Church, remember, grab your Bible, turn to 1 John tonight, if you don't mind, 1 John tonight. We're going to start in chapter number 1, continue to do what we're doing. Tomorrow morning, I am going to go to the eye doctor because I cannot see you. I can see what you look like, but everything is glazed, and so I can't see expression. I see the roundness of your head, and I see the size of your body, and I can kind of see what you're wearing. But I cannot tell, you know, like if you're mad or glad, So I just think you're all glad. I'm happy. Maybe I should keep my eyes like this for a long time, but it's actually, to be honest with you, it's aggravating for me to not be able to see expression as far as people. It's just kind of a weird thing. It's been going on for about a month. I went into the eye place today and I said, listen, I've got to find out what's going on. So hopefully tomorrow morning, I think it's just old age. You don't sound like you agree with that. So anyway, hopefully that's all it is. But it just happened so suddenly. But anyway, hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to figure out. Maybe I'll have to start wearing glasses. Maybe that's what it is. I don't know. But you know, it doesn't help. course these are reading glasses. So, anyway, hopefully it's just a matter of getting us something to get that adjusted. 1 John chapter 1, we started just one of these messages on this particular thought, we started in this chapter here. And I'm going to just continue along this theme of this book and look at some things tonight together. Let's pray and we'll get started. Our Father in Heaven, thank you again for what you do for us. I ask you now to please bless the service as only you can. Give us again the Spirit of God. Lord, again, speak to us, draw us closer to you. Lord, again, may we again hear from you tonight. And Father, thank you again for having Brother Martin with us tonight and sharing what's going on in Mongolia. Brother Shelby, thanks for allowing him to continue the work there in Kenya. Lord, I again just ask for your help and blessing upon Ben and Adrian. Lord help the child to be born healthy. And Lord again just put Your hand of safety there and may Your will be done. Father help us tonight from Your Word. Lord person that is tired tonight help them be woken up. Lord the person that needs spiritual help tonight would You give it to each and every one of us. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, Church Chairman, First John, I think I'm going to try to read if I can and just follow along. I don't think we'll read it responsibly. I'm going to pick it up in verse number 1 and I just want to try to get to chapter 2 here. Verse number 1, chapter 1 we looked at this, some of this last 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 of the word of life." Church Family, the capital W there on Word of Life, the whole verse is talking about who? talking about Jesus Christ. John the Apostle is writing this saying, listen the person we've heard, the person we've seen, the person we've looked upon, the person our hands have handled, the Word of Life is Jesus Christ. You'll notice in verse number 2 the parenthesis around the whole verse he says this, he says, for the life was manifested, whose life? Jesus' life. For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life, that's Jesus, which was with the Father and manifested unto us." Alright, in other words Jesus was manifested unto the Apostles, us being John of course speaking. Verse number 3 he says, "...that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you." What did they see and hear? What they heard and seen was what Jesus said. He says that, "...ye also may have fellowship with us." Church family, it could mean that he says, listen, what I'm going to tell you, what we've seen and heard about Jesus Christ allows you to have fellowship or partnership with us. But truthfully I think what he's talking about because of the next phrase of the verse, he's saying just like we had fellowship with Jesus, we want you to have that same fellowship with Jesus. In other words, that partnership, that communication. Church family, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and? So you have fellowship, you have partnership, you have communication with God every time you open up that book because you are with the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you with me so far? Say amen. Look what he says next in verse number three. He says this and he says, and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. And these things, right? We unto you. And the reason we have fellowship, why last phrase that you're what? I'm going to tell you, if you're struggling in your Christian life and you're not happy, get in the book, alrighty? Because the more time you spend with Jesus, the more happier you're going to be as a Christian, alright? Look what he says next in verse number 5, this then is the message, alright? So what's the message? He says, this then is the message which we have heard of Him and declare unto you, here's the message, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Verse number 6, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we, what's the next word? and do not the truth. Now, Church, I want to preach a message tonight, and you're going to see where I'm going in just a second, because four times in this book, the Bible says that he says you're a liar. Now, I want to tell you, we don't like those kind of statements. If somebody come up to your face, put their finger in your nose and said you're a liar, you'd have a fight go on, all right? Because there's something about us that nobody likes to say, hey, listen, you're not telling the truth. But John, as he writes this letter, and he's talking to those who are Christians, he says, listen, I just want you to know, if you say this, you're lying. And he makes it very clear, and he says it four times, and so that's what we're gonna look at tonight. Let's pick it up back up again in verse number seven. He says, 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 cleansed