Ron Dunn Podcast - Maintaining Fellowship With God

Episode Date: November 20, 2014

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life. This life was revealed and we have seen it and testify to it

and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that some translations read, Our joy, others read, Your joy may be full or complete. This then is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not what is true.

But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 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, and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. When a person is saved, they enter into a relationship with God. And that, as I mentioned a moment ago, is the purpose for which John wrote the gospel, so that you and I might have a relationship, that we might come to know Jesus Christ, whom to know is life eternal. And so when a person is saved, that person enters into a living relationship with God. Salvation is not an organization membership. It is not a relationship with some instrument or some dogma or some doctrine. It is a living union relationship

with a person. Salvation is a very personal and experiential thing. And when a person comes to Jesus Christ, they're established between he and God, a living relationship. Now that relationship is unchanging and unchangeable and never requires any maintenance. In other words, once that relationship with God has been established, nothing on earth or in heaven can sever that relationship. Now, the Bible speaks of this relationship in several different ways, but the most frequent and the most favorite way of speaking of this relationship is that of a father to his children.

You remember when Jesus came to this earth, he brought with him the foremost revelation of God as this, that he is our Father. That's not something you'll find particularly in the Old Testament. You'll find God referred to occasionally in the Old Testament as Father of the Nation or Father of the King. But you'll not find the people themselves of Israel calling God their father. They just did not have that concept. And so when Jesus came, you remember He said to His disciples,

if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. He came to reveal to us the Father. He said, when you pray, do it like this. Say, our Father which art in heaven. He said, if you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your own children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good gifts to them that ask? You see, when God reveals Himself to us, He has to speak to us in language that we can understand.

You don't talk to a three-year-old the way you talk to a 30-year-old. So how can God best describe to us what it means to be saved? He says, well, it's this way. I'm a father and you are my children. And the moment God says that, I understand because I relate to the parent-child relationship. I know what it means to have a father-child relationship. I know what it means to have a father and a mother. I know what it means to be a father. I understand immediately

what God is talking about. Well, somebody said to me one time, well, yeah, but that doesn't help me. I had a lousy dad. I said, well, maybe you did, but the only reason you knew he was a lousy dad is because you know what a good dad's supposed to be. See, we understand what it ought to be to be a father or a mother. And so when God says, here is what it means to know me, it is to enter into a relationship in which I am your father and you are my children. And so the Bible emphasizes this. The New Testament emphasizes this. The Bible speaks of our being adopted into the family of God. Now, unless you think that that is a lesser thing than being born into the family of God, Paul is writing there in the light of Roman law. In Roman law, a person could disown his natural

born child, but he could not disown an adopted child. So when the Bible speaks of our being adopted into the family of God, it is not speaking of a lesser relationship. Actually, it is speaking of a more secure relationship than ever. And so the Word of God loves to describe our relationship with God as that of a parent to a father. Now that is unchanging and unchangeable and requires no maintenance. It's the same way in our earthly relationship. I was born in 1900 in none of your business, and my father's name was Cecil Dunn. He died in 1990. As a matter of fact, I was here beginning a meeting, the first meeting I was with you when my dad died. But he, I still call him my father. I'm still his son. And throughout all the years that he was alive, no matter how much I might have disobeyed him, nothing changed that relationship.

I could have gone off to the wilds of Alaska or somewhere else, changed my name, dishonored him in every way possible, but that would not have changed our relationship. I was His son, He was my father. I stuck with Him and He was stuck with me, whether we liked it or not. And in the same way, that which has been born cannot be unborn, and that which has been born again cannot be unborn again, and I have been adopted into the family of God. I cannot be disinherited. I cannot be disowned.

