Fellowship With God - 1 John..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. If you carefully pay attention to the first three verses of chapter one, you will see that they are united with a line. And that is because it's a single thought of the apostle.

many ideas and many concepts and many important doctrines in a single thought that goes from verse one to verse three. And then he concludes that with verse four. So we're gonna be spending at least today once again in those first three verses of this first letter of the Apostle John to the church and to the people of Jesus Christ. So beloved of Jesus Christ, brother, sister, dear soul, here within the sound of my voice or online, let's read it. Let's read together.

the first chapter and the first two verses of chapter two. May the Lord bless the reading, the preaching, and the hearing of His Word. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life, the Life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you, the Eternal Life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

And we are writing these things so that your joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is not darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have no sin, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only.

but also for the sins of the whole world. That is the words of the Lord. May He bless the preaching of it, the hearing of it, and the saints may be edified by it. Beloved of Jesus Christ, throughout church history, preachers and teachers and pastors and people in churches have used the first letter of the Apostle John to point the soul of the believer that is struggling with certainty and assurance of their salvation so that when they come to this book and they go through the different teachings that the Spirit of God has given to the church through the Apostle John, they will be confronted in their hearts with the reality that truly is in them, with that which the scripture says that a true believer should be. This book that we have in front of us, not only the section that we have read, but every single line of this book is going to address genuine Christian life.

How are we supposed to walk in the light before the Lord? How are we supposed to confess our sins? How are we supposed to confess our sins and come before the Lord for forgiveness? How are we supposed to know that Jesus Christ is the advocate that is interceding for us at the right hand of the Father? How are we supposed to live with one another?

That love for one another is a qualifier of genuine salvation. How are we going to deal with division and separation in the church? How are we supposed to give an answer and to respond to those who bring heresy or other doctrines into the context of the church? How are we supposed to love God and to love the brethren? This book addresses the core of what the heart of the believer should be.

And for that reason, throughout church history, as I said, pastors and theologians and shepherds and people of God have pointed the soul of the person who is struggling with certainty and assurance of their state before the Lord to this book. Why? Because there's no more important question in life than that of your soul. Religion is of no value. External manifestations of whatever denomination of Christianity is absolutely of no value.

What it truly and really matters is the condition of the heart of the person who professes to be in Christ. That's why we preach the gospel, that's why we share the good news of salvation of Jesus Christ, and that's why the church comes together to sit under the preaching of the word, because we are not just simply ticking boxes of religion and traditions of men, but the most important thing for a person is What is going to happen with your soul when you have to give an account before the one who knows all things, the one who knows your thoughts and your heart and the depths of your soul and even the things that are hidden to yourself? He knows them and He will bring them and reveal them before you. That is the most important question. So that's why this apostle, the one who perhaps has outlived the other apostles, and the one who has seen and experienced the persecution of the church, the one who has seen and experienced the apostasy of the church, the one who has seen and even senses that this is the last hour, the last time, and that people are departing from the church, when he chooses to address a church that has gone through all of those things, persecutions and trials and apostasy and tribulations, what he chooses to do by the inspiration of the Spirit is to write to them about salvation.

Because there's no other doctrine, there's no other more important thing that is supposed to be understood by the mind, by the heart, that of the condition of the soul of a person. And that teaches us something very important. If that is the burden of the Spirit of God in the Apostle John, that should be the concern of the heart of those who profess to be Christians. Not about what we're going to eat and what we're going to have, but what is the spiritual condition of those who are around me? Because in the end of the day, flesh and time and things will pass away, but the soul will endure forever.

So there's no other greatest manifestation of love for our neighbor that the concern that we should generally have for their state of their soul. Many times you're going to be confronted to say things that are difficult and things that are going to pierce in the heart of people. But it's better to be the carrier of words that pierce the heart of a person and then point them to Christ to be a hypocrite, a coward that prefers to be in silent while they know that the person is in need of the words of God, exhortation, confrontation, or the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the great need of the hour. Churches that are empowered with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and with the example of the apostles.

That was the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the manifestation of love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that was the manifestation of love of the apostles, that the Lord Jesus Christ called sin for what it was, and then he pierced the hearts and the consciences of those who profess to be religious and to be the people of God when they did know that they were not indeed the people of God. That is the example that he gave the apostles, and that is the example that he gives to the Church, that that which we should be concerned with is our spiritual condition, and my manifestation of love for you is not so much about what you're going to eat and what you're going to wear and where you're going to be, which I do need to care for those things, but more importantly, for the state of your soul. It is easier for people in the flesh to provide for the needs of your flesh than to come in boldness and with the power of the spirit and with the verity and the power of the words to confront your soul. And it's easier for a person to receive in the hands and be fed, and to receive with the hands money and go and buy, than rather to receive a word of exhortation and confrontation.

