The Hinderance of Fellowship

Introduction

1 John 1:5–2:2 KJV 1900

5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

The book of 1 John, as we mentioned last week, is all about fellowship…Fellowship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ.

We can let things come into our lives that will cause us to lose our fellowship.

So, what causes someone to lose fellowship?

The cause is most likely sin. We are going look at secret faults; things we hide, things we disguise, things that are hindrances of the fellowship we have with God.

You know? The Bible is the only Book in the world that has the answer to the problem of sin.

It tells us how to deal with sin, it tells us how to recognize sin.

We have a world around us today that don’t like the word “sin” - If you look around, it seems the only sin today is to say there is sin, and to call it out for what it is.

You know why people have such a hard time realizing they are sinners? Because our world likes to call sin anything but that, we call it a mistake, an error, or a misjudgment…Here’s the thing, Jesus did for sin! - We need to call it what it is!

Our society says man is not wicked, but he’s weak. He’s not sinful, he’s sick. He’s not evil, he’s ill.

We have a major problem on our hands, in the world, and in the Church.

Let’s go through these verses tonight and see what we can learn about the hindrances of fellowship, first of all, notice with me,

The Message

1 John 1:5 KJV 1900

5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

This then is the message…heard…declared.

This is a claim to authority. John isn’t making this up; these are not personal opinions or ideas...

This is God’s message about Himself, which John now reveals to us...

2 Timothy 3:16 KJV 1900

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

What John will tell us about God is what God has told us about Himself. We can’t be confident in our own opinions or ideas about God unless they are genuinely founded on what God has said about Himself.

What is the message?

“God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

A good definition of God is, “God is the only infinite, eternal, and unchangeable spirit, the perfect being in whom all things begin, continue, and end.”

Another way of saying God is perfect, is saying, “God is light.”

Adam Clarke wrote, “LIGHT is the purest, the most subtle, the most useful, and the most diffusive of all God’s creatures; it is, therefore, a very proper emblem of the purity, perfection, and goodness of the Divine nature.”

Man, in his natural state is darkness.

John 3:19 KJV 1900

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

God is light, and shows men how to get out of darkness...

2 Corinthians 4:6 KJV 1900

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

If there is a problem with our fellowship with God, it is our fault! It’s not God’s fault because there is no darkness in Him at all…That’s another way of saying, there is no sin in Him at all...

You want to know how to walk in fellowship with God? You start with this Book!

Psalm 119:105 KJV 1900

105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path.

This Book with either keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this Book!

So, we have been told what the message is in verse 5, look on and we will see:

The Problem

I want you to notice three problems in three verses:

Denial

1 John 1:6 KJV 1900

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

People are good at lying…We say one thing and do another, we pretend…

People can come to church, hold a Bible in their hand, sing the songs, nod their heads, and say amen, but down in their heart, things are not right.

There are many people today playing the church game...This is what happens when sin gets into our lives. People get in denial…They think things are ok as long as they come to church, as long as they play the role, but you know deep down inside, how things are.

Many Christians are not aware of their true condition. They know they are saved, and have experienced conversion and have repented at some time in their life. Yet they do not live in true fellowship with God.

If John said “we lie,” it means he thinks in terms of things being true or being lies.

John sees things much more clearly than our sophisticated age does, which doesn’t want to see anything in black or white, but everything in a pale shade of gray.

The modern world often thinks in terms of “my truth” in an individualistic sense. John focused on the idea of God’s truth, ultimate truth.

There are people in the Church today playing games, and only you know if you’re truly born again, your problem might be that you just need to get saved!

Denial is one problem, but another one is...

Deception

1 John 1:8 KJV 1900

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

John did not for a moment believe that a Christian can become sinlessly perfect.

To think this of ourselves is to deceive ourselves, and to say this of ourselves is to lie – the truth is not in us.

Now, going back to verse 6…It says, “walk in darkness” - this is talking about a pattern of living - this phrase is talking about a lifestyle of darkness, not the occasional mishap…It’s not that we are sinless as Children of God, but it’s that we sin less!

Spurgeon wrote, “Our deceitful heart reveals an almost Satanic shrewdness in self-deception… If you say you have no sin you have achieved a fearful success, you have put out your own eyes, and perverted your own reason!”

So, we find Denial, Deception, and then we have the third problem of:

Defiance

1 John 1:10 KJV 1900

10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “We have made ourselves liars; now we try to make God a liar! We contradict His Word, which says that ‘all have sinned,’ and we maintain that we are exceptions to the rule. We apply God’s Word to others but not to ourselves. We sit through church services or Bible studies and are not touched by the Bible’s teachings. Believers who have reached this low level are usually highly critical of other Christians, but they strongly resist applying the Word to their own lives.”

The idea that His word is not in us is related to the idea that Jesus is the Word of life (1 John 1:1); if we refuse to see sin in us, we show that Jesus is not in us.

If you have gone to this level, you need to get saved!

We have seen the message and the problem, and as with most things in the Bible, we are never given a problem without a solution, so let’s look at:

The Solution

The solution for the denial in verse 6, is found in verse 7...

1 John 1:7 KJV 1900

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

The solution for the deception of verse 8, is found in verse 9...

1 John 1:9 KJV 1900

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The solution for the defiance of verse 10, is to get saved!

The solution for sin comes in three parts...

Conviction

God, as the light, will illuminate your darkness, or sin, with the Holy Spirit.

John 16:7–8 KJV 1900

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

The Holy Spirit, like a good doctor will put His finger on the sore spot and say…you know you’ve been UNKIND, you had a LUSTFUL LOOK, you were JEALOUS, you told a LIE, you’re BITTER, you are UNFORGIVING.

This conviction will prompt us to the second thing we see concerning the solution, and that is:

Confession

Confession is an agreement with God. It is not just saying “I did it”. That is not Confession; that is Admission. A confession is to say what God says about that sin. I leave SIN’S SIDE and I come over to GOD’S SIDE and say what He says about my sin.

How should I confess my sin?

IMMEDIATELY – How long do you wait to get something out of your eye? Until Sunday? No, you do it immediately.

SPECIFICALLY – vs. 9. Forgive me, Lord. I lied; I lost my temper; I gossiped. Name it and Nail it.

CONFIDENTLY – vs. 9. “He is faithful and just”

Conviction leads to confession, and confession leads to...

Cleansing

Vs. 9, “And cleanse from ALL unrighteousness.”

Vs. 7, “And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from ALL sin.”

Cleanse refers to making the forgiven sinner holy so that he is able to have fellowship with God.

Sam Gordon wrote, “When God forgives us, He cancels the substantial unrepayable debt that we owe to Him. He wipes the slate clean so that we can come before Him as an acquitted people; the reality is, we stand before Him as if we had never sinned. He does not stop there for He cleanses us, He purifies us, He makes the sinner holy.”

Why does He do that? Because He is faithful and just.

He forgives; He cleanses; He washes out every stain. It’s gone, forgotten.

1 John 2:1–2 KJV 1900

1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

“Advocate” = Lawyer. I have a Lawyer interceding for me presenting His precious blood.

He is the propitiation for our sins. He died for everybody—the whole world. “Propitiation” = He is the satisfaction.

He satisfies the demands of a righteous and Holy God. That is why He says in verse 9, He is faithful and just. Why? Because He is the satisfaction, the propitiation.

Conclusion

Spurgeon wrote, “The text means just this – Treat God truthfully, and he will treat you truthfully. Make no pretensions before God, but lay bare your soul, let him see it as it is, and then he will be faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.”

There are hindrances to the fellowship, but thank God there are solutions to those hindrances...