I have been born into the family of God. That is an unchangeable and unchanging relationship. But not only when a person is saved do they enter into a relationship with God, we also enter into a fellowship with God. Now, this fellowship with God is changeable and does require maintenance. As a matter of fact, the extent to which you enjoy your relationship is determined by the quality of your fellowship. If I strain my mind to remember,

I think I could probably recall one or two occasions when I didn't obey my father. And you know, it suddenly occurs to me how strange and coincidental it was at those times I didn't care much for our relationship either. You know what I mean? Boy, I wish I had another dad. Of course, every child has said that sooner or later. Boy, I wish I had another set of parents. I mean, the only reason you have me anyway is just to have somebody beat up on all the time. Well, I tell you what, if the fellowship isn't right with you folks, that's not the time to ask for the car, you see. There were

a lot of times when I did not enjoy the benefits of being my father's child. Why? Well, because something had happened to the fellowship, you see. And when the fellowship is broken, when the fellowship is injured, then you do not enjoy that relationship. For instance, take the prodigal son in the far country. He's still the prodigal son. He's still the son even though he's a prodigal, isn't he? I mean, it doesn't make any difference

if he's gone off to the far country, wasted his inheritance, dishonored his father's name, standing over there in the middle of the pig pen. He is still the flesh and blood son of this man living over here in a wealthy house. And here he is over here starving to death. Now, he's still the son, that's still his father, and the father is a wealthy man, but this son is no longer the recipient of the blessings and benefits of that relationship, is he? Why? Well, because the fellowship has been broken, you see. The relationship has not been broken at all. Still his son, still his father, but the fellowship has caused that son to be in a situation where he's about to starve to death. It doesn't matter that his father's wealthy. What good does it do if his

father has everything on the face of the earth? He's starving. Why? Because he has broken that fellowship and put himself in a situation where the blessings and the benefits of that relationship no longer accrue to him. But when that son repents and goes home and restores that broken fellowship with his father, what does the father do? The father says, put shoes on his feet, put a ring on his finger, put a cloak on him, and let's kill the fatted calf, and let's have a party, you see. The difference between relationship, you see, and fellowship. Now, John is writing not to establish a relationship, that's already been established, but to maintain a fellowship. You know, it's interesting in verse 3, he says,

These things write we unto you, gives us the purpose for writing this epistle, These things write we unto you, that you may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Now remember that, that's going to be important later on, that John seems to think fellowship with them and fellowship with the Father's one and the same thing. Did you notice that? Did you catch that? That's going to be important. But then in verse 4, he says, we are writing these things so that our or your joy may be full. Now in verse 3, he's saying we're

writing so that we may have fellowship. Verse 4, he's writing so that our joy may be full. Well now John, make up your mind, which is it? You're either writing so that we can have fellowship or you're either writing so that our joy can be full. Now which is it? Well it's both. Why? Well because if the fellowship is as it ought to be,

your joy will be full and complete and running over. But if your fellowship isn't what it ought to be, there's not going to be joy. The word translated full or complete there means to be continually and completely full and overflowing. It is the fullness of joy. You know, there is a distinctive relationship between our fellowship with God and our joy in the Lord. Remember what the psalmist said, Psalm 85, Will thou not revive us again, that thy people may what? Rejoice in thee. David said, Wilt thou not restore unto me what? The joy of my salvation. He didn't say restore unto me my salvation. He said restore unto me the joy of my salvation. When I was pastor in Irving, I had a friend who was pastor across town,

and we spent a lot of time together fellowshipping, and I knew he was having some trouble with a couple in his church. I didn't know their names. He had never told me who they were. It wouldn't have made any difference. I wouldn't have known them. But I know that many times when we got together, you could always tell when he had had another run-in with this man and woman. I mean, they were just evidently the most negative people he had ever encountered, and they

just, well, they were the only flies in the ointment of his pastorate. Well, he invited me to speak at their adult sweetheart banquet one year, and so there we were. And we were sitting at the head table, and we'd been there about 30 or 40 minutes. And a bunch of adults, I guess 100 and 150 adults there, everybody having a good time. They had a massacre of ceremonies up there, you know, telling corny jokes that nobody would laugh at anywhere else. But, you know, you laugh at things at church, at banquets,

you wouldn't laugh anywhere else. But everybody's having a good time, you know, and laugh at things at church, at banquets, you wouldn't laugh anywhere else. But everybody's having a good time, you know, and just acting silly and crazy. So we'd been there, as I said, about 30 or 40 minutes, and I leaned over to my friend, and I said, Lord, I bet you five bucks I can tell you which couple it is in your church giving you all the trouble.

