A Formula for Fellowship | Part 1

Who is the most miserable man to love worth finding? As Christians, we can slip and fall into sin just like anyone else. But oftentimes we would rather see our sins as mistakes that need to be fixed. Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers said the problem with today's society is we all have a burden of guilt without a sense of sin. If we're truly saved, our sin can no longer condemn us, but it can interrupt fellowship with God. Our sonship is fixed for eternity, but our fellowship is determined by whether or not we obey our Father's instructions. If you have your Bible, turn to 1 John chapter 1, we'll begin in verse 3, as Adrian Rogers reveals a formula for fellowship.

1 John chapter 1, and in a moment I'm going to begin our reading in verse 3. When I was a younger man I pastored a church down in Florida while I was in college at a little town named Felsmere. It was famous for several things. It was famous for the sugar cane and there was a sugar mill down there. It was also famous for fishing, and hunting, and cattle ranching. And many of the people made their living catching frogs, frog legs.

It was a good business. I had a deacon who did that. He would go out and hunt frogs, his name was Neil, a very fine man. And I enjoyed listening to him tell about his escapades out there in the swamps. Neil told me a story, he said, Pastor, before I became a Christian, before I got saved, he said, not only did we hunt frogs, he said we hunted alligators. I was against the law to kill alligators because they were protected. He said in order to kill an alligator we had to do it very carefully and stealthily because of the game warden. So a frog hunter goes out in a contrivance, a sled with an airplane engine on it with a propeller that just pushes it over the marshes at incredible speeds.

And these froggers have a light and they sit in a high seat and steer that sled all over those marshes and shine the eyes of the frogs and gig the frogs. But he said, ever so often we would shine the eyes of an alligator. Now one good alligator was worth a whole lot more than the frogs.

The alligator hide very expensive and could be sold on the black market. And he said, we would poach alligators. But he said, we would never shoot the alligator because if we shot the alligator the game warden would hear. So what we would do would be to come alongside the alligator who would still be on the surface of the water with the light in his eyes and hit that alligator with a hammer right between the eyes, stun him, cut his throat, pull him into the boat and we had our gator. So he was telling me about this and he said, one night, pastor, he said, I saw I believe the biggest alligator I ever saw.

I certainly didn't want to miss him. He said, I trained the light on his eyes and pulled my boat up right alongside him. Now the men sit in kind of a high seat on these sleds, these air boats. And he said, I reached down and got my big hammer. And you'd have to know, Neil, because he's a small wiry guy, muscular built. And he said, I got my hammer and I certainly wanted to hit him hard enough to stun him and I certainly didn't want to lose him. So he said, I lifted the hammer in the air and gave a mighty stroke with that hammer. But he said, I swung and missed his head altogether. He said, when I did, he said, the force of that hammer went up behind me and flipped me out of my seat, straddle that alligator.

This is the funny part. He said to me, he said, pastor, I got back in the boat without getting wet. And I can just see that scene in my mind's eye. I can see brother Neil riding that alligator and clamoring back into that boat. I thought about that as I thought about the passage of scripture that I'm going to be sharing with you today. And it's really a passage for those of you who are sitting a straddle, an alligator. And I want you to listen because the child of God can slip into sin, but when he does he ought to have a desire for a quick recovery.

And he ought to fear sin as someone would fear a ferocious alligator. I want to tell you how to get back in the boat. I want to tell you how to restore your fellowship with God. Now look if you will in verse 3. By the way the title of our message, A Formula for Fellowship, How to Get Right and Stay Right with God. Look in verse 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us.

It's obvious where the title came from, A Formula for Fellowship. That ye may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things write we unto you that your joy may be full. Now the way to have fullness of joy is to have fellowship with God the Father, with His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, and with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

That's obvious. That's the way to have fullness of joy. The most miserable man in the world is not an unsaved man. The most miserable man in the world is a saved man out of fellowship with God.

