The Formula for Fellowship

turn with me, please, to 1 John chapter 1—1 John chapter 1. And, in a moment, I’m going to read to you, beginning in verse 3—1 John chapter 1.

Fellowship is a very churchy word, we don’t use much outside of church.

I think of the “fellowship hall”, when I hear it. John uses the word here in this section of scripture:

1 John 1:3–6 (ESV)

that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

1 John 1:7–10 (ESV)

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

“A Formula for Fellowship”: he’s telling you how to have fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ and with God the Father—“that your joy may be complete or full”— the way to have fullness of joy is to have fellowship with God and with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

And THEE killer of fellowship is what? Sin. It kills fellowship with God and fellowship with each other.

But, how do we deal specifically with sin?

First of all, you have to understand that sin is just what it is: it is sin. God only forgives sin; God doesn’t forgive mistakes. Now, I’m not saying God judges you for mistakes. He doesn’t either judge you or condemn you, or forgive them. But, if you call your sins “mistakes,” then you’ll never deal with them. We need to call sin what it is.

if you call sin by some other name—a “misjudgment,” a “malfunction,” a “mistake,” or a “sickness”—if you say that man is ill, but not evil; he’s weak, but not wicked; he’s sick, but not sinful—if you say that, then you’re never going to deal with your sin as you ought, and you’re never going to have fellowship with God.

You see, the problem is our world has a burden of guilt without a sense of sin. The burden of guilt is there. It shows up in many, many ways. But, so many of us don’t see ourselves as sinners needing to be forgiven; we see ourselves as people who made mistakes who need to be fixed. And so, we try to fix ourselves without getting cleansed and without getting forgiven.

Well, I want to talk to you today about God’s formula for fellowship—not the world’s formula.

Only the gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer to the sin problem, because through the gospel of Jesus Christ, God forgives, God cleanses—and here’s the wonderful part—God forgets our sin.

Before we really get into the heart of the matter, let me just give you a couple of (two or three) verses to tell you how God deals with your sin when He saves you, when you get saved.

Hebrews 8:12 ESV

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

Now, think about that: “their iniquities”—your sins—“their iniquities will I remember no more” Then, Isaiah chapter 43 and verse 25: God says,

Isaiah 43:25 ESV

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Twice God says, “I will not remember.” Over and over again, God tells us that He’s put our sin in the grave of His forgetfulness, never, never to come up again. God has forgotten your sin if you’re saved. It is gone, buried, and gone, and forgiven.

Now, that doesn’t mean that God forgets it intellectually. That doesn’t mean that God cannot recall it. That isn’t what that means at all. God could never, ever truly learn anything or forget anything because He knows everything, and nothing escapes His knowledge. sometimes try asking people, “Has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurs to God?” God is God.

So, what does He mean when He says, “I will remember their sins no more”

God does not remember them as sins, but God remembers them as forgiven sins.

Now, listen to this: God remembers them as forgiven sins, and, therefore, what God has forgotten as a sin, I can forget as a sin. I can remember my sin intellectually. You say, “can you remember when you told a lie, or you had a lustful thought, or when you lost your temper, or when you were full of pride?” Yes, but thank God I can remember it as a forgiven sin; So, when we get saved, when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, when you’re born again, all of your sins are forgiven. “[And] though your sins be as scarlet, they [become whiter than] snow” (Isaiah 1:18), and they are put in the grave of God’s forgetfulness.

Now, that happens, and your sin—past, present, and future—will never, ever be brought up against you anymore. He’ll never put it on your account. If God were to mark one-­half of one cent against your account, you’d be a lost sinner and on the way to Hell. You understand that, don’t you? God has forgiven you. God has cleansed you. God has made you—not only where your past is forgiven, but your future is secure. There is never a time as a born again believer, when God will ever mark any sin to your account.

But now, having said that, I want you to look very carefully—look in verse 6-7:

1 John 1:6–7 ESV

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Now, your sin will never be brought up against you in order to condemn you and cast you into Hell if you are saved—if you are truly saved.