us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, here he goes again, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him, make God, make him a liar, and His word is not in us. Chapter 2, verse 1, My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have a what? Advocate with the Father. Who is that advocate? Look at the last phrase, verse number one. Jesus Christ, the righteous. The word advocate means go between. It means an intercessor. The reason we've got access to God the Father, the reason we finish our prayers in Jesus' name is because He's the advocate. He is the intercessor. He's the one that brings me to the Father. And let me tell you something. That's when Jesus Christ died on the cross, shed His blood. The reason it takes faith in Jesus Christ is because Jesus Christ is the one that gets you to where you need to get. Look what he says next here in verse number two, and he is the propitiation, he being who, church family? Jesus Christ, he's the propitiation. That word propitiation means the atonement. He's the one that was able to pay for my sin. It says, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Verse number three, and hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a what? liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word in him, verily, is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith, he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." Now, Church, I mean, I want to look at the four times that John here uses this word lie or lying. And he's talking about those who would make a statement to say something. And John says, I'm going to just tell you, you make this statement, there better be something to back up what you're saying. I want to tell you something, Church, I mean, God doesn't hold very lightly when we lie. Now please follow me tonight. I want you to understand, God says very clearly, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are His delight. God hates lying. These six things that the Lord hates, yea, seven are an abomination to Him, a proud look and a lying tongue. So we understand that God does not like dishonesty. Church family, I want to tell you, so many times people are dishonest because they think nobody else knows about it. I'm telling you God knows about it. God knows about it. We were talking about in the conference room, I think it was last this last Sunday night, and we're talking about going and putting these tracks on those doors as we do this 30 mile radius of these other small towns. And as far as reminding everybody that a lot of people have these video cameras, whether it's in a doorbell or whether it's on and they can hear everything. And I want to tell you something, I remember when we were teenagers, of course they didn't have the video cameras and walking up to doors and how you would make statements like, that's a dumb fixture or that looks pretty bad. But I remember one time doing that. Me and another teenager were walking up to the door and we were teasing one another and we were talking about the place and we did not notice that the window was open right next to where the door was. And we're having this whole conversation and the person's listening to everything we said. Can I just tell you, God's listening to everything you say. And God knows if it's true or not. And God does not like lying. Just remember, I want to tell you, I don't know if you've ever had anybody lie to you before, but it's aggravating. It's aggravating. And I tell you, if you've got children, if you've ever caught your child in a lie before, you try to be able to coach them the right direction so they don't lie to you because you don't want that. I remember one time we had a kid that had done something wrong and he was in a classroom and it just so happened that that particular classroom I had a video camera in. And so when I called him to my office, I said, listen, before you say anything, I just want to tell you something. I got a video camera in that, in that room. And I did, by the way, I wasn't, I wasn't lying to him. Can I just tell you church family, God has a video camera. I want to tell you what it's called. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. So it's important for us to tell the truth because God does not like lying. All right, now, with that thought tonight, let's look and see what John says. If you say that, you're a liar. All right, now look what he says. Let's look at these quickly together. There's four of them. I want you to notice the first one. Go back to your Bible, 1 John chapter 1. Look at verse number 5 with me. This then is the message. We understand what the message is. God is light. To Him there is no darkness at all. Verse number 6, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie. Now think about that. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie. The very first thing John talks about here is the idea of lying about our fellowship with God. We understand. I've preached it before. You've seen it. You know it. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. It's not talking about me and brethren and sisters in Christ. It's not if I walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. Watch me now. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. You cannot walk in darkness and expect to have fellowship with God because God is light. But the path of the just is as the shining that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. What's the perfect day? The perfect day is when we're with God forever. So do you understand that Christian life is about my light getting brighter and brighter, shining more and more into the perfect day? I'm supposed to have more of a walk with God. I'm supposed to be more of a desirous for people to be saved. I'm supposed to be more desirous of drawing nigh to God so that God can speak to me. As a Christian, I'm supposed to be growing in grace, and that grace draws me closer to God. But wait a second here. I can't tell you how many times I've heard Christians who make wrong decisions and are not doing right, and they always want to say this. I'm reading my Bible. you listen to me, I want to tell you something. You can read your Bible and sometimes you get nothing from it because of a lot of different reasons. Maybe sometimes you're tired. Maybe sometimes you get nothing of it because you don't really understand the passage or the context of the scripture that you're getting. But I want to tell you there's a host of people that get nothing from the Word of God because you cannot walk in darkness and think that you're going to get light. You're lying. You're lying. Pastor, I'm right with God. You know what, can I tell you something? I think sometimes people think they're right with God because they're living in the world, they're living life like they want to live their life, but they're doing their duty of a Christian. They came to church. They got up tomorrow morning and read their three chapters out of their Bible. Now, I guarantee God's Word cannot return void, and if you are backsliding, keep reading your Bible. But do you understand that a person is lying about the fellowship that they have with God if they say, hey, I have fellowship, I have partnership, I have communication, and I am in tune with God. But I'm living in darkness. Church family, it's impossible. Listen to me, church family. Your judge is not your fellow church member. Your judge is not your pastor. Your judge is not your spouse. Your judge is God. We judge as God. John, as he writes this, he says, well, listen, I'm just telling you that as he says it so clearly, if we say that we have fellowship, partnership, communication, if we have fellowship with him, talking about God, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. I want to tell you something. If you want to make sure that you're truthful about walking with the light, walking with God in that fellowship, then we have to, again, walk in the light. I've said, I don't know for how many years, and I know it's not a Bible verse, but our sense of sin is in proportion to our nearness to God. The closer you are to God, the more you see the darkness in a person's life. Tonight, it's dark outside, so if I was to shut all the lights off, and we shut the lights on around, and I shine a flashlight, it's amazing how bright that flashlight is in an utterly dark room. If I shine that same flashlight in the daytime, and we have the glare from the sunlight coming through the upper windows, that flashlight seemingly does not do much. Excuse me, we don't understand how God is light. In other words, it's God's, His light is the brightness, the holiness of God. Just a minute, you're about to read in Exodus if you have not read already as you walk through the Bible this year. But when you get to Exodus, one of the stories that I think that it's intriguing as well as a blessing is when Moses went to spend time with God. And the Bible says that when Moses came down, he had to put a veil over his face because his face shone because of the reflection of what God, the presence of God upon his life. And the children of Israel, what did they say? Put a veil over your face, Moses, you're too bright. Can I just tell you that when a Christian spends time with God, you stand out. Why? Because God is light. Matthew 5, verse 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. I want to just tell you that there's so many times that you're going to come across a person, listen to me, who's living like the devil and they're going to say, well, I go to church, I read my Bible. They're lying. You say, Pastor, you shouldn't be so judgmental. Tell that to John. Under the inspiration of God, who says you're lying to say that you're having fellowship with God when you're not walking in the light, you're walking in darkness. Darkness is always a picture of the world. Darkness is always a picture of ungodliness. And it's not just a picture. God makes it very clear. It's light and darkness. So John says you're lying about your fellowship if you're not walking in the light. Look at the next thing I want you to notice, look at 1 John 1, look at verse number 8, next few verses here. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now think about that, we deceive ourselves. Verse number 9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of 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. Now church family, what did the Romans, I think it's Romans, let God be true and I like, is it Titus 1 verse number 2? God, who cannot lie. It's impossible. Who cannot lie. You're not going to be able to tell God, you know, I've never sinned. I think this verse definitely is applicable for lost and saved. Very few, not very many, but seemingly you'll meet somebody when you're out witnessing. How does a person know for sure they're on their way to heaven? The very first thing we show them is Romans 3.23 or Romans 3.10. As it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Sometimes you'll get somebody, I don't know if they're just being smart, I've never sinned. And then we try to go through all those pet sins and try to get them to admit. Their conscience knows that they've sinned. But can I tell you sometimes as Christians, if we're not careful, The reason we're so apt to throw stones is because we think that we're better than everybody else. Can I just tell you, we're not better than anybody. It's the mercy of God that he saves us. John here, as he writes, he says, now listen, you're lying when you lie about fellowship, when you're walking in darkness. You're lying when you say you haven't sinned, when we're all sinners. We all have done things that are wrong. Last week we talked about this idea, and again, just if I can tie it in with tonight, last week we looked at that fellowship brings joy, and then we looked at sin breaks fellowship, and then we looked at confession is what restores fellowship. Do you understand that if we don't, that word confess there in 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, that means to acknowledge. That word confess, acknowledge. We look in a mirror every day of our life. Hopefully, almost every day of your life, you look into a mirror to find out which way the hair needs