Isn't that right? And so John is telling us here how to have fullness of joy. And fullness of joy is in fullness of fellowship with God and with His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Now right away I want to say two things about verse 3. Verse 3 tells the two relationships we have with God if we're saved. It is one of sonship and it is one of fellowship. One of sonship and one of fellowship. Now sonship and fellowship are not necessarily the same.

They ought to be the same but they're not always the same. Now he speaks of the Father. And the reason he speaks of God as the Father is because He is to those of us who have been saved Father. That's sonship. That's established by birth. And by the way God is only the Father of those who have been born again. Isn't that right? You know some people talk about the universal Fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man.

That's not true. God is not the Father of all. He's only the Father of those who have been born into His family. Jesus said in John chapter 8 and verse 44 to the Pharisees, you are of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do. God is the Father of those who have been saved. He came into His own and His own received Him not but as many as received Him to them gave He the right, the power, the authority to become the children of God. That's what the Bible says in John chapter 1. So God, we know God as Father when we get saved.

That's a matter of life or death. But after we're saved we're to have fellowship with Him. That is a matter of light and darkness. Life and death and light and darkness. Now you see you can have life and still walk in darkness. Look if you will that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things write we unto you that your joy may be full. This then is the message that we've heard of Him that God is light and 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. So you can have sonship without having fellowship. You can be walking in darkness as a child of God and if you're walking in darkness your fellowship ceases and when your fellowship ceases your joy ceases.

So I have some words for those of you who are sitting on an alligator this morning. How to get back in the boat. How to be restored to God.

How to get back where you ought to be. You don't have to keep getting saved when you fall out of fellowship. I fell out of fellowship with my father many times but I didn't have to keep getting born. At least when I would disobey my dad he would carry me to the woodshed and whom the Lord loves he chastens also. If you're living in sin God is going to carry you to the woodshed to get you right. But you can do it yourself and not have to go to the woodshed. Now you boys and girls may not know what I'm talking about when I say the woodshed. We didn't have a woodshed really.

We had a pump house but it was just as good. My dad had a way. He was kind of an athlete when it came to administering corporal punishment. He had a grip like a vice. He'd get me with his left hand and at the same moment he could take his belt off just like that, one movement.

Double it up and around we would go just like that. I had to learn. I had to wise up. I had to smarten up.

It's a terrible thing. I used to get out there on the end of that thing and that centrifugal force was terrible. I'd catch the end of that whip. I finally learned not to do that but to get in close and get him around the knees. It's very hard, very hard to give somebody a whipping when they're hugging you. Now kids that's worth coming to church for if you didn't learn anything else. I mean when that chastisement begins get in as close as you can.

Just get your father around the knees and say, I love you daddy. I love you. Just get in as close as you can.

But you get way out there you're going to catch the end of that thing. Well that's not in the notes but that's good for you to know. What I'm trying to say is this, that I was still his son. There was sonship there but there was not fellowship there. Now what John is talking about here is fellowship, how to have fellowship with God the Father and with His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 6, 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, God's Son cleanseth 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 we have not sinned we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. Now, how do you get right with God and stay right with God?

It's right here, here's the formula for fellowship. First of all your sin must be exposed to the light. Now notice what it says here, if we walk in the light, verse 7, your sin must be exposed to the light. Who is the light? God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. You just open up your life to God and you say, Lord is there anything in my heart and in my life that is not right with you? Now many times we don't want to do that. We hate the light because our deeds are evil, but your sin must be exposed to the light.

It's a very interesting thing. Look if you will in verse 6, if we say. Do you see that little trinity of words, if we say? Look down in verse 8, if we say. Do you see it? Look down in verse 10, if we say.

Three times, if we say, if we say, if we say. Now what is happening is this, there are people who say one thing when the other thing is true. And John here is talking about the evolution of a lie. He says in verse 6, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth.

Now that's what happens on Sunday morning when a person is fixing to backslide, or getting ready to backslide, or maybe is already backslid. He comes to church on Sunday morning when the song service is going on he sings. When the hand shaking is going on he shakes hands and says, how are you brother, sister in Christ?