He said, You think so? I said, Yes, they are here, aren't they? He said, Yes, they're here. I said, Well, I can tell you who they are. Well, who is it? I said, yes, they're here. I said, well, I can tell you who they are. Well, who is it? I said, well, they're sitting over there, that third table right over there on that side. They're on the end of the table. He has on a blue suit wearing a red tie, and she was wearing a blue flowery dress. And he was amazed. And see, he said, how did you know that? How did you know that? And I said, well, we've been sitting here for 30, 40 minutes

and everybody's having a good time. But that couple, they haven't cracked a smile since they walked in and sat down. And when they're not having fun and when they're not enjoying themselves, I figure they're the ones that's backslidden, you see. That's why I always use a lot of humor in my messages. I see who's laughing and who isn't.

And I figure whoever's not laughing is backslidden. One man back there laughed right then for the first time all week long. So John says, we're writing these things to you so that you may have fellowship and so that our joy may be full. Okay, John, I'm ready to hear it. Man, I don't want to get in the far country. I want to keep myself in a position where God can bless me like He wants to. Oh, that father didn't want to see his son starve, but because of his rebellion, he had no choice.

I do not want to put myself in a position where God cannot bestow upon me all the benefits of my relationship. So tell me, how in the world can I maintain my fellowship? John says, I have a message, and this is the message, and if this message is received by you, then everything will be all right. All right, what is that message, John? This is it, verse 5. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Wait just a minute, John. You didn't say a word about fellowship there.

John is saying, I have something I want to say to you. And if you get it, it'll help you maintain your fellowship so that you can always enjoy your relationship. What is that message, John? This is it. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Now, when the Bible says God is light, it's saying, of course, that God is pure and God

is holy. Light in the Bible is the symbol of moral purity and moral excellency. It is true that when we see Him, we will fall at our feet and cry, holy. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness, not even a shadow, is literally what he's saying. There's not even a hint of darkness in God. What is John saying? John's saying, listen, if you want to live in fellowship with God, the basic thing you must understand is that God is a God of absolute holiness and purity,

and there is not even a shadow of sin or darkness in Him. Now, he amplifies that in verse 6 and says, If we say that we have fellowship with Him while we are walking about in darkness, we lie and we are not doing what is true. Okay, now he's making himself a little bit more clear. God is light. That means that God is morally pure. God is absolutely holy.

Now, if I claim to have fellowship with God, I claim to be walking with God, I claim to be living in fellowship with God, and yet I'm over here walking around in darkness, and God is over here in the light, and I'm saying, sure, God and I, we're having fellowship. He says, you're lying. Oh, no, you can't have fellowship with God when you're in the darkness.

Why? Because God is in the light. God is not in the light. God is light. And so if you say that you have fellowship with Him, if you claim to have fellowship with God, if you claim that everything between you and God is right, and yet you're over here living in darkness,

in other words, there is sin in your life, oh, no, you're lying. Now, John's kind of blunt. Have you noticed that? He just comes down and and says you're a liar A.T. Robertson used to say no it was W.T. Conner used to say that John argued like a woman

she didn't try to debate anything she said this is it you can take it or leave it of course that's what he said I didn't say that he said man uses man when he wants to argue he uses logic and reason. This is just what Dr. Conner said, you understand.

It's not necessarily my opinion. I'm just telling you what. He said, Paul argues like a man. That's why it takes him in Romans 16 chapters to say what's on his mind. He said, when a man wants to prove something, he'll take four hours going all the way around the world trying to pile argument upon argument. When he gets there, his wife's been there all the while. She may not be able to tell you why, but she's there. That's just Dr. Conner's

words, you understand. He said, a woman argues by instinct primarily. She says this is it and that's the way it is and And she doesn't necessarily try to argue to prove it. That's just it. And he said, the troubling thing is most of the time they're right. That's just Dr. Conner's opinion if you take it up with him when you get up there. Easy for him to talk like that. He's in heaven now. But John doesn't hem-haw around. He just simply says, listen, and you'll notice that if you read through the book of 1 John, you'll find that phrase, if we say, if we say, if we say, or he that says, he that says.

It's as though John has somebody in mind, and he probably does. It's as though he's been to some testimony meeting, and some fellow stood up and has made some claim to be walking with God, and yet all the time he's living in sin. John says that man is a liar. No two ways about it. So basically what he's saying is this. There's only one thing, and one thing only, that can sever your fellowship with God.

