(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, that'll work, try to, try, uh, 422 is tough too. I've never seen this one before. It's a great song. Let's try 420 again, I think I might be able to do that one. That one seems easier to me than, than, um, obviously that drum. For some reason I'm picking up on that one quicker. Let's try. Let's try it one more time. There's a song in the air, there's a star in the sky. There's a mother's deep prayer, and the babies will cry. When the storm rains it's far, wow, the beautiful sea. For the manger of asthma and greatest of kings. There's a tune of joy for the wonderful Lord. The virgin sweet boy is Lord of the Earth. When the storm rains it's far, wow, the beautiful sea. For the manger of asthma and greatest of kings. If the light of that star by the ages did curl. And the song from afar has looked over the world. If the universe of flame and the beautiful sink. In the homes of the nations that Jesus is King. We will send the light and the echo the call. That comes down through the night from the heavenly cross. Why we'll talk to the lovely until they bring. And we greet in his cradle our Savior and King. I think I clapped that one. Let's do one and two on that. One more time, verse one and two. That's a good song. And then next week we'll do thousand sleep by the throne. You're learning like a ton of new ones. There's a song in there. Let's try that one. Let's do one and two. Let's do the song in the air first. That work? Okay. Joy to the World. That one's just like kind of a... But it's just like kind of a really uplifting... I don't know. Which one do you think is better? You seem like you had a plan. I don't want to mess with it. All right. Let's try 420. There's a song in the air. There's a song in the sky. There's a mother's deep prayer. And the babies both cry. And the star reigns its fire while the beautiful sing. For the manger of Bethlehem cradles a king. There's a tale of joy and a wonderful death. The virgin sweet boy is the Lord of heaven. And the star reigns its fire while the beautiful sing. For the manger of Bethlehem cradles a king. There's a song in the air. There's a star in the sky. All right. There's a song in the air. There's a song in the air. There's a song in the air. There's a song in the air. There's a song in the air. There's a song in the air. There's a song in the air. All right. Good evening, everybody. Welcome back for Sunday night service at Shield of Faith Baptist Church. It's great to see everybody back this evening. Had a great weekend of soul winning. Lots of people. Quite a few people saved. A lot of gospel presentations. There's a lot of people out there in the community, so it's great to see. Let's go ahead and grab our hymn books and start with song number 420. It is a new one for me. So just try to sing it out loud and follow along. Song number 420, there's a song in the air. There's a song in the air. There's a star in the sky. There's a father's deep prayer. And the babies don't cry. And the storm rains, it's far wild. The beautiful sing for the manger of Bethlehem. Cradles are king. There's a tumult of joy for the wonderful birth. The virgin, sweet boy, is the lord of the earth. And the storm rains, it's far wild. The beautiful sing for the manger of Bethlehem. Cradles are king. And the light of that star by the ages in birth. And the storm from afar has swept over the world. Every harvest of flame and the beautiful sing. In the homes of the nations that Jesus is king. Cradles in the light and we echo the sound. Cradles down through the night from the heavenly park. I wish out to the lovely until they bring. And we greet in his cradle our savior and king. Amen, brother David. We hope this will occur. Dear Father God, we just thank you for this day that we could come. This evening that we could come together and sing praise to you. We just ask you to please bless the service. Bless us with attentive hearts, Lord. Attentive ears to receive the message that you laid on the pastor's heart. We just ask you to please be with the pastor as he prepares the message that you laid on his heart. We love you and Jesus is going to pray. Amen. Amen. Let's turn to Psalm 185, my savior's love. We'll sing it out as unto the Lord. Psalm 185, my savior's love. On the first. I stand on days in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene. And wondered how he could not be a sinner can none obtain. Oh how marvelous, oh how wonderful that my song shall ever be. Oh how marvelous, oh how wonderful is my savior's love for me. He that walks in the garden he prayed not by will but by will. He had no tears for his own griefs but sweat drops of blood for mine. Oh how marvelous, oh how wonderful that my song shall ever be. Oh how marvelous, oh how wonderful is my savior's love for me. To my sins and my sorrows he made them his very own. For the burden to count me yet suffered and died alone. Oh how marvelous, oh how wonderful that my song shall ever be. Oh how marvelous, oh how wonderful is my savior's love for me. With a ransom they bore me, his face I at last shall see. He will be my joy through the ages to sing of his love for me. Oh how marvelous, oh how wonderful that my song shall ever be. Oh how marvelous, oh how wonderful is my savior's love for me. Soul winning is a time where we go out into the community, house to house, door to door. We knock on people's doors and we try to find people who are interested in getting saved, interested in hearing the gospel. If you're curious about that come see me after the service and we'll get you set up with a different, not a different but a time that works for you. 208-391-5323 if you have any questions, that is the number to the church. Praise report, so we are at four salvations for December which is 100 year today, so praise God for that. Let's see here back page, so tonight we'll be starting a new series going through the book of 1st John. December 18th at 5 p.m. is the Ladies' Christmas potluck slash gift exchange. Bring a dish to share and a gift of $20 or less. If you have any questions see Jessica after the service. New Year's Eve potluck slash game night Friday December 31st at 8 p.m. More information as that gets closer and a look ahead that says that we will be starting our New Testament Bible reading challenge on January 1st. I should have the sheets for you, probably Wednesday I'll start passing them out. And so instead of reading nine chapters a day for 30 days we're going to stretch that out over two months. And so the idea is that we just kind of want to see how this works. You know because what we've noticed is that after the month is over people are like whew I'm done right. Next thing you know it's June and you haven't read a chapter and don't even lie you know that's the case. So we're trying to build that habit over the stretch of two months, five chapters a day and see how that goes. Then we're going to give you one for the full Bible in a year to complete that. So more to follow there. Birthdays and anniversaries for December. So we've got Marissa next on the 15th and the same day as Kevin and Melissa's anniversary. So this week's memory verse is Proverbs 31 verse 3 which says, Give not thy strength unto women nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. We talked about that this morning. We are a family integrated church. We don't separate children from their parents for any reason. If you do need privacy we have a daddy baby room right over here to your left and a mother baby room which is right across the hallway in there. We have a monitor everything set up so you can still watch the service. If you have any issues the guy right back there go see him and he will fix all of