Because your flesh, my flesh, the carnality that exists within us, is offended when the word of God comes upon the heart and pierces and reveals the secrets of what is in the soul. There's absolutely nothing better that can happen to your soul and can happen to my soul. That is that constantly by the power of the words of God, the unrighteousness that is still within us will be revealed and brought to light and brought into alignment to the will and to the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that should be the desire for yourself and the desire that you should have for your brothers and for your sisters. That's why this apostle, before he addresses any practical matter of the Christian life, what he has to do is to point people to the Lord Jesus Christ, because salvation is in Christ.

Salvation is only in the person of Jesus Christ. So he says, thou which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have been humble concerning the word of life. Jesus Christ, the son of God, who was with the father in eternity past was manifested to the apostles and the apostles now proclaim because they were with him proclaim this glorious message of salvation. That is the only hope. for the one that receives the message.

The only hope for the world, no hope in government, no hope in might, no hope in money or in power. The only hope of the soul of humanity is the Lord Jesus Christ. So there's no other place where the Spirit of God will start. That is just by pointing people to the glorious eternity and reality of the gospel and salvation in Jesus Christ. He does not only say that salvation is in Christ, but as I said to you last time that I had the opportunity to address you, beloved soul, is that salvation, eternal life, is Jesus Christ, to be genuinely saved.

to be genuinely a Christian, to generally being saved by grace through faith is not only a condition in which you are, to be genuinely saved is a person that you have. And that person is Jesus Christ. Those are the words of the apostle in verse two, that eternal life that was with the father. That eternal life is Jesus Christ. Eternal life is not a condition, it's a person.

And for that reason, the spiritual state of the one who genuinely is a believer, is categorically different to the type of life that Adam had in the garden. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and Adam and Eve were made upright, and they received the life of God. That condition of Adam and Eve is categorically different to the type of life that the genuine believer is supposed to have. Because the life that Adam and Eve had in the garden was a perishable life, a vulnerable life, life that could be lost. But the person who is generally in Jesus Christ does not only receive the life of the men who obeyed perfectly the law and the requirements of God, but receives the life of God himself.

For that reason, the power of salvation is glorious. This is the gospel. This is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes is the glorious visitation of God to the heart of the sinner. How are we going to say? that being a Christian is just to pray a prayer, or to repeat certain words, or just to attend church, or just to tick boxes, or just to do these things that we call Christianity, that is offensive to the testimony of the Scripture, because genuine salvation is the divine visitation of the Spirit of God who created the heavens and the earth and everything that is in them to your heart.

so that the scripture says that the genuine believer is the temple of the spirit of God's mighty power to be transformed, not only because he's an eternal condition, but because he's a person, Jesus Christ. what I want to do this afternoon, having said all of those things with many limitations and perhaps confusing words. But what I want to share with you today, this afternoon, beloved brother and sister and dear soul, is not only that this eternal life of salvation is a person, Jesus Christ, but that genuine salvation is fellowship, and that genuine salvation produces fellowship. Genuine salvation is not only the life of Jesus Christ in your heart, but also genuine salvation is fellowship, and genuine salvation produces fellowship. a person who genuinely has been visited by God himself in the Spirit, in the power of the gospel, who has received the gospel with power and with might, whose heart has been transformed from a heart of stone into a heart of flesh, whose eyes have been genuinely opened, who has been taken from darkness into light, is not only a person who has the life of Jesus Christ in him or her, but it's a person who partakes of fellowship and lives in fellowship.

And that is the topic that the apostle addresses there in verse two, when he says, the life was made manifest, and we have seen it and testified or proclaimed to you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ. Fellowship, my dear brother, sister, if our soul understands how our genuine salvation is meant to be powerful, mighty fellowship, I think that we will be taken to greater conformity to Jesus. Christ and greater manifestations of His power will be in our hearts.

Fellowship, having genuine fellowship with God is the line that differentiates spiritual depression and lack of joy and lack of power with peace in the Lord, enduring joy and abundance in the heart, a heart that is enlarged and that abides in the presence of the Savior. Understanding and partaking of this concept of fellowship is that which separates darkness in the soul of a person and light that is empowered by the Spirit of God in the person of Jesus Christ. And the Apostle John is going to address this concept of this topic of fellowship in this person of Scripture that we have there in front of us in two ways. The first way is implicit. He is going to speak implicitly of this topic of fellowship.

And the second way is going to be explicit. In the explicit way, he's going to use the word fellowship. The way that he does it implicitly, that is not using the word fellowship, is when he says to us that the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed to you that eternal life that was with the Father. If we are generally going to understand the concept of fellowship simply as companionship, here implicitly we see how the apostle starts to address this concept of fellowship by saying that this eternal life that now the apostles testify was with the Father in eternity past. In other words, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ incarnate, in eternity past, was in perfect fellowship with the Father.

