Fellowship With God

1 John 1:5-2:2

1 John 1:5 - 2:2

9/12/21

“Fellowship With God”

(Sermon #31 All-Time)

Main Idea: Fellowship with God means breaking fellowship with sin.

I want to invite you to turn in God’s word to the book of 1 John. Our text this evening is 1 John 1:5 - 2:2.

1 John 1:5 - 2:2, God says this through the apostle John:

5 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. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 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. 8 If we say 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 we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Christ Our Advocate

2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

PRAY

INTRO

I want to ask you to think for a moment about a track - like the one just down the road at the Earlham School District. Many of you have probably been on that track, or at the very least have seen it… One of the first things you tend to notice about the track is the lines that form each lane. And you might wonder…why are those there? And you quickly realize, especially if you’re a man of my stature, as you look over - well that man in lane 1 is not to be trifled with.. that they are there, number 1, for your safety… they are there for your protection. But second is this, that if you’re in a race, you realize - those lines keep you going in the right direction, they keep you from straying off into some unknown territory called the football field - where no man of my stature wants to be…

We’ve been discussing what it means to be children of light in the book of Ephesians for several weeks now, and we discovered last Sunday that part of what God calls His children to do is expose the darkness. And we saw how Paul encouraged you and I to live in such a way so that it is clear to the world that darkness really is darkness. That it is exposed for what it really is - unfruitful, it steals from you, it never helps the Christian. And that you expose the darkness - by radiating light - what is true, right, and good.

And Friends, my desire this morning is to flesh that out just a little more. Go just a little deeper with you in the Bible concerning how darkness is exposed. And really, wanting to expose YOU to the fullness of what God says about walking in the light and not in the dark and 1 John really compliments and further deepens our understanding of what we have so far discussed in Ephesians 5.

We are going to see, that fellowship with God is breaking our fellowship with sin - that fellowship with God is breaking our fellowship with sin.

So back to the track - how do you walk, or some of you might run on the track - but in the track of life, how do yo live, walk in fellowship with God, as His child?

And John gives you the answer: just like the lines on a track keep safe - they’re for your good and for your safety - they also keep you going in the right direction. John gives you two guardrails, two lines on the track to describe what fellowship with God looks like. To describe the realities we’ve been seeing in Ephesians 5.

But brothers and sisters, I don’t want you to look at these two guardrails I’m about to give you and think that these two guardrail somehow earn you heaven.

The book of 1 John and the book of Ephesians, and all of the Bible, is not a book written to show you what you can do to earn God’s favor. The book of 1 John is written for Christians so that they might know that they already have God’s favor in Christ. Heaven has been earned for you already, because of Jesus. So, when I give you these two guardrails clearly from the text, please do not twist it and think: If I but look at these two guard rails on the track I can make it to the end. No. No. They are given to you for your good. They are given to you for your safety. They are given to you to go the right direction - But they are not given to save you. Only Jesus can do that - and He has done that - if you have stopped trusting in yourself and began trusting fully in Him for a right standing before God.

Fellowship with God, is only possible for the Christian, and fellowship with God means your fellowship with sin is broken. And John gives you two guardrails, two lines on the track, to demonstrate how you are to walk and run in this life:

The first line on the track is this: Fellowship with God is Walking in the Light.

And the second: Fellowship with God is Confessing your sins.

And once you have these two guardrails, you have your lane on the track of your life, and now you have to ask the question - what do you look at when you run this race? What do you look at while you’re on the track of life? It’s Christ. He’s the goal! He’s the prize - and He has already ran the race perfectly and earned the prize for you. Look at Him! Fellowship with God is running to your savior. Fellowship with God is running to your savior.

So that’s where we are headed. Fellowship with God breaks your fellowship with sin.

Guard rail #1: Fellowship with God is walking in the light

Guard rail #2: Fellowship with God is confessing your sin

AND third, Fellowship with God is running to your savior.

Guard rail #1: Fellowship with God is: Walking in the Light

Look at verses 5-7, you will find this so similar to our study in Ephesians.

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.

Question: What does fellowship with God look like? Answer: verse 7, Walking in the light. That’s what fellowship with God looks like.

