Fellowship in the Character of God

Transcript

GR 1088
11/14/1982

1 John 1:5-10
Gil Rugh

1 John in your Bibles. I John chapter 1. Began our study of I John last week and we looked at the opening four verses where John laid before us his personal contact with Jesus Christ. It was a first hand contact. He saw Him. He heard Him. He touched Him. He was real. He is the One who has come to bring eternal life. He is the One who provides the opportunity for us to have fellowship with God. Note to share in common the life of God and to share in common with one another as fellow believers. There is that mutual sharing that goes on, both with God and with fellow believers when one comes to believe in Jesus Christ.

Now with verse 5 John picks up with the basic message that he has to proclaim. Remember we noted that in the first epistle of John there are no gray areas dealt with. For John the issues are black and white. You are either here or here. The issue of carnality is not a major focus of John. The issue that John is concerned about is your salvation. Are you truly a child of God? And he has written these things that we might know that we have eternal life. And how do you know? Well, here are the characteristics of a believer. Here are the characteristics of an unbeliever. Look at yourself. As you look in the mirror of the Word, what is reflected? As you look at the mirror of your life, what is reflected? Basic principle that will pervade John is that the children of God manifest the character of God. And if the character of God is not seen in your life and you claim to be a child of God you are a liar. John will be very blunt and very direct. There is no such thing as a child of God who does not manifest the character of God. It is preposterous. It is ridiculous.

So first we have to establish the character of God. And he does that very directly. Verse 5. "And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you." Mow John makes no claim for originality here. This is a message which we have heard. He has already talked about the first-hand contact he had with Jesus Christ. This is a message he received from God, a message which he heard directly from Christ.

We'll see a number of passages in the Gospel of John where Jesus spoke to the very issues that John deals with. This is what we have heard from God and His Son Jesus Christ. And where else would you find out about the character of God but from God Himself? From His Son who is the revelation of His character. Now we announce this to you. So the announcement, the proclamation is made. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. So it is stated from the positive and the native. God is light. So there is no darkness. You know, how are you going to describe darkness. The absence of light. How are you going to describe light—the absence of darkness. They are mutually exclusive. You wouldn't say, it is so dark in this room. I am blinded by the light. Well, you say, well wait a minute. Is it light or is it dark? Well, that's the case it is with God' s character. Now keep that it mind. That's a simple statement but it is foundational to everything because once we know the character of God then we can look and see what the children of God are like.

Okay. God is light. Basically He is the source of revelation and illumination. It becomes a metaphor for life because in life you come to know. You have revelation or illumination. Light and life are joined together. I take it when you talk about the light of God you talk about the life of God because those who have the life of God have the light.

Turn back to the Gospel of John, chapter 1. Verse 4. Speaking of Christ. In Him was life and the life was the light of men." So you see to have life is to have light because those who have life in Christ are illumined by Him. They are those who have revelation, illumination from Him. They know. They live in the realm of awareness of God. They know the things about God because they are in the light. For example, if all the lights were turned off in this room. Become very dark.
You wouldn't see anything in here. You don't know what this room is like with the people in the room, what the details are like. When the lights are turned on you are illumined. Now that's the way here. With the life, brought into a personal relationship with God, comes the ability to see and to know concerning God.

Look over in John chapter 8:12. Again, therefore Jesus spoke to them saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness but shall have the light of life. You see light and life connected together. The light of life and its the light that comes from having life and He is the light of the world. He is the One who reveals the Father and makes God known to the world through Jesus Christ. In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.

Look over to the Book of Ephesians. I should have given you another reference in John but we'll go to Ephesians since you are already on the way. Ephesians chapter 4:18. Talking about the unbeliever. Verse 18. Being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God. So there you see the other side. A person who is darkened in understanding is excluded from the life of God. So to have life is to be in the light. To be in the darkness is to be excluded from life.

Look at the Book of Colossians. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Chapter 1. Verse 12. Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light for He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. So to be in light is to be in the kingdom of the Beloved Son, to have been transferred from the realm of darkness to the realm of light. So you see, it blends together. The concept of having life and the concept of having light and we are familiar with that because only believers have the Spirit of God. So only believers have the ability to know and understand things pertaining to God.