your problems including like I said this morning the lavender bomb that's in there. If it quits putting out that lavender scent just let him know and he will fix you up. All right tithes and offerings below that. Don't forget to turn your phone off or place it on silent so it's not a distraction. And the very bottom line of your bulletin says spiritual division helps you avoid a worldly collision. We talked about that last Sunday. So with that being said we're going to have one more song before we receive the offering. All right so we're going to go ahead and sing Thank You Lord. And if you don't have a little sheet there raise your hand and the gentleman back there will hand it to you. Thank you Lord for saving my soul. Thank you Lord for making me whole. Thank you Lord for giving to me thy great salvation so rich and free. Sing it twice through on the verse. Thank you Lord for saving my soul. Thank you Lord for making me whole. Thank you Lord for giving to me thy great salvation so rich and free. Thank you Lord for saving my soul. Thank you Lord for making me whole. Thank you Lord for giving to me thy great salvation so rich and free. All right well let's go ahead and pray. Thank you so much Lord for allowing us to be able to meet here this evening. I just pray that you'd bless the service Lord, bless your tithes and offerings and be with us as we go throughout the week. And just help us to apply the things that we learned today Lord in Jesus name I pray. Amen. All right if you would please turn your Bibles to first John chapter number one towards the back of your Bibles first John chapter number one. And if you have one of these little booklets you can follow along with that as well. First John chapter number one and as our custom we'll be reading the entire chapter together first John chapter number one. And when you get there starting at verse number one the Bible reads that which was from the beginning which we have heard which you have which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled at the word of life. For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with this son Jesus Christ and these things right we honor you that your joy may be full. 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. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth. 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 cleanses us from all sin. If we say that 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 that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Brother Briley would you pray for us? All right. Amen. Well I'm excited to start a new book of the Bible. We've been in the Old Testament for well over a year so this will be definitely a nice little break. So many of you got this little booklet here. If you did not get one I'll have more next Sunday so I apologize I did not order enough of them. Now you say what is the purpose of this? Well it's for you to use how you see fit. It's for you to read through before the service during the week and just write down things that come to mind. Because there is only 10 verses in this chapter but it's intense. And you're going to see that when we start here. And so it's a good idea to just go through reread the verses that we already talked about and write things down. And then when you come back through during your Bible reading and you're rereading 1 John you know pull it off the shelf and just kind of look at the notes that you wrote down and you'll just increase in wisdom increase in knowledge and that's obviously a blessed thing. So we're going to start off with the Epistle of John. Now I think it was if I'm correct it was about a year and a half ago that we did the Gospel of John. And what is the Gospel of John about? The Gospel of John is about believing. It's about being saved. And the reason why I'm bringing this up is because a lot of people, and you're going to see this tonight, a lot of people will go to 1 John because it's a quick book that you can read. They'll read it and come away either confused or God forbid they're not saved and they read it they're going to come away with false doctrine. And I'm going to show you that tonight. You have to understand the Gospel of John, the main emphasis, the main focus is that he might believe and be saved. The word believe appears 85 times in the Gospel of John. This epistle here is about fellowship. It's about fellowship with Christ. It's about fellowship with the brethren. So with that being said let's take a look at something here. Go to chapter number two real quick and we'll get the reason. So why was, or who rather, was this epistle written to? What is the audience? When you're reading through 1 John what is the main audience? Obviously when you're reading through the Gospel of John the audience is saved but it's also those who are lost. It's a message to the lost to be saved. It focuses on believing. Now the difference is found right here in 1 John chapter number two in verse number one. What does it say? 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. Now go back to 1 John chapter number one and we'll continue on there. So obviously this letter is written to his little children. He's not talking about his physical little kids. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about his converts. That's who he's talking about. People who have already believed the Gospel. People who are already saved. We know this. What did Jesus say in John chapter 11? Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this. That's what he's saying there. So John is now writing to people that are already saved and here's the deal. If you are not saved it is going to be very very difficult for you to understand the epistle of 1 John. Now if you would keep your place there in 1 John. We're going to come back to it obviously but go to Romans. Romans chapter number five. Go to Romans chapter number five. And so again I mentioned this already. 1 John is a book about fellowship. It's about fellowship with God. It's about your walk with Christ and it's how that affects your relationship also with the brethren. The word fellowship is mentioned three times in this first chapter and the chapter is broken down into two different sections. So you have the word of God or the word of life and then the last part of the chapter you have basically fellowship or our walk. Doing the truth in other words. Now before we cover this first section here we've got to understand some definitions. I just mentioned the word fellowship appears three times in chapter number one. Now what happens is we often will run into people and they'll start mixing out these verses to try to say that you have to work for your salvation. That you have to prove that you have fellowship. You have to prove your relationship status. You have to prove that you're basically living a righteous life or you're not saved. That's what people say and they'll often come to 1 John to prove that. And the reason why is because they don't understand the difference between these three words which are justification, fellowship, and glorification. I'm sorry, justification, sanctification, and glorification. So just a quick reminder, some quick definitions before we start. What does justification mean? What does that word mean when you hear that? Well let's get a definition here. Romans chapter 5 look at verse number 18. Romans 5 verse 18 says this, so this is Paul writing to the Romans. He says, Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. So we understand because Adam sinned we inherit that sin. And so when we get to a certain age where we become conscious or we become aware of sin that it's a transgression of the law we are in a fallen state. We have to be saved. We have