interesting thing about it

350
00:14:55,943 --> 00:14:59,283
is 2,000 years later, God 
has preserved their words,

351
00:14:59,283 --> 00:15:02,113
and people are still being 
transformed by them.

352
00:15:02,113 --> 00:15:04,403
People are being saved by them.

353
00:15:04,403 --> 00:15:06,713
People are being helped by them.

354
00:15:06,713 --> 00:15:10,592
But here's the thing, 
John's message of certainty

355
00:15:10,592 --> 00:15:13,164
is not just that the Son of God has come.

356
00:15:13,164 --> 00:15:14,953
John is also thoroughly convinced

357
00:15:14,953 --> 00:15:16,863
and through the core of his being.

358
00:15:16,863 --> 00:15:18,706
You can see it there in 1 John 1:3.

359
00:15:18,706 --> 00:15:21,292
What's really got him gripped

360
00:15:21,292 --> 00:15:23,643
is that he himself personally possesses

361
00:15:23,643 --> 00:15:27,281
what he calls "fellowship with the Father

362
00:15:27,281 --> 00:15:30,092
and with His Son Jesus Christ."

363
00:15:30,092 --> 00:15:33,187
Notice this. 1 John 1:3.

364
00:15:33,187 --> 00:15:35,986
"Indeed..."

365
00:15:35,986 --> 00:15:37,573
You see that word?

366
00:15:37,573 --> 00:15:39,994
"Indeed our fellowship

367
00:15:39,994 --> 00:15:44,965
is with the Father and 
His Son Jesus Christ."

368
00:15:44,965 --> 00:15:48,439
Think about when John writes this.

369
00:15:48,439 --> 00:15:50,465
Most of the biblical scholars,

370
00:15:50,465 --> 00:15:53,553
they assume he's probably an old man

371
00:15:53,553 --> 00:15:55,451
at the point he's writing.

372
00:15:55,451 --> 00:15:56,744
But you know what?

373
00:15:56,744 --> 00:15:59,255
Whether he is or he's in mid-life,

374
00:15:59,255 --> 00:16:01,943
whatever - we know that this is after

375
00:16:01,943 --> 00:16:04,874
Christ has come and gone.

376
00:16:04,874 --> 00:16:08,291
The Lord ascended long ago likely.

377
00:16:08,291 --> 00:16:10,344
John isn't saying that his fellowship

378
00:16:10,344 --> 00:16:12,316
was with the Son, like back then,

379
00:16:12,316 --> 00:16:13,796
when he laid at Jesus' side.

380
00:16:13,796 --> 00:16:15,213
He's saying "is."

381
00:16:15,213 --> 00:16:17,092
My fellowship "is."

382
00:16:17,092 --> 00:16:18,943
Our fellowship - us apostles -

383
00:16:18,943 --> 00:16:20,795
we have fellowship with the Father

384
00:16:20,795 --> 00:16:23,184
and with the Son and we have it even now.

385
00:16:23,184 --> 00:16:25,423
Even though Christ had physically departed

386
00:16:25,423 --> 00:16:26,504
out of this world

387
00:16:26,504 --> 00:16:28,624
maybe some six decades before,

388
00:16:28,624 --> 00:16:30,947
John says that his fellowship is -

389
00:16:30,947 --> 00:16:32,974
currently, now, it's real, it's valid,

390
00:16:32,974 --> 00:16:35,560
it's vivid, it's vibrant, it's alive,

391
00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:36,788
it's present.

392
00:16:36,788 --> 00:16:39,777
and it's with the Father and with His Son.

393
00:16:39,777 --> 00:16:41,265
How does that happen?

394
00:16:41,265 --> 00:16:43,446
Well, because it's a 
supernatural fellowship.

395
00:16:43,446 --> 00:16:45,373
It transcends time.

396
00:16:45,373 --> 00:16:50,003
It transcends place.

397
00:16:50,003 --> 00:16:54,373
Now, here's the thing.

398
00:16:54,373 --> 00:17:02,864
I don't want to move away from fellowship

399
00:17:02,864 --> 00:17:04,654
because it's one of the most precious

400
00:17:04,654 --> 00:17:06,852
and valuable things that we have

401
00:17:06,852 --> 00:17:09,011
as true Christians.

402
00:17:09,011 --> 00:17:11,072
(incomplete thought)

403
00:17:11,072 --> 00:17:13,785
Look, one of the concerns undoubtedly

404
00:17:13,785 --> 00:17:15,676
that John has in writing this letter,

405
00:17:15,676 --> 00:17:22,014
as much as to give assurance to the true,

406
00:17:22,014 --> 00:17:24,347
this book undoubtedly has 
been used repeatedly

407
00:17:24,347 --> 00:17:29,014
to open the eyes of 
those who are still blind

408
00:17:29,014 --> 00:17:32,882
but think it's all okay.

409
00:17:32,882 --> 00:17:35,483
I want to hit on fellowship, for one,

410
00:17:35,483 --> 00:17:40,346
I want us to recognize and realize

411
00:17:40,346 --> 00:17:44,163
what treasure we have.

412
00:17:44,163 --> 00:17:47,714
And I want you that don't 
have this fellowship

413
00:17:47,714 --> 00:17:51,945
to cry out to God to rescue you.

414
00:17:51,945 --> 00:17:54,288
If there's anything at the heart

415
00:17:54,288 --> 00:17:56,425
of true Christianity it's right here.

416
00:17:56,425 --> 00:17:59,240
If there's anything about 
what eternal life is all about,

417
00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:01,254
it's right here.

418
00:18:01,254 --> 00:18:05,255
And so, the title of my message today is:

419
00:18:05,255 --> 00:18:07,599
What Does Fellowship With God Look Like?

420
00:18:07,599 --> 00:18:11,623
And I don't know how many messages

421
00:18:11,623 --> 00:18:15,486
it's going to take me to look at these,

422
00:18:15,486 --> 00:18:19,158
but we're going to start.

423
00:18:19,158 --> 00:18:20,741
I know this,

424
00:18:20,741 --> 00:18:23,782
John has fellowship with 
the Father and the Son

425
00:18:23,782 --> 00:18:25,308
and he wants us to have it too

426
00:18:25,308 --> 00:18:27,019
and he speaks the way he speaks

427
00:18:27,019 --> 00:18:30,194
so that you and I might have it as well.

428
00:18:30,194 --> 00:18:33,357
His desire is that we would get 
swallowed up in this thing.

429
00:18:33,357 --> 00:18:35,757
This is his joy,

430
00:18:35,757 --> 00:18:39,257
that our joy might be full.

431
00:18:39,257 --> 00:18:40,863
Maybe that's our joy as well -

432
00:18:40,863 --> 00:18:43,055
being full because we have the fellowship.

433
00:18:43,055 --> 00:18:45,626
His joy being full because he sees

434
00:18:45,626 --> 00:18:50,125
others being swallowed 
up into this fellowship.

435
00:18:50,125 --> 00:18:52,205
He says, "That which we 
have seen and heard

436
00:18:52,205 --> 00:18:54,373
we proclaim also to you,

437
00:18:54,373 --> 00:18:59,825
so that you too may have fellowship..."

438
00:18:59,825 --> 00:19:00,967
That's the idea.

439
00:19:00,967 --> 00:19:02,866
"...With us, and indeed our fellowship

440
00:19:02,866 --> 00:19:05,587
is with the Father and 
His Son Jesus Christ."

441
00:19:05,587 --> 00:19:08,520
Now, we're going to 
hit on this a few times.

442
00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:10,844
Don't get weary of this, but just think.

443
00:19:10,844 --> 00:19:13,564
Fellowship. We need to really accurately

444
00:19:13,564 --> 00:19:15,550
understand the concept.

445
00:19:15,550 --> 00:19:17,445
It's the Greek word "koinonia."

446
00:19:17,445 --> 00:19:20,838
You've heard that word - 
most of you have, I don't doubt.

447
00:19:20,838 --> 00:19:23,315
Sometimes "communion."

448
00:19:23,315 --> 00:19:25,655
The word expresses the idea of:

449
00:19:25,655 --> 00:19:28,023
you have a person here, 
you have a person here.

450
00:19:28,023 --> 00:19:29,385
It can be two people.

451
00:19:29,385 --> 00:19:33,646
It can be more than two people.

452
00:19:33,646 --> 00:19:37,346
But it's the fact that you have

453
00:19:37,346 --> 00:19:43,800
two or more who share the same things.

454
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:47,666
When you participate in the 
same thing I participate in,

455
00:19:47,666 --> 00:19:52,325
we have fellowship in that thing.

456
00:19:52,325 --> 00:19:56,524
It is that which we have together.

457
00:19:56,524 --> 00:19:58,793
We have in common.

458
00:19:58,793 --> 00:20:03,325
Now, koinonia as John is using it

459
00:20:03,325 --> 00:20:06,299
has to do with sharing what John

460
00:20:06,299 --> 00:20:08,705
and the other apostles themselves

461
00:20:08,705 --> 00:20:12,377
have in common with the Father

462
00:20:12,377 --> 00:20:14,955
and with His Christ.

463
00:20:14,955 --> 00:20:17,550
Now it is worth noting,

464
00:20:17,550 --> 00:20:20,956
one of the lexicons that I have,

465
00:20:20,956 --> 00:20:24,348
actually looks at the secular Greek

466
00:20:24,348 --> 00:20:26,136
from 2,000 years ago.

467
00:20:26,136 --> 00:20:30,945
It's interesting. This word koinonia

468
00:20:30,945 --> 00:20:36,575
was used of the closest 
human relationships.

469
00:20:36,575 --> 00:20:38,765
Caesar Augustus -

470
00:20:38,765 --> 00:20:40,020
you may know that name.

471
00:20:40,020 --> 00:20:43,784
In his day, the word koinonia was used

472
00:20:43,784 --> 00:20:48,984
to describe a marriage covenant.

473
00:20:48,984 --> 00:20:51,519
On an even more intimate level,

474
00:20:51,519 --> 00:20:55,895
this term is also used in secular Greek

475
00:20:55,895 --> 00:20:58,963
to describe the marriage bed.

476
00:20:58,963 --> 00:21:00,623
And that ought not to be difficult

477
00:21:00,623 --> 00:21:02,144
for us to understand

478
00:21:02,144 --> 00:21:04,235
because as you go to marriage,

479
00:21:04,235 --> 00:21:06,296
there's closer sharing.

480
00:21:06,296 --> 00:21:08,062
As you go to the marriage bed,

481
00:21:08,062 --> 00:21:11,866
there's even closer sharing.

482
00:21:11,866 --> 00:21:17,024
This is sharing on the deepest level.

483
00:21:17,024 --> 00:21:18,836
And as we've said before,

484
00:21:18,836 --> 00:21:21,025
that marriage is just a shadow.

485
00:21:21,025 --> 00:21:22,915
That's what we're talking about here.

486
00:21:22,915 --> 00:21:24,936
We're talking about sharing with God

487
00:21:24,936 --> 00:21:29,344
at the most intimate of levels.

488
00:21:29,344 --> 00:21:30,791
And I hope this just helps us

489
00:21:30,791 --> 00:21:33,817
to start to realize 
the incredible privilege

490
00:21:33,817 --> 00:21:35,534
that we as saved sinners -

491
00:21:35,534 --> 00:21:38,477
we have in communion or in common

492
00:21:38,477 --> 00:21:40,857
or partakers with, sharers with

493
00:21:40,857 --> 00:21:42,521
the infinitely holy God.

494
00:21:42,521 --> 00:21:45,171
God allows us to share with Him

495
00:21:45,171 --> 00:21:48,757
at the deepest levels.

496
00:21:48,757 --> 00:21:51,618
This is what I want to 
start looking at today.

497
00:21:51,618 --> 00:21:59,621
What does God share with us?

498
00:21:59,621 --> 00:22:02,088
What is it?

499
00:22:02,088 --> 00:22:04,858
What does God, when He saves you

500
00:22:04,858 --> 00:22:06,562
and He brings you to Himself,

501
00:22:06,562 --> 00:22:11,019
when He knows you -

502
00:22:11,019 --> 00:22:14,421
when He takes you unto Himself

503
00:22:14,421 --> 00:22:18,936
for the reality of what 
marriage is just a shadow,

504
00:22:18,936 --> 00:22:23,799
what is it that He shares 
with you that He has?

505
00:22:23,799 --> 00:22:26,020
That's what we want to think about.

506
00:22:26,020 --> 00:22:29,500
What does fellowship with God look like?

507
00:22:29,500 --> 00:22:31,530
And all I can cover today

508
00:22:31,530 --> 00:22:33,542
is three of the things.

509
00:22:33,542 --> 00:22:36,689
What do we have in common with God?

510
00:22:36,689 --> 00:22:38,460
This is the question of the hour.

511
00:22:38,460 --> 00:22:44,142
What is the basis for this fellowship?

512
00:22:44,142 --> 00:22:46,450
I guess I'd maybe ask it this way:

513
00:22:46,450 --> 00:22:49,438
What is the basis for this term fellowship

514
00:22:49,438 --> 00:22:52,290
even being used?

515
00:22:52,290 --> 00:22:57,870
I mean he's using it for a purpose.

516
00:22:57,870 --> 00:23:00,100
Why?