In Sunday school he's nodding his head and saying amen and underscoring his Bible and all of that. Somebody says, how are you doing? He says, I'm just fine.

Praise the Lord, I'm just fine. But he's lying. He's lying. And the Bible says if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth. We begin first of all by lying to others. And then we begin to lie to ourselves. Look in verse 8, if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If you tell other people a lie long enough you begin to believe it.

You begin to lie to yourself and you begin to say, well I'm really alright. I'm really not so bad. I mean after all it's justifiable. It was just a mistake.

It was an error. Or what I'm doing is really God doesn't frown on that, or whatever. And so you begin to alibi, you begin to excuse, you begin to call it a mistake, rename it or whatever and say, well it wasn't a sin. You begin by lying to others, verse 6. Then you begin to lie to yourself and finally you lie to God. Look in verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. You see God says that's a sin, that's wrong. God's Word is speaking to you. You say, oh no, God. Oh, no, no, no, no. You're wrong, Lord.

You're wrong. And we begin to lie to God. When you do that you just stonewall God and you shut out the light.

You just shut out the light. You lie to others, you lie to yourself, you lie to God. And therefore you never really have that fellowship with God because you're not walking in light, you're walking in darkness. You have pulled the veil of darkness over your sin. Now what you must do is just expose yourself to the light. Just say, here I am, Lord.

Here I am. Holy Spirit of God shine your light, the search light of your holiness into my life and let me know, Lord, if there is some sin, some wicked way in me. Search me, oh God, and try me and know my heart and see if there will be some wicked way in me. Just simply open yourself up to God. Now don't be afraid to do it because this is not God's way to punish, this is God's way to bless.

God wants to lead you to fellowship and God wants to lead you to joy. But so many of us just want to pull the cloak of darkness over our lives and we say, oh we've not sinned, we deceive ourselves, we deceive others, we deceive God. But so just expose your sin to the light. Now the light is the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God will point out to you that thing in your heart, in your life that may be wrong and He's quite capable of doing it.

You don't have to go through morbid introspection, probing around in your innards trying to find out what's wrong. The Holy Spirit of God is quite sufficient and the Holy Spirit of God will show you if there's anything that has brought disfellowship between you and your heavenly Father. Now listen carefully. You need to learn the difference between Holy Spirit conviction and satanic accusation. The Holy Spirit convicts, the devil accuses.

Have you got it? The Holy Spirit convicts, the devil accuses. Now Jesus said He will convict you of sin but He says of Satan, He is the accuser of the brethren. He accuses you before God and He accuses you to yourself.

Now what is the difference? If you don't know the difference between Holy Spirit conviction and satanic accusation you're going to be in deep trouble most of the time trying to have fellowship with God. Let me tell you how the Holy Spirit convicts in contradistinction to the way the devil accuses. First of all, the Holy Spirit of God will convict you legitimately.

Now what do I mean by that? I mean that the Holy Spirit of God will never convict you of any sin that's already been confessed and cleansed. Now He will not bring you into double jeopardy.

He will not bring it up again. Let's say that you lied to your wife and you said, oh God, I'm so sorry. I've told a lie and you confess that and in this case you need to confess it to your wife also.

I told a lie. I'm sorry. God forgive me. And God forgives you whether she does or not. God forgives you. God forgives you and that's the important thing. God forgives you and you're forgiven.

Then later on you feel dirty and guilty about that. Who brought it up again? Not God.

Not God. The devil brought it up. The devil wants to accuse you to bring you into double jeopardy. Now the devil is dirty. Remember what I told you? Before you sin do you know what the devil says to you?

Oh, go ahead and do it. You can get away with it. But after you sin he'll say, you'll never get away with it. You'll never get away with it.