to be born again. That's what he's referring to there. After the semicolon look what it says. Even so by the righteousness of one, now don't miss this, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. So when I say the word justification, what are we talking about? We're talking about that free gift. We're talking about that sin debt being paid in full, meaning we are not going to go to hell once we're saved, once we've believed. Very, very important. Now go to 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4. So that justification is a sentence. Declared not guilty. That is what we're talking about. So what does sanctification mean? Well we spent a lot of time last Sunday talking about sanctification. When you were born again, the word of God sanctifies you. It separates you from the world. So in a sense, when you get saved, God literally sets you apart. But what are we supposed to do after that? Just be like, okay great, I'll take the grace and run. I'm saved, I'm just going to keep going and doing what I'm doing. No we shouldn't do that. We should conduct ourselves in a reasonable manner, Romans chapter 12, and we should do righteous because we love God. We should do the truth because we love God. Okay, 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4, look at verse number 3. So Paul tells the Thessalonians this. He says, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication. Verse 4, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. So you'll see in the Bible a lot of these words used in different capacities. Sometimes you'll see the word sanctification used to describe justification and so on. But you still have to know the difference. The main difference here with the word sanctification is that it's talking about your walk. That's all it's talking about. It's talking about how you live your life after you've been saved, after you've been born again. And let's take a look at glorification real quick. Go to Philippians chapter number 3. So go back in your Bible, Philippians. So you've got Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Go to Philippians chapter number 3 and we'll just talk about glorification real quickly. And so, again, you're going to see tonight when we go through these 10 verses in 1 John that our sanctification affects our fellowship with Christ. You guys know that already, but it's very important to understand that. Because people will mix up verses about sanctification and about our walk and say, well, see if you're not doing all the stuff that proves you're not saved. Right? And it's like, are you without sin? Is that what you're trying to tell me? Right? Let's just be honest here. Everybody in here sins on a daily basis. The Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin. But does that mean we're like, okay, well, I'm a sinner. I'm just going to go ham and just go absolutely crazy? Of course not. We want to work towards living a righteous, sanctified, separated life as much as possible to please the Father. Okay? Philippians chapter 3, look at verse 21. It says this. Who shall change, so he's talking about Christ, he says, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Okay? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 that flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God. So when do we get that glorified state? Is it now in this life? No, it's when we die. It's when we give up the body and that new man that God has created with inside of us goes up to heaven. There is a time where we will become glorified and it's because of him. Look at the beginning of the verse there. It says, who shall change our vile body? So who is it that's going to change this vileness that we all have? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not us. We believed. We got born again. We got saved. He took care of the rest. We decided, you know what? I heard the word. I believe the word. I put my trust on him. He has saved me. I'm saved forever. It's a done deal. The reason why I'm bringing this up is because a lot of Christians out there get these things mixed up and they'll start teaching, well, you can actually achieve a glorified state in this life. There's an entire denomination out there, a couple of them, that teach that. The Nazarenes teach that. They teach this doctrine called holy sanctification, basically where they say you can actually get to a point in your life where you do not sin anymore. Who's ever heard of Ray Comfort? Right? Ray Comfort teaches that. Okay, this is a problem because if you were to do an audit of Ray Comfort's life, his thought life, his actual life, what he's doing when he's not on camera, when he's not around other people, you know what you're going to find? You're going to find that he sins. He is not perfect like he claims. He's just one guy. I'm bringing him up because he's popular. But we live in the Treasure Valley where there's all kinds of churches everywhere. There's a Mormon tabernacle on every corner. There's a Nazarene church on every corner. There's a college over in Napa. And you know what? When you run into these people and you try to preach them the truth, this is what you are dealing with. This is what you are battling. And you have to know these things because these are major hang-ups for people. There are people out there that are just, I'm not sure what the truth is. I'm not sure if what you're telling me is true. And if you have that answer, guess what? You're going to be able to explain to that person very clearly because you know the difference between words and doctrine and help that person to see clearly and to understand the gospel is simple. It's believe and you're saved and you're saved forever. No works involved. If you don't understand that, 1 John is going to be an absolute nightmare for you. Okay, so go back to 1 John and we're going to get started here. We'll start making some sense of all of this stuff that's going on here. And so I broke this sermon down, this entire chapter into one statement and let me show you how I got there. Look at verse number 1. 1 John chapter 1. Look at verse number 1. So it says this, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled. Now don't miss this, the word of life. Okay, the word of life. Real quickly, jump down to verse number 6. It says this, If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. Well, does that mean you lost your salvation? No, not at all. What does that mean? When you add those two verses together, you get this statement which sums up the entire chapter. The word of life is the way of life. The word of life is the way of life. And what I mean by that is apart from the word of God, as a believer, as a Bible-believing Christian, you cannot have full joy. You cannot please God. Look, I know this isn't popular, but that's what it says. That's what this is teaching us here. The word of life is the way of life. So let's get into this here again. We're going to look at the verse again one more time here. So it starts out by giving us an eyewitness testimony that connects the person of Jesus Christ with the written word of God. We talk about this all the time, but it's here. We're going to talk about it again. Look at verse number 1. So John says this, That which was from the beginning, now notice this, Which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled the word of life. Very interesting. Go back, if you would, keep your place there, but go to the book. Go to the Gospel of John. Because you're going to see a lot of the same kind of similar wording in the Gospel of John that you're reading here. And this is so important because we don't serve a God that just, you know, throws caution to the wind. It's just like, you know