In the Gospel of John chapter 3 verse 19. And this is the judgment that the light is come into the world and men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. Now light and darkness have ethical connotations. Have to do with the way that you live your life, conduct your life. For everyone who does evil hates the light, does not cone to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be manifest as having been wrought in God. You note the deeds of light are manifested or wrought by God.
Brought about by Him. So we are comfortable in the light.

All right now come back to 1 John. It's this concept of God's character as light and life, if you will, with the ethical outflowing of that, not just the fact of it but the ethical outcome of it. To be in the light is to live consistently with God's character, to reflect the fact that you are a partaker of God's life.

Okay. In Him is light. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. So God is absolutely perfect, perfect light, no darkness. Now that being established. Rather simple. Now let's move on and what he does is jump right in. All right. What about people who say this, but do this? What about those who claim to be in the light, but live in the darkness. What would we say about them? Do they share in the light and life of God? No. God doesn't have any darkness. He is light.

All right. Look at the claims or conclusions that he draws and let me tell you where I am going with this so that you are sure to follow along. He is going to deal with the area of consistency and the area of inconsistency.

Now three conclusion that he draws, deal with those who are inconsistent with the character of God. Verse 6. "If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Verse 8: "If we say we have no sin we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." Verse 10: "If we say that we have not sinned we make Him a liar and His ward is not in us." I take it those three verses manifest the character of an unbeliever. We'll look at the details in a moment. They claim one thing but they reveal themselves to be another by their life, their conduct and their beliefs.

Verses 7 and 10. Verses 7 and 9 are picturing a believer's attitude and conduct. In other words, those inconsistent with God's character are not God's children. Those consistent with God's character are God's children.

All right. Look at the pattern of life laid out in verses 6 and 7 first of all. If you say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. The claim here is that we have fellowship with Him. Now remember that word, fellowship, from up in verse 3. It means to have in common or share in common. If we claim to share in the light and thus the life of God we are saying we have fellowship with Him. We share together with Him in what way? In His light. In His life because the light and the life are inseparable remember. So that's the claim being made. We have fellowship with Him. We share with Him.

I Corinthians 1:9. Let me read it to you. "God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." So we were called to share in Jesus Christ, to become partakers with Him and in Him. It's a basic salvation experience to become a sharer in the life of God. What is it to have eternal life? Become a partaker of Jesus Christ? To share in God's life—to become a partaker of light.

All right. Come back to verse 6. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness" or our walking. Present tense of walk.
Walk denotes our consistent pattern. It denotes, you know, step after step. That's the realm in which we live. We are walking. We are living in the darkness. That's the sphere in which we live.

Now II Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 14. Just jot it down. I'll read it to you. Do not be bound together with unbelievers for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness. Or what fellowship has light with darkness. You know, light and darkness do not share in common. So here one says I share in common in God's light and life. But they live their life in the darkness. What conclusion can you draw? We lie and do not practice the truth. We are not in fellowship with Him. We do not share in common in His light and in His life. We lie and do not practice the truth. We speak a lie and we live a lie. We lie because we don't practice the truth. We're living in the darkness and a child of God lives in the light. Now I take it this person is not a believer at all. Not a believer. We're going to get to believers in the next verse so be careful, this is a little different than many believers understand I John 1. But you'll have it right when we're done. Fellowship refers to a basic relationship of sharing in common, having in common. The context here is God's light which is inseparable from God's life. If you say one thing and live another, you're lying.

Now look over in I John chapter 2 verse 3. "By this we know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments. The one who says "I have come to know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar." Note. A person who claims to know God but is disobedient to God—we' 11 talk about the details of that verse—is a liar. He doesn't know God at all. The truth is not in Him.

Look down in verse 9. "The one who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness until now. He has not been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light as we read in Colossians 1. He is in the darkness until now if he hates fellow believers.

Look at verse 11. "But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, does not know where he is going because the darkness is blinded his eyes. It's an unbeliever. We'll see the details of that when we get to that chapter.

Look in chapter 3 verse 6. "No one who abides in Him sins. No one who has seen Him or knows Him. No one who sins has seen Him or knows Him." I take it that's descriptive here. Talking about a believer versus an unbeliever, the one who abides in Him would not sin. We'll see the details of that. You have it in mind.