We are his children. That will never change. You are the child of your parents. Nothing can change that. So our “sonship”, is secure, it can’t be changed.

But, your sin can interrupt fellowship with the Father. That’s the reason that it says, “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 [cleanses] us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). So, it’s one thing to have sonship; it’s another thing to have fellowship.

Now, what we are focusing on today is a formula for fellowship— how to know that you’re right, how to know that you’re cleansed. When you stumble, when you fall, how do you get back? Well, that’s what we’re talking about. Now, there are three things: These are three very wonderful things that you must learn if you want to get in fellowship and stay in fellowship with God, your Father.

I. Your Sin Must Be Exposed to the Light

Number one: Your sin must be exposed to the light. I want you to see something very interesting here. Look, if you will, in verse 6. Do you see the little phrase, “If we say” Look in verse 8. Do you see the little phrase, “If we say” (1 John 1:8)? Look in verse 10. Do you see the little phrase, “If we say” (1 John 1:10)? Each one of these verses begins with those words: “if we say,” “if we say,” “if we say.” Now, what’s he talking about? people, here, who somehow deny their sin.

Let me show it to you. First of all, when a child of God gets sin in his or her heart, many times they begin to lie to other people. Look in verse 6: “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6). Now, what happens is this: a man, a woman, a boy, a girl, who is truly saved, been born again, his sin is forgiven and forgotten… Then, he lets some sin get in his heart and his life, and he comes to church on Sunday morning; and he sits here. And, we sing these songs, and he sings, too. We study the Bible, and he says, “Amen.” People meet him and are saying, “How you doing?” “Fine.” He’s just lying—he’s just lying. And, he knows it, but he begins to lie to others, because he cannot confess what is in his heart.

Sometimes, You know that your heart is not right with God, but you don’t want the person next to you to know it. You don’t want your wife to know it, your husband to know it, your children to know it, your mom and dad to know it, so you’re just acting like everything is just fine. So, you begin by lying to others.

Now, look in verse 8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” (1 John 1:8). Now, if you tell that lie long enough, you’re going to begin to believe it. You’re going to begin to say, “Yeah, that’s true. I’m all right.” You make some allowance for your sin, and you deceive yourself. You become a spiritual schizophrenic. You lie to yourself. But, it’s not finished yet. And then, look in verse 10: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:10). We end up in controversy with God; we end up lying to God. The Holy Spirit says, “That’s a sin,” and we say, “It’s not a sin.” So, you make God a liar. And so, what you do—what you do: you just try to hide your sin. And, that’s the most dangerous thing we can do—is to conceal our sin, to say to others, and to say to ourselves, and to say to God that there is no sin in our lives.

Now, what we need to do is to expose this sin to the light, Why do we bring up that old stuff?! I’m trying to show you today how to have fellowship with God. Now, that sin, therefore, must be exposed to the light. It says, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another”

And so, what does light do?

Light just simply reveals what’s wrong. You see, the closer you get to a bright light, the more imperfections show up in any object. If you want to know whether there is any sin in your heart and in your life today, just expose it to the light. Just say, “Holy Spirit of God, search me, try me, and know my heart, and see if there is some wicked way in me. Turn the searchlight of Your holiness into my heart and into my life.” And, the Holy Spirit of God will convict you of any sin that’s in your heart and in your life today. I’m not talking about sin that will condemn you and send you to Hell; I’m talking about sin that will ruin and destroy your fellowship. Just open up your heart to the light of God. Right now, just say, “Here I am, Lord. Look in me.” You don’t have to do morbid introspection on yourself. Just simply open yourself up to the Lord, and ask God to show you—ask God to reveal that sin to you. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another” (1 John 1:7). Now, that’s Holy Spirit conviction, when the Holy Spirit of God reveals what may be wrong in your heart and in your life.