And the words that Apostle uses, He was with the Father. The second way that we can see implicitly this concept of fellowship is that that word of life that was with the Father in eternity past was made manifest to the apostles. That which was from the beginning, which we have seen, which we have heard, we have touched with our hands, we have contemplated, we have witnessed, the apostle says, speaking of the other apostles, that word of life that was with the Father in eternity past came to visit the people of Israel and dwelt among them." He had fellowship. He came and was incarnate in the appearance of man.

That is the coming, the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is that the Lord had fellowship with these apostles. and the qualifiers and the adjectives that the Apostle John uses to describe the type of fellowship are glorious because they heard Him, they spoke to Him, they listened to Him, they witnessed the miracles and all the works that He performs, our hands have handled concerning the words of life. Implicitly, the apostle addresses this concept of fellowship. The Son of God, who was in eternity past, now has come to manifest himself to the apostles.

And then we have in verse three, the clear, explicit use of this term of fellowship there when he says, that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also might have fellowship with us, the apostle says. and truly our fellowship is with God the Father, with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ. My dear soul, my dear brother and sister, here is very important for this Apostle John and for the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ as he's communicating to us through the Apostle that we will see the relevance and the weight of these concepts of fellowship. But what I want to do is just simply for us to think of what fellowship is from the Scriptures and then going outside of this portion of the text. And I wanted to apply it to our hearts for us to answer the question of how are we going to grow and obtain a deeper and more powerful fellowship with our God and then from those who are around us.

Place your eyes there in the text, and then you will see that every time that the Apostle John used the word fellowship, the concept of fellowship, he will connect that to the word with or to. And that is going to give us the first insight into the definition of what fellowship is. It says in verse three, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And that, indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that your joy may be complete.

If you go to verse 6, you will see that this term of fellowship is used once again. In verse 6, it says, if we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not The truth, every time that this concept is used either explicitly or explicitly, it comes with that preposition in English that is just simply with. And the most basic definition or aspect that this shows us is that fellowship requires the presence of someone else. Fellowship requires another. A person cannot have fellowship on their own.

Fellowship requires the presence, necessitates the presence of another. It's a relationship. For you to have fellowship, you need the presence of at least another person or other people so that you can have that fellowship. But the power of the words that Apostle John uses here also helps us to see a little bit deeper into that concept of having a relationship with someone else. When he speaks about the eternal God being with the Father, it's not that God or the Lord Jesus Christ in eternity past was just next to the Father, but rather that they were in a living relationship.

So for a person to have genuine fellowship, they need not only the presence of another or others, but they need to have a living, ongoing relationship with those other or this other, another person. Fellowship is not something that happens abstractly in the mind. Fellowship is not something that just happens with the acknowledgement of the existence, like me. Fellowship is not only coming to the conclusion and the acknowledgement that, yes, they are there, and I know their name, and they just simply exist there, but fellowship requires, according to divine fellowship between the Father and the Son, and then the example of the fellowship of the Son, Jesus Christ, with the disciples, and the expectation of the apostles for the church, it requires a living, ongoing relationship with others or another. Beloved of Jesus Christ, The Bible defines salvation in many different ways.

The apostle Paul uses the concept of having union with Christ, to be in union with Christ. The apostle Peter, in the second letter of Peter in chapter one, he speaks about us being partakers of the divine nature. many different ways to be abiding in Christ, to be in Christ, to be through Christ. All of these concepts are very valid. But I'm going to submit to you that this word fellowship is the most comprehensive word that defines what genuine salvation is supposed to be.

fellowship, this living relationship that we are supposed to have, of course, with God and with the brethren, define salvation in the most comprehensive way. And remember what I said in the very beginning, I want to show you that genuine salvation is fellowship and that genuine salvation produces fellowship. And that is, that if whatever is happening in my heart at this very moment, whatever spirit or whatever inclination of my heart that is taking place within me is opposed or contrary to fellowship or producing manifestations of fellowship, but rather the contrary separation, individualism, division, having walls in my heart, secret walls in my heart against my brothers and my sisters, or having even walls of indifference in my relationship with the Lord, that spirit is contrary to the genuineness of the work of the Holy Spirit in a person. I can't pretend that I love. I can't pretend that I want to be with you.