Go on. Verse 6, verse 7. "Little children let no one deceive you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous. Just as He is righteous. Now I want you to note that. We have got a concept that has become prevalent today that you can be righteous and not practice righteousness. Now be careful—I don't want you going out of here saying I'm a heretic. At least I want you to know why you say it. I do not say you can be righteous by practicing righteousness. You cannot become righteous by practicing righteousness. Do you have that? You become righteous by faith in Christ. But by the same token you cannot be righteous and not practice righteousness. That's a misconception. You cannot be righteous and not practice righteousness. That's the statement. "Let no one deceive you and sometimes we have been deceived as believers. The one who practices righteousness is righteous.

Verse 8. "The one who practices sin is of the devil." That's it. The character of God's children. The character of God is manifest in His children. The character of the devil is also manifest in his children. How do you know? God's children are righteous. That means they practice righteousness. The
children of the devil are unrighteous. That means they practice unrighteousness.

Verse 9. "No one who is born of God practices sin. Verse 10 "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious." People get all bent out of shape when you say so-and-so is a child of the devil. Well, why shouldn't you say that? God says the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. It's not something mystical that you hope that you can sort through and someday peek in. He says it's obvious.

How is it obvious? Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God. Only the one who loves his brother. Isn't that simple? He says it's obvious—the test of righteousness, the test of love. And if you don't love fellow believers, if you don't practice righteousness, you are not of God. You are of the devil. I don't like that, it doesn't matter. That's what it says.

Jump back to John chapter 8. The Gospel of John chapter 8. I know you liked it. But I just... John chapter 8. Along the way here some of you can pray for the nursery workers. We'll go quickly but not quickly enough for their sanity I'm sure.

John 8:12; "Again therefore Jesus spoke to them saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness but shall have the light of life." Now we read that verse to connect light and life. Now note. The walk of the one who follows Christ is in the darkness. He has the light of life. Not talking about how different Christians live their life but how those who are Christians who have life can walk in the light versus those who do not. That's the issue. I take it that's the background that John draws from.

Look over in Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7 verse 16. Just to give you a parallel where light and life are not used. So that we have it substantiated outside of the context. Matthew chapter 7:16. Verse 15. Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor can a rotten tree produce good fruit. Now, so then verse 20. You will know them by their fruits. Very simple. I am concerned today that we have gotten to the point where we believe that if someone mouths certain words we are obligated to accept them as believers. That's not the emphasis of Christ. That's not the emphasis of the New Testament. That those who belong to God manifest God's character in their life and apart from that a man, a woman, is not the child of God. Right away our minds think. But what about those who are not perfectly consistent. Don't we ever sin? That's coming. We'll get to that so be patient.

Come back to I John. We won't get to it tonight perhaps in full. Verse 7. See verse 6 talking about those who make a claim but their lives don't support the claim. John goes on the basis of the testimony of the light. Now that does not mean what you believe is not important. That's foundational But what you claim to believe must be substantiated by your life. Now He'll get to those who have false doctrine also.

Verse 7. "But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." We walk in the light. This is the sphere in which we live our lives. Just the contrast. Those in verse 6 walked in darkness. We walk in light as He Himself is in the light. In other words we are associated with Him in the light. We are living in the realm of God now and the life that is in Him that brings light. We have fellowship with one another. Now I take it the basic fellowship here is the fellowship between God and the believer. When He says, "If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another, God and us. He is in the light. I am in the light. We share in common together.

It's also true we have fellowship with one another—that's a by-product of our fellowship with Him. Saw that in verse 3. We have fellowship with one another. Now note here. Some believe that walking in the light means you're not sinning but that's not true I John 1:7. And the blood of Jesus His Son keeps on cleansing us from all sin. Present tense. I am continually being cleansed so walking in the light does not mean that I don't sin as a Christian. Important because that's often the distinction made. A Christian who is walking in the light is one who is not—that doesn't have any known sin in his life. Well, the issue of known sin versus unknown sin is not an issue as far as I can tell in I John. Unknown sin is not an issue as far as I can tell anywhere. I mean if it's unknown—it's irrelevant to a large extent. And I realize the sin nature. But as far as we and our relationship with God as believers is concerned. He deals with us regarding sin that we have in our life. If I am walking in the light—in other words, I am a child of God. I live in the light with Him. I share in common with Him.