517
00:23:00,100 --> 00:23:01,741
What is it that a saved sinner

518
00:23:01,741 --> 00:23:03,092
actually shares in common

519
00:23:03,092 --> 00:23:05,490
with God the Father and God the Son?

520
00:23:05,490 --> 00:23:09,140
So here's where it begins.

521
00:23:09,140 --> 00:23:11,300
Here's the first thing.

522
00:23:11,300 --> 00:23:14,160
You're going to see it from 1 John.

523
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,023
The very first thing,

524
00:23:16,023 --> 00:23:17,431
the very first place

525
00:23:17,431 --> 00:23:18,963
where our fellowship begins -

526
00:23:18,963 --> 00:23:21,742
true fellowship -

527
00:23:21,742 --> 00:23:25,789
you'll never have fellowship 
with God without this.

528
00:23:25,789 --> 00:23:33,479
The truest most intimate 
fellowship with God

529
00:23:33,479 --> 00:23:37,431
is based on the truth that God

530
00:23:37,431 --> 00:23:40,653
has revealed about His Son.

531
00:23:40,653 --> 00:23:43,370
Now don't despise that.

532
00:23:43,370 --> 00:23:45,351
Don't say, oh, that's obvious.

533
00:23:45,351 --> 00:23:47,680
Let's think about this for a second.

534
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:49,591
Look at 1:3.

535
00:23:49,591 --> 00:23:51,600
"That which we have seen and heard..."

536
00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,040
What did he see and hear?

537
00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:55,318
What's "that"?

538
00:23:55,318 --> 00:23:56,641
That which we have seen.

539
00:23:56,641 --> 00:24:00,600
Notice "that" in v. 3 is the same "that"

540
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:02,693
that verse 1 starts with.

541
00:24:02,693 --> 00:24:04,955
"That which was from the beginning."

542
00:24:04,955 --> 00:24:07,340
V. 3, "That which we have seen and heard."

543
00:24:07,340 --> 00:24:08,841
He's speaking about Christ.

544
00:24:08,841 --> 00:24:10,454
He's speaking about the truths,

545
00:24:10,454 --> 00:24:11,761
the things that they heard,

546
00:24:11,761 --> 00:24:13,155
the things that they saw,

547
00:24:13,155 --> 00:24:14,732
the things that were manifest,

548
00:24:14,732 --> 00:24:16,070
the things that they touched

549
00:24:16,070 --> 00:24:17,942
that pertained to Christ.

550
00:24:17,942 --> 00:24:19,380
That.

551
00:24:19,380 --> 00:24:20,947
That, that, that

552
00:24:20,947 --> 00:24:22,896
which we have seen and heard of Christ,

553
00:24:22,896 --> 00:24:25,129
of Him who was the Word,

554
00:24:25,129 --> 00:24:26,411
who was in the beginning.

555
00:24:26,411 --> 00:24:28,579
That One who became incarnate.

556
00:24:28,579 --> 00:24:30,161
The Word became flesh.

557
00:24:30,161 --> 00:24:31,319
We touched Him.

558
00:24:31,319 --> 00:24:33,263
All that we saw. All that we heard.

559
00:24:33,263 --> 00:24:35,470
"We proclaim also to you,

560
00:24:35,470 --> 00:24:37,452
so that..."

561
00:24:37,452 --> 00:24:38,931
You notice that connection.

562
00:24:38,931 --> 00:24:43,932
"So that you too may 
have fellowship with us."

563
00:24:43,932 --> 00:24:46,078
Oh brethren, just very quickly,

564
00:24:46,078 --> 00:24:51,254
look at 1 John 2:22.

565
00:24:51,254 --> 00:24:53,345
"Who is the liar but he who denies

566
00:24:53,345 --> 00:24:55,141
that Jesus is the Christ?"

567
00:24:55,141 --> 00:24:56,331
Now do you see this?

568
00:24:56,331 --> 00:24:59,930
A liar is a person who does not 
have fellowship with the Father.

569
00:24:59,930 --> 00:25:01,951
You're going to see these two categories

570
00:25:01,951 --> 00:25:03,200
throughout 1 John.

571
00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:05,473
You have fellowship. 
You don't have fellowship.

572
00:25:05,473 --> 00:25:07,151
You're a liar. You're not a liar.

573
00:25:07,151 --> 00:25:09,441
You're in the truth. 
You're not in the truth.

574
00:25:09,441 --> 00:25:12,891
These things go back and forth.

575
00:25:12,891 --> 00:25:15,600
You basically have two camps here

576
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:18,228
and John calls them by 
lots of different names,

577
00:25:18,228 --> 00:25:19,612
but who is the liar?

578
00:25:19,612 --> 00:25:21,131
Who is the guy on the outside?

579
00:25:21,131 --> 00:25:23,742
Who is the guy that does not 
have fellowship with God?

580
00:25:23,742 --> 00:25:25,711
"He who denies that Jesus is the Christ."

581
00:25:25,711 --> 00:25:27,161
You see what he's saying?

582
00:25:27,161 --> 00:25:30,020
Not that denies Jesus existed,

583
00:25:30,020 --> 00:25:33,446
but it's just you have 
wrong views about Christ.

584
00:25:33,446 --> 00:25:35,529
"This is the antichrist,

585
00:25:35,529 --> 00:25:37,521
he who denies the Father and the Son."

586
00:25:37,521 --> 00:25:39,244
Wait. How does he deny the Father?

587
00:25:39,244 --> 00:25:40,983
You were just saying that he denied

588
00:25:40,983 --> 00:25:42,273
that Jesus is the Christ.

589
00:25:42,273 --> 00:25:44,240
Yes, but to deny Jesus is the Christ

590
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:45,752
is to deny what the Father said

591
00:25:45,752 --> 00:25:47,160
about the Son.

592
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:48,750
It's to deny the Father as well.

593
00:25:48,750 --> 00:25:50,181
It's to be out of communion,

594
00:25:50,181 --> 00:25:52,882
out of step to not share.

595
00:25:52,882 --> 00:25:55,092
When God saves a sinner

596
00:25:55,092 --> 00:25:57,111
and He brings them to Himself,

597
00:25:57,111 --> 00:25:59,833
do you know what He does?

598
00:25:59,833 --> 00:26:04,378
He opens their eyes to who Christ is.

599
00:26:04,378 --> 00:26:06,407
Oh, that is central!

600
00:26:06,407 --> 00:26:07,988
That is key!

601
00:26:07,988 --> 00:26:11,986
Look at 4:2.

602
00:26:11,986 --> 00:26:13,907
"By this you know the Spirit of God,

603
00:26:13,907 --> 00:26:15,430
and every spirit that confesses

604
00:26:15,430 --> 00:26:17,715
Jesus Christ has come 
in the flesh is from God.

605
00:26:17,715 --> 00:26:19,877
You see, "that which is from God"

606
00:26:19,877 --> 00:26:23,987
confesses the right 
things about Jesus Christ.

607
00:26:23,987 --> 00:26:25,792
If you go to 5:1,

608
00:26:25,792 --> 00:26:27,823
"Everyone who believes that Jesus

609
00:26:27,823 --> 00:26:30,177
is the Christ has been born of God,

610
00:26:30,177 --> 00:26:31,971
and everyone who loves the Father

611
00:26:31,971 --> 00:26:33,890
loves whoever has been born of Him."

612
00:26:33,890 --> 00:26:35,236
If you go to 5:10,

613
00:26:35,236 --> 00:26:38,018
"Whoever believes in the Son of God

614
00:26:38,018 --> 00:26:39,612
has the testimony in himself.

615
00:26:39,612 --> 00:26:42,025
Whoever does not believe 
God has made Him a liar

616
00:26:42,025 --> 00:26:44,149
because he has not 
believed in the testimony

617
00:26:44,149 --> 00:26:46,137
that God has borne concerning His Son."

618
00:26:46,137 --> 00:26:47,188
You see that?

619
00:26:47,188 --> 00:26:48,915
Those of us in communion,

620
00:26:48,915 --> 00:26:50,576
do you know what we share?

621
00:26:50,576 --> 00:26:52,654
We share the testimony

622
00:26:52,654 --> 00:26:56,698
that God bears concerning His Son.

623
00:26:56,698 --> 00:27:00,795
We believe Christ to be who the Father

624
00:27:00,795 --> 00:27:02,487
says that Christ is.

625
00:27:02,487 --> 00:27:09,586
Listen, fellowship that is not based

626
00:27:09,586 --> 00:27:12,687
on what God has revealed 
about Jesus Christ

627
00:27:12,687 --> 00:27:16,187
is never ever true fellowship.

628
00:27:16,187 --> 00:27:17,828
Did you all get that?

629
00:27:17,828 --> 00:27:22,053
We live in an ecumenical age

630
00:27:22,053 --> 00:27:24,297
where it is just expected

631
00:27:24,297 --> 00:27:26,628
that we are going to accept one another

632
00:27:26,628 --> 00:27:27,697
if we're loving.

633
00:27:27,697 --> 00:27:29,268
"Oh, you guys are Christians?

634
00:27:29,268 --> 00:27:31,306
You say that you're loving."

635
00:27:31,306 --> 00:27:34,511
Isn't that what Christianity is viewed as?

636
00:27:34,511 --> 00:27:36,638
It's viewed as these 
people who are loving.

637
00:27:36,638 --> 00:27:38,078
It's viewed as these people

638
00:27:38,078 --> 00:27:39,768
who are not going to be aggressive;

639
00:27:39,768 --> 00:27:41,580
these people who are just going to be

640
00:27:41,580 --> 00:27:42,822
kind to everybody

641
00:27:42,822 --> 00:27:45,078
and they're going to accept everybody.

642
00:27:45,078 --> 00:27:49,343
And that's what we're 
slapped in the face with.

643
00:27:49,343 --> 00:27:51,347
How can you guys say you're Christians

644
00:27:51,347 --> 00:27:52,871
and you act so unloving?

645
00:27:52,871 --> 00:27:54,311
Listen, if there was anybody

646
00:27:54,311 --> 00:27:55,917
who was an apostle of love

647
00:27:55,917 --> 00:27:57,188
it was John himself.

648
00:27:57,188 --> 00:27:59,118
And if there's anybody that came along

649
00:27:59,118 --> 00:28:01,638
and would have been thought today

650
00:28:01,638 --> 00:28:02,987
to be narrow and bigoted,

651
00:28:02,987 --> 00:28:05,455
extreme and unloving, it's him!

652
00:28:05,455 --> 00:28:06,888
I mean, if there was anybody

653
00:28:06,888 --> 00:28:09,015
that firmly stood on 
the truth of Scripture

654
00:28:09,015 --> 00:28:11,180
as revealed about Christ and His work -

655
00:28:11,180 --> 00:28:13,142
you know what the world likes to say?

656
00:28:13,142 --> 00:28:16,115
Doctrine what?

657
00:28:16,115 --> 00:28:18,377
Divides.

658
00:28:18,377 --> 00:28:19,977
Hm...

659
00:28:19,977 --> 00:28:23,658
Doctrine divides.

660
00:28:23,658 --> 00:28:25,007
In the name of love,

661
00:28:25,007 --> 00:28:26,986
we should just be tolerant.

662
00:28:26,986 --> 00:28:28,388
You know what John says?

663
00:28:28,388 --> 00:28:31,008
He says that's garbage.

664
00:28:31,008 --> 00:28:35,417
At the most important level,

665
00:28:35,417 --> 00:28:37,489
what in the world do we share in common

666
00:28:37,489 --> 00:28:39,307
with people who speak of Jesus

667
00:28:39,307 --> 00:28:42,003
but deny what Scripture teaches about Him?

668
00:28:42,003 --> 00:28:44,255
We share nothing in common with them.

669
00:28:44,255 --> 00:28:45,957
Nothing!

670
00:28:45,957 --> 00:28:47,166
And you know what?

671
00:28:47,166 --> 00:28:48,397
The Catholics come along

672
00:28:48,397 --> 00:28:50,309
and they want to tell us about a Jesus

673
00:28:50,309 --> 00:28:52,328
who's inferior to Mary.

674
00:28:52,328 --> 00:28:54,668
And if they don't admit it, they're liars.

675
00:28:54,668 --> 00:28:55,908
I used to be a Catholic.

676
00:28:55,908 --> 00:28:57,235
I know exactly.

677
00:28:57,235 --> 00:29:00,218
Mary is exalted. Christ is not.

678
00:29:00,218 --> 00:29:03,667
That is not the Christ of the Scriptures.

679
00:29:03,667 --> 00:29:05,439
Tawfiq comes out of Islam.

680
00:29:05,439 --> 00:29:07,577
Any Muslim who wants to tell you

681
00:29:07,577 --> 00:29:10,137
they have a Christian 
view of Jesus Christ,

682
00:29:10,137 --> 00:29:11,655
they're liars.

683
00:29:11,655 --> 00:29:13,038
It is not true.

684
00:29:13,038 --> 00:29:15,818
JW's come to your door. They're liars.

685
00:29:15,818 --> 00:29:19,045
They do not believe in 
the Christ of Scripture.

686
00:29:19,045 --> 00:29:20,597
Neither do the Mormons.

687
00:29:20,597 --> 00:29:22,138
These Oneness Pentecostals

688
00:29:22,138 --> 00:29:25,958
do not know Christ.