I can't pretend that I want to be here. I can't pretend that I want to preach and I want to be singing with you all together. I can't pretend all of those things. But when the Lord looks deep into my heart, There is or there is not a genuine reality and desire to have fellowship with you that is rooted in my genuine desire to have fellowship with Him. Qualifier, my words pass, sound cannot descend.

the meaning of the words that I'm saying enters through your ears. And if they do correspond to what is written, then at this very moment, as these words and these concepts entering through your ears and into your mind and into your heart, you are, as I am, being confronted with that. Because salvation can be simply summarized and reduced down to that word of fellowship. In eternity past, Jesus Christ was in fellowship with the Father, perfect fellowship. And His desire was to have fellowship with a people so that He came to this world, He made Himself like one of us to dwelt among us and to be with the people so that by becoming like them, He will take them and He will put them into a genuine relationship with the God that sent this eternal Son of God.

All religion, all doctrines, all words of men, all treaties and all words and all whatever men does cannot put the soul of a person into this genuine fellowship with God. This is what we are doing there. And this fellowship, once again, my dear brother and sister, is a living relationship that requires other person. It's a relationship that requires other person. I don't want just to give you with that definition.

I want to give you and point you to at least two or three characteristics of genuine biblical fellowship that perhaps if the Lord helps me with my words and with my thoughts, will help us to understand deeper this concept of fellowship and will help us also to confront our hearts with the biblical testimony of what we should be so that we will not be playing things and Christianity, but rather confronting our hearts with these scriptures. Now, the Apostle John was writing these to the early church. I don't know if you call it the primitive church or the very early church. He was writing these to the Christians that have gone through persecution and tribulations and trials. And then he's placing this concept and this doctrine of fellowship as the foundation of their salvation.

And even he's going to use it to speak of the genuineness of their profession of faith. You can see there in verse 6. If we say we have fellowship with him, and while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Very difficult to memorize this in a different translation than the one that you're preaching from. Now, brothers and sisters.

The apostle here is speaking about this fellowship as a genuine qualifier of the spiritual state, the spiritual state of those who profess to be believers in the early church. So I want to show you two or three characteristics of genuine fellowship that I think will help us in many of the things as a church. So come with me please to Acts chapter two. Here we have the example of the early church. And I want to present to you, if the Lord allows and gives me the words, at least three characteristics of genuine biblical fellowship.

What I have said so far has made sense? Because I feel that I'm very confusing today. Very good. So be with me, brother, sister. My desire, you know, I don't want just to preach and just take the books and be Sunday.

I have done it, Lord. I just simply want us to see the scriptures, confront our hearts with what is written, and that the Lord may give us a greater weight of glory and power to overcome sin, to overcome fear. to leave darkness and depression, and to leave the place of uncertainty, and leave the place of, I don't know what is gonna happen, and Lord, I cannot do it on my own, but to move ourselves into a place of power, to move ourselves into a place in which we have certainty, not because we can do it on our own, with our hands, but because we understand the one who can do it, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he has given us his word, so that we can attempt to do something like that. So bear with my words and with my accent, please. Come on, let's read together from verse 37.

I want to show you three important characteristics of biblical fellowship. I have said that fellowship is this living relationship that you can do on your own. No, you need someone else, right? You need another. Let me give you three characteristics.

Let's read from Acts chapter two, verse 37. After the Spirit of God in fulfillment of the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ come upon the early church with mighty manifestation presence in the heart of the people that had moved them. I'm not reading Beloved of Christ, I'm just speaking here. that the Spirit of God had moved them to speak and utter words and speak of the glories of God. After this spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ had visited them and taken the heart of Peter with power to open his mouth, to speak to all of these people that had come from many nations to hear the proclamation of the message that contains all the power that we need, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

After that message is preached, the heart of these sinners is pierced, cut. with a divine wound, not a fleshly wound, not a wound that has been inflicted by men, but the Spirit of God is the one that has used the gospel to pierce the heart. And when the piercing of the heart is done by the Spirit, it's not like sinful men that when they pierce and when they wound, they run away in victory over the one that they have defeated. The Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus Christ is so glorious and loving that when He pierces the heart and He cuts the heart of men, He is also the one that provides the healing of that heart in the person of Jesus Christ. So that is what we have in verse 37.

Now, when they heard these, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off. Everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself, and with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. Verse 41, So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.

proclamation of the gospel. And once the proclamation of the gospel has been done in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Lord has been pleased to add these souls that are lost in their sins and trespasses to the church, then this glorious visitation has come and they have been saved. They have been inserted into the person of Jesus Christ to give us the first requirement of genuine fellowship, which is to have common spiritual ground. You cannot have spiritual fellowship if you don't have the commonality, if that is a word, of your spiritual condition with others. The first requirement of biblical fellowship is that there will be something in common, and that something in common, that common ground, is that all of these people, by and through the preaching of the Word, have been taken from darkness into light, and they have been given the life of Jesus Christ.