You know what's going on? The blood of Christ keeps on cleansing me from all sin. Now how that happens will be discussed in the first two verses of chapter 2 which we'll do at a later study. So you see the contrast. There are those who live in the darkness verse 6. They claim to know God, but they are liars because they live in the darkness. There are those in verse 7 who walk, who live their life in the realm of light. They manifest the character of God. They have sin in their life. Now that's out of character. That's out of character. Just like your children. You expect certain conduct from them. There is times when they act out of character and they must be disciplined. But they have still been functioning in the family and in relationship with you but they have functioned out of character. So often maybe we'll function out of character but we are cleansed. That's done something for me. I have shared this on other occasions.

The way I looked at sin. You know what I used to think? I thought as a believer when I sin I run in the back here where it's dark. I ran off in the darkness. You know what the Scripture indicates? I never leave the light. Any time I as a believer sin it's in the full light of my relationship with God. Isn't this what Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said was so awful about immorality? That when I commit immorality with a whore I take the members of Christ and make them one with a whore. He didn't say now you have ceased to be a member of Christ and entered an immoral relationship. You still share in common with Christ. That's why sin for a believer is so repulsive. We live in the light. We live sharing in common in that relationship with God which is permanent. So any sin that is committed is committed in the light because my relationship with Him is not broken. When a believer commits immorality with a harlot, what does Paul say? You have taken the members of Christ and made them one with a harlot. Haven't ceased to share in common with Christ. And that sin is committed in full light of that relationship. But, praise God, the cleansing that is there. That doesn't want to make me sin more. That makes the sin all the more repulsive but it makes me all the more appreciative for the continual cleansing that's going on. How that works out we'll see when we get to the first two verses of chapter 2.

All right. Let's move on. Verse 8. "If we say" Now he's dealt with our pattern of light in verses 6 and 7, the inconsistent pattern in verse 6. The consistent pattern. Inconsistent in that I claim one thing and I live another. That's a liar and not a Christian. A Christian is one who walks, lives in the light, even thought there are maybe areas or acts of sin that come up he is cleansed because he lives in that relationship.

Now verses 8, 9 and 10 talk about our attitude towards sin. You can tell if a person's a believer or not by their attitude towards sin. Not just the way they live their life, but what is their attitude towards sin?
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. We say we have no sin. Sin here as a principle, singular. We are not infected, or affected by sin. Might be a denial of the sin nature. Denial that I am a sinner.

I read you an excerpt some time ago, a few weeks ago, whatever, about a man in this city who preached a sermon ridiculing the idea of Adamic sin, mocking the idea that we are bom with a sin nature. That man fits in the category of verse 8. He denies the reality of the principle of sin. That we are infected by sin from Adam. Now we deny. We say, note these are crucial. We say. And John includes himself. You have to. Because it's true if I do it or if you do it. Not just true if you do it, it's true of me as well. If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. You note here. God is not deceived. People believe if you really convince yourself it becomes reality, power The of positive thinking is misdirected. No, we have deceived ourselves. We haven't deceived God. And the truth is not in us. That's descriptive not of a believer but an unbeliever.

Look in John's Gospel chapter 8. We keep going back to John's gospel but many of these concepts that John is talking about he draws from the gospel. Verse 44. You are of your father, the devil. We're going to get to that in chapter 3. Remember we read about those who have the devil as their father. You want to do the desires of your father. See the difference. The children of the devil want to do the desires of the devil. The children of God want to do the desires of God. "He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him." Now in I John chapter 1, verse 8. When I am told the truth is not in us, whose character am I manifesting? Whose my father? The devil. He is the one in whom there is no truth. He is the one who is a liar and the father of lies. So the one who is a liar and doesn't have the truth in him. Well, all you know the character of God. You know the character of the devil. Here is one who is a liar and doesn't have the truth in him. Now who are you going to identify as his father? It's not so difficult is it? It's rather simple.

Okay. Back to I John. Jump down to verse 10. Come back to verse 9 since that's the central. "If we say" Now here again you note it's a claim being made. "If we say we have not sinned". Here the denial is on personal acts of sin. In verse 8 the person denied sin as a principle. The reality of the sin nature of being infected by sin. Here is a denial of committing any acts of sin. So they are different although they blend. Two different sides of the sin question.