In John’s day - and in our day today - people (the beginning of the Gnostic movement) were teaching heresy - they were teaching that you could say with your mouth I am saved, and then that was as good as gold. You didn’t have to pay attention to sin. So long as you had the right knowledge, the way you lived was unimportant. They detached the body with the spirit, and thus said, sin doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what you do in this body. But, John says: “this is not what we heard from Christ.” Instead, we want you - the true church - to know that God is light. He is holy, he is perfect, he is just. His character is absolutely pure. Look at verse 5: “This is the message we have heard…don’t listen to those gnostics and how they say your behavior in life is irrelevant, how they say you can divorce the body and the Spirit when it comes to living in sin - John is saying - they don’t know Christ like we do…God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

We see that John characterizes God by the word: light. He does this in the gospel of John.

John 8:12 - “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

This is Light: life, purity, righteousness, goodness, its satisfying, and its true

This is Darkness: death, corruption, pollution, deception, only gratifying - never satisfying, and its a lie.

Light and Darkness.

So, when we see verse 6 of our passage saying “If we say we have fellowship with Him - with God - while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” We think - well of course. You can’t say that you are in the light and in the darkness simultaneously. Light and darkness are exclusive of one another. Light destroys darkness. You can’t say you are a Christian when it’s clear that you don’t love Christ. You can’t say you are a Christian when there is no life, adoration and satisfaction in Jesus Christ. You can’t say you’re a Christian when you live your life like someone in the darkness. It’s like saying you are a vegetarian while you chew on a chicken leg. Is he really a vegetarian? It’s obvious it’s not true. We’ve seen the same kind of comparison by Paul in Ephesians.

The Gnostics are saying in John’s day - and people in our day in some churches and in schools and in your work place are saying - it doesn’t matter how you live your life, doesn’t matter how you treat your sin. But, God is telling us here - very clearly - No. I am light. If you walk with me, you walk in holiness, in love, in purity. You love the light. And, you hate the darkness and its deception and its corruption.

Friends, If you have true fellowship with God - a saving relationship with Him - You’ve seen the LIGHT of the gospel. God died for you - His PERFECT righteousness becomes your by Faith alone, He earns justification for you, not a shred of your right standing before God is because of what you have done or WILL do - that’s gospel - and that kind of LIGHT - bursts on to the eyes of your heart and your vision changes forever! You realize the darkness. You can finally see it - you can see the darkness, because you’ve seen the light. You’re not a slave to the darkness, blind in the darkness, anymore. And the darkness - you want none of that. You’ve been hit by Jesus, and Jesus leaves a mark!! He always leaves a mark! The gospel changes you from the inside out! What does John calls this in his gospel? Being born again. (John 3)

Friends, John here is saying the same thing as Paul in Ephesians 5:

Ephesians 5:8-9

8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),

So, Why? Why walk in the light? Because again, of verse 7, “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."

The Christian has been cleansed by Jesus. Repenting of sin, trusting in Jesus, that’s the beginning of walking in the light. Jesus calls you unto Himself and saves you - and you are no longer darkness but light. And so, you live in the light, you behave like a cleansed man or woman - because you have been cleansed! The gospel - that God is changing me from the inside out is true - THEREFORE, now walk with Him who is changing you - and walking with Him is walking in the light - He is light! If HE is light, how can you walk with him, and yet still walk in darkness? You can’t! Therefore, walk in the light.

The blood of Jesus was spilled for all who who believe on Christ - and that blood paid it all - it covered all of your iniquity. The wrath of God that all of us deserve - that you deserve - was poured out on the Son as He shed His blood for you. Without the shed blood of Jesus - without His substitutionary death on the cross - you’d have no hope, you’d have no forgiveness…because cleansing means that my sin is gone - removed from me - none of it is left.

Like the hymn says: Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow! Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe!

Yes, it was removed from you and placed on Jesus and He dealt with it forever. Have you been cleansed by the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, for all who call upon Him in faith?

HYMN:

Are you washed, in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb?

Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow? Only in Christ is this possible - Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?

And a washed, cleansed child of God - wants to walk in the light. Wants to walk with God. Because they’ve been made into someone brand new. Because they’ve been forgiven so much. Because God - light itself - is in them, to will and to work. Conversion is a massively big deal - like we’ve discovered in Ephesians 4 and 5 - regeneration, being made alive from our deadness in sin - is a true reality for all in Christ - and it radically shapes the way you walk.