A. The Holy Spirit Will Convict You Legitimately

Well, first of all, the Holy Spirit of God will convict you legitimately. The Holy Spirit of God will say, “This is the sin that has come into your life that has not yet been confessed and cleansed.” Now, the devil will accuse you illegitimately. Do you see? The devil will bring up that which has already been cleansed and already been forgiven. He will bring that up and bring it back to your remembrance again. Now, the Bible says if it has been cleansed, it will never ever be brought up again: “[God] is faithful and just to forgive us our [sin]”verse 9—“and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Now, suppose you told a lie. Let’s suppose that you told your wife a lie. And, the Holy Spirit of God convicted you of that sin, and you confessed it. You said, “God, I’m sorry. Forgive me, and cleanse me.” Well, what happened to that sin? It is gone. It is forgiven. It is cleansed—never ever to be brought up again. If it comes up again, it is the devil, this time, accusing you. You know, the devil is called “the accuser of [the] brethren” (Revelation 12:10). He accuses you before God, and he accuses you before your own conscience. And, the devil will say, “Do you remember when you told that lie to your wife?” And, he’ll bring it up again to torment you with it. Now, before you sin, the devil says, “Go ahead and do it. You can get away with it.” And, after you sin, the devil says, “You’ll never get away with it.” He leads you into sin, and then he accuses you for doing what he led you into doing. But, the Holy Spirit of God will only convict you of sin legitimately.

If that sin… Let’s suppose that you’ve not yet confessed it to your wife. Let’s suppose you told a lie to your wife, and the Holy Spirit of God says, “You lied to your wife,” and you try to have fellowship with God. And, you know you don’t have fellowship with God. The searchlight of God’s holiness is telling you that you told a lie to your wife. Well, that is conviction—that’s Holy Spirit conviction—and it is a legitimate conviction. So, the Holy Spirit of God will convict you legitimately.

B. The Holy Spirit Will Convict You Specifically

Let me tell you what else He will do: He will convict you specifically. Now, when the devil accuses you, if the devil cannot accuse you of some sin that’s already been forgiven, well, then the devil will just accuse you generally. He’ll just say to you, “You’re no good. You’re unworthy. You have just a vile, sinful nature. God couldn’t love any body like you. There are a lot of people just like that. They’re under oppression of the devil. The devil has given these people a negative view of themselves, and they’re under satanic oppression.

He makes you feel bad, mostly all over. But, the Holy Spirit is like a skilled physician. He puts His finger on the sore spot, and He pushes. You say, “Oh, that hurt. That’s where the sin is.” And, the Holy Spirit will call it by name. Don’t ever try to deal with sin this way, and say, “O God, if I’ve sinned, forgive me.” That’s just a waste of breath. Say, “Lord, I told a lie. Forgive me.” Or, “Lord, I was cruel. Forgive me.” Or, “Lord, I was dishonest. Forgive me.” Or, “Lord, I was watching something I should not have watched, and it was wrong. Forgive it.” And, you see, you name it specifically, and that’s where you get forgiven, because that’s where the Holy Spirit of God will convict you.

Now, you don’t have to go around just saying, “Oh, I must be guilty. Lord, forgive me for all of my sins, whatever they were. I don’t know; I haven’t got any idea. But, I just feel terrible.” That’s the devil making you feel terrible. The Holy Spirit will only convict you of sin that has not been confessed, and the Holy Spirit will tell you exactly what it is. He’ll put a name on it. He’ll put a face on it. He’ll put a time on it. He’ll put a date on it. And, that way, you can know that it is cleansed and forgiven.

C. The Holy Spirit Will Convict You Redemptively

You see, the Holy Spirit of God convicts you so that you will confess and come to fellowship. God wants you to have fellowship with Him. When God deals with you as a son, He’s not trying to get even with you; He is trying to restore you to fellowship. He hates it when the fellowship is broken, so He’s trying to bring you back to fellowship. So, He will name the exact thing. He’ll say, “This is what you’ve done; and now, come to me, and I will forgive you and cleanse you.”

Now, He convicts you redemptively. The devil accuses you destructively. The Holy Spirit wants you to draw you to confession, and forgiveness, and fellowship. The devil wants to drive you to accusation and despair and away from God. So, just open up your heart to the Holy Spirit of God. That sin must be exposed to the light. That’s all you need to do today. Just say, “Lord, here I am—here I am. If there is any un-­confessed, un-­forsaken, un-­forgiven sin in my life, just turn the search light of Your holiness on to my life,” and the Holy Spirit will legitimately, specifically, and redemptively say, “That’s where the problem is.”