689
00:29:25,958 --> 00:29:28,011
Of course doctrine divides!

690
00:29:28,011 --> 00:29:30,158
But Scripture would have us divide

691
00:29:30,158 --> 00:29:32,507
away from the heretics, would they not?

692
00:29:32,507 --> 00:29:33,678
I mean, here comes John.

693
00:29:33,678 --> 00:29:36,058
John is quite passionate.

694
00:29:36,058 --> 00:29:38,249
Here the Apostle of Love - 
what does he say?

695
00:29:38,249 --> 00:29:40,087
No matter who comes to your door,

696
00:29:40,087 --> 00:29:41,948
just look at them with dove's eyes

697
00:29:41,948 --> 00:29:43,579
and welcome them into your house?

698
00:29:43,579 --> 00:29:44,877
That's not what he says.

699
00:29:44,877 --> 00:29:48,179
In 2 John 1:9,

700
00:29:48,179 --> 00:29:50,246
"Everyone who goes on ahead

701
00:29:50,246 --> 00:29:52,786
and does not abide in 
the teaching of Christ..."

702
00:29:52,786 --> 00:29:55,012
Another word for teaching - doctrine.

703
00:29:55,012 --> 00:29:56,928
The doctrine of Christ.

704
00:29:56,928 --> 00:29:58,208
This is essential.

705
00:29:58,208 --> 00:30:00,069
This is what John is hitting on.

706
00:30:00,069 --> 00:30:02,327
"Everyone who goes on ahead..."

707
00:30:02,327 --> 00:30:03,751
Ahead of what?

708
00:30:03,751 --> 00:30:06,568
Ahead of the apostolic truth.

709
00:30:06,568 --> 00:30:08,735
That which God has revealed to His Son,

710
00:30:08,735 --> 00:30:11,745
His Son has revealed - that message

711
00:30:11,745 --> 00:30:14,328
which God gave to the Son.

712
00:30:14,328 --> 00:30:16,639
That's probably a better way to say it.

713
00:30:16,639 --> 00:30:20,096
And that He revealed to His apostles

714
00:30:20,096 --> 00:30:22,988
and they have in turn revealed to us.

715
00:30:22,988 --> 00:30:25,246
That is the correct teaching of Christ.

716
00:30:25,246 --> 00:30:27,959
And if they don't have that,
if they don't abide there,

717
00:30:27,959 --> 00:30:29,366
if they go on ahead of that,

718
00:30:29,366 --> 00:30:31,857
if they move beyond it

719
00:30:31,857 --> 00:30:36,513
as though that's some good thing,

720
00:30:36,513 --> 00:30:37,658
they always come -

721
00:30:37,658 --> 00:30:39,158
those that reject the teaching

722
00:30:39,158 --> 00:30:40,488
of Christ in Scripture,

723
00:30:40,488 --> 00:30:42,307
they always come as though they have

724
00:30:42,307 --> 00:30:44,606
some new knowledge,

725
00:30:44,606 --> 00:30:46,198
some mystical revelation,

726
00:30:46,198 --> 00:30:47,739
something we need to figure out,

727
00:30:47,739 --> 00:30:50,037
something if we're really 
going to be spiritual,

728
00:30:50,037 --> 00:30:52,231
we need to be enlightened to as well.

729
00:30:52,231 --> 00:30:53,357
But he's saying look,

730
00:30:53,357 --> 00:30:55,699
if they don't abide in that 
teaching of Christ,

731
00:30:55,699 --> 00:30:56,867
that doctrine of Christ,

732
00:30:56,867 --> 00:30:58,288
they don't have God.

733
00:30:58,288 --> 00:30:59,819
"Whoever abides in the teaching

734
00:30:59,819 --> 00:31:01,678
has both the Father and the Son."

735
00:31:01,678 --> 00:31:03,397
And he says this in v. 10,

736
00:31:03,397 --> 00:31:04,607
"If anyone comes to you

737
00:31:04,607 --> 00:31:06,448
and does not bring this teaching,

738
00:31:06,448 --> 00:31:08,236
do not receive him into your house

739
00:31:08,236 --> 00:31:09,677
or give him any greeting.

740
00:31:09,677 --> 00:31:10,997
For whoever greets him

741
00:31:10,997 --> 00:31:13,196
takes part in his wicked works."

742
00:31:13,196 --> 00:31:18,316
John allows of no 
fellowship with heretics.

743
00:31:18,316 --> 00:31:21,028
And heresy is not just somebody

744
00:31:21,028 --> 00:31:24,505
that comes along and says 
you're saved by works.

745
00:31:24,505 --> 00:31:26,446
It's not just somebody that comes along

746
00:31:26,446 --> 00:31:29,607
and is an atheist and denies 
the existence of God altogether.

747
00:31:29,607 --> 00:31:31,358
I'll guarantee these decievers

748
00:31:31,358 --> 00:31:33,114
that are talked about in chapter 2,

749
00:31:33,114 --> 00:31:35,019
they were talking about Christ.

750
00:31:35,019 --> 00:31:37,936
They were talking about a Jesus.

751
00:31:37,936 --> 00:31:39,694
When he says they don't continue

752
00:31:39,694 --> 00:31:42,767
and abide in this doctrine of Christ,

753
00:31:42,767 --> 00:31:48,441
it's got to do with who 
Christ is as a Person -

754
00:31:48,441 --> 00:31:51,532
His work.

755
00:31:51,532 --> 00:31:53,055
But they weren't teaching

756
00:31:53,055 --> 00:31:56,784
according to the apostle's doctrine.

757
00:31:56,784 --> 00:31:59,474
Certainly, John is an apostle of love.

758
00:31:59,474 --> 00:32:01,376
But I'll tell you this,

759
00:32:01,376 --> 00:32:05,688
he never encourages love or fellowship

760
00:32:05,688 --> 00:32:08,015
with those who are not straight on Christ.

761
00:32:08,015 --> 00:32:09,637
I'm not talking about a person

762
00:32:09,637 --> 00:32:11,347
who is genuinely inquiring,

763
00:32:11,347 --> 00:32:12,895
but they come from a background

764
00:32:12,895 --> 00:32:14,418
where it's just all ignorance

765
00:32:14,418 --> 00:32:16,146
and they're ready for the light.

766
00:32:16,146 --> 00:32:17,410
I'm talking about people

767
00:32:17,410 --> 00:32:20,033
who are insisting that their 
deviant views are right.

768
00:32:20,033 --> 00:32:21,434
They would go about to teach.

769
00:32:21,434 --> 00:32:24,519
You remember, they're seeking to deceive.

770
00:32:24,519 --> 00:32:26,959
They're people that ignore,

771
00:32:26,959 --> 00:32:29,008
reject what Scripture says.

772
00:32:29,008 --> 00:32:30,738
Never encourages love or fellowship

773
00:32:30,738 --> 00:32:32,400
with those that are not straight

774
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:33,698
on the doctrine of Christ.

775
00:32:33,698 --> 00:32:40,269
And brethren, do we 
not know this personally?

776
00:32:40,269 --> 00:32:43,537
You know if there's 
anything that we do know -

777
00:32:43,537 --> 00:32:47,810
Christian, before you were saved,

778
00:32:47,810 --> 00:32:49,180
I know how it was with me.

779
00:32:49,180 --> 00:32:51,515
I mean, coming out of 
the Catholic background -

780
00:32:51,515 --> 00:32:54,830
I had high views of Mary.

781
00:32:54,830 --> 00:32:57,639
I did.

782
00:32:57,639 --> 00:33:00,138
You had high views of Mohammed.

783
00:33:00,138 --> 00:33:03,399
That's the way it is.

784
00:33:03,399 --> 00:33:05,819
But what happened when God saved us?

785
00:33:05,819 --> 00:33:09,228
Did He not welcome us in

786
00:33:09,228 --> 00:33:13,400
to revealing the glory of Christ to us?

787
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:18,148
I mean, I just look at the 
Puritan paperback on my shelf

788
00:33:18,148 --> 00:33:20,039
that says "The Glory of Christ"

789
00:33:20,039 --> 00:33:22,659
and something jumps inside me.

790
00:33:22,659 --> 00:33:24,868
Does that happen to you?

791
00:33:24,868 --> 00:33:27,198
Why? Why?

792
00:33:27,198 --> 00:33:29,624
Because suddenly,

793
00:33:29,624 --> 00:33:32,621
what God sees in His Son;

794
00:33:32,621 --> 00:33:36,909
what God finds ravishing,

795
00:33:36,909 --> 00:33:40,478
beautiful, just glorious in His Son,

796
00:33:40,478 --> 00:33:44,437
He's welcomed us into that.

797
00:33:44,437 --> 00:33:46,649
We share that with the Father.

798
00:33:46,649 --> 00:33:48,357
We share with the Father

799
00:33:48,357 --> 00:33:51,009
a delight in the Son.

800
00:33:51,009 --> 00:33:52,919
When we were lost,

801
00:33:52,919 --> 00:33:55,629
Christ was small.

802
00:33:55,629 --> 00:33:59,739
"Oh, He's not God. He's the Son of God."

803
00:33:59,739 --> 00:34:04,559
Do you know,

804
00:34:04,559 --> 00:34:08,728
when I was lost I would not swear

805
00:34:08,728 --> 00:34:10,758
using the name of God,

806
00:34:10,758 --> 00:34:14,557
but I would swear using 
the name of Christ.

807
00:34:14,557 --> 00:34:20,176
Because I felt like that's nothing.

808
00:34:20,176 --> 00:34:22,978
Brethren, to our shame we know

809
00:34:22,978 --> 00:34:27,674
how little we saw Christ to be.

810
00:34:27,674 --> 00:34:34,037
What we have here is the Father

811
00:34:34,037 --> 00:34:36,877
bringing us in and tucking 
us under His arm

812
00:34:36,877 --> 00:34:39,961
and saying: "Behold My Son."

813
00:34:39,961 --> 00:34:43,484
We have communion there

814
00:34:43,484 --> 00:34:45,570
that He's allowing us.

815
00:34:45,570 --> 00:34:47,498
He's opening our eyes.

816
00:34:47,498 --> 00:34:50,039
He's allowing us to see as it is.

817
00:34:50,039 --> 00:34:53,970
Some of you came out of 
a charismatic background.

818
00:34:53,970 --> 00:34:56,578
You know who's exalted there?

819
00:34:56,578 --> 00:35:00,393
The Holy Spirit.

820
00:35:00,393 --> 00:35:01,876
This is how it is.

821
00:35:01,876 --> 00:35:02,639
What's that?

822
00:35:02,639 --> 00:35:04,432
(from the room) Falsely identified.

823
00:35:04,432 --> 00:35:06,019
Tim: Yeah, falsely identified.

824
00:35:06,019 --> 00:35:09,170
The true Spirit is right there 
with the Father and the Son

825
00:35:09,170 --> 00:35:11,700
saying behold the glories of the Son,

826
00:35:11,700 --> 00:35:15,808
the glory of God in the 
face of Jesus Christ.

827
00:35:15,808 --> 00:35:21,490
In every way that Christ 
can be made preeminent,

828
00:35:21,490 --> 00:35:24,150
the true Christian now finds delight.

829
00:35:24,150 --> 00:35:27,388
I'm not saying our hearts 
are fever pitch every day.

830
00:35:27,388 --> 00:35:29,844
But as a rule,

831
00:35:29,844 --> 00:35:33,979
when we hear the name of Jesus Christ -

832
00:35:33,979 --> 00:35:39,149
Oh, I used to rake His 
name through the mud,

833
00:35:39,149 --> 00:35:40,958
and once I was saved in the beginning,

834
00:35:40,958 --> 00:35:43,378
I couldn't even say "Jesus Christ"

835
00:35:43,378 --> 00:35:45,739
because to me it was a profanity.

836
00:35:45,739 --> 00:35:48,538
I had to purposely think "Christ Jesus."

837
00:35:48,538 --> 00:35:50,538
Christ Jesus.

838
00:35:50,538 --> 00:35:52,399
Again, to my shame,

839
00:35:52,399 --> 00:35:56,298
but oh it was like a knife.

840
00:35:56,298 --> 00:35:58,388
I can remember as a young believer,

841
00:35:58,388 --> 00:35:59,937
I was at Madison Square Gardens.

842
00:35:59,937 --> 00:36:01,120
I was there on a project

843
00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:03,398
and one of the guys working 
on one of the crews

844
00:36:03,398 --> 00:36:05,141
up in the stands,

845
00:36:05,141 --> 00:36:08,625
he just cried out some blasphemous thing

846
00:36:08,625 --> 00:36:10,103
concerning Christ

847
00:36:10,103 --> 00:36:11,998
and it was just like a knife.

848
00:36:11,998 --> 00:36:14,839
Why? Because we love Him now.

849
00:36:14,839 --> 00:36:16,558
We find Him precious now.

850
00:36:16,558 --> 00:36:18,091
That we share with the Father.

851
00:36:18,091 --> 00:36:19,623
That is no small thing!

852
00:36:19,623 --> 00:36:22,399
That is the starting point

853
00:36:22,399 --> 00:36:28,539
of our fellowship with the Father.

854
00:36:28,539 --> 00:36:31,718
Our delight is in all that Christ is.