How does it shape the way you walk?

The Christian thinks like Joseph with Potiphar’s wife as he or she is tempted and says: “How Could I sin against God like this?” Look at what he has done for me! Or when a person leans over to whisper in the ear of another, some kind of juicy gossip…and then knows - that’s just slander…this is darkness, I’ve been cleansed. I can walk like someone cleansed - and they turn that conversation around to something worthwhile! Become who you are already in Christ Christian!

Or the person who insists on their preferences - their preferred way of worship, their preferred way of doing things in the church when there is no biblical instruction for those things - it’s just preferences…and a brother or sister caught up in their pride recognizes that God saved them by grace alone - He cleansed them the same as He cleansed that other brother and sister who have different preferences…and the child of light says - I will bend my knees in humility, I will bow gladly before my brothers and sisters to promote unity, because I’ve got no place for pride. By grace alone I have been forgiven and made clean! I’ve been cleansed - and I haven’t brought the soap, I haven’t brought the wash cloth, I haven’t brought the new clothes - I haven’t brought anything to my cleansing. Jesus did all of that - Jesus gave Himself for me…. MY PREFERENCES? I’m going to insist on MY preferences? What about GOD’s preferences? HE WANTS YOU TO BE UNITED! TOGETHER. Paul is going to tell you the same in a few weeks in Ephesians 5 - submit to one another out of obedience to Christ. And if what you do, in demanding your preferences be the standard - undermines the unity of the body of Christ, the unity for which Jesus died for - if you can’t submit to your brother or sister out of love - repent. Bow down. Humble yourself. How can you act otherwise? It was God, who called you into His marvelous light. It was God who cleansed you. It was God who made you new. A cleansed person friend, walks in the light.

And young Children, how do you walk in the light? You listen to your parents when you don’t want to. You have affection for them, you desire to follow them…even when you don’t get it. That’s what it means to walk in the light - its a life not marked by willful, unrepentant sin. Because you've been hit by Jesus. And when you fellowship with Jesus Christ, He breaks your fellowship with sin. You want to break your relationship with sin - your hearts cries out, deliver me God! That’s fellowship with God. That’s walking in the light.

Luther and Calvin both said it this way: We are saved by faith alone…but that faith is never alone.

Jesus said in the same way: I am the vine you are the branches if a man remains in me and I in Him he will bear much fruit. Apart from me He can do nothing…

And, He told His disciples - you will know whether they truly are followers of Jesus - by their fruits. The fruits don’t make the vine. The fruits don’t make the branch. But a branch, connected to the vine, a sinner connected to the vine, becomes a saint and will produce fruits. Darkness becomes light. And light radiates.

Faith alone, in Christ alone, is never in and of itself, alone. Hearts change, affections change, the fight inside changes…there never used to be a fight for the glory of God in your life - and now there is - when you walk in the light.

That’s fellowship with God. Walking in the light.

And that was guardrail #1. Now, the second the line on the track, the second guard rail.

Guard Rail #2: Fellowship with God is confessing your sin.

We are to pursue holiness, to walk in the light, but to never think we are sinless.

We find that in verses 8-10:

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.

Fellowship with God is confessing your sins. Walking in the light, is confessing yours sins. They are not two different things…they work together!

We were just told in the prior verses - pursue holiness, walk in the light…But how? How can I walk in the light? Especially when I find myself in the darkness as a Christian at times? How do I forsake the darkness? These verses tell us: How do you walk in the light? Confess your sins. Confess your sins. In other words: Bring your sins, into the light with you! Drag your sins into the light with you. As you walk in the light, bring them along, and expose your own sins!

ILLUSTRATION: Fungus

Deadly fungus loves the dark. It loves the dark and damp places where little UV light resides. It thrives in the darkness…But when you expose fungus, to the light - it cannot thrive. Light KILLS it. Though, sometimes slowly.

Friends, as we walk in the light, we are to bring ALL of ourself into the light. That includes our sin - that we might put it to death. What the reformers called: for the mortification of our sins! When you drag your sin into the light - you put all of your darkest secrets, all your lust, your pride, your lies - you confess them to God and you confess them to others. That you might kill the flesh in you - that you might kill the sin that still resides within you though you no longer have the same nature as a child of light.