And then, what do you do with it? Well, first of all, we said it must be exposed to the light.

II. Your Sin Must Be Expressed to the Lord

Secondly, it must be expressed to the Lord. Now, look, if you will, in verse 9.

1 John 1:9 ESV

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

we must confess our sin.

Well, how do you confess your sin? Well, the word confess here is the word homologeo, and it means “to say the same thing.” A confession of sin is not just an admission of sin; it is an agreement with God about that sin. You say about that sin what God says about that sin. To confess that sin means to name it and nail it, to agree with God. When the Holy Spirit of God says, “There is the problem,” He puts His finger right on the sore spot. Then, you call that sin by name. You confess it. You say what the Holy Spirit has just said. That means to agree with the Holy Spirit, to confess—confess. Even in the English it means the same thing—like we say, “Fess up.” The word con means “with.” So, say the same. Agree with God. When the Holy Spirit of God legitimately, specifically, redemptively says, “There’s the problem in your life,” just simply agree with God and say, “That is right, God. There is the problem in my life, and I judge that sin.”

A. Express It Immediately

Now, how do you do it? You must do it immediately. The word confess is in the present tense. Don’t just save up all of your sins at the end of the day—or worse, at the end of the week. Say, “Now, Lord, I’m going to get right with you again.” Oh, no, if we confess, it’s present tense; it’s something that calls for immediate action.

When you get a speck of dust in your eye during the day, you don’t say, “I’ll get that out at the end of the night,” or, “I’ll get that out, maybe, in a week from now.” No, you say, “Pardon me, I’ve got something in my eye. I need to get that out.” It’s an irritant. That’s the way you do with your sin. I mean immediately—immediately. I do this all the time. I say, “Lord, that was wrong,” or, “Lord, my attitude was wrong,” or, “Lord, I did this, or I did that.” The Holy Spirit puts His finger on the sore spot, and immediately, just like that, I can say, “Lord, forgive me, and cleanse me.”

Now, let me tell you what the spiritual life is: the Spirit-­filled life is not a life where you can never sin. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). But, here is what the Spirit-­filled life is: it’s not riding this roller coaster like this. You get up here, and you get right with God. And, you’re going along, and you’re aware that some sin comes into your life. And, you start down, but immediately you confess it, and you say, “O God, that’s wrong. I’m sorry. I agree with You.” And so, here’s your life. That’s the way it’s supposed to be—just like that. You just stay up here. You don’t get down here and ride that low part of that roller coaster for a long time. It is a life of confession of sin, agreeing with God. You do it immediately.

B. Express It Specifically

And, I want to say, secondly, you do it, specifically. We just saw that God convicts us of sin specifically, so it goes to reason, we confess it specifically. Name it; call it by name. We sing that song:

When you begin to say, “Lord, I did it,” but oh, what a relief there is—oh, what a relief there is—when you say, “God, I should not have watched that. I am sorry. It was wrong. I agree with You. I call it by sin. The Holy Spirit has convicted me it is wrong.”

C. Express It Confidently

Do it immediately. Do it specifically. do it confidently. Listen: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). Don’t you love that? If God did not cleanse you and forgive you, He’d be a liar and a crook. He’d be unfaithful and unjust. He is faithful and just. Why? For those sins Jesus died. And, you can be absolutely, wonderfully, totally, cleansed. And, “what God calls clean, let no man call unclean” (Acts 10:15; Acts 11:9). It will be gone, never, ever to be brought up against you anymore. “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

That’s a wonderful way to live, because, when we’re clean, what happens? When we’re clean, we have fellowship with God and fellowship with one another. And, there’s nothing like just being clean with God.

You know how you feel when you brush your teeth in the morning? How your mouth feels? You’ll feel that way all over—you feel that way all over—just to be clean and right with God. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us”—“to cleanse us.” Hallelujah!—“from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).