855
00:36:31,718 --> 00:36:36,538
That we have in common with God.

856
00:36:36,538 --> 00:36:39,089
The world knows not of this.

857
00:36:39,089 --> 00:36:40,979
Christ when He's leaving

858
00:36:40,979 --> 00:36:42,560
in His prayer to His Father -

859
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:45,249
He had this desire that 
we would be where He is,

860
00:36:45,249 --> 00:36:48,889
that we might see His glory.

861
00:36:48,889 --> 00:36:53,549
This is the desire of the Godhead.

862
00:36:53,549 --> 00:36:56,079
The desire of the Godhead

863
00:36:56,079 --> 00:37:03,388
is to reveal the glory of Christ to us

864
00:37:03,388 --> 00:37:07,859
that we might see Christ as He is.

865
00:37:07,859 --> 00:37:13,171
That is the first stage of fellowship.

866
00:37:13,171 --> 00:37:15,729
And every true Christian in this room

867
00:37:15,729 --> 00:37:19,112
knows that experientially.

868
00:37:19,112 --> 00:37:21,249
You know.

869
00:37:21,249 --> 00:37:23,356
To you Christ is precious

870
00:37:23,356 --> 00:37:24,968
and He is more precious -

871
00:37:24,968 --> 00:37:30,957
you see, God so loved the world.

872
00:37:30,957 --> 00:37:32,799
How much?

873
00:37:32,799 --> 00:37:38,499
So much that Romans 8:32 says -

874
00:37:38,499 --> 00:37:39,950
the way the argumentation

875
00:37:39,950 --> 00:37:42,210
from the greater to the lesser -

876
00:37:42,210 --> 00:37:49,018
all other things are inferior.

877
00:37:49,018 --> 00:37:54,959
Christ is He which is 
preeminent above all.

878
00:37:54,959 --> 00:37:56,510
And what God has done

879
00:37:56,510 --> 00:38:01,739
is He's welcomed us 
in to this select circle

880
00:38:01,739 --> 00:38:06,808
along with John and Peter

881
00:38:06,808 --> 00:38:11,258
and the rest of the apostles.

882
00:38:11,258 --> 00:38:13,868
To us who believe

883
00:38:13,868 --> 00:38:16,527
Jesus Christ is precious.

884
00:38:16,527 --> 00:38:22,509
He is the most precious to the Father.

885
00:38:22,509 --> 00:38:25,071
He is His delight.

886
00:38:25,071 --> 00:38:28,094
And He welcomes us into that.

887
00:38:28,094 --> 00:38:33,724
Oh brethren, on the most basic level

888
00:38:33,724 --> 00:38:38,619
our fellowship with God

889
00:38:38,619 --> 00:38:42,426
is in these truths and doctrines.

890
00:38:42,426 --> 00:38:45,806
The glories of Christ.

891
00:38:45,806 --> 00:38:49,004
The second thing.

892
00:38:49,004 --> 00:38:51,713
The truth about ourselves.

893
00:38:51,713 --> 00:38:53,486
Now I get this from v. 8.

894
00:38:53,486 --> 00:38:55,460
1 John 1:8,

895
00:38:55,460 --> 00:38:58,753
"If we say we have no sin,

896
00:38:58,753 --> 00:39:01,213
we deceive ourselves and 
the truth is not in us."

897
00:39:01,213 --> 00:39:04,187
You can see from v. 6 -

898
00:39:04,187 --> 00:39:05,933
what I want you to notice is this:

899
00:39:05,933 --> 00:39:09,183
Is in v. 8, "if we say we have no sin,

900
00:39:09,183 --> 00:39:11,682
we deceive ourselves 
and the truth is not in us."

901
00:39:11,682 --> 00:39:14,503
I recognize that it doesn't talk 
directly about fellowship,

902
00:39:14,503 --> 00:39:15,935
but like I said before,

903
00:39:15,935 --> 00:39:17,593
there are really only two camps

904
00:39:17,593 --> 00:39:18,847
all the way through here.

905
00:39:18,847 --> 00:39:20,917
And in v. 6, you can see

906
00:39:20,917 --> 00:39:23,193
what's used interchangeably.

907
00:39:23,193 --> 00:39:24,333
What do I mean by that?

908
00:39:24,333 --> 00:39:25,483
Well, let's read v. 6.

909
00:39:25,483 --> 00:39:27,203
"If we say we have fellowship..."

910
00:39:27,203 --> 00:39:28,704
There's our word "fellowship."

911
00:39:28,704 --> 00:39:31,078
"If we say we have fellowship with Him

912
00:39:31,078 --> 00:39:32,684
while we walk in the darkness,

913
00:39:32,684 --> 00:39:33,947
we lie..."

914
00:39:33,947 --> 00:39:36,508
And you might expect this:

915
00:39:36,508 --> 00:39:38,539
"And we do not have fellowship with Him."

916
00:39:38,539 --> 00:39:40,903
See, you're saying you 
have fellowship with Him.

917
00:39:40,903 --> 00:39:42,193
We walk in the darkness.

918
00:39:42,193 --> 00:39:43,263
We're liars.

919
00:39:43,263 --> 00:39:45,053
We don't have fellowship with Him.

920
00:39:45,053 --> 00:39:47,114
Yeah, but he doesn't give us that answer.

921
00:39:47,114 --> 00:39:48,953
He doesn't say that.

922
00:39:48,953 --> 00:39:51,255
What he says is "you 
do not practice the truth."

923
00:39:51,255 --> 00:39:52,564
You get the idea that what?

924
00:39:52,564 --> 00:39:53,860
Not practicing the truth

925
00:39:53,860 --> 00:39:55,595
and not being in fellowship with God

926
00:39:55,595 --> 00:39:57,286
is the same thing.

927
00:39:57,286 --> 00:40:00,352
That's what we're faced with here.

928
00:40:00,352 --> 00:40:02,873
Now remember, fellowship here

929
00:40:02,873 --> 00:40:06,474
has to do with what I 
have in common with God.

930
00:40:06,474 --> 00:40:08,694
"If I say I have no sin..."

931
00:40:08,694 --> 00:40:13,083
You know what I don't 
have in common with God?

932
00:40:13,083 --> 00:40:15,107
His view of me.

933
00:40:15,107 --> 00:40:17,485
That's one of the things that we share

934
00:40:17,485 --> 00:40:19,214
in common with God

935
00:40:19,214 --> 00:40:24,433
is a right and proper view of self.

936
00:40:24,433 --> 00:40:26,294
V. 9 takes us even a step further

937
00:40:26,294 --> 00:40:29,575
into the fellowship with 
God concerning my sins.

938
00:40:29,575 --> 00:40:34,114
I share with Him.

939
00:40:34,114 --> 00:40:36,704
I commune with Him.

940
00:40:36,704 --> 00:40:38,863
I talk with Him.

941
00:40:38,863 --> 00:40:43,448
I interact with Him

942
00:40:43,448 --> 00:40:46,763
as I confess to Him.

943
00:40:46,763 --> 00:40:48,447
Now think about this.

944
00:40:48,447 --> 00:40:49,705
Sometime we might think,

945
00:40:49,705 --> 00:40:50,760
oh, well, when I sin,

946
00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:52,553
if there's anything that disrupts

947
00:40:52,553 --> 00:40:56,913
my fellowship with God, it's sin.

948
00:40:56,913 --> 00:40:59,842
And yet, I want you to picture this:

949
00:40:59,842 --> 00:41:03,003
If there is a picture 
that John is hitting on

950
00:41:03,003 --> 00:41:05,543
that is absolutely consistent

951
00:41:05,543 --> 00:41:07,124
with fellowship with God,

952
00:41:07,124 --> 00:41:08,773
look at the penitent sinner

953
00:41:08,773 --> 00:41:10,493
with his face to the ground

954
00:41:10,493 --> 00:41:14,395
as he's confessing his sin to the Father.

955
00:41:14,395 --> 00:41:15,532
And I'll tell you this,

956
00:41:15,532 --> 00:41:16,844
don't you dare -

957
00:41:16,844 --> 00:41:20,312
Christian, don't let the devil

958
00:41:20,312 --> 00:41:22,302
at all deceive you into thinking

959
00:41:22,302 --> 00:41:23,526
that when you sin,

960
00:41:23,526 --> 00:41:25,293
your fellowship with God is wrecked

961
00:41:25,293 --> 00:41:27,393
and you must stand far off and do penance

962
00:41:27,393 --> 00:41:29,343
before you can come close again.

963
00:41:29,343 --> 00:41:32,362
Look, if you're a child of God

964
00:41:32,362 --> 00:41:33,642
and your whole desire

965
00:41:33,642 --> 00:41:37,534
is with bowed head to get before Him

966
00:41:37,534 --> 00:41:40,743
that you might unload your guilt,

967
00:41:40,743 --> 00:41:44,593
oh, what a sign of fellowship that is!

968
00:41:44,593 --> 00:41:47,052
Why?

969
00:41:47,052 --> 00:41:51,233
Because you're one with Him

970
00:41:51,233 --> 00:41:54,572
in seeing your sin.

971
00:41:54,572 --> 00:41:56,292
He sees it.

972
00:41:56,292 --> 00:41:57,913
He knows who you are!

973
00:41:57,913 --> 00:41:59,962
And brothers and sisters,

974
00:41:59,962 --> 00:42:03,032
He designed sanctification

975
00:42:03,032 --> 00:42:05,833
to not be complete in this life.

976
00:42:05,833 --> 00:42:08,741
He could have saved us and bang!

977
00:42:08,741 --> 00:42:11,719
Instead of being born again

978
00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:13,744
in a way that now we have to go

979
00:42:13,744 --> 00:42:15,102
all the way to death,

980
00:42:15,102 --> 00:42:16,502
and go through this time,

981
00:42:16,502 --> 00:42:18,680
that from one degree of glory to another,

982
00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:20,343
we are being transformed.

983
00:42:20,343 --> 00:42:22,808
He could have caused us to be born again

984
00:42:22,808 --> 00:42:25,622
and bang! He could have made us perfect.

985
00:42:25,622 --> 00:42:27,352
Of course He could have!

986
00:42:27,352 --> 00:42:30,992
The reason He didn't was on purpose.

987
00:42:30,992 --> 00:42:33,472
Look, does God know that we struggle

988
00:42:33,472 --> 00:42:35,354
with the passions of the flesh?

989
00:42:35,354 --> 00:42:37,072
Does He know about the onslaughts

990
00:42:37,072 --> 00:42:38,478
of the world and the devil?

991
00:42:38,478 --> 00:42:40,021
Does He know the times we fall?

992
00:42:40,021 --> 00:42:41,662
Does He know those things?

993
00:42:41,662 --> 00:42:44,140
Brethren, if there's ever a time

994
00:42:44,140 --> 00:42:46,022
that we're in communion with God,

995
00:42:46,022 --> 00:42:50,925
it's when we go out and 
weep bitterly like Peter did.

996
00:42:50,925 --> 00:42:53,243
Oh, that's communion. Why?

997
00:42:53,243 --> 00:42:55,822
Because what I'm doing 
as I confess my sin,

998
00:42:55,822 --> 00:42:57,224
as I weep before Him,

999
00:42:57,224 --> 00:42:59,666
is I am one with God

1000
00:42:59,666 --> 00:43:01,577
in that He sees my sin.

1001
00:43:01,577 --> 00:43:03,017
I see my sin.

1002
00:43:03,017 --> 00:43:04,716
I'm confessing it as evil.

1003
00:43:04,716 --> 00:43:07,146
He knows it's evil.

1004
00:43:07,146 --> 00:43:08,830
You see, there's a oneness.

1005
00:43:08,830 --> 00:43:09,817
There's a communion.

1006
00:43:09,817 --> 00:43:11,237
And again, when we were lost,

1007
00:43:11,237 --> 00:43:12,878
we weren't that way.

1008
00:43:12,878 --> 00:43:13,887
You know what?

1009
00:43:13,887 --> 00:43:16,746
I doubt many of you came

1010
00:43:16,746 --> 00:43:19,117
from some perfectionist background.

1011
00:43:19,117 --> 00:43:22,200
That's not where we're at.

1012
00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:25,207
When it says we have no sin,

1013
00:43:25,207 --> 00:43:28,296
oh, think about how you 
were when you were lost.

1014
00:43:28,296 --> 00:43:31,517
"Well, you know, everybody's a sinner,"

1015
00:43:31,517 --> 00:43:35,286
we casually, trivially said.

1016
00:43:35,286 --> 00:43:38,634
That's not even a word.

1017
00:43:38,634 --> 00:43:44,764
Trivially.

1018
00:43:44,764 --> 00:43:50,734
Brethren, I can remember one night

1019
00:43:50,734 --> 00:43:52,787
I had MacArthur's book open -

1020
00:43:52,787 --> 00:43:56,804
"The Gospel According to Jesus."

1021
00:43:56,804 --> 00:43:59,615
And I can remember it was like

1022
00:43:59,615 --> 00:44:02,546
nothing I had ever 
experienced in my life before.

1023
00:44:02,546 --> 00:44:06,224
I was overcome by a sense

1024
00:44:06,224 --> 00:44:08,534
of my wickedness

1025
00:44:08,534 --> 00:44:10,484
and the depth of my sin in a way

1026
00:44:10,484 --> 00:44:13,735
that I knew God would only be righteous

1027
00:44:13,735 --> 00:44:15,537
if He sent me to hell.