So then how do you do this? How do you drag your sins into the light with you?

I want to bring you back to verse 7 for a moment, look there with me again: when we walk in the light we have fellowship with God but who else? Look at verse 7: with one another. So, this fellowship we experience with God bleeds in to our fellowship with one another - with one another.

Vertical fellowship with God occurs while walking in the light and confessing our sin, this leads to horizontal walking in the light with my brothers and sisters through confessing my sin. Listen to this: James 5:16, “…Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

Who knows about what you are going through? Who do you confess your sins to? Where is your accountability? Yes, to God first. He alone can cleanse you. But, scripture is FULL of exhortations and commands to confess our sins to one another! Write these down if you are taking notes:

Matthew 5:23-24 - you can’t worship rightly before God if you haven’t been reconciled to your brother. That’s Confession.

Galatians 6:1- We are to help restore each other - through confession

Our text just weeks ago… Ephesians 4:32 - We are to work to forgive each other - through confession.

Wouldn’t it be great if this church could walk in the light together? Wouldn’t it be amazing if this congregation truly was involved in each others’ lives - in a way that gets past the facade of a person in a way that says - when I pray for you, I go to battle with you. I know what’s going on in your life - I love you enough to ask the hard questions - and I go to battle for you when I pray. It’s not easy - but wouldn’t that be good. That’s discipleship. That’s life on life. That’s life in a church. That’s LIGHT in a church.

And friends, that is really uncomfortable. Friends, this is a means of grace we cannot ignore. We must walk in the light - we must confess our sins - this is fellowship with God and one another. We shouldn’t be surprised by this - by brothers and sisters confessing sins to one another. This is what children of light do - this is part of walking in the light. This is part of real fellowship with God and real fellowship with one another. We shouldn’t be surprised. We should be surprised when that doesn’t happen. We should concerned when it’s not happening in our congregation and in our own lives.

Of course you don’t broadcast your sin for all the world to see - usually. I’m not arguing for a megaphone type of confession. But there are people in our lives, that we should be talking to. For the sake of God’s glory in your life, that you might walk in the light, and for your joy - will you do this? Get a brother and a sister and talk to them. Someone that is reliable, trustworthy, mature in the faith, in love with Jesus and who loves you enough to get real like this. Someone that can keep what you say in confidence… Finding a brother or sister like this, getting real with them like this… That’s walking in the light, that is part of what it means to fellowship with God.

Fellowship with God, means breaking your fellowship with sin. And fellowship with God therefore looks like walking in the light. And how do you walk in the light? Confess your sins. Walk in humility before God and with a few dear members of this church.

Those are the two lanes of the track. For your good, and for your safety, that you might run this race set out before you and make it to the end - going the right direction…but you won’t make it to the end, you won’t run this race at all, if you don’t know where you’re running to…You won’t even get off the start line if you simply keep your eyes down…Where do you run? Why do you run in the first place? Why do these lines on the track even matter? Where do you run?

Let me show you, from this text, the answer to that question, where do you run?

1 John 2:1-2

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

The answer to the question - where do you run - is the wrong question - it’s not a “where” it’s a “who”. Who do you run to?

Point #3: Fellowship with God is running to your savior. It’s running to your one and only advocate before the Father.

Do you see how sweet the wording here is: My little Children, I am writing these things so that you wouldn’t sin…but if you do sin - Jesus Christ is yours! Take Him! Look to Him. Don’t look down at the track and down at yourself - but look up to Him!!!

Do you taste the sweetness of God, the FATHER in that verse - calling you his child - if you belong to Christ? He has not left you to your own devices. He has not left you on your own. How can you NOT RUN to a savior, and to a Father like this? I don’t know much sweeter language than that.

Look up to Jesus Christ, the righteous. Who for your sake became sin, so that He might give you His own righteousness, by grace alone! Like the song we all know:

AMAZING GRACE, HOW SWEET THE SOUND THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME, I ONCE WAS LOST, BUT NOW I’M FOUND, WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I SEE!!! And this Christ pleads for you. He is your advocate. He is FOR you if you belong to Him - that is what an advocate is. Notice that John does not hold out to you the hope that other saints who have gone to glory will be your advocate: Not Mary, not Saint Patrick, not even Saint John…John says - Jesus alone is your advocate. Jesus alone is who stands intercedes on your behalf. But even more….