combed, what needs shaved, and if it's makeup I've got to put on, whatever it might be. I look into a mirror. The Bible talks about that mirror that we look into and that being a hearer or doer of the Word depends on what we do with what we see. The reason you change things when you get up in the morning, you don't just walk out of the house the way you woke up. I mean, some people do, Normal people do not. We don't let our hair go 15,000 different directions. You don't leave the house without brushing your teeth, or taking a bath, or taking a shower, and putting on deodorant. Another message for another time. I'm hoping somebody's listening tonight. We do what we need to do to fix this body that's decaying, that's rotten. And Church, may I tell you something, that you have a heart that the Bible says is desperately wicked. Who can know it? When's the last time you evaluated your life or do you just have the mentality, I know you're careful never to say, I don't sin. But I think when we do not acknowledge our sin that we're saying it without saying it. In fact, the phrase that's mentioned twice in the end of verse number eight, I think the reason we have this idea of not sinning is verse number eight, the last phrase, and the truth is not in us. Last phrase, verse number 10, His Word is not in us. Can I just tell you, the closer you get to God and you read His Word, you feel bad in the sense that you're bad. That I don't say what I should say, I don't think what I should think, I don't do what I should do. There's something inside of you. God, forgive me. If we confess, we acknowledge. If we acknowledge our sin, if we confess our sins. If you don't do that, you're lying to yourself. Verse number eight, what does he say? Deceived. Look what he says next here. Chapter number two, not only he says you're lying concerning fellowship, you're lying concerning sin. Look at verse chapter two, verse number three, look what he says. He says, and hereby we do know that we know him. We keep His commandments. Verse 4, He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a what? A liar. And the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word in him, verily, is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. John says this, he says, listen, you're not only lying about fellowship, you're lying about sin, but you're lying about knowing him. Church, I mean, my take upon this passage on these grouping of verses, it's not talking about knowing him in fellowship, because John already took care of that. John's saying, hey, listen, you can't have communication, you can't have this idea of partnership with God if you're not walking in the light. In other words, you might be saved, you're a child of God, but you're not partnered with him, you're not communicating with him. That's not what he's talking about here. I'll tell you why I believe that, hold your place there if you can, but turn over to Titus real quickly with me, Titus chapter 1, 1st and 2nd Timothy in the book of Titus, Titus chapter 1. Look at the end of the chapter there verse number 15, Titus chapter 1 verse number 15, under the pure all things are pure, verse 15, unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. Now church family, whose mind and conscience is defiled. Did you see that word unbelieving in the middle of the verse? So in verse 15 he says the unbelieving, the nothing is pure, to the unbelieving their mind and conscience is defiled. But then he starts verse number 16 with that pronoun they. Who's the they in verse 16? The unbelieving. So verse 16 says they, the unbelieving, profess that they what? But they know God, but in works they what? Being abominable and disobedient unto every good work reprobate. I really think that 1 John 2 when it talks about the person who's lying, yes, it can be a saved person. I know God, but you really don't know God. But I think very clearly out of Titus 1, the unbelieving who says they know God, they don't know God. And you know why we know they don't know God? Because Titus 1 16 says, for by their works, You know, we don't like to talk about it, and I think sometimes Christians, they get irritated when they hear the verse. You know, there's some verses you just don't like because it goes against what you're living. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse number 17, I believe, is that one of those verses. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a what? New creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. We don't like to talk about that. James referred to that. idea of works and faith, and he says, listen, I'll show you my faith by my works. Are y'all with me so far? So here's the thought here, as John is talking, he said, listen, you're lying to say you know God, but you have no works to even show that you know God. And I think, again, the unbeliever, the person who's not saved, they've got this idea, well, you know, I'm saved because, and they won't say it this way, but here's what they mean, I know of God. They don't know God. We know God, that's why you came to church tonight. We know God because that's why we pick up our Bible tomorrow morning and have our devotions. We know God, that's why we want to give a track or tell somebody about the Jesus Christ. We know God. Why? Personally. There's scores of people. The Bible says broad is the way that leads to destruction. In fact, Jesus was very clear about this in Matthew 7. He said, Hey, listen to me, church family. I know we're not perfect Christians. Thank God one of these days we'll have a perfect body. the cursed world from Garden of Eden will be over there'll be no more sorrow no more pain no more sin no more curse and sometimes we as Christians we fail but aren't you glad that we've got a loving Heavenly Father that yes doesn't clear the guilty but he's forgiving and God helps us get back up that's not really what John's talking about here John's talking about that person who goes to church on Sunday mornings and acts religious and is a fairly good person as far as the world standard of things. And they say, well, I know God. But wait a second here. But