Now they share that they were in Adam. Now what they share is now that they are in Jesus Christ to give us the first characteristic and requirement of biblical fellowship. Biblical fellowship requires a common ground, a spiritual commonality that is to be in the person of Jesus Christ. Because when that takes place, then the outcome of fellowship is going to be a natural manifestation of that spiritual condition that is common of those or to those who want to partake in that fellowship. And that we see there in verse 42, that is the second condition of this spiritual fellowship, even we have the word fellowship there as we are trying to understand it in verse 42, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings and the fellowship, which is the same word that we're dealing with there in 1 John chapter 1, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

They're giving themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship with the saints and the breaking of bread and the prayers was the result of what had taken place in the heart of all of these people. They have been pierced. They have been saved. They have been rescued. They have been baptized.

They have been made of Jesus Christ. And then what they did is that they enter in fellowship. Not only that, they devoted themselves to fellowship, because the second characteristic of biblical fellowship is not only that you need to have common spiritual ground, that is to be generally saved, but also that is going to produce a genuine interest in those with whom you share that common ground. They did not only partook of fellowship, they devoted themselves to fellowship and the apostles and the breaking of breads and being together in prayers. The impact of the visitation of the Holy Spirit to the heart of these people was such that they were moved to give themselves to be with people that they did not know before.

second characteristic of biblical fellowship. That once you have been visited by the Holy Spirit in your heart, then your heart is naturally by that Spirit going to be moved to, because of the common ground that you have with the other, to have a genuine interest in the other person. Genuine interest. not forced by religion, not forced so that I will tick my box of good works, not forced by I want to be observed as one who cares for the brethren, not forced just simply by the traditions that I'm trying to follow so that I will fall into the category of being a good person, but genuinely moved by the spirit of God to devote themselves to these type of interaction with the saints. And then from that point onwards, from verse 43, the author of this book is going to make sure that we are very clear about the impact and the power of this fellowship, because he's going to speak to us about togetherness and commonality and the sharing of the saints' practical manifestation of what had taken place.

So he goes in verse 43 and continues. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had needs. And day by day, attending the temple together, not separate, together, and breaking bread in their homes together. They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all people.

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. To give to us at least the third characteristic of genuine biblical fellowship that I want to point to you here is that when you have common spiritual ground, that is Christ Jesus that has saved people, then those people are going to genuinely be moved by the Spirit of God to have a genuine interest in one another. even going against those things that naturally separate them. Biblical fellowship is such, and it's so powerful because it's rooted in salvation, that when it genuinely manifests through a person, will not only produce a genuine interest in the soul of the other person, But we'll even overcome those things that will naturally separate them. Like in this case, belonging properties and money, and I have these, they have that before it was mine.

Now, because of the workings of this spirit that is within me, and because of this genuine interest, that I have in your soul, not because I carry it in my flesh, but because the spirit that visited me is the same spirit that is in you. And now because of these workings of this spirit, now I care for your soul and I have a genuine interest for you. So then those things that will generally separate us now become of no importance. because that which unites those who have this common ground of salvation is beyond what can be touched, what can be seen, what can be observed, what is going to pass away. Brother and sister, my dear friend, what we have here in this person of scripture in the book of Acts is just simply an external manifestation of genuine fellowship of something that has already taken place in the heart.

Because for this external fellowship to take place, the heart of the person has to have fellowship with God already. for a person to be able to renounce and to give up to the things that they have, for a person to be able to renounce even to the preferences of the things that they have in their soul, in their heart, in their mind, in their whatever, for the sake and the benefit of other, there has to be a more powerful force, the one that we naturally have. Our flesh will always take us to naturally care for self. do and live so that I'm benefit from what they do. And I will do, I will say, I will live as long as I don't cross the line in which I feel uncomfortable in that I'm sacrificing myself.

So if I have million of dollars, I will give you millions of dollars, but I will not cross the line in which I'm in discomfort and I'm touching that which is mine. That is natural to the flesh. When the Spirit of God comes and visits a person, then the perception of that which is important changes completely from that person. Please, don't even think that I'm speaking about material stuff. I'm speaking about our lives.

I'm speaking about caring for the other person, for their spiritual condition. I'm speaking about my time, so valuable for me. Am I going to sacrifice it on my knees for my brother and my sister praying for them? My time and my resources are so valuable, so I'm going to sacrifice them for the church, for the brethren? Am I going to spare an hour or two to do this or that for the brethren?

Beloved of Jesus Christ, as I speak, I'm confronted in my heart with the things that I'm preaching to you. It's not me that preaches, it's the words that are contained there in the scriptures. Common ground. with other for a genuine interest, even going against those things that will naturally separate us. Why?