what, just figure it out for yourselves. Just have people go dig up little pockets in the earth and dust off little scrolls and try to figure out what it says for your truth. No, he's preserved his truth for us. He wants us from the beginning to hear what he has to say, to see with our eyes, and to look upon his word, and to handle the word of God. Look, this is another thing that is not popular with people today, but Jesus Christ is the word of God. John chapter 1, look at verse number 1. Same author, just a different book. What does he say? In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Look, that's explaining Jesus Christ. He is eternal. Fully man, fully God. Right? Verse number 2, the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Verse number 4, and him was life, and the life was the light of men. Look, a person cannot be saved without the word of God. A person cannot be saved without Jesus Christ because they are the same thing. This is why we get so upset when people run their mouths and say, what in the original languages, but in the original manuscripts. Well, we've got this, but there's this, and there's things that get lost in translation. No, Jesus doesn't get lost in translation. He speaks all languages. It says very clearly here, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him. What did Jesus say this morning? Matthew 28, verse 18. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. If he has all power in heaven and all power in earth, why do people say today that he can't preserve his word? Because they're liars, that's why. Because they're deceivers, that's why. Because they want to see people go to hell, that's why. Jump down to verse number 14. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. Notice that, we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Look, you cannot separate Jesus Christ from the word of God. Think about that. The devil has many counterfeits. He has many ministers, many angels of darkness that go out and deceive. Is there any wonder why there are many Bible versions today? No, the reason why is because the devil is behind them. It makes totally perfect, or total perfect sense. Now, go back to 1 John, and we'll move on to verse number 2. And so, this verse really poses a great question that we all need to be asking ourselves. How do we handle the word of God? How do we handle the word of life? Because John mentions that here in this verse. He says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon. How do you do that today, in 2021? The Bible, that's right. Do you go lock yourself in a closet and repeat some mantra and hope to hear the audible voice of God? No, you've got an entire Bible. You've got an entire revelation from eternity past to eternity future that explains everything that we need to know to be successful as Bible-believing Christians. That is the idea here. That's what he's saying. So when he says, that which is from the beginning, which we have heard, do you hear the word of God? Are you in church? Are you listening to preaching? Are you listening to what the Bible is saying, which we have seen with our eyes? Well, that's obviously a direct reference to reading the word of God. The Bible says you don't need man to teach you. We come to church to get teaching though, but also for edification. It's to sharpen our swords so we can sharpen each other. But it's hard to do that if we've got a church full of people that don't read the Bible. Right? I mean, if you want to see what that looks like, go to one of these mega churches. Right? And go talk to one of the 500 people in there and just start asking them basic questions about the Bible. And they will not be able to answer them. And you know that's true, especially if you're a soul winner. So what does he say? Which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon. Do you meditate upon the word of God? These are all references to how we are supposed to handle the word of God. Look what he says. And our hands have handled the word of life. So obviously he's referring back to his eyewitness testimony with Jesus Christ. He was taught by him personally. He saw him with his own eyes. And he's saying, hey, you can have that same experience because you have the written, preserved word of God at your disposal. Look at verse number two. It says this, for the life was manifested and we have seen it. And bear witness and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. You see, here's the deal. In order to show somebody the way of eternal life, in order to show somebody how to be saved, you have to have seen it yourself. You have to have seen it yourself. Otherwise you're not going to be able to tell somebody. You're not going to be able to bear that witness. If John had never seen Jesus Christ, had never gone through any of that stuff that we've read about, would he be able to write this? Not even close. Not a chance at all. And obviously what does he say here? And show unto you that eternal life. That is what we are talking about here. We need to show that to other people. The best way to do that is to sharpen each other up through church, through Bible reading, through how we handle the word of God. The more you handle it, the better you'll be able to demonstrate that to other people. Look at verse number three. He says, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. That ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. So what is John saying here? What's going on? What is all this fellowship stuff? Well he's basically saying, hey, if you want to have fellowship with me, with us, you better know that we have fellowship with God. That we are about the word of God. Well, how do you handle the word of God? Do you have that same mentality? Do you have that same attitude? Or do you want to fellowship with the world and the wicked people that are out there? And be around that influence. And let that influence you. Because if you do, guess what? It's going to hinder your fellowship with God. You're not going to lose your salvation. Once you're saved, you are always saved. There's nothing that you can do to stop that. But what he's saying here is, hey, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. And a lot of times this is how you can tell how serious somebody is about being a disciple, about being a Christian. It's about what comes out of their mouth. Because the Bible says from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. So if we're living just like these crazy lives throughout the week, and you run into each other, what's the bulk of the conversation going to be? Well, about that type of stuff, right? Because we can't help but to speak the things which we have seen and heard. Now, I don't think that every single conversation in here has to be about the Bible 24-7, right? But at least some of it should be, don't you think? You know what I mean? We spend a lot of nights back here just talking about what ifs and, oh, you know, Jehu is my favorite, you know, stuff like that. And that's great. That lets us know, hey, we're doing something right. We rejoice in the things that are written down here. This is very important. And so, again, verse number three, this is key. This is so important that we understand this. Fellowship. That's what we're talking about. We're not talking about losing salvation. We're not talking about if you don't do this, you're not saved. No. This is clearly, clearly, clearly about fellowship. One more time. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. If you don't see and you don't hear, how are you going to declare it? Oh, you're not. That's right. You're not going to declare it. That you also may have fellowship with us. Notice that little, did you notice that little condition that's kind of built in there? Look at it again. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. Why? Why does John declare these truths unto his little children? That you may have fellowship with us. Because he's basically saying, hey, in order for us to have this unified fellowship, we need to understand doctrine. We need to understand the Bible. We need to be about the truth. Otherwise, he's like, I don't want to have fellowship with you until you get right. Look at verse number four. In these things right we unto you that your joy may be full. And we spend a lot of time on Sundays talking about how to have full joy and how to repair relationships and all of these sorts of things. But really, verses one through four, what do you have? You have the word of God. How do we handle it? And then what do we have here? It affects our fellowship. And you're going to get that hammered into you. What does that produce? It produces joy. Not joy that the world gives. Jesus told us that the joy that the world gives, that goes away. That's only temporary. Think about it. You buy a new car, you're excited for like two, three weeks, maybe a month, right? And then what happens? It starts to wear off on you, right? But when you have this kind of joy, it doesn't go away. It's here for life. It's here forever. As long as you're handling the word of God. How do I restore my joy? We've all asked ourselves that question, haven't we? Well, the way you do it is by getting your nose back into this book here. Because that brings the fellowship. And then that's going to, in turn, produce joy. Alright, so we're done with that first section here. We're going to move on to the second section of this chapter. And before we really dig into the meat of the chapter, or the last half of the chapter rather, I want to address a problem. And it's going to take us a little bit of flipping through the Bible to kind of solve these things. But it's very important that you guys understand this. So, if you would look down at verse number seven. I know we just stopped at verse number four, but I want you to look at verse number seven real quick. And look what it says. It says, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. In the blood of Christ, I'm sorry, in the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanseth us from all sin. Okay, look at verse nine. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Here's a problem. Here's something that we need to know, we need to understand how to solve. Okay, verse seven. What are you going to do if somebody comes up to you, and you guys who go sowing, we know this, this happens all the time. What will they say? Hey, no relationship, no blood. Right? We ask people, how do you know you're saved? How do you know that you're on your way to heaven? What do they always say? Well, because I got a relationship. What do we always say back? Well, relationships take work. If I don't put in the work in my marriage, it's going to fall apart. And then what? Then I got all kinds of trouble. So are you saying that if you don't put in the work with Jesus that you're not saved? What do they always say? They say yes, you're not saved. And a lot of them will take you right here. No fellowship, no blood. Because that's what it says. And the blood of Jesus Christ the Son cleanseth us from all sins. So if you don't have, you know, this fellowship, you don't have this relationship, you're not saved. And then they'll do this. They'll take you to verse nine and say, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So every day, like a Catholic, you got to get on your knees and just ask for forgiveness every single day before you go to sleep. I know some of you are looking at me like you're crazy. But look, look at the bulletin, pick a soul anytime. We'll take you to some neighborhoods, man. And you will hear this. You will hear this is coming out of people's mouths. It's what they say. Look, that is not what's going on here. And I'm going to prove that to you beyond a shadow of a doubt. So a lot of definitions for you today. Go to Acts chapter number two, Acts chapter number two. So we need to understand the differences between some words. And I'm sorry, I apologize, but I told you at the beginning, this book here, this is me, man. First John is not for the faint of heart. First John is not for, not necessarily for new believers. It's, I mean, if you're new, you're a new believer, that's fine. You're welcome to listen to this stuff. You should listen to this stuff. But you need to go home and you need to read this. And you need to make sure that you're reading the book of John first, okay? But we need to understand some definitions before we solve this problem here, okay? And again, it always goes back to people mixing words and not understanding what they mean. To understand the problem that I just posed to you, you have to understand the difference between the word remission and the word forgiveness and cleanse. And we're going to talk about that. The problem in the English language is that all three of these are used interchangeably, okay? And I'm going to get into that. I'm going to show you that. So if someone comes up to you and says, what does the word remission mean? What does that mean? Some people will say, well, it's like when you have cancer and it goes into remission, it has the possibility to come back, okay? That's the world's definition. That is not the Bible definition. The biblical definition of remission is a complete cancellation of death, okay? And we've proven that six ways from Sunday. The Bible is very clear. When you get remission of sins, Jesus pardons all your sins as far as the east is from the west. So you hop on that plane and you start heading east and just keep going east, when are you going to go west? When are you going to be done with that tape measure? Never. That's how much he has forgiven or canceled your sins, okay? We need to understand that, but remission is a bit stronger of a word than forgiveness. So this is a little bit complicated, but I'm going to do my best to explain this. You're in Acts chapter 2. Just listen to this here. Matthew 26 verse 28 says this. Jesus said, for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Cancellation for a total free pardon. You're in Acts chapter 2. Look at verse 38. It says this. So Peter is preaching a sermon here. This is the day of Pentecost. He says this. Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. For the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now yesterday we were out soul winning and I told you guys this story this morning about the apostolics that we ran into out knocking doors as well. And on all of their invitations they have Acts 2.38. If you ever drive down the interstate and you see somebody and they just have a bumper sticker that says Acts 2.38. Okay what they are implying is that you have to repent, meaning turn from your sins, be baptized by the Holy Ghost, speak in tongues and then that's proof that you're saved. That's not what this is talking about. The word repent only means to change your mind. God repents in the Bible more than anyone else in the Bible. That's all it means. So what Peter is saying is hey I just preached this message to you. You need to change your mind. You need to repent and be baptized. This isn't talking about water baptism. Romans chapter 6 gives you the definition of baptism or baptized. It means to be placed into or to identify with. So when a person gets saved, they get converted, they are baptized into the body of Christ. When Jesus got baptized by John in water he was just identifying with the truth that John was preaching. That is what the