We have not sinned. You know a person says well maybe I'd give the point. Maybe there is such a thing as a sin nature but let me tell you, I've never sinned. I've only met one person in my life and that was in this city, person, an adult person, an intelligent person, an educator, who sat and looked me in the eye, I have never sinned. And we went round on that and we never got off first base. We never got to first base because I could not communicate the reality of sin and this person would not agree that she was a sinner or had ever committed an act of sin. John says if we say we have not sinned—note—we make Him a liar. Now that's strong statement. We're making God a liar and His Word is not in us. His Word is not in us. In I John chapter 5 verse 10. The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son. You can make God a liar by denying what He says about your sinfulness or denying what He says about His Son Jesus Christ. And are these not the two basic issues? Can a person be saved without coming to a recognition and admittance of their own sinfulness? No. No. That’s what is descriptive here of an unbeliever. A person who denies either the reality of the principle of sin or the reality of committing acts of sin is a child of the devil because the beginning point is the recognition of our sinfulness and thus a trusting of Jesus Christ to be our Savior to cleanse us. Now can a person be saved who denies sin? The answer very simply is no. Because they are making God a liar. God says, you are a sinner. And I say, I am not. What am I saying? God is a liar. Over in I John 5:10 God speaks concerning His Son Jesus Christ as His Son the Savior. I say, He is not your Son. He is not the Savior. I am in effect saying God is a liar. Can either of those people be saved? Not until they change—they repent. They come to see themselves as God sees them.

So verses 8 and 10 are not describing believers. They are describing unbelievers. The, one other verse for you here. Just jot down John chapter 5 verse 38. Jesus speaks to the unbelievers of His day. John 5:37 and 38. "The Father who sent Me, He has borne witness of Me." You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form and you do not have His Word abiding in you for you do not believe Him whom He sent. Jesus says, you don't believe Me. You don't have the Word of God abiding in you for you do not believe Him whom He sent. Jesus says, you don't believe Me. You don't have the Word of God abiding in you. Who do you describe in verse 10 of I John 1 Wien you say God's Word is not abiding in you? You don't have God's Word in you. Well that's interpreted for us in John 5:38. You are describing one who does not believe in Jesus Christ. The same thing. So descriptive of an unbeliever. All right. What about I John 1:9?

"If we confess our sins He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The most common way that this verse is taught. Let me tell you. I don't make this a condition of being a believer so there are people who disagree with me on I John 1:9 and some good people. In fact, most everybody I've met, to be honest. So I don't believe that this is something I got to charge in and every time I meet a believer I got to be sure I set them straight on I John 1:9. But I do believe we ought to be straight on it. It will help a lot of things.

The way this is mostly taught is that if you're a Christian and you sin God intends for you to confess that sin and when you confess that sin God will forgive you. I do not believe that that's what I John 1:9 says. Because I John 1:7 says I am being continually cleansed and chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 will tell me how that transpires. It transpires because of the work of Christ in the presence of the Father, not because of what I am doing. What is He saying then? I John 1:9. "If we confess our sins." And again the present tense. I am confessing my sins. The word confession means to agree, literally means to say the same thing. You are familiar perhaps with the Greek word homo logeto—two words. A homo— we carry that over into English. Homosapiens, homosexual, homo would be the same, logeto—is to say. To say the same thing. To agree with someone. So if we are confessing our sins, agreeing with God about sin, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now to forgive and to cleanse here are in the aorist tense. Aorist tense usually denotes what we call punctiliar action. Action done at a point in time versus present tense, a continual action. Usually in the past tense in past time. If you translate that. If we are those who are confessing our sins He is faithful and righteous to have forgiven us in an instant of time in the past and to have cleansed us at a point in time in the past from all unrighteousness. Now I take it what is happening here is those who agree with God about their sins are those who have become believers.

Now I first agreed with God in the full real sense of that agreeing when I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior and I have agreed with Him about sin ever since. That doesn't mean I haven't sinned. That doesn't mean there aren't individual sins that I have resisted, recognizing as sin. But generally the principle of sin as verse 8 covers and the reality of my own sins I have agreed with God about ever since I trusted Jesus Christ 29 years ago. I have been one who has been agreeing with Him. And that manifests the fact that He has cleansed and forgiven me. He is faithful and just to have forgiven me. The problem with taking this verse for believers. If you don't confess your sins as a believer, what happens? Well, according to I John 2 we are going to find out, we are cleansed anyway. So the verse says nothing because believers are cleansed by virtue of their continual relationship with Jesus Christ and His work on their behalf as their high priest.