1028
00:44:15,537 --> 00:44:17,378
I saw I deserved it.

1029
00:44:17,378 --> 00:44:19,559
Listen, when we come before God

1030
00:44:19,559 --> 00:44:22,133
and we agree with God on who we are,

1031
00:44:22,133 --> 00:44:24,175
that is to have fellowship.

1032
00:44:24,175 --> 00:44:26,305
And when we were lost, we weren't there.

1033
00:44:26,305 --> 00:44:29,214
"Oh yeah, we're sinners, 
but we're not that bad."

1034
00:44:29,214 --> 00:44:31,555
God looked at us and said you're all bad.

1035
00:44:31,555 --> 00:44:32,916
We were not in communion

1036
00:44:32,916 --> 00:44:35,014
with regards to ourselves.

1037
00:44:35,014 --> 00:44:41,035
Fellowship with God is when in confession,

1038
00:44:41,035 --> 00:44:43,335
I'm in step with God about my sins.

1039
00:44:43,335 --> 00:44:44,405
I'm on the same page.

1040
00:44:44,405 --> 00:44:47,059
He and I agree that my sin is bad.

1041
00:44:47,059 --> 00:44:48,305
That is fellowship.

1042
00:44:48,305 --> 00:44:53,094
We share a common view of me.

1043
00:44:53,094 --> 00:44:56,154
The thing is, don't run.

1044
00:44:56,154 --> 00:44:59,014
See, when we fall into sin as Christians,

1045
00:44:59,014 --> 00:45:02,094
to run is to be out of step

1046
00:45:02,094 --> 00:45:04,735
or to fall to Satan's temptations.

1047
00:45:04,735 --> 00:45:08,606
"You think He wants anything 
to do with you right now?"

1048
00:45:08,606 --> 00:45:11,802
See, fellowship is to fall down

1049
00:45:11,802 --> 00:45:13,175
and confess that.

1050
00:45:13,175 --> 00:45:16,767
Brethren, fellowship is broken

1051
00:45:16,767 --> 00:45:22,448
in a relationship when we hide things.

1052
00:45:22,448 --> 00:45:25,094
Wives, isn't it true?

1053
00:45:25,094 --> 00:45:29,554
If your husband is hiding things from you,

1054
00:45:29,554 --> 00:45:31,515
you're going to say,

1055
00:45:31,515 --> 00:45:35,654
that does not help communion,

1056
00:45:35,654 --> 00:45:39,974
fellowship, closeness, 
intimacy in our family -

1057
00:45:39,974 --> 00:45:42,606
especially when the 
things that you withhold

1058
00:45:42,606 --> 00:45:46,090
are offenses you commit against them.

1059
00:45:46,090 --> 00:45:47,829
God would have us confess.

1060
00:45:47,829 --> 00:45:49,573
God would have us open up.

1061
00:45:49,573 --> 00:45:51,135
How much more fellowship

1062
00:45:51,135 --> 00:45:55,447
is wrecked when the thing that I hide

1063
00:45:55,447 --> 00:45:57,965
is a wrong that I've 
committed against God.

1064
00:45:57,965 --> 00:46:01,135
You know, you go prancing 
around before God

1065
00:46:01,135 --> 00:46:03,364
as though everything is just fine

1066
00:46:03,364 --> 00:46:05,075
when you've openly offended Him.

1067
00:46:05,075 --> 00:46:08,885
Remember, we're dealing 
with a relationship.

1068
00:46:08,885 --> 00:46:11,798
This is relationship.

1069
00:46:11,798 --> 00:46:14,815
He designed a man and a woman

1070
00:46:14,815 --> 00:46:17,321
in relationship to show us

1071
00:46:17,321 --> 00:46:20,624
He is a real Person - three Persons.

1072
00:46:20,624 --> 00:46:23,206
He is a God with feeling.

1073
00:46:23,206 --> 00:46:24,976
He is a God with affection.

1074
00:46:24,976 --> 00:46:29,258
He is a God who is personal.

1075
00:46:29,258 --> 00:46:31,285
He wants close -

1076
00:46:31,285 --> 00:46:33,480
we hear this overused

1077
00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:35,604
"personal relationship with God."

1078
00:46:35,604 --> 00:46:38,375
But get past again the triviality

1079
00:46:38,375 --> 00:46:40,667
of how the world uses that.

1080
00:46:40,667 --> 00:46:43,576
God does want that!

1081
00:46:43,576 --> 00:46:46,154
He wants closeness.

1082
00:46:46,154 --> 00:46:48,835
He wants intimacy with His people.

1083
00:46:48,835 --> 00:46:51,451
And oh, how fellowship-killing

1084
00:46:51,451 --> 00:46:53,365
when we openly have offended God

1085
00:46:53,365 --> 00:46:56,985
and we walk around like 
everything's just fine.

1086
00:46:56,985 --> 00:46:58,895
You know, I got to thinking about this.

1087
00:46:58,895 --> 00:47:01,148
How might things have been different

1088
00:47:01,148 --> 00:47:02,549
for Adam?

1089
00:47:02,549 --> 00:47:04,146
Do you remember how Adam was?

1090
00:47:04,146 --> 00:47:06,807
"Adam, where are you?"

1091
00:47:06,807 --> 00:47:08,614
"Have you eaten of the tree

1092
00:47:08,614 --> 00:47:10,713
that I told you not to eat from?"

1093
00:47:10,713 --> 00:47:11,874
What does he say?

1094
00:47:11,874 --> 00:47:13,636
"The woman You gave me..."

1095
00:47:13,636 --> 00:47:16,126
Can you imagine how things 
might have been different

1096
00:47:16,126 --> 00:47:17,894
if instead of blaming God

1097
00:47:17,894 --> 00:47:19,825
for the kind of woman that he got,

1098
00:47:19,825 --> 00:47:22,366
if he would have just closed his mouth

1099
00:47:22,366 --> 00:47:26,369
and fell down on his face

1100
00:47:26,369 --> 00:47:28,085
and only opened it to say,

1101
00:47:28,085 --> 00:47:29,971
"God, be merciful to me, a sinner"?

1102
00:47:29,971 --> 00:47:31,826
How things might have been different.

1103
00:47:31,826 --> 00:47:33,599
There's no indication.

1104
00:47:33,599 --> 00:47:35,686
Jeremiah 2:35,

1105
00:47:35,686 --> 00:47:38,027
"Behold, I will bring you to judgment

1106
00:47:38,027 --> 00:47:41,034
for saying 'I have not sinned.'"

1107
00:47:41,034 --> 00:47:43,277
Or how about Proverbs 28:13,

1108
00:47:43,277 --> 00:47:45,505
"Whoever conceals his transgressions

1109
00:47:45,505 --> 00:47:47,122
will not prosper,

1110
00:47:47,122 --> 00:47:49,287
but he who confesses and forsakes them

1111
00:47:49,287 --> 00:47:51,907
will obtain mercy."

1112
00:47:51,907 --> 00:47:54,131
Now look, I know John is dealing

1113
00:47:54,131 --> 00:47:55,724
with those who have fellowship

1114
00:47:55,724 --> 00:47:57,852
or those who don't have fellowship.

1115
00:47:57,852 --> 00:47:59,321
Very black and white.

1116
00:47:59,321 --> 00:48:00,480
Very in or out.

1117
00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:02,306
Christian. Non-Christian.

1118
00:48:02,306 --> 00:48:04,187
And in one sense,

1119
00:48:04,187 --> 00:48:08,715
every Christian definitely has fellowship.

1120
00:48:08,715 --> 00:48:10,695
I could say in one sense

1121
00:48:10,695 --> 00:48:13,026
every married person has fellowship.

1122
00:48:13,026 --> 00:48:15,657
But you know there's degrees of that -

1123
00:48:15,657 --> 00:48:17,565
that closeness and intimacy

1124
00:48:17,565 --> 00:48:19,098
and actual fellowship.

1125
00:48:19,098 --> 00:48:24,316
There's a subjective element to this.

1126
00:48:24,316 --> 00:48:26,799
Brethren, what Proverbs says

1127
00:48:26,799 --> 00:48:28,634
is we don't just confess.

1128
00:48:28,634 --> 00:48:30,553
Fellowship demands that you forsake

1129
00:48:30,553 --> 00:48:31,983
as well as confess.

1130
00:48:31,983 --> 00:48:35,383
To share with God, to be at one with God,

1131
00:48:35,383 --> 00:48:36,856
to be in step with God,

1132
00:48:36,856 --> 00:48:38,531
you must hate what He hates,

1133
00:48:38,531 --> 00:48:42,389
detest what He detests.

1134
00:48:42,389 --> 00:48:46,582
Brethren, are you weighed down at times?

1135
00:48:46,582 --> 00:48:47,764
Don't we get this way?

1136
00:48:47,764 --> 00:48:50,755
Just weighed down with an exceeding sense

1137
00:48:50,755 --> 00:48:52,199
of our sinfulness.

1138
00:48:52,199 --> 00:48:55,444
You get these times where our sin

1139
00:48:55,444 --> 00:48:58,874
stares us straight in the face.

1140
00:48:58,874 --> 00:49:04,036
We feel the shame of that.

1141
00:49:04,036 --> 00:49:08,045
Brethren, you feel dejected?

1142
00:49:08,045 --> 00:49:11,126
You ever look at yourself 
and just feel like:

1143
00:49:11,126 --> 00:49:13,978
I can't believe it. 
I can't believe I did that.

1144
00:49:13,978 --> 00:49:16,835
I can't believe after I've walked 
with the Lord for so long

1145
00:49:16,835 --> 00:49:18,496
that I'm not further.

1146
00:49:18,496 --> 00:49:19,945
It's like the Hebrews saying -

1147
00:49:19,945 --> 00:49:21,286
we say it to ourselves -

1148
00:49:21,286 --> 00:49:22,445
at such a time as this,

1149
00:49:22,445 --> 00:49:25,284
we ought to be way beyond where we are.

1150
00:49:25,284 --> 00:49:27,964
We feel like there's such a lack of power

1151
00:49:27,964 --> 00:49:31,080
to resist the temptations 
that overwhelm us.

1152
00:49:31,080 --> 00:49:33,863
Brethren, so often,

1153
00:49:33,863 --> 00:49:37,393
this makes us want to curl up,

1154
00:49:37,393 --> 00:49:39,834
run away,

1155
00:49:39,834 --> 00:49:41,906
go watch a movie - whatever.

1156
00:49:41,906 --> 00:49:44,915
But brethren, when we feel 
a deep sense of our sin;

1157
00:49:44,915 --> 00:49:47,376
when we feel a deep sense of the shame;

1158
00:49:47,376 --> 00:49:50,608
when we feel powerlessness,

1159
00:49:50,608 --> 00:49:52,556
you feel that!

1160
00:49:52,556 --> 00:49:59,514
Look, so often that's just God

1161
00:49:59,514 --> 00:50:02,098
inviting us to even deeper fellowship.

1162
00:50:02,098 --> 00:50:03,276
You say, how so?

1163
00:50:03,276 --> 00:50:04,789
I'm overwhelmed with this sense

1164
00:50:04,789 --> 00:50:09,285
of that which seems like it would 
disfellowship me with God.

1165
00:50:09,285 --> 00:50:13,043
The thing is He opens 
our eyes to see this.

1166
00:50:13,043 --> 00:50:15,795
Why? To see what our sin really is.

1167
00:50:15,795 --> 00:50:17,973
Does He want us walking 
around and thinking

1168
00:50:17,973 --> 00:50:21,440
that just because we're Christians 
and we go and sin it's not that bad?

1169
00:50:21,440 --> 00:50:22,527
No, it is bad!

1170
00:50:22,527 --> 00:50:24,977
It's really bad. It's still just as bad.

1171
00:50:24,977 --> 00:50:28,391
It's the sin that took and 
nailed Christ to the cross.

1172
00:50:28,391 --> 00:50:29,535
It is that bad.

1173
00:50:29,535 --> 00:50:31,040
And it is that shameful.

1174
00:50:31,040 --> 00:50:32,331
And you know what?

1175
00:50:32,331 --> 00:50:34,764
You have the sense of 
powerlessness? That's good.

1176
00:50:34,764 --> 00:50:38,695
Because you know what? 
Without Christ, you are powerless.

1177
00:50:38,695 --> 00:50:41,117
You know, when we have 
the shame of our sin

1178
00:50:41,117 --> 00:50:42,575
stare us straight in the face

1179
00:50:42,575 --> 00:50:44,707
and a sense of our powerlessness,

1180
00:50:44,707 --> 00:50:47,314
that is really an indication 
of fellowship with God.

1181
00:50:47,314 --> 00:50:49,673
Why? Because you're 
right in step with Him.

1182
00:50:49,673 --> 00:50:52,503
Because your sin is that bad.

1183
00:50:52,503 --> 00:50:57,174
And because you are that 
powerless without Christ.

1184
00:50:57,174 --> 00:51:02,536
Brethren, what we want to do

1185
00:51:02,536 --> 00:51:07,155
is we want to recognize that God

1186
00:51:07,155 --> 00:51:08,867
is being gracious to us.