Because we have been able to enter in fellowship with God from whom we were completely and totally separated. Why? Because in the person of Jesus Christ, the one who is the mediator between God and men, we find the common ground so that God, the one who is apart from that which is being created, can come descend. And us, who were enemies of God in the person of Jesus Christ, can find genuine desire to be with God and in Christ Jesus. We find the genuine interest that we never had to come and please God, even going against those things that naturally separated us from God.

Because Jesus Christ is the one in whom genuine biblical fellowship is found. In Jesus Christ, we have genuine fellowship with the God that created this world and this universe that no eye has seen and no person has been able to approach his light. Because if anyone enters into the light and into the presence of God, then that person is utterly destroyed. that the person who has seen Jesus Christ has seen the Father. The person who is in Jesus Christ is with the Father, and the person who is in Jesus Christ has access to the divine court, something that was prohibited for every single person.

Genuine biblical fellowship, brother and sister. that which is started in eternity past is given to us to be partakers of, and genuine salvation is fellowship, genuine fellowship with God, and genuine salvation produces biblical fellowship. Come with me to 1 Corinthians, and I will show you that, 1 Corinthians chapter one. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 9, it says, God is faithful. It's 1 Corinthians, right?

1 Corinthians 1, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Salvation, genuine salvation is fellowship, to be generally saved is to be in genuine fellowship or communion with God. And as a brother and sister, there's no other word in the Bible in a more comprehensive way defines all that salvation comprehends and has. Paul tried to use the word union with Christ or to be in Christ. Peter tried to speak about being partakers of the divine nature.

But when we think about fellowship, fellowship is that concept that most comprehensively incorporates all the elements of salvation. Because when we think about the experience of our salvation, sometimes we tend to see our salvation at least from four different perspectives. Sometimes when we think of our salvation, we see from the perspective that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, as Paul would say in Ephesians chapter 1. We tend to think that we were chosen, that we were predestined, that we were elected in eternity past, and because of that eternal decree in eternity past that we are saved. And that is true.

But sometimes it's not only that we give emphasis to that, we move on to thinking about the moment in which we were converted. We think about the moment when we prayed a prayer, that moment, the special moment in which we were convicted in the heart of our sins, and we confess our sins before the Lord, and by faith we were justified of our sins. And sometimes we think about salvation only about that legal transaction that took place 2, 3, or 5, or 10 years ago when I prayed a prayer, or when I made my commitment to follow the Lord. Well, sometimes we tend just to take the emphasis from that and just to give it to the present time and to my sanctification, my sins, the sins that I have overcome, the things that I have done, the things that I have not done. Give this to the present time.

Well, sometimes some people give this to that which is to come in the future. They hope that we're going to be with Him. Every time that we overemphasize any of those stages of our salvation or those aspects of our salvation through the Scriptures that speak about all of them in different ways, we remove ourselves from the soundness of what the Scripture says, because our salvation is ultimately a relationship that we have with God. Many times we are bothered with the language that some brethren use when they say that to be saved or to be a Christian is to have a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. And we are offended because of their lack of clarity in their doctrine or their theological terms of brother and sister.

That is perfectly true. Genuine salvation is to have a genuine relationship with God. A relationship that is started in eternity, passing union with Christ when we were chosen. A relationship that was consummated by faith when we were forgiven. But a relationship that is supposed to continue in the present time so that when He comes, He will finally dwell among us and be united and the wedding feast will be consummated with the God of this universe.

And if we do not see our salvation as that genuine relationship, then we have the risk of seeing Christianity as just this abstract thing which is outside of me, that is just an appendix to myself, that I just continue walking my life in my own strength, with this label attached to me that says that I'm a Christian. And when my mind reminds me that this label exists, then I move myself to do Christian things. But when I'm not reminded or aware of this label of Christian attached to my head, to my brain, or to my soul, I just live my life as if the Lord did not exist. And I'm not talking about sin. I'm just simply speaking about this connection from your heart and awareness of the person that has given you life and saved you and redeemed you.

Waking up in the morning, not necessarily sinning, but waking up in the morning, and the first thought that comes to you is, I didn't sleep properly. I need to do this, I need to do that, I need to do that, I need to do that, and I need to read my Bible. Going to work, and I need to work, I need to do, I need to do, I need to do, and I need to do, and I need to do it for the glory of the Lord. Speaking to your wife, speaking to your husband, speaking and speaking, and comes words and conversations, and this, oh, I need to be gentle, I need to be, because I'm a Christian. Genuine.

fellowship with a person that is living. God is not a concept, brother, sister. God is not a concept, an abstract idea. He's a person. He's the creator of this world, the heavens and the earth, genuine fellowship with Him.

You think that will take your mind and your soul just to simply deviate and separate from the existence of this God? Genuine communion with this God, genuine fellowship with this God will take over your mind. When was the last time that you were frustrated? Not because of your sin, not because of your failures, not because of your shortcomings. When was the last time that you wept before the Lord because you sensed that He was far away?