So I used to ask my professors questions. What if I don't confess my sins? You believe in eternal security. You teach me eternal security. You tell me God's not faithful and just to forgive me. Oh, yes, yes. Then what's I John 1:9 got to do with anything? Well, it has to do with fellowship. That' not what he says. He is talking about the cleansing and forgiveness of sins. Not necessarily the harmony of the relationship. Cleansing and forgiveness is the basic issue. Am I cleansed? Am I forgiven? Then I am a believer. Don't condition my cleansing and forgiveness as a believer. That goes on we'll see the details of that in chapter 2. He is faithful and just to have forgiveness. Look at this word "confess" as used in I John. It is used, one, two, three, four, five times in I John I believe. That's what I have written down.

Look at chapter 2 verse 23. You see that this confession is used in a context of salvation. Verse 23 of chapter 2. "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. The one who confesses the Son has the Father." You see, the opposite of confessing Christ is denying Christ. The opposite of confessing sin is denying sin. Now in the context of verse 23 the confessing is in the context of being a believer. The one who confesses the Son agrees with God about His Son Jesus Christ, is a child of God. That's what He is saying and if you don't agree with God about His Son Jesus Christ, you're not His child. That's what verse 23 is saying.

Look over in chapter 4 verse 2. "By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. You know it again. Your agreement about the Person of Christ is crucial. Those who don't agree about the Person of Christ are not from God. So confess here again has that concept in the context of dividing a believer and an unbeliever. The one who is confessing is the believer. The one who is not is not the believer, not a believer.

Verse 3. "Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-christ. If you don't agree with God about Jesus Christ, you're not from Him. You don't belong to Him. You're an anti-christ. Down to verse 15. "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God." So you see the two areas that confession is used in John's first epistle agreeing with God about sin and agreeing with God about His Son Jesus Christ. The two basic issues in your salvation. You must agree with God about your sin. You must agree with God about His Son Jesus Christ. We cone into that agreement in Him, in effect, believe then you are saved and those two elements must be there. Those who preach Christ apart from preaching the reality of sin are preaching a distorted message. Those who would preach sin without the message of Christ have a distorted message. But those who agree with God about sin and about Christ proclaiming the truth and thus are God's children.

So I take it back to I John 1:9 just to tie this together, you have then the balance. Look at these. Verse 5. Let's look over the whole section. God's character established. God is light and there is no darkness in Him. Okay, light and darkness. God is light and no darkness. Verse 6. One says to have a relationship with God but lives in darkness. Where do you plug him in? In the darkness. No relationship with God.
Verse 7. One lives in the light. Where do you plug him in? A child of God. Verse 8. One denies the reality of sin. Where do you plug him in? Unbeliever. The darkness. Verse 9. One agrees with God about sin. Where do you plug him in? One who is in the light. Verse 10. One denies personal acts of sin. Where do you plug him in? In the darkness.

Now you see What's happening. Now this is crucial because it's going to be the pattern of all the rest of first epistle of John. To me this is the key to understanding John's first epistle, that he is drawing a strong contrast between the children of God and the children of the devil and it's clear for anyone to see because God's character will be manifest in our conduct and what you do is a reflection of what you are. And if you are a child of the devil, you will do the works of darkness. If you are a child of God you will do the deeds of righteousness, manifest the character of God.

So the test is easy. We ought to be careful about playing down the Importance of our actions. What has your life been like this week? You say, Oh, I am a Christian but I am a carnal one. Says who? Study the first epistle to the Corinthians. There is a carnal church. There is a baby church but it overflows with evidence that they are children of God. Paul starts out about talking about that they abound in every gift. About the work of God in their life. Read it. You know what happens? The carnality, these individual areas, stand out in glaring contrast to the character of God in their lives. The carnal Christian is not a person, a Christian, who doesn't have any of God's character manifest in his life. A carnal Christian is one who manifests God's character but has glaring inconsistencies in his life and there is a difference.

Need to be careful lest we be deceiving ourselves by the fact. Oh, yes, I have believed the gospel. Therefore I am a child of God and you have no right to question me. Well, God does and He says it's obvious who the children of God and who the children of the devil are. You can tell it by both what they say and what they do. May God grant that we live lives that are a clear pure reflection of His character and it may not be marred in any way in the life that we live.

Let's pray together