1187
00:51:08,867 --> 00:51:11,762
He's reminding us of how we are

1188
00:51:11,762 --> 00:51:15,045
and who we are and 
what we are without Christ.

1189
00:51:15,045 --> 00:51:17,363
That He's gracious and He's ready

1190
00:51:17,363 --> 00:51:18,859
to forgive us afresh.

1191
00:51:18,859 --> 00:51:22,334
And I don't mean legally.

1192
00:51:22,334 --> 00:51:24,235
There are times when Scripture

1193
00:51:24,235 --> 00:51:28,836
talks about confessing our sin

1194
00:51:28,836 --> 00:51:36,093
and being washed or being forgiven.

1195
00:51:36,093 --> 00:51:39,555
We don't denounce this 
doctrine of justification -

1196
00:51:39,555 --> 00:51:41,099
that there is no condemnation

1197
00:51:41,099 --> 00:51:42,525
and all our sin is put away.

1198
00:51:42,525 --> 00:51:46,144
But you know, there's a relational aspect

1199
00:51:46,144 --> 00:51:47,927
to walking with God.

1200
00:51:47,927 --> 00:51:49,854
You hear about grieving the Spirit.

1201
00:51:49,854 --> 00:51:51,814
You know, people whose sins are forgiven

1202
00:51:51,814 --> 00:51:52,975
can grieve the Spirit.

1203
00:51:52,975 --> 00:51:54,223
What does that tell you?

1204
00:51:54,223 --> 00:51:56,845
It tells you that on a relational level

1205
00:51:56,845 --> 00:51:58,676
there can be grief with God.

1206
00:51:58,676 --> 00:52:00,545
There can be things that need to be

1207
00:52:00,545 --> 00:52:03,764
forgiven on that level.

1208
00:52:03,764 --> 00:52:05,395
And what we want to do

1209
00:52:05,395 --> 00:52:08,612
is when we're recognizing all the more

1210
00:52:08,612 --> 00:52:10,496
who we are and how bad our sin is

1211
00:52:10,496 --> 00:52:11,904
and how weak we are,

1212
00:52:11,904 --> 00:52:14,701
what we want to do is just look to Him

1213
00:52:14,701 --> 00:52:16,886
Who has so often been gracious to us.

1214
00:52:16,886 --> 00:52:18,904
Ask Him to blot out our transgressions.

1215
00:52:18,904 --> 00:52:20,294
Put them behind His back,

1216
00:52:20,294 --> 00:52:21,734
hide His eyes from them.

1217
00:52:21,734 --> 00:52:23,705
Throw them into the depths of the sea.

1218
00:52:23,705 --> 00:52:25,914
Oh, we plead for mercy

1219
00:52:25,914 --> 00:52:28,817
on behalf of Christ and what He's done.

1220
00:52:28,817 --> 00:52:32,965
This is exactly fellowship with God.

1221
00:52:32,965 --> 00:52:36,145
Look, denying your sin

1222
00:52:36,145 --> 00:52:39,104
is not to be in fellowship with God.

1223
00:52:39,104 --> 00:52:42,305
Not acknowledging your sin is not.

1224
00:52:42,305 --> 00:52:45,211
When you've got wrong, bring it to Him.

1225
00:52:45,211 --> 00:52:46,406
Bring it into the light.

1226
00:52:46,406 --> 00:52:48,024
There's no safer place than

1227
00:52:48,024 --> 00:52:50,445
just to bring it in the light.

1228
00:52:50,445 --> 00:52:54,084
Confess it.

1229
00:52:54,084 --> 00:52:56,739
Throw it out there.

1230
00:52:56,739 --> 00:52:59,050
Well, let's just touch one more.

1231
00:52:59,050 --> 00:53:01,429
We share one more thing.

1232
00:53:01,429 --> 00:53:04,000
We share in the truth about Christ.

1233
00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:06,263
We share in the truth about ourselves.

1234
00:53:06,263 --> 00:53:07,384
One more thing:

1235
00:53:07,384 --> 00:53:09,941
Just as I wrap up,

1236
00:53:09,941 --> 00:53:13,051
we share God's character

1237
00:53:13,051 --> 00:53:14,472
in life and practice.

1238
00:53:14,472 --> 00:53:15,626
Now where do I get this?

1239
00:53:15,626 --> 00:53:16,990
I get this from v. 6 and 7.

1240
00:53:16,990 --> 00:53:19,294
"If we say we have fellowship..."

1241
00:53:19,294 --> 00:53:20,913
There's the word fellowship.

1242
00:53:20,913 --> 00:53:22,752
"If we say we have fellowship with Him

1243
00:53:22,752 --> 00:53:24,631
while we walk in darkness,

1244
00:53:24,631 --> 00:53:27,540
we lie and do not practice the truth."

1245
00:53:27,540 --> 00:53:30,343
Notice this has to do with practice.

1246
00:53:30,343 --> 00:53:33,912
It has to do with our walk.

1247
00:53:33,912 --> 00:53:37,071
"If we walk..."

1248
00:53:37,071 --> 00:53:44,600
Walk is synonymous to a way of life.

1249
00:53:44,600 --> 00:53:48,625
How we live.

1250
00:53:48,625 --> 00:53:52,671
"...We do not practice the truth."

1251
00:53:52,671 --> 00:53:57,003
"But if we walk..."

1252
00:53:57,003 --> 00:54:02,950
If the pattern, the direction of our life

1253
00:54:02,950 --> 00:54:04,922
is in the light,

1254
00:54:04,922 --> 00:54:08,451
"as He is in the light,

1255
00:54:08,451 --> 00:54:11,024
we have fellowship with one another,

1256
00:54:11,024 --> 00:54:13,191
and the blood of Jesus His Son

1257
00:54:13,191 --> 00:54:14,671
cleanses us from all sin."

1258
00:54:14,671 --> 00:54:17,167
We have fellowship with one another.

1259
00:54:17,167 --> 00:54:18,515
Not just with one another

1260
00:54:18,515 --> 00:54:20,280
on the horizontal level,

1261
00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:22,760
but with one another on 
the vertical level as well.

1262
00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:24,319
We have fellowship with God.

1263
00:54:24,319 --> 00:54:26,831
You can perceive from this text,

1264
00:54:26,831 --> 00:54:30,860
the Christian shares with God what?

1265
00:54:30,860 --> 00:54:35,680
Shares with God a place in the light.

1266
00:54:35,680 --> 00:54:36,969
It's His light.

1267
00:54:36,969 --> 00:54:40,417
God brings us into His light.

1268
00:54:40,417 --> 00:54:42,590
So not only when we get saved

1269
00:54:42,590 --> 00:54:45,752
does God share with us

1270
00:54:45,752 --> 00:54:47,524
the beauty and glory,

1271
00:54:47,524 --> 00:54:50,685
doctrine and truth and teaching of Christ,

1272
00:54:50,685 --> 00:54:52,400
not only does He share with us

1273
00:54:52,400 --> 00:54:55,712
how He sees us,

1274
00:54:55,712 --> 00:54:58,613
what He knows to be true of us,

1275
00:54:58,613 --> 00:55:03,940
He shares with us His light.

1276
00:55:03,940 --> 00:55:05,320
A place in the light.

1277
00:55:05,320 --> 00:55:08,119
But there's something more 
to our fellowship with God

1278
00:55:08,119 --> 00:55:11,770
than just a standing, 
a place in the light.

1279
00:55:11,770 --> 00:55:13,931
A Christian is practically in the light.

1280
00:55:13,931 --> 00:55:16,030
He's one who walks in the light

1281
00:55:16,030 --> 00:55:17,295
as God is in the light.

1282
00:55:17,295 --> 00:55:18,433
Did Jesus not say this?

1283
00:55:18,433 --> 00:55:21,374
You don't have to turn to it, 
just listen to it - John 8:12.

1284
00:55:21,374 --> 00:55:22,921
"I am the light of the world.

1285
00:55:22,921 --> 00:55:24,784
Whoever follows Me

1286
00:55:24,784 --> 00:55:27,590
will not walk in darkness."

1287
00:55:27,590 --> 00:55:29,372
You see this?

1288
00:55:29,372 --> 00:55:31,771
He draws us into the light.

1289
00:55:31,771 --> 00:55:33,034
Where is that light found?

1290
00:55:33,034 --> 00:55:35,683
That light is found in following Christ.

1291
00:55:35,683 --> 00:55:38,101
It's found in imitating Christ.

1292
00:55:38,101 --> 00:55:42,142
In fact, does not John say

1293
00:55:42,142 --> 00:55:44,930
these very words in 2:6?

1294
00:55:44,930 --> 00:55:46,366
"Whoever says he abides in Him

1295
00:55:46,366 --> 00:55:47,841
ought to walk in the same way

1296
00:55:47,841 --> 00:55:49,830
in which He walked."

1297
00:55:49,830 --> 00:55:51,560
That's to be a true Christian -

1298
00:55:51,560 --> 00:55:52,783
we walk like Christ.

1299
00:55:52,783 --> 00:55:54,361
That's where the light is.

1300
00:55:54,361 --> 00:55:55,860
There's a walk.

1301
00:55:55,860 --> 00:56:02,232
God's light produces 
a certain kind of walk.

1302
00:56:02,232 --> 00:56:05,166
Why? What could we liken light to?

1303
00:56:05,166 --> 00:56:09,316
Light - we can see!

1304
00:56:09,316 --> 00:56:10,870
I can remember in my lost years,

1305
00:56:10,870 --> 00:56:12,720
I had a bunch of high school buddies

1306
00:56:12,720 --> 00:56:14,870
and we were talking about different things

1307
00:56:14,870 --> 00:56:16,711
that would happen at night

1308
00:56:16,711 --> 00:56:18,240
in the dark.

1309
00:56:18,240 --> 00:56:20,073
One of my buddies said

1310
00:56:20,073 --> 00:56:22,593
he was running across to 
a house down the street.

1311
00:56:22,593 --> 00:56:24,699
We knew the house he was talking about.

1312
00:56:24,699 --> 00:56:27,620
He was running full speed at night

1313
00:56:27,620 --> 00:56:28,649
through the back yard

1314
00:56:28,649 --> 00:56:32,310
and ran right into the 
end of a picnic table

1315
00:56:32,310 --> 00:56:33,738
at a full run

1316
00:56:33,738 --> 00:56:36,670
because he couldn't see it.

1317
00:56:36,670 --> 00:56:38,740
That's what you do 
when you're in the dark.

1318
00:56:38,740 --> 00:56:41,971
But you see, you don't run into 
it when you're in the light. Why?

1319
00:56:41,971 --> 00:56:46,069
Because the light makes manifest.

1320
00:56:46,069 --> 00:56:48,488
The light reveals.

1321
00:56:48,488 --> 00:56:53,640
God has brought us into the realm

1322
00:56:53,640 --> 00:56:57,056
where the lights are on.

1323
00:56:57,056 --> 00:56:58,959
Oh, how many people; how many Christians

1324
00:56:58,959 --> 00:57:01,900
I've heard that have said:

1325
00:57:01,900 --> 00:57:03,750
It was like I was in a room

1326
00:57:03,750 --> 00:57:04,860
with the lights off

1327
00:57:04,860 --> 00:57:07,541
and God turned the lights on.

1328
00:57:07,541 --> 00:57:09,630
That's exactly right.

1329
00:57:09,630 --> 00:57:11,471
That's the fellowship.

1330
00:57:11,471 --> 00:57:15,184
God brings us into His light.

1331
00:57:15,184 --> 00:57:17,689
You and I as Christians can perceive

1332
00:57:17,689 --> 00:57:21,271
what the lost world cannot perceive.

1333
00:57:21,271 --> 00:57:22,961
And God's light - what does it do?

1334
00:57:22,961 --> 00:57:24,620
It produces a certain kind of walk

1335
00:57:24,620 --> 00:57:26,821
in those who have been enlightened by it.

1336
00:57:26,821 --> 00:57:30,941
The light of God works in a man's soul.

1337
00:57:30,941 --> 00:57:33,140
It works in how a man thinks.

1338
00:57:33,140 --> 00:57:36,330
Why? Because it's flooding him with truth

1339
00:57:36,330 --> 00:57:37,827
and how things really are.

1340
00:57:37,827 --> 00:57:39,480
It shows him.

1341
00:57:39,480 --> 00:57:41,681
He can see as God sees.

1342
00:57:41,681 --> 00:57:46,981
Doesn't Scripture say that 
we have the mind of Christ?

1343
00:57:46,981 --> 00:57:51,591
He sees suddenly the dread of sin.

1344
00:57:51,591 --> 00:57:53,422
He sees hell.

1345
00:57:53,422 --> 00:57:55,992
He sees the lostness of the world.

1346
00:57:55,992 --> 00:58:00,429
He sees the wickedness of sin.

1347
00:58:00,429 --> 00:58:02,640
He sees these things. It's all exposed.

1348
00:58:02,640 --> 00:58:08,547
He sees sin cannot be hid from God.

1349
00:58:08,547 --> 00:58:10,320
He sees that.

1350
00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:11,351
All is exposed.

1351
00:58:11,351 --> 00:58:12,660
There's no use hiding it.

1352
00:58:12,660 --> 00:58:14,944
It's best to confess it.