definition is here and when you read the Bible you need to know context because context is everything and if you don't know the context people will lead you astray. So when a person is converted what do they get? Remission of sins, a complete pardon, a complete canceling of that debt and you get the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost indwells inside of you guiding you into all truth Jesus says. Go to Acts chapter number 10. And let's make sure that we understand the difference between remission and forgiveness though they are used interchangeably. Another good example since we are talking about John so much. John chapter 19 verse 30. What did Jesus say? It is finished. Right? Remission of sins. Done deal. When you're saved it is finished. Acts chapter 10 look at verse 43. Talking about Christ it says to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. That destroys dispensationalism right there. To him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. So when you believe and you're saved you receive that remission. Non-negotiable you receive that remission. Romans chapter 4 talks about that Christ will no longer impute sin unto you. But do we still sin after we're saved? Of course. And the old man. And that's what we're going to be talking about. That's what we're going to be dealing with here. Go to Romans chapter 3 real quick. Romans chapter number 3. Let's look at another one here. I got like two more after this on remission and we'll move on. Romans chapter 3 look at verse 25. It says this. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. You have to understand there is a connection between the blood and between the remission. The blood is what washes us. And once you get washed you're washed forever. Your sins are in forbearance. They're never coming back. Go to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 9. We're going to go to Hebrews 9 Hebrews 10 and then we'll move on. Very, very clear. I mean this is all throughout the Bible. Christ died for our sins. You believe. You're saved. You get the remission of sins. Okay? It's not something that you have to be super good for or anything like that. Hebrews chapter 9 look at verse number 22. So the writer of Hebrews says this in verse 22. It says, And almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission. So who's that guy? John MacArthur, right? Who knows who John MacArthur is? What's he famous for preaching? Denying the blood of Christ. Okay? Look, no blood, no remission. No blood, no cancellation of death. I think we all understand that. I think that's very clear. Go to Hebrews chapter 10. This is the last one and this is the nail in the coffin for the whole definition here. Hebrews chapter 10 look at verse number 18. It says, Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Why? Once you're saved, you're always saved. That debt has been canceled. You will never have to pay for that. You are not going to answer for that ever again. I mean, that's the good news, right? The gospel means good news. Hey, good news, you don't have to worry anymore about where you're going to spend eternity because it's a free gift and someone else paid for it. That's the gospel. But what people preach today, they don't preach salvation, do they? No, they preach probation. That's what they do. They're going to put you on probation. Go to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. See, what's probation? What's the release of an offender from detention, subject to a period of good behavior under supervision? Okay? Is that what you want? No, that's not our God. That's not the God of the Bible. That's the God of the world. That's the God of the government, okay? That is a whole other sermon. I better just shut my mouth right now. Before I go off on a wild rabbit trail. So while you're turning to Ephesians 1, I thought it might be helpful for me just to read the dictionary definition of the word remission, okay? Because you have to understand it is very, very close to the word forgiveness and they can be used interchangeably and they are in the Bible. But just listen to this. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it says this. Remission means the cancellation of a debt, charge or penalty. A sub-definition is forgiveness, like in forgiveness of sins, okay? And I'll read it again for you in a second here, but what does forgiveness mean? Are we forgiven for all of our sins as far as the east is from the west? Of course we are, right? Absolutely. Collectively, we definitely are. Another example here. Ephesians 1, look at verse 7. It says this. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Okay? Go back to 1 John. I'm just going to go ahead and read this last one for you. So Matthew chapter 6 verse 15 says this. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Now we have like a little issue here. Okay? Now we got to get moving. I had a lot more definitions about forgiveness, but all those definitions that I read to you about remission, how it's tied to the blood, forgiveness, cancellation, you can find similar verses like that with the word forgiveness. Okay? They mean the same thing basically. But in the English language, what you have to understand is the word forgiveness can also or to forgive can also be applied in a different sense. For example, listen to this definition here. So the Oxford English Dictionary says this. Forgive means to stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for an offense, flaw, mistake. A sub-definition is no longer feel angry about or wish to punish an offense, flaw, or mistake. And a second sub-definition is cancellation of debt. So you see that? Very closely related. But that, I mean, that really perfectly explains what I'm trying to communicate to you. Right? You look up all the definitions of remission and it's, you know, sins are gone. Sins are gone. No, no, no more. No more. But then when you look at forgiveness, it's like, okay, we're forgiven. No more sins. And then you run into Matthew 6, 15. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive you your trespasses. And then you run into 1 John 1, 7. But if we walk not in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, the blood of Christ. Wait, am I reading the right thing there? Yeah. Verse 7. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, but the blood of Jesus Christ is unclean, this is for no sin. And people say, see, you know, if you don't have fellowship, you don't have the blood. Or they'll go take you to verse 9, which says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. They'll say, well, wait a minute, which is it? Are we forgiven for all of them or just the ones up until we got saved? You see what I'm trying to say here? So that's why it's important. The word remission is different in a sense than the word forgiveness. It can be used differently. Okay? And if you can explain that or just let somebody know, well, forgiveness can also mean, like what I read here in this definition here, meaning to stop feeling angry. So the idea is here. We carry around the old man. Okay? Christians are bipolar. When you get saved, you get the new man inside of you who sins not. Whatsoever is born of God, sinneth not. If you're saved, you don't sin. But you do sin. How do you make sense of that? It's the old man. It's the flesh that sins. Okay? And because of that, because we still have volition, because we still have free will, we make bad choices. And we do things every single day that are wrong. And if we take it too far, it affects our fellowship with God. This is why I gave you these. Okay? To write some of this stuff down. Because it's not as simple as, oh, I read a whole book of the Bible. Which one did