your works don't show that you know God. You're lying. As a Christian, may we not be as guilty as lost people. May people be able to see a difference in our Christian life. I don't live my Christian life so that they can live what I live. I live the Christian life because I want to live what God wants us to live. So again, the idea of this idea of lying, he says, listen, you're lying about fellowship when you're walking in darkness, you're not walking in light. You're lying about sin when you think you have no sin. You're lying about knowing me when your works show that you don't know me. Now church, there's one more I want you to notice. It's not right here in chapter 2, it's in chapter 4. You probably already know the verse, but look at chapter 4 with me. Chapter 4, the Bible says this in verse number 20, if a man say, 1 John 4, 20, if a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he's what? For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this, what's the word? Suggestion, is that what it says? And this what? commandment have we from him? What's the commandment? Let's read the last phrase of the verse, verse 21 together, you ready? That he who loveth God love his brother also. You know, John, John gets pretty firm, does he not? I want to tell you something, if we had people like John preaching today, people can go to church anywhere. In fact, you like John? How do you like John the Baptist? Hey, you viper, snake, I'm just telling you, in a better way, it's the Word of God. God spoke to people and God used their preaching. John is speaking to people and said, listen, you can say all you want, but God knows you're lying. God knows you're lying. Now listen, church, tonight's message is not a discouraging message, unless you're lying. If you're lying, I'd be discouraged. I wanna tell you something, true fellowship with God causes you to be more in the light than in the dark. True fellowship with God causes you to see your sin for what it is. Yep. You know, John's talking about these, true fellowship with God causes you to know God. What he wants for your life, what his will is for your life, cause you to know that. And true fellowship with God causes you to love that person across the aisle. I can't see your expressions, I hope you're nodding yes. Hey, can I tell you, if there's one thing that a person really has a hard time with, it's not loving the God he can't see, it's loving the person he can. The problem is, is this, we see a person's imperfections, we see a person's idiosyncrasies, we see a person's personality, and sometimes those things rub us wrong. And when they rub us wrong, we have a tendency to excuse in our mind why I can be mad at that particular person. But you know what God said? You're a liar. You know why you're a liar? Because you act like you love me, and you don't even love your brother and sister in Christ. Just remember, have you ever been offended? Since I can't see you, raise your hand if you've been offended. Been offended? Two of you, good. He said, offenses will come. Can I tell you who the bigger Christian is? The person who lets them go. The person who lets them go. You know, I had a friend, my father, you probably can guess who it is because I've been here long enough, we haven't been here a long time. He's dying, the fellow that's a friend of my father, one of the last few people that knew my dad. Of course, I can never get away from the verse, thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not, neither go into thy brother's house on the day of thy calamity. For better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off. So I think of people that my dad, he influenced and that loved my father. And to be honest with you, some of those people that loved my father, I didn't love them. But I loved them because they loved my father. I had one of those fellows, my dad's, of course he's been dead now 17, 18 years, so there's fewer people. Probably one of the last that I would say was a friend of my father that's still alive. He called today and he wants me to help him get something printed. It's not, it's just a booklet of some sort. He's dying and it's about his cancer that he has and asked if I would help with it. And to be honest with you, I really don't necessarily want to do it, but I am. I want to tell you why. Because he loved my father. Can I just tell you something? That person you're aggravated with, that person you don't really like, what you need to realize is it's not about loving them, it's about loving your father. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is what? Don't you hate that? I can see your face. He's a liar. I mean, not him, but I mean. As Christians, may we make sure that our fellowship is true fellowship because of the way I live, walking in the light, not walking in darkness. May I make sure I never get to the place that I don't get up every morning in my life, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and make sure that I've got all my sin confessed. May we make sure that we don't get to the place where we just know of God, but that every day of our life and every minute of the day we're acknowledging Him because we know Him. And then may we also, when it comes to brothers and sisters in Christ, realize it's not just loving them, it's loving them because I love God. Keep your relationship with brothers and sisters in Christ right. Hey church, you may follow me now. You don't have to like everybody, but you gotta love everybody. Five people in the Bible God said to love. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love your wife, love your enemies, and love the brethren. And that fifth one, that one comes with, I'll close with this. Got your Bible still open? Look at 1 John chapter five. 1 John 5, 1, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Do you believe Jesus is the Christ? You're born of God. Look at the next phrase. And everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. It's pretty clear, I guess I got to love everybody, amen? Would you bow your head and close your eyes tonight? We take a few moments of prayer tonight.