1353
00:58:14,944 --> 00:58:16,520
He sees eternity.

1354
00:58:16,520 --> 00:58:18,200
He sees the preciousness of Christ.

1355
00:58:18,200 --> 00:58:20,399
We've dealt with the 
preciousness of Christ.

1356
00:58:20,399 --> 00:58:24,869
We've dealt with how we are in ourselves.

1357
00:58:24,869 --> 00:58:26,861
But he sees the hopelessness

1358
00:58:26,861 --> 00:58:28,880
of all else but Christ.

1359
00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:31,882
He sees the triviality of the world.

1360
00:58:31,882 --> 00:58:34,321
He's a child of light.

1361
00:58:34,321 --> 00:58:35,580
All is light.

1362
00:58:35,580 --> 00:58:37,230
God is light. Christ is light.

1363
00:58:37,230 --> 00:58:38,522
The Word of God is light.

1364
00:58:38,522 --> 00:58:41,150
Paul says this, "At one 
time, you were darkness,

1365
00:58:41,150 --> 00:58:42,911
but now you are light in the Lord."

1366
00:58:42,911 --> 00:58:44,860
You are light.

1367
00:58:44,860 --> 00:58:50,532
You are light in the Lord.

1368
00:58:50,532 --> 00:58:54,259
And he says "the fruit of light

1369
00:58:54,259 --> 00:58:58,343
is found in all that's 
good and right and true."

1370
00:58:58,343 --> 00:59:01,681
Doesn't this just radically expose

1371
00:59:01,681 --> 00:59:04,022
all the false claims to 
fellowship with God?

1372
00:59:04,022 --> 00:59:06,441
We've got people going 
around all over the place.

1373
00:59:06,441 --> 00:59:08,837
"Yeah, I know God. 
I'm a Christian. I'm this."

1374
00:59:08,837 --> 00:59:11,561
(Incomplete thought)

1375
00:59:11,561 --> 00:59:13,280
Men and women always claim

1376
00:59:13,280 --> 00:59:14,913
some "in" with God.

1377
00:59:14,913 --> 00:59:17,414
How many people do you hear:

1378
00:59:17,414 --> 00:59:21,267
"Me and God have this thing going."

1379
00:59:21,267 --> 00:59:25,484
"I was sick one time and He healed me."

1380
00:59:25,484 --> 00:59:28,326
But there's nothing that exposes the false

1381
00:59:28,326 --> 00:59:30,124
so clearly and plainly

1382
00:59:30,124 --> 00:59:33,896
as standing face-to-face with this God

1383
00:59:33,896 --> 00:59:36,245
who is light.

1384
00:59:36,245 --> 00:59:38,285
Men imagine they have fellowship with God.

1385
00:59:38,285 --> 00:59:41,545
The Pharisees - wasn't it amazing?

1386
00:59:41,545 --> 00:59:45,008
"We don't want to 
go into Herod's palace."

1387
00:59:45,008 --> 00:59:47,373
Why?

1388
00:59:47,373 --> 00:59:50,647
Because we don't want to be unfit to take

1389
00:59:50,647 --> 00:59:52,402
of the Passover.

1390
00:59:52,402 --> 00:59:54,899
And yet we're killing
the true Passover Lamb.

1391
00:59:54,899 --> 00:59:57,202
We're slaughtering Him.

1392
00:59:57,202 --> 01:00:00,453
We're doing this amazingly wicked thing,

1393
01:00:00,453 --> 01:00:08,010
but oh, we've got an "in" with God.

1394
01:00:08,010 --> 01:00:11,810
You know what kind of God we had?

1395
01:00:11,810 --> 01:00:14,050
In many of you in here

1396
01:00:14,050 --> 01:00:16,091
that don't know the Lord -

1397
01:00:16,091 --> 01:00:19,751
all of you, if you don't know the Lord,

1398
01:00:19,751 --> 01:00:22,179
you've not been brought into the light.

1399
01:00:22,179 --> 01:00:24,233
So your image of God -

1400
01:00:24,233 --> 01:00:27,351
listen, the devil's god is always the god

1401
01:00:27,351 --> 01:00:30,409
that says, "You will not surely die."

1402
01:00:30,409 --> 01:00:33,699
He is a god that condones your darkness.

1403
01:00:33,699 --> 01:00:35,881
That's how I thought of God.

1404
01:00:35,881 --> 01:00:39,390
I thought, yeah, I was living it up.

1405
01:00:39,390 --> 01:00:41,102
I was living this life of sin.

1406
01:00:41,102 --> 01:00:43,579
But I had this god in my imagination

1407
01:00:43,579 --> 01:00:46,810
who just smiled on me 
no matter what I did.

1408
01:00:46,810 --> 01:00:52,004
Did you have that kind of god?

1409
01:00:52,004 --> 01:00:55,121
But, just watch people.

1410
01:00:55,121 --> 01:00:56,831
I've told this before,

1411
01:00:56,831 --> 01:00:58,631
but I remember one night,

1412
01:00:58,631 --> 01:01:00,730
I was laying on the floor.

1413
01:01:00,730 --> 01:01:02,770
My brother was laying on the sofa.

1414
01:01:02,770 --> 01:01:08,231
And I started telling him about God.

1415
01:01:08,231 --> 01:01:10,285
And my brother said,

1416
01:01:10,285 --> 01:01:14,920
"Well, if God is like that, 
you can have Him."

1417
01:01:14,920 --> 01:01:17,251
Notice the world when 
you start showing them

1418
01:01:17,251 --> 01:01:19,601
the God of Scripture.

1419
01:01:19,601 --> 01:01:22,171
Their hair stands on end.

1420
01:01:22,171 --> 01:01:25,350
They recoil.

1421
01:01:25,350 --> 01:01:30,384
They don't want any God like that.

1422
01:01:30,384 --> 01:01:37,790
Just a last word.

1423
01:01:37,790 --> 01:01:40,508
You know, there may be those who view

1424
01:01:40,508 --> 01:01:49,620
this fellowship with God

1425
01:01:49,620 --> 01:01:54,681
as though it's just some idle tale.

1426
01:01:54,681 --> 01:01:57,022
Whatever.

1427
01:01:57,022 --> 01:01:58,620
Football season's ready to start.

1428
01:01:58,620 --> 01:02:00,931
That excites me a lot more.

1429
01:02:00,931 --> 01:02:03,850
This is just some emotional spiritual buzz

1430
01:02:03,850 --> 01:02:08,032
that people get when they 
listen to worship songs.

1431
01:02:08,032 --> 01:02:09,871
But I'll tell you this,

1432
01:02:09,871 --> 01:02:12,005
let the world scoff.

1433
01:02:12,005 --> 01:02:14,831
Let false professors just look at you

1434
01:02:14,831 --> 01:02:17,439
like deer in the headlights.

1435
01:02:17,439 --> 01:02:19,767
They can deride.

1436
01:02:19,767 --> 01:02:22,999
They can be indifferent to such things.

1437
01:02:22,999 --> 01:02:26,471
But I'll tell you this,

1438
01:02:26,471 --> 01:02:29,031
us believers who have been

1439
01:02:29,031 --> 01:02:34,212
welcomed in to the Lord's inner chambers,

1440
01:02:34,212 --> 01:02:37,283
those of us that have had that,

1441
01:02:37,283 --> 01:02:39,330
we know.

1442
01:02:39,330 --> 01:02:43,700
We know that we've shared things with God.

1443
01:02:43,700 --> 01:02:45,892
We recognize we have a privilege

1444
01:02:45,892 --> 01:02:47,374
that we will not trade

1445
01:02:47,374 --> 01:02:49,752
for all this world's silver and gold

1446
01:02:49,752 --> 01:02:51,673
and its titles and its trophies.

1447
01:02:51,673 --> 01:02:54,350
They can have their stuff.

1448
01:02:54,350 --> 01:02:57,495
This is more precious to 
us than anything else.

1449
01:02:57,495 --> 01:03:00,320
Those of us that tasted it - 
oh, we want so much more.

1450
01:03:00,320 --> 01:03:02,616
It's not satisfying. It's not enough.

1451
01:03:02,616 --> 01:03:06,622
But it's that which we want 
more than anything else -

1452
01:03:06,622 --> 01:03:08,024
fellowship with God.

1453
01:03:08,024 --> 01:03:09,652
Oh, it's so short of the fullness

1454
01:03:09,652 --> 01:03:10,817
of what we really want,

1455
01:03:10,817 --> 01:03:12,391
but isn't it the beginning?

1456
01:03:12,391 --> 01:03:14,141
It's the foretaste of glory.

1457
01:03:14,141 --> 01:03:15,206
That's what it is.

1458
01:03:15,206 --> 01:03:17,942
It's like that sun that comes 
up over the horizon

1459
01:03:17,942 --> 01:03:20,090
or just the dawn's light

1460
01:03:20,090 --> 01:03:22,551
before the sun comes up.

1461
01:03:22,551 --> 01:03:24,094
It's an anticipation

1462
01:03:24,094 --> 01:03:26,111
of an eternal day when we'll be

1463
01:03:26,111 --> 01:03:27,834
swallowed up in this forever.

1464
01:03:27,834 --> 01:03:29,391
That's what this is to us.

1465
01:03:29,391 --> 01:03:32,848
Our hearts are panting after it.

1466
01:03:32,848 --> 01:03:34,980
We go through these seasons of darkness.

1467
01:03:34,980 --> 01:03:37,102
There are times -

1468
01:03:37,102 --> 01:03:40,410
Christian, if there is 
something that we know

1469
01:03:40,410 --> 01:03:43,210
it's when God turns His face from us

1470
01:03:43,210 --> 01:03:45,716
in this world and we come 
up and we're looking

1471
01:03:45,716 --> 01:03:48,731
and our hearts pants after You, O God,

1472
01:03:48,731 --> 01:03:50,790
and we're looking around:
Where has He gone?

1473
01:03:50,790 --> 01:03:52,482
It's like Job. He says

1474
01:03:52,482 --> 01:03:54,890
His smile used to be there over my tent,

1475
01:03:54,890 --> 01:03:56,191
my dwelling place, and now,

1476
01:03:56,191 --> 01:03:58,838
I look to the right; I look to the left.

1477
01:03:58,838 --> 01:04:00,548
He's not there!

1478
01:04:00,548 --> 01:04:03,741
If there's anything that 
causes our hearts to pine...

1479
01:04:03,741 --> 01:04:06,249
But fellowship with God -

1480
01:04:06,249 --> 01:04:08,544
is it not, brethren, to us

1481
01:04:08,544 --> 01:04:10,691
it's that dawning of that eternal day.

1482
01:04:10,691 --> 01:04:12,134
It's the first glimpses.

1483
01:04:12,134 --> 01:04:13,981
You remember Bunyan's celestial city.

1484
01:04:13,981 --> 01:04:15,494
They got up in these mountains

1485
01:04:15,494 --> 01:04:17,043
and they were trying to focus in

1486
01:04:17,043 --> 01:04:17,991
and see the city.

1487
01:04:17,991 --> 01:04:19,519
That's what this is like.

1488
01:04:19,519 --> 01:04:22,661
Whatever glory they were 
kind of unsteady in seeing it.

1489
01:04:22,661 --> 01:04:24,373
That's how we are in this world.

1490
01:04:24,373 --> 01:04:25,510
We're unsteady with it,

1491
01:04:25,510 --> 01:04:27,519
but oh, there is a sweetness in this -

1492
01:04:27,519 --> 01:04:29,261
God sharing with us,

1493
01:04:29,261 --> 01:04:31,239
God bringing us in.

1494
01:04:31,239 --> 01:04:33,550
These are just the first three things.

1495
01:04:33,550 --> 01:04:37,255
It's going to take at least 
another message

1496
01:04:37,255 --> 01:04:41,014
to talk about, and I probably will not

1497
01:04:41,014 --> 01:04:43,151
even touch every single one of the things

1498
01:04:43,151 --> 01:04:45,070
that God shares with us,

1499
01:04:45,070 --> 01:04:48,005
but these things are very distinct.

1500
01:04:48,005 --> 01:04:49,440
These are things that John

1501
01:04:49,440 --> 01:04:51,986
recognizes that are true 
in this fellowship.

1502
01:04:51,986 --> 01:04:53,700
These three things:

1503
01:04:53,700 --> 01:04:56,657
The Person of Christ.

1504
01:04:56,657 --> 01:04:59,454
The doctrine concerning Christ.

1505
01:04:59,454 --> 01:05:03,380
The realities about who we are.

1506
01:05:03,380 --> 01:05:08,230
Brethren, there's not inconsistency here.

1507
01:05:08,230 --> 01:05:11,481
The thing is if you're in 
fellowship with God

1508
01:05:11,481 --> 01:05:15,870
as a practice, you walk in the light.

1509
01:05:15,870 --> 01:05:17,801
That doesn't mean you're perfect yet,

1510
01:05:17,801 --> 01:05:19,078
and there will be sin.

1511
01:05:19,078 --> 01:05:20,675
It doesn't mean you practice sin.

1512
01:05:20,675 --> 01:05:23,324
Practicing sin is to walk in the darkness.

1513
01:05:23,324 --> 01:05:25,831
But there is sin. 
We recognize there's sin.