you read? 1 John? No. This is deep stuff here. So let's back up here and let's look at verse number 5. So we're going to move on. And we understand now there is a slight difference. It's not a big difference, but there's a slight difference between remission and forgiveness. Okay? As long as you can just remember that, you will be able to explain that to somebody and show them those two verses. Okay? Look at verse number 5. Let's move on from this. It says this. So again, I love to pick on these people, these scholars, these super theologians that love to downplay the Bible, like Charles Ryrie. Like many other people say, well, that verse shouldn't say that. Right? We should just take that out. That's not what that means. Okay? You know what they're saying? There's darkness in Christ. Because my Bible says right here that He is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Verse 6. Most Christians are here. Okay? I talk to people all week long now. I'm a Christian. I go to such and such church. And they are living just these crazy lives. I know like Mormons living more righteous than them. I know people that don't even go to church or know anything about the Bible that are living more righteous than them. But it is what it is. So what is the wisdom here in verse 6? If we say, so if someone comes to you and says, hey, I'm a believer. I got a fellowship. You know, I'm a great person of God. Blah, blah, blah. But they're not walking in the truth. Okay? You know they need help. They need discipleship. They need some edification. Or maybe they just need to be saved. They're deceiving themselves and they're not saved. That's always a possibility. More often than not, that's the case. Look at verse number 7. We've got to move on here. Verse number 7 again. 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. Now we ought not to forget, who is this book written to? To believers, that's right. So that should be the first thing. What is one of the purposes that our joy might be full? That's another one. So if this was talking about work salvation, well guess what? I just read for you the definition of probation. Okay? That doesn't fit here. So obviously he's just saying the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. Let me show you a picture of that. Go back to the book of John. I should have told you to keep something there. I'm sorry. John chapter number 13. I'm going to make this perfectly clear for you what this means here. You will have no doubts. I know some of you are like, what is this dude even talking about? You will have no doubts about what verse 7 means when I'm done reading these verses for you here in John chapter 13. Okay? So turn to John chapter 13. So again, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. This is often times why people will have a hard time when they go to a church for a while and maybe they're not getting along or whatever. It could be because there's an issue here with walking in the light. But he says this, in the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. Okay? Let me show you this here. This will make perfect sense. We need a picture of what this looks like. So John chapter 13 here, they're having this last, what's referred to as the last supper here. We're going to pick it up in verse number 4. Look what it says. It says, He riseth from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself. This is talking about Christ. After that he poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. A pretty humble act there. Look at verse 6. Then cometh he to Simon Peter. You've got to love Peter. Peter is always saying the funniest things. It says this. And Peter saith unto him, Lord, does that wash my feet? He's like, what are you doing? Why is the king washing my feet? This seems weird. Verse number 7. Jesus answered and said unto him, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Right? So we need to understand this. We need to know what this means and how this applies to our life. Look at verse number 8. Peter saith unto him, thou shalt never wash my feet. Look at what Jesus says. Jesus answered him, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. So what does Peter say in verse 9? Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. He's like, wash my whole body. Look at what Jesus says to him in verse 10. Jesus saith to him, he that is washed needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. You're clean, but not all, referring to Judas. So Jesus is basically saying, hey, I don't need to wash your whole body. I don't need to wash your head. I don't need to wash you from head to toe, just your feet. Why? Why say that? What do the feet picture? Your walk. Okay? He washes you one time. The remission is one time. The forgiveness is one time, as far as remission is concerned. The cancellation of debt is what I'm trying to say is one time. So that's why Jesus says here in verse 10, he that is washed needeth not, save to wash his feet. So what is he saying there? Well, the feet picture our walk with God, and we sin every single day. And so what he's saying there is, hey, the believer, the person who's been saved, the person who's been clean, just really needs to clean up his walk and just have Christ wash your feet. That's what he's saying, right? Refresh your walk. Why? For the purpose of fellowship. Go back to 1 John and look at verse number 7 one more time with that picture in mind. 1 John chapter 1, verse 7. But if, because it's your choice, he's not going to make you, but if we walk in the light, it's your choice every single day, whether you're going to get up and read the Bible, you're going to pray for somebody, you're going to do something for God, it's your choice. 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 the Son cleanseth us from all sin. He's referring to this situation right here. That's all he means by cleanse. We need to cleanse ourselves on a daily basis. This is why I thank God for the Wednesday service. Because by the time you get Vex by the World Monday and Tuesday, it's like, man, I need a break from the craziness that's out in the world. You all know that. Okay? We need that cleansing. Go to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter number 5. Don't worry, we're getting close. We're getting close. I know some of you are like, man, it's getting late. I thought this was 10 verses, we're out of here, you gave us a book, aren't we out? But look, these are things we've got to know and we've got to understand. This is a Bible study. This is deep stuff, but hopefully you're understanding this and you're getting this. So that's all verse 7 is referring to. The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. So that's, you know, he's just referring to on an ongoing basis. We ought to let the Word wash our feet so that we can have a better walk with him. And I'll show you that further. Ephesians 5. Look at verse 24. He says this. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything. Verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Verse 26. Why? That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. You see that? We need the Word in church all the time. This is how we refresh. This is how we grow. This is how we improve our walk. This is how we improve our fellowship with Christ and with one another. Now that's pretty simple to understand. Look at verse 27. That he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. And that's how we should be viewed to the world. Holy and without blemish. And you know what? Yes, that's going to offend people. There are people that hate this church with an absolute passion. You all know that. But we're not going to let that slow us down. We're going to maintain that fellowship with him by this book. How we handle the Word of God. Go back to 1 John and we will move on. I'm just going to read these other ones here. So the statement right now, the point that I want to make is this. Why does it say again in verse seven, in the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son cleanses us from all sin? It's not for remission, but for refinement. It's not for remission in this context here. It's for refinement. It's for improvement, not for remission, but for refinement. I'm going to read for you a verse out of Isaiah, Isaiah 48, 10, which says this, Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. That is what he does. Sometimes he will allow us to go through affliction. And when we mess up, what does he do? He chastens us. Right? What do we do when our children violate our rules? Do we kick them out of the family? Do we disown them? No, you can't. They're always going to be yours. Yeah, you can go down to the courthouse and fill out that paperwork. It doesn't change the DNA. They are yours forever and there's nothing you can do about that. And it's the same thing when you're saved, when you're born again, you're his forever. But you know what? That doesn't mean we can just get away with anything. That doesn't mean we can get away with murder. It didn't work for David. It didn't work for Saul. It didn't work for a lot of people. You reap what you sow on this earth. There are consequences for our actions. And the sooner we can realize that and understand that, the better our walk's going to be. Alright, let's look at verse number eight here. And we're three verses left here. We've got one more place to turn and we are done. So again, what does John say here? If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So be aware of anyone that I don't have any sin. These people are out there. They're out there. Look, we had one come in here, what was last year? What was that guy's name? Paul? Yeah, the guy came in here and he says, I'm just as righteous as Job was. No you're not because Job admitted he was messed up. Job admitted all kinds of things when you really study the book. Draw an eye to God and he will draw an eye to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. That's what it says in James. This cleansing that we're talking about here is an ongoing thing. And John tells us, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. So we need that feet washing by Christ all the time. And you get that by the water of the word, okay? Let's move on here. Let's look at verse number 9. He says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is in the here and now. What we do in this body. Why? Because you know we have the judgment seat of Christ and we are going to get rewarded for what we decide to do in this body. You're not going to get to the judgment seat of Christ and he's going to have the whiteboard and say on this day you thought this about that person, you said this, you flipped this guy off. That's not what it's going to be. What did you do for Christ? What did you do of eternal value? Did you go out and try to win souls, which the Bible says is wise? Did you read your Bible? Did you do anything for the kingdom of God? When you do those things, that goes for eternity. The things that we do for the here and now that we all have to do is wood, hay, and stubble. That gets burned up. So, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And so he's giving us the remedy. How do we get that fellowship? How do we get that restoration? How do we increase our relationship with God? We do that by being honest. By maintaining integrity. By telling people, hey, you know what, I messed up. I did this. This is wrong. I have sin. I have problem. So what do we do when we feel out of fellowship with God and his people? Verse 10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. So again, a key to fellowship here, very important, is honesty. One last place I want to have you turn. Go to Psalm 51. Psalm chapter number 51 and we will be done. So the title of the sermon is Get a Grip. Now you kind of understand why I titled it that. We need to get a grip on the word of God. We need to get a handle on the word of God. Because the tighter of a grip that you get on this book and the word of God, the better fellowship you're going to have with him. And apart from that, apart from this book, there is no fellowship. There is no fellowship. There is no doing mighty things for God. You're out the window. You're done. Psalm 51, look at verse number 12. This is David writing this here after his great sin of Bathsheba. Look what he says in verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. We just spent a year and a half practically going through 1 and 2 Samuel learning about the life of David. Practically from the beginning all the way to the end. And don't you find it amazing that in the Old Testament a guy has someone murdered so he can steal his wife. What does God say? You lost your salvation. You're going to hell. No. He took his joy away. What's the purpose of this letter? That your joy may be full and you only do that by how you handle that sword. And what David is saying here, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. See it's possible for a believer to lose the joy of salvation because we backslide and we're in such sin. It causes so much problems. And he says uphold me with thy free spirit. This isn't a commie hippie type reference. Somebody's talking about here. No. The spirit, the gift of eternal life is free. Look at the next verse and we're done. He says then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. David was a sole winner in the Old Testament. But how do you get there? David messed up more than anybody has. More than anybody in here. What did he do? He got a handle on that word of God. He restored the fellowship and he went out and he converted sinners and that's what we need to do. And that is the message of this chapter. The word of life is the way of life. And get a grip and you will have a great Christian walk. And so with that being said we will pick it up next week in chapter number two. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much Lord again for these deep truths of the Bible. I just pray Lord that you would help us to remember these things and to study these things and to remember them and to be able to explain them to people that might be confused out there in the community Lord. Thank you so much in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Alright let's grab those hymn books one final time this evening and turn to Songbird 423. Joy to the World. Joy to the world the Lord is come. On the first. Joy to the world the Lord is come. Let her receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room. Let heaven and nature sing. Let heaven and nature sing. Let heaven, heaven, and nature sing. Joy to the world the Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ. While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. No more less sins and sorrows. For thorns infest the crown. He comes to make His blessings grow. Far as the curse is found. He rules the world with truth and grace. And makes the nations prove. The glories of His righteousness. And wonders of His love. And wonders of His love. And wonders, wonders of His love. Amen, brother. Anthony, will you close with a word of prayer, please? Thank you, Lord, that we are able to gather here together at church tonight. I hope to remember these things about the book of 1 John, and to be able to speak to other people on this holy day. I hope to always do rightly by the word of truth. And God, thank you for all you do for us. Please bless the rest of the evening.