Jesus is the propitiation…Do you see that in verse 2. Your propitiation, the substitute - for YOUR sins - and the whole world! His work on the cross was sufficient for ALL!!! For YOU and ALL! Does this mean that God does not have an elect - by no means. Scripture is clear that there is people of God whom He has foreknown before the foundation of the world. And at the cross the wrath of God was satisfied FULLY for the elect. We do not forsake the doctrine of limited atonement. This passage does not teach that. But it does teach, that all are welcome to come to the cross. This does teach that if you are hearing this right now, and you do not know Christ, but you’ve seen Him for the first time to be wonderful, to be a merciful savior of sinners like you, that you could come, confess your sins to the Lord, and trust Him. Grab an elder of this church that we might explain things further to you. He died for the sins of the world - meaning that the work of Jesus was sufficient for all of mankind. Any who call upon will be saved. But we know, none call upon Him apart from His sovereign gracious moving and rescuing and chasing after depraved men…and so we say with the saints of old: The work of Christ is sufficient for all, but EFFICIENT for the elect. Though the offer of salvation through Christ is made to all - and all are commanded by God to repent and believe this good news - God’s elect will be the only ones who repent and believe… Friend, this means that Christ is available for you - For ANY who would come to Him. Would you come, friend? Even if you are already a Christian, come to Him again in confession. Would you come? Would you confess your sins? To Him? And as a result, walk in humility with your brothers and sisters in this church? BECAUSE, he is your propitiation?

CONCLUSION

Illustration: My Student

My first year of teaching, I taught 5th grade, and absolutely loved it. But, not everyday was always fun. Sometimes I had to discipline. On one such occasion, one of my students was being extremely disrespectful. I asked him to stop, I asked him to listen - he did not. Eventually, I knew that I had to discipline him. Other things had not worked before, so I tried a new tactic. I gave him a dictionary, a piece of paper, and a pencil, and during recess his punishment was to write out word for word, letter for letter, symbol for symbol - the exact definition of the word respect (and a few other words) from the dictionary. The catch, he had to spend all his recess time doing this and if he messed up one thing, or omitted even one comma, he had to start all the way over. For two days this punishment went on and you could tell that this young man was sick about things. On the third day or so, I went up to the young man and told him - Young man, I am going to take that dictionary for you, and your pencil and paper, and I am going to finish writing your definition for you. I’m not just going to take the punishment away - I’m going to finish it for you. I looked him in the eyes and said - this is called a propitiation - that’s what Jesus Christ did for me when he died on the cross for me. He took my place, he took my punishment. Propitiation is a substitute who takes the punishment. Only difference is, my punishment was a lot worse, and I didn’t even get my definition started for Him - He took it ALL for me. I’m not sure if that young man understand what I was saying, especially the word propitiation - but you should have seen the look on his face when he heard that someone was going to SATISFY his punishment for him - not just sweep it under the rug - but SATISFY it for him. Completely, forever. There was gratitude yes. But even more, there was joy. He ran full-bore beaming with joy.

Friends, that is what Christ Jesus - your advocate, your propitiation, has done for you. Do you trust Him for that? Do you look to Christ for your salvation, to do the work you could never do yourself? To take the punishment that you deserve? To fully satisfy the wrath of God, for you!? To be your substitute - your propitiation on the cross? If you do - If you look to Christ - John would have you then run with joy! It wasn’t in our selected text, but look at verse 4 in your bible.

4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Run then to Christ! Fellowship with Christ breaks your fellowship with Christ. Your relationship with sin changes when you embrace a relationship with Jesus. HE is why you don’t tolerate sin in your life, but instead walk in the light. HE is why you confess yours sins. None of this matters if you don’t know HIM. Don’t leave hear saying I need to focus on the guardrails…I need to do this or do that. Leave here saying: What a savior! I need Him - and I believe Him. If you know Him not, come talk to me, come talk to one of the deacons, that we might tell you more of this Jesus. Trust Him to be my savior. Trust Him for forgiveness, trust Him to take your heart and make it new. And you will be saved. And you will see the two lines on the track, and with joy, you will RUN in the light, and you will with joy Confess your sins to God and to one another, because all the while you are looking to your savior: Jesus Christ. Let us pray.