1514
01:05:25,831 --> 01:05:27,344
And when we fall,

1515
01:05:27,344 --> 01:05:28,936
we need to take it to our Father.

1516
01:05:28,936 --> 01:05:30,530
We need to run to our Father.

1517
01:05:30,530 --> 01:05:33,266
Don't fall for the lies.

1518
01:05:33,266 --> 01:05:34,250
I'm telling you.

1519
01:05:34,250 --> 01:05:36,570
This is one of Satan's 
favorite strategies -

1520
01:05:36,570 --> 01:05:39,693
is to come at you and 
tell you when you sin:

1521
01:05:39,693 --> 01:05:41,663
Christ wants nothing to do with you.

1522
01:05:41,663 --> 01:05:43,178
But when you see your sin,

1523
01:05:43,178 --> 01:05:44,450
you know your sin -

1524
01:05:44,450 --> 01:05:45,921
Look, you're going to sin!

1525
01:05:45,921 --> 01:05:47,770
"I write to you that you don't sin."

1526
01:05:47,770 --> 01:05:50,271
Little children - this is 
what John's all about.

1527
01:05:50,271 --> 01:05:51,831
I write to you that you not sin.

1528
01:05:51,831 --> 01:05:53,677
I want you to walk more fully,

1529
01:05:53,677 --> 01:05:55,913
more fully, more fully in the light.

1530
01:05:55,913 --> 01:05:57,332
But if you sin...

1531
01:05:57,332 --> 01:05:59,001
What? You walk in the darkness

1532
01:05:59,001 --> 01:06:00,705
and you have no fellowship with Him

1533
01:06:00,705 --> 01:06:01,963
and you don't know Him?

1534
01:06:01,963 --> 01:06:04,260
No! We have a Christ!

1535
01:06:04,260 --> 01:06:06,014
The Christ - Jesus Christ.

1536
01:06:06,014 --> 01:06:07,161
He is the Righteous One.

1537
01:06:07,161 --> 01:06:09,821
He made propitiation for us.

1538
01:06:09,821 --> 01:06:11,091
We can plead the blood.

1539
01:06:11,091 --> 01:06:13,060
We can go and we can confess it.

1540
01:06:13,060 --> 01:06:15,031
Our access is there.

1541
01:06:15,031 --> 01:06:16,463
There's no condemnation.

1542
01:06:16,463 --> 01:06:18,571
We have full free access.

1543
01:06:18,571 --> 01:06:19,821
You go to Him.

1544
01:06:19,821 --> 01:06:21,791
And just remember the fellowship.

1545
01:06:21,791 --> 01:06:25,584
Oh, this is fellowship

1546
01:06:25,584 --> 01:06:27,560
to be at one with God

1547
01:06:27,560 --> 01:06:30,460
and to recognize the sin I just did,

1548
01:06:30,460 --> 01:06:32,409
the sin I just committed against my wife,

1549
01:06:32,409 --> 01:06:34,600
the sin I just committed 
against my children,

1550
01:06:34,600 --> 01:06:35,676
the thing I just did,

1551
01:06:35,676 --> 01:06:38,574
the misuse of my tongue -

1552
01:06:38,574 --> 01:06:40,676
God sees it for what it is.

1553
01:06:40,676 --> 01:06:43,280
The best thing to do -

1554
01:06:43,280 --> 01:06:46,152
go out with Peter and weep bitterly

1555
01:06:46,152 --> 01:06:47,280
and confess it.

1556
01:06:47,280 --> 01:06:49,239
And you know, the next thing you'll find

1557
01:06:49,239 --> 01:06:52,476
is He'll come alongside and He'll say,

1558
01:06:52,476 --> 01:06:55,248
"Joe, do you love Me?"

1559
01:06:55,248 --> 01:06:58,441
Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.

1560
01:06:58,441 --> 01:07:01,709
Well, He sends us to His work.

1561
01:07:01,709 --> 01:07:03,011
Remember this, brethren.

1562
01:07:03,011 --> 01:07:05,290
He did not design perfection

1563
01:07:05,290 --> 01:07:07,569
to happen in this life.

1564
01:07:07,569 --> 01:07:11,099
And He did that on purpose.

1565
01:07:11,099 --> 01:07:13,719
And because He did,

1566
01:07:13,719 --> 01:07:15,959
part of our fellowship with Him

1567
01:07:15,959 --> 01:07:18,990
is going to be on a regular basis

1568
01:07:18,990 --> 01:07:21,686
the picture of the man or the woman

1569
01:07:21,686 --> 01:07:24,393
with the head bowed before God

1570
01:07:24,393 --> 01:07:27,062
confessing because they see their sin

1571
01:07:27,062 --> 01:07:28,990
as God sees it.

1572
01:07:28,990 --> 01:07:30,730
They know it's exposed to Him

1573
01:07:30,730 --> 01:07:32,241
and there's no sense hiding it

1574
01:07:32,241 --> 01:07:33,940
and they want fellowship

1575
01:07:33,940 --> 01:07:35,636
more than they want to go on

1576
01:07:35,636 --> 01:07:38,091
not acknowledging that sin.

1577
01:07:38,091 --> 01:07:40,290
If they know that it's going to grieve Him

1578
01:07:40,290 --> 01:07:43,183
and bring some snare in there

1579
01:07:43,183 --> 01:07:46,212
and some shadow over the fellowship,

1580
01:07:46,212 --> 01:07:48,120
I want my fellowship more than I want

1581
01:07:48,120 --> 01:07:51,041
to go on in my sin not confessing it.

1582
01:07:51,041 --> 01:07:52,692
Do you not want that?

1583
01:07:52,692 --> 01:07:55,283
Nothing between - is that 
not what the song says?

1584
01:07:55,283 --> 01:07:58,271
Nothing between my soul and the Savior.

1585
01:07:58,271 --> 01:07:59,865
Don't let it go there.

1586
01:07:59,865 --> 01:08:05,082
Cherish this fellowship 
above everything else.

1587
01:08:05,082 --> 01:08:08,422
Oh brethren, I'm telling you

1588
01:08:08,422 --> 01:08:10,942
there are depths that God

1589
01:08:10,942 --> 01:08:17,541
has swept His people in 
to this fellowship.

1590
01:08:17,541 --> 01:08:20,330
Some of you likely -

1591
01:08:20,330 --> 01:08:25,031
you can't put words to.

1592
01:08:25,031 --> 01:08:28,021
I can remember Charles Simeon.

1593
01:08:28,021 --> 01:08:30,082
One of his friends came into his room

1594
01:08:30,082 --> 01:08:31,270
and the lights were off

1595
01:08:31,270 --> 01:08:33,336
and there was the picture of the penitent.

1596
01:08:33,336 --> 01:08:35,241
He had been there confessing

1597
01:08:35,241 --> 01:08:38,741
his sorrow for his sin.

1598
01:08:38,741 --> 01:08:42,760
And God came to him 
in such ravishing fashion,

1599
01:08:42,760 --> 01:08:43,960
as his friend found him,

1600
01:08:43,960 --> 01:08:49,369
all he could say is, 
"Glory. Glory. Glory."

1601
01:08:49,369 --> 01:08:52,171
That's the only word that 
could come out of him.

1602
01:08:52,171 --> 01:08:53,388
Don't you want that?

1603
01:08:53,388 --> 01:08:54,990
Nothing between, brethren.

1604
01:08:54,990 --> 01:08:57,991
Nothing between.

1605
01:08:57,991 --> 01:09:00,539
Foster these things.

1606
01:09:00,539 --> 01:09:01,951
Foster them.

1607
01:09:01,951 --> 01:09:03,751
Work at them.

1608
01:09:03,751 --> 01:09:05,231
Cherish them.

1609
01:09:05,231 --> 01:09:07,995
Nurture these things.

1610
01:09:07,995 --> 01:09:09,750
Right views of Christ.

1611
01:09:09,750 --> 01:09:13,780
Right views of self.

1612
01:09:13,780 --> 01:09:15,790
And walking in the light.

1613
01:09:15,790 --> 01:09:20,009
Immersing yourself in all that is good

1614
01:09:20,009 --> 01:09:23,019
and right and true.

1615
01:09:23,019 --> 01:09:24,888
Walk in the light.

1616
01:09:24,888 --> 01:09:26,940
Imitate Christ. Follow Him.

1617
01:09:26,940 --> 01:09:28,429
He's in the light.

1618
01:09:28,429 --> 01:09:32,260
If you follow Him, you will 
not walk in the darkness.

1619
01:09:32,260 --> 01:09:34,069
That light changes us.

1620
01:09:34,069 --> 01:09:36,830
You're not going to just 
find it out there in the world.

1621
01:09:36,830 --> 01:09:39,089
You're not going to find 
it looking at the sun.

1622
01:09:39,089 --> 01:09:40,138
His light is here.

1623
01:09:40,138 --> 01:09:42,930
His Word is a lamp unto our feet.

1624
01:09:42,930 --> 01:09:45,260
This is where the light is.

1625
01:09:45,260 --> 01:09:47,331
God is light. Christ is light.

1626
01:09:47,331 --> 01:09:49,209
It's found in the Word of God.

1627
01:09:49,209 --> 01:09:50,731
This is where it is.

1628
01:09:50,731 --> 01:09:54,106
You cannot be in this communion -

1629
01:09:54,106 --> 01:09:56,220
You cannot be close to God

1630
01:09:56,220 --> 01:09:58,189
and walking close to Him

1631
01:09:58,189 --> 01:10:00,148
and dwelling in this light

1632
01:10:00,148 --> 01:10:04,034
and dwelling in this kind of fellowship

1633
01:10:04,034 --> 01:10:07,170
on the subjective level

1634
01:10:07,170 --> 01:10:13,200
if you're not in the Word of God.

1635
01:10:13,200 --> 01:10:15,269
(incomplete thought)

1636
01:10:15,269 --> 01:10:18,730
Look, if your devotional 
time in the Word of God

1637
01:10:18,730 --> 01:10:20,110
just stinks,

1638
01:10:20,110 --> 01:10:24,541
I'll guarantee your life stinks.

1639
01:10:24,541 --> 01:10:27,501
And again, there's an objective 
reality in this fellowship.

1640
01:10:27,501 --> 01:10:29,064
You're either in or you're out,

1641
01:10:29,064 --> 01:10:30,391
but for those that are in,

1642
01:10:30,391 --> 01:10:31,849
the fellowship is all over.

1643
01:10:31,849 --> 01:10:34,532
But it's a relationship that 
has to be nourished.

1644
01:10:34,532 --> 01:10:38,772
And if you're not abiding 
in the light of this Word,

1645
01:10:38,772 --> 01:10:42,115
you shouldn't expect that 
you're going to have

1646
01:10:42,115 --> 01:10:48,991
this gloriously victorious life.

1647
01:10:48,991 --> 01:10:52,890
Father, we pray

1648
01:10:52,890 --> 01:10:55,411
that You would take us -

1649
01:10:55,411 --> 01:10:57,582
take us into a greater and greater

1650
01:10:57,582 --> 01:11:01,077
deeper knowledge,

1651
01:11:01,077 --> 01:11:02,162
a deeper reality,

1652
01:11:02,162 --> 01:11:05,138
a deeper experiential 
reality in all these areas

1653
01:11:05,138 --> 01:11:06,900
and even more.

1654
01:11:06,900 --> 01:11:09,998
Lord, I pray, I want -

1655
01:11:09,998 --> 01:11:11,802
my desire in going through this

1656
01:11:11,802 --> 01:11:13,089
and preaching this, Father,

1657
01:11:13,089 --> 01:11:16,067
I desire that You would produce

1658
01:11:16,067 --> 01:11:18,455
a hunger in the hearts of Your people

1659
01:11:18,455 --> 01:11:20,021
that would long after this

1660
01:11:20,021 --> 01:11:21,530
and press into the inner place

1661
01:11:21,530 --> 01:11:24,510
and press for greater, deeper expressions

1662
01:11:24,510 --> 01:11:26,861
and strive just like it is

1663
01:11:26,861 --> 01:11:28,620
with a husband and a wife -

1664
01:11:28,620 --> 01:11:30,391
we have to nurture relationships.

1665
01:11:30,391 --> 01:11:31,880
We have to nurture fellowship.

1666
01:11:31,880 --> 01:11:34,026
We have to nurture communion

1667
01:11:34,026 --> 01:11:35,400
and closeness.

1668
01:11:35,400 --> 01:11:38,269
We have to strive.

1669
01:11:38,269 --> 01:11:40,462
It's not something that 
we can just neglect

1670
01:11:40,462 --> 01:11:42,643
and think it's going to 
automatically happen.

1671
01:11:42,643 --> 01:11:45,068
And Father, I pray that 
there would be a hunger,

1672
01:11:45,068 --> 01:11:47,890
there would be a real thirsting 
in the brethren after this.

1673
01:11:47,890 --> 01:11:51,067
I pray that when we move past this section

1674
01:11:51,067 --> 01:11:53,841
that there would be a reality

1675
01:11:53,841 --> 01:11:55,510
in a lot of people's lives

1676
01:11:55,510 --> 01:12:00,140
beyond what they have known.

1677
01:12:00,140 --> 01:12:02,251
I pray in Christ's name, Amen.

1678
01:12:02,251 --> 01:12:03,680
You're dismissed.