Nothing can sever that relationship. But there's only one thing and one thing only that can hinder your fellowship with God, and that is sin. Nothing else can do it except sin. I'm emphasizing this because I want to make a point in just a moment. You may feel at times that your fellowship with God has been broken,

but it may not have. You just feel like it has. Because the only thing that can break your fellowship with God is sin. That's the only thing. Therefore, first of all, John says this, how to maintain your fellowship with God. How do you maintain your fellowship with God?

First of all, if we are going to maintain our fellowship with God, walk in the light as He is in the light, there must be a consciousness on our part of sin. A consciousness of sin. I want you to notice in verses 8 and 10 how John puts it. In verse 8, he says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. In verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Now, John is not saying the same thing here. He's saying two different things. In verse 8 he's saying, if we say we have no sin. In verse 10 he's saying, if we say

we have not sinned. Verse 8 he's talking about the principle of sin, the indwelling sin, the old sinful nature. He says, if we say that we have no sin, if we say that we have no sinful nature, if we say that there is nothing sinful in us, we're deceiving ourselves, and we're not doing what is true. In other words, even though you and I have been saved, there is still within us what the Bible calls the old Adamic nature,

the old flesh, any way you want to describe it, the old man, the old self, as the Bible describes it. There is within us tonight, there is something within us tonight, even though we are saved, there is still something within us tonight that takes to sin like a duck takes to water, isn't there? There's still a tendency in you to rebel against God. There is still a propensity to sinfulness in your life. There is still a bent to sinning in your life.

Of course there is. And if you say that there isn't, you're not deceiving anybody but yourself. You may stand up here tonight and say, well, I've had an experience with God which has totally eradicated the old nature, and there is no longer any sin nature in me, and I have reached full and final sanctification. It is no longer possible for me to sin. You know what we're all going to be saying? Poor fellow. I wonder what happened to him that he kind of, well, how can a man deceive himself like that?

If I stand up here tonight and say there's no sin in me, I'm certainly not going to deceive those who know me. And I'm really not going to deceive God. The only one I'm going to deceive is myself. So what John is saying is this. The first thing, folks, is this. You and I must never think that we're so spiritual that we're beyond sinning you and I need to be conscious

that there is within us still a sin principle now I'm not talking about morbid introspection please don't misunderstand I'm not saying that you and I ought to go around all the time with our fingers on our pulse seeing how I'm doing. I'm not saying that at all. I'm not talking about always putting ourselves down and whipping, putting ourselves down and whipping ourselves.

Some people think that humility is whipping yourself. That's not humility. Humility is just forgetting about yourself. But sometimes we, well, I'm just no good and I'm all of this. No, no, listen, stop trying to be your own Holy Spirit. I meet a lot of Christians and they're really, they're always uptight because they're afraid they've sinned. Listen, if you sin, the Spirit of God will let you know it.

Don't try to be your own Holy Spirit. Don't walk around with your fingers on your pulse. I'm not talking about always being morbidly introspective and looking into yourself all the time to see if some sin is there. I'm simply saying this. You and I need to be aware. We need to be conscious that there is within us the possibility of sin. You see, the truth of the matter is we're never as spiritual as we think we are.

I don't care how spiritual I think I am. I'm not nearly as spiritual as I think I am. Sometimes I think, boy, I've really made progress. And you know, something happens to show me, I think, my goodness, I thought I was a lot farther down the road than I am. Has that ever happened to you? See, in a sense, that's good. God's doing you a favor when He lets you fall flat on your face sometimes because you need to be reminded, oh yes, you've still got that old sin nature there.

And it'll be there until we're changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. So John says there must be an awareness, a consciousness of this. Now, I said a moment ago that the only thing that can harm our fellowship with God is sin. Nothing else. Sin in one form or another, in one shape or size or another, only sin. Folks, there are times when we feel like something is wrong with our fellowship when there is nothing wrong.