Even that is not theologically correct. But when was the last time that your soul was troubled? Because that fellowship was not living and mighty and powerful. Sometimes we are more concerned about being holy, holy, holy, and doing the proper thing, which we are to be concerned about doing the right thing. Neglecting the most important thing is that is dwelling in genuine fellowship with this Jesus Christ, Lord of ours.

A person, not a concept, not a doctrine, not a correct exegesis, not a sermon that is preached with efficiency, not words that are uttered with a correct accent. A person that you are either relating to as I speak and in your life, or you're not. And the genuineness of that fellowship with Jesus Christ is what manifests external fellowship. John, please. Jesus Christ, brother and sister, will define the genuineness of our fellowship as a church.

I hope that you can see how the Apostle uses the words in verse 6 and verse 7. He's going to exchange the words fellowship with walking in light, or walking in darkness, or not having fellowship. Pay attention to this. If we say we have fellowship with Him, that is God who is light, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. That is, if we are Christians and we're saying that we're walking in the Lord, but secretly we are not, we are in darkness, we lie, and we are not practicing the truth.

But the effects of that is given in verse seven. But if we walk in the light, that is, if we have fellowship with Him, because God is light, right? If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. fellowship with the saints, fellowship, genuine fellowship with the saints, like the fellowship of the early church in Acts chapter two, as we read that there was common ground, Christ Jesus as our common ground, that moves us by the power of the Spirit to have a genuine interest in one another, either going over or against the things that will naturally separate us, having this fellowship externally manifested is the result of having fellowship with Christ. Having genuine fellowship or walking in the light because God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

The manifestation of having that fellowship with the Lord, with the Savior is manifested in having genuine fellowship with the brethren. any manifestation, any spirit of division, of individuality, any manifestation of a heart that is building walls around, any manifestation of, I want to be separated, any manifestation, I want to run away, any manifestation of that is in the best case scenario, and overcoming of your flesh over your spirit, and you're in a backslidden state in certain way, or worst case scenario, you are in darkness and you're not in the Lord. Beloved of Jesus Christ, genuine salvation will necessarily bring us into unity and communion with the Savior. And as the apostle will present to us very clearly, will move us to love the brother. I don't have to do it with my own words.

Go to chapter two, please. It says in verse 9, who says he is in the light, similar language to the one that we used in verse 6 in chapter 1, right? Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. I don't think that that needs any type of explanation. whoever has in their heart hatred against brothers, that is the opposite to having genuine interest for the brother in whom there is a common ground of salvation because of Jesus Christ, that person is still in darkness.

Any manifestation of this type of Spirit in us, as I said, in the best cases scenario, it's a manifestation of our flesh, that we are just simply walking in the flesh, and we are not walking in the Spirit of the Lord, or worst cases scenario, it could be a testifier to your soul that you need to come to Christ. Genuine salvation is fellowship, and genuine salvation produces fellowship. The state of our flesh is one of individualism, is one of self-exaltation, is one of pride. When we come to the cross, to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're to take up our cross, and taking up our cross means to die to self. You read that, right?

Die to self, and to live for Jesus Christ, and give your life for the proclamation of the gospel and the edification of the faces that are around us. so that they will be empowered in the Spirit of God to do the same thing for other people. And then when we come together, we are strong, not in the type of building that we have or we don't have, but we are strong here in the heart because we are united by the one who has loved us and has saved us and has redeemed us. My dear brother and my dear sister, my goal was very different to what I have preached to you today. Perhaps I'm going to be able to do it next Sunday.

But let me just say this to our souls, because the apostle is going to give a method there. He's going to give a method in verse three. It says, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, that you may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with God the Father and his son, Jesus Christ. The proclamation of the gospel in the mouth or in the writing of the apostle is the means that the Spirit of God uses so that we will have fellowship with the apostles and fellowship that was with the Father, with the Son.

In other words, what our brother was just mentioning, the Word of God. Verse four, and these things we have written to you that your joy may be complete or our joy may be full. These things I have written to you, that your or our joy may be complete. Take heed, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in your heart, departing from the living God, as the author of Hebrews says, right? Those are not my words.

These are the words of the author of Hebrews in chapter 3, verse 12. Take heed, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. departing from the living God. You see, departing? Contrary to what?

To fellowship. The deceitfulness of sin has hardened the heart, and that has been manifested in a departing from the living God. But as it is today, exhort one another, it says the author of Hebrews in chapter three. Why? Because the deceitfulness of sin that I cannot see with my eyes, that could be happening in your hearts, that could be happening in my heart even right now, can harden my heart in such a way that separates me from fellowship with the Lord.