Isn't he something? You see he wants to bring up that sin that has been buried in the grave of God's forgetfulness. Don't you let him do it. The Holy Spirit will convict you legitimately only of sin that's not yet been confessed but the devil will accuse you illegitimately of sin that's already been forgiven. Now here's another way the Holy Spirit of God will convict you. The Holy Spirit of God not only will convict you legitimately but He will convict you specifically.

Specifically. Now the devil will accuse you generally. If he cannot get you to dredge up some sin that's already been forgiven he'll just try to make you feel guilty over anything or over nothing. He'll just say, you're no good.

Has he ever pulled that on you? You're just no good. You're unworthy.

God doesn't love you. You're just vile. You're just a sinner.

You're no good. Well, you're not a sinner. You're the righteousness of God in Christ. You've been saved, redeemed, born again, made a partaker of the Holy Spirit. But the devil will just like to accuse you generally but the Holy Spirit of God convicts you specifically.

The Holy Spirit of God will tell you exactly, precisely where it is that you've gone wrong. You don't have to do it. You don't have to dig around.

You don't have to probe around. You just expose yourself to the light. And the Holy Spirit like a skilled physician will put His finger on the sore spot and push and He'll say, you told a lie. Or you were proud. Or you were arrogant. Or you were cruel. Or you were selfish. Or you were dishonest. Or you were lustful. Or you watched that show that you ought not to have watched.

You told that lie that you ought not to have told. He will name it exactly, specifically. You see until He puts His finger on the sore spot and tells you exactly what it is you really will never ever have a sense of forgiveness. But when the Holy Spirit of God convicts you legitimately and specifically then you're going to have that sense of when you get cleansed of wonderful cleansing and wonderful forgiveness.

I'll tell you the third thing, the Holy Spirit of God will convict you redemptively. I mean by that this, that He wants to bring you back into fellowship. He wants to give you joy.

He wants to bring you back. Now accusation leads to despair. Conviction leads to confession and cleansing. Accusation drives you from God and causes you to become morose and guilt ridden. That's not of the Holy Spirit. That's of the devil. The devil is the accuser.

He doesn't want to redeem. He wants to condemn. But the Holy Spirit of God wants to draw you into fellowship with Himself. And so first of all sin must be exposed to the light. Number two, not only must your sin be exposed to the light, but it must be expressed to the Lord. It must be expressed to the Lord. Now look if you will in verse 9. He says here if we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Do you see that? You see once the Holy Spirit of God shows you what's wrong then what do you do? You confess it. Now the word confess is made up of two Greek words homo which means the same, homo legeo which means to speak or to say. It means to say the same thing, to say the same thing.

Even our English word confess is very similar, kon meaning with, fest to speak like fess up, say the same thing. Now the Holy Spirit of God legitimately, specifically, redemptively says that Adrian is wrong in your life. Then I say what He says about it. I confess my sin. I agree with God.

I don't stonewall God. I don't say I have no sin. I don't lie to others. I don't lie to myself. I don't lie to God. I agree with God. I agree with God. I express it to the Lord. I confess it. I agree with God.

Do you see that? If we confess our sin that is if we agree with God, if we say with God what God says about it that it is wrong then we are getting ready for this fellowship with God. This is the confession of sin to agree with God about that sin. There is one thing that God will not accept for sin and that is an alibi or an excuse. Don't try to rename the sin.

Don't say it's a mistake and I need to be fixed. Say it is a sin and I need to be forgiven. Now if you will do that then the Bible says you'll be cleansed. Coming up tomorrow we'll hear part two of this important message. Maybe today as you've listened you have questions about who Jesus is right now or how to surrender your life to him. Go to our Discover Jesus page. You'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus at the top of the page.

Again lwf.org slash radio. Now if you'd like to order a copy of today's message call us at 1-877-LOVE-GOD and order a formula for fellowship. This message is also part of a powerful series standing for light and truth. For the complete audio collection all 11 insightful messages call that number 1-877-LOVE-GOD or go online to order at lwf.org slash radio or write us at love worth finding box 38600 Memphis Tennessee 38183. Well thanks for studying with us in God's word today.

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