It's simply the way we feel. We're in a dark mood or depressed or emotionally upset, and we get to feeling guilty, and we think, Oh, I'm not right with God. Let me tell you what is the difference between the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the accusation of the devil and a lot of Christians don't understand the two and so I know a great many Christians who are always walking around under condemnation feeling that their fellowship with God is wrong and you begin to talk to them and and oh I don't know what it is I don't know what

it is but I don't know I just okay okay, let me just tell you the difference. First of all, when the Holy Spirit convicts you, He convicts you of sin you have not already confessed and dealt with. When it's the accusation of the devil, He's bringing up sins that you've already dealt with, you see. Oh, the devil loves to drag up the past. Do you wonder why it is God is always saying over and over again, I will remember their sins against them no more. I've cast the sins behind my back.

I've buried them in the depth of the sea. Why do you suppose that God is always saying that to us? Why? Because you and I do not have the capacity to forget, and we're always reminding people, especially husband and wives, when we have an argument, we're always dragging up the past and reminding them of how they behaved before, making them feel guilty. Yes, sir. I want you to feel guilty. But the Spirit of God will never convict you of any sin that you have already confessed to God and dealt with.

And if you feel guilty and condemned tonight because of something that you've done in the past and you've dealt with it, then I have news for you folks, that is not the Holy Spirit of God, that is the devil accusing you. I had a woman in my office one day, and she had this very problem. And I said to you, don't you understand the Bible says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us. She said, oh,

I've done that a thousand times. I said, I'm glad to meet you. She said, why? I said, you're the first person God's ever lied to. I'm glad to know you. I didn't know if I'd ever meet anybody, but evidently God has lied. She said, well, God doesn't lie. Oh, yes, God lies. He's lied to you. God doesn't lie. Well, he said, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us. And you said you've confessed your earth a thousand times, and yet God hasn't forgiven you. You see, what that woman was experiencing was not the conviction of the Holy Spirit. She was experiencing the accusation of the devil. The devil will always drag up your past. He loves to do it, especially when you start to pray about something. You know, he sidles up to

you and says, now you know God's not about to hear you. You'd better call the pastor. Let him pray. Of course, what you don't know is at that moment, the devil is sidling up to the pastor and saying, You know God's not about to listen to you. You'd better call the deacons. And about that moment, the devil is sidling up to the deacons

and all the way down the line. That's why they call him the accuser of the brethren, you see. The adversary. All right, first of all, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin that we have not yet dealt with. If it's past sin, then it's the accusation of the devil. Number two, the Spirit's conviction is redemptive, offering us hope. The devil's accusation is always in condemnation,

offering no hope, you see. The Holy Spirit convicts you redemptively. The devil condemns you. That's all he does, offering no hope, no redemption. Condemns you. The Holy Spirit, third, when he convicts, he convicts to draw you to God. When the devil accuses,

he accuses you to drive you away from God, you see. When it's the Holy Spirit convicting me, there is drawn upon me the desire to come and get things right with him. He draws me to the Holy Spirit. He draws me to God. The devil drives me away from him, making me feel that God is not a God of love and mercy and grace. So there must be a consciousness of sin. First of all, conscious that we still have the sin nature. And then in verse 10, conscious that we do sin. You see, in verse 8, he's talking about the principle of sin. And in verse 10, he's talking about the practice of sin.

I not only have the sin nature, but I do sin. I mean, I really do sin. I really do. And it disturbs me when I hear some people, and it's been sort of the popular thing the last few years of talking about the fact that all of a sudden you don't sin, you know, and you count your acts of righteousness rather than your sin. And a friend of mine once said, so far today I've committed 300 acts of righteousness, but I haven't sinned yet. To my mind mind I was thinking you just did it because you see sin is not just an aggressive act sin is sometimes a passive omission I haven't loved God today like I ought probably

I haven't punched anybody in the nose as far as I know. I haven't lied to anybody. I haven't cursed out anybody. I haven't sinned. Have I loved God with all my heart and all my soul? Well, I'm not going to go around and worry about all of that. I'm going to let the Holy and worry about all of that. I'm going to let the Holy Spirit let me know about that. But I'm not about to go around saying, now, Lord, I've done