You don't know what my fellowship with the Lord is in the secret place. I don't know what yours is. But one thing I do know that I need it, you need it. Sin hardens your heart. fills your mind with occupations and preoccupations and distractions.

Satan comes to tempt you to take you and move you from one place to another, and then make your relationship with the Lord just simply traditions and just religiosities. You are piercing your conscience one day, and then the next week you're okay with the life that you have. You used to spend your time on your knees before the Lord, bringing your sins before Him and communing with the Lord. One month down the track, now you are okay forgetting about this Lord that saved you. hardening and hardening and hardening and hardening.

The deceitfulness of sin, departing from the living God. How is a person going to be any useful for the sake of the soul of the brethren, when that person has utterly departed in the secret place from the presence of the Lord? My dear brother, my dear sister, seek the Lord through the scriptures. This is what I always said to me when I'm feeling in that departing in my heart or departing in my mind from the Lord. I always tell myself I need to seek the Lord through the scriptures.

It is not about prayer. It is seek the Lord through the scriptures because the scriptures are the ones that are going to teach me how to pray. The Scriptures are the one that are going to renew my mind and have the mind of Christ so that I can come on my knees and to pray to this Lord. Is the Scriptures the one that are going to tell me who this Lord who loved me and gave his life for me is, that I can see him there every time that my heart is departing or just moving away from peace? Is to set your mind on things that are above.

Am I going to be able to do that with the strength and with my mind and just by pushing hard? No. Renew your mind in the scriptures. Ask the apostles. Apostle Peter, Apostle, tell me what you heard.

Tell me what you experienced, what your hands touched. Tell me of the witness, John, Peter, all of you, apostles and prophets, tell me of this mighty God that has talked to you. Tell me all of these glorious things, because in Christ I have a faith of equals standing like the faith that you have. Brother, my dear brother, my dear sister, as I have said to you many times, the great test that you should be fearful of is not so much of the things that might take place, is the test of the Lord. The Lord tests your heart to see where you are, to see what you love, see what you choose, to see where is your way, to see what you prefer.

The test of the Lord, there's no escape from the test of the Lord. When one is in persecution because of the government, or one sees, you know, like in the trials because of Satan or whatever, there's always a place that you can come to the Lord and ask for help. But when is the Lord the one that gives a person help, that's it. So fear the one who is able to throw your soul into hell. And in reverence, come to this Lord and Savior, because He's always willing and saying, come to me.

Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come, come to me. The Lord is never opposed for you, you come in. We are the ones that in our flesh and in the sinfulness of our sins depart from the living God. The book of Hebrews calls us to come and to set our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

That is the solution for all of our problems. brother and sister to set our mind on the Lord Jesus Christ through the scriptures and to seek the Lord. Now, I have to ask you, how much have you done that lately? How much have you given yourself to the affairs of this world? How much has that taken captive your mind compared with the scriptures?

I'm not saying that you should not do it, but just be honest before the Lord and in your heart, how much has this dominated your emotions and your heart and your hope of the future? How much has this taken captive your desire to speak to your brother something? How much have you been taken captive by this book and the truth that are here and the person of Jesus Christ compared to what you're feeling in your mind and your heart? I'm not saying that you should not do it. but just simply honest before the Lord, how much, what is the balance between the divine, the mighty, the eternal, and between the things that are passing away?

Between that which endures and that which brings perfection of the love of God in the heart, and that which brings fear and uncertainty and sin and produces sin and darkness and bitterness. brother and sister, there is a savior. For you, my dear brother and my dear sister, there is a savior that always says, come, come to me. Seek me through the scriptures. You don't need to be smart.

You don't need to be lofty or have reputation or degrees or to know these or not. Come on your knees and seek me through the scriptures and you will find me. And once you find me, I will give you a type of peace that not even money or gold or silver can buy. Mom, you're busy with your kids or brother, you're tired because of work and you don't have time and you are confused about the future and you're concerned about the little amount of money that you have in your bank account and you're concerned about your kids. Depend on the Lord completely.

And he's the one that is going to give you the peace that surpasses absolutely all understanding. But there are some people here among us who have never experienced the type of fellowship or peace that I'm talking about. You are not in Christ and your conscience testifies and you know it. It is at the preaching of this message, and it's at the calling of this word, that the same Lord Jesus Christ that says to His people, come to me and I will give you rest, says to you, come to me. There may not be tomorrow.

Don't give another day. There might not be another day for you to come in genuine fellowship with the one who created the heavens and the earth. Come to me. There might not be another opportunity. The words of the preacher can come to an end, and that might be the end of your soul.

Come to me. The same God that calls the Christian to rest and have peace is the one that calls the one who is not in Christ, saying, come to me and I will give you rest, everlasting rest. May the Lord Jesus Christ help us to set our minds on Him alone. Amen.