453 acts of righteousness today. Are you keeping score up there? No. You don't maintain your fellowship with God like that. So first of all, there must be a consciousness of our sin. And again, I emphasize, I'm not talking about this morbid introspection. The Holy Spirit will let you know. Well, how do you get that consciousness of sin? It's very easy. by walking in the light, by walking in the light. I have noticed something. I've been doing this for 40 years. Not this same sermon, but preaching. I have noticed something. that in revival meetings, the first people to respond

to invitations are always your best people. Have you noticed that, Pastor? Why? They're the closest to God. They're nearer to the light. And so they see these things in their lives. See, if I go out here tonight and rub my hand in the dirt and I come in and stick my hand in my jacket and you say, Preacher, you've got dirt on your hand. And I say, No, I don't see any dirt on my hand. Well, of course you can't see it. It's in the dark. Bring it out to the light,

and then you'll see the dirt. Okay, I'll bring my hand out to the light, and you know, that's strange. The closer my hand gets to the light, the more obvious it is that there's dirt there. And so when I get to the place where I say, well, I have no sin in my life, it may mean I'm just so far from the light I can't see it, you see. So how do I come about this consciousness of sin without it becoming this morbid introspection, this self-condemnation type of thing. Well, this is how it does. As you just stay in the light, you just walk in the light, and as you walk in the light with God, oh my goodness, I'm telling you, every time you brush up against something dirty, you'll notice it. You'll notice it. All right. First of all, there

is the consciousness of sin. Then there is the cleansing from sin. If we're to maintain our fellowship with God, there must be a cleansing from sin. Notice 1 John 1, 9 says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, I was preaching this sermon in a church some time back, and a young fellow came up to me after the service, and he said, I don't agree with what you said. I said, what part?

Well, you said that we, in order to maintain our fellowship with God, we must confess our sins, that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And he said, I don't believe that. I said, but don't believe that. I said, but the Bible says it. He said, well, evidently that was talking to lost people. I said, no, 1 John's written to Christians. He said, well, I just don't believe that you have to confess your sins as a Christian. He said, isn't it true that when Jesus died on the cross, he died for all our sins? Yes. And when Jesus died on the cross, weren't all your sins future at that moment? I said, yes. And when you were saved, and I was

saved when I was nine years old, He said, weren't most of your sins future? Oh, yes, I've sinned a lot more since I was saved than I ever did before I was saved. Well, then didn't Jesus save you from all your sins at that age? I said, well, yes, He did. Well, then why do you come back now and say that we had to confess our sins in order to maintain fellowship with God? Why do you have to confess something to be forgiven of something that God has already forgiven you of 2,000 years ago on the cross? That's a pretty good argument, isn't it?

Boy, I wish I had a way out of it well I do as far as my relationship with God is concerned I do not have to confess my sins that was taken care of at the cross 2,000 years ago but we're not talking about relationship we're talking about fellowship, you see. I mean, I never had to come back to my dad and make things right in order to remain his son.

But if I wanted to get the car Saturday night, I had certainly better come and make things right. The best illustration of this is found in John chapter 13, where Jesus is meeting there with his disciples in the upper room, and all of a sudden He startles those disciples by picking up a basin of water and a towel, and He begins to go around the room. What's He doing? He's washing the feet of those disciples.

Now, washing the feet of somebody was a lowly, lowly job. Even a self-respecting Jewish slave did not want to do that. Usually that was given over to the Gentile slaves, the dog slaves, because the lowest form of service was to wash somebody's feet. And of course, when Jesus got to Simon Peter, Peter said, Lord, you're not going to wash my feet. And Jesus said, if I do not wash your feet, you have no what? You have no part in me. You have no part in me. You have no fellowship with me. Peter said, Lord, not my feet only, but my whole body.

And Jesus said, the King James reads, He that is washed does not need to wash save his feet. Now what Jesus was saying is two different words there. He's saying he who has had the bath does not need to wash it, save his feet. Let's look at it like this. I get up in the morning, and I take a shower. I take a bath. I'm clean from head to foot. Well, I want to go down the street and visit Abraham. So I have on my robe, and I put on my sandals. And I walk down that dusty street, that dusty road, and I come to Abraham's house. And as I enter Abraham's house,

there's a basin of water there and a towel because I cannot walk into his house and sit down and fellowship with him with dirty feet. I'll track up his house, you see. So I say to Abraham, Let me borrow your bathtub. I want to go take a bath. He said, well, didn't you take a bath this morning? I said, oh yeah, I took a bath just about an hour ago, but my feet are dirty. Let me take a bath. He said, Ron, you don't need to take a bath.

All you need is to wash your feet. You've already had the bath, you see. You just need to wash your feet. And when you wash your feet, you can come in and sit down and we can have fellowship. Now, when I was nine years old and came to Jesus Christ, He gave me the bath.

But every day walking in this world, I pick up dirt on my feet. And if I'm going to come into the Lord's presence and fellowship with Him, I need to wash my feet, you see. The difference, we're talking about fellowship here. We're not talking about relationship. I had the bath. Yes, sir, I did. Jesus bathed me in His blood when He died on the cross 2,000 years ago, and I don't have to do anything about that. I could die right now with unconfessed sin in my life. I would still be saved and go to heaven, but I would arrive there out of fellowship with God.

So in order to maintain our fellowship with God, there must be a confession of sin. If we confess our sins, notice it's plural. He doesn't say if we confess our sin singularly. He said that we confess our sins. Now there's only one way to confess sins, plural, more than one. You know how that is? One by one. Of course, what we usually like to do is to wait until night and dump them all in a big bag and say, Lord, here are my sins,

confess them all. No, let's don't do it that way. Day by day, during the day day as you're driving down the street you lose your temper because that driver pulls out in front of you and you realize you've dirtied your feet what do you do? do you save that until your night time prayer? no, you say Lord forgive me confess it

and what does he do? he forgives you you're still in fellowship you see see it's possible. We're talking about maintaining your fellowship, moment by moment fellowship. And you lose your temper with somebody or you say something or do something you shouldn't

at the moment that you recognize it, at the moment you're aware of it. How are you so aware of it? Because you're walking in the light and you know the Spirit of God lets you know when you've done something like that. What do you do? At that moment, you confess it to Him

and confess it to Him. And as you do so, He forgives you and the blood cleanses you from that sin. And so what are you doing? You're maintaining, you see, your fellowship with God day by day, moment by moment. By the way, the word confess simply means to agree with, homo legeo,

to say the same thing. You see, when I confess something to you, I'm telling you something you don't already know. But when we confess to God, we're not telling God anything He doesn't already know. I've never heard God gasp in surprise when I confess anything. Have you? I've never heard God say, well, I would never have thought that of you. No, he already knows it. Confession means I agree with God. Over in Philippians, it says that there's coming a day when every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. What's that saying? He's saying there's coming a day when every day everybody will agree with God about Jesus Christ, that he's Lord, and that they'll say the same thing about Jesus that God

says about him, he is Lord. So when I confess sin, to confess sin means that I say the same thing about something that God says about it, see? It means that I agree with God. What does Amos say? Can two walk together except they be agreed? If I'm going to walk in fellowship with God, there must be agreement, you see. And so confession of sin is not telling God something He doesn't already know. Confession of sin is saying, Lord, I agree with You.

I'm going to call this the same thing You call it. It is sin. I was preaching in a church, and I was preaching from Colossians chapter 3, and I began talking about gossip and evil speaking and the sins of the tongue. And a woman came up to me after the service, and she said,

Well, I... She said, Brother Dunn, I'm not a gossip. She said, I just have a talkative nature. Well, bless her heart, I feel sorry for her. She'll never be able to overcome it. See, if it was gossip, that's sin, and God can forgive sin and deliver you from that.

But I don't find anywhere in the Bible where God says he can overcome or forgive a talkative nature. They say, well, it's just a personality trait. God doesn't say he forgives personality. Well, it's one of my idiosyncrasies. God doesn't say he forgives idiosyncrasies. See, the reason you can't get victory over that thing is that you're still calling it one thing. God's calling it something else. Call it what God calls it.

It's sin. And that's what confession is. It is agreeing with God about this issue. It is saying the same thing about it that God says about it. And when you and God are in agreement, then you're walking together, you see. So the question I ask you tonight is this. Are you and God in total agreement about

everything in your life? Or is there an issue, and God has one opinion and you have another opinion about it, and that's the fight that you're having with God. So there must be confession of sin. And finally, if I'm to maintain my fellowship, God, not only must there be a consciousness of sin and a confession of that sin, but there must be a cleansing from that sin. First John 1, 9 again says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is a difference between forgiving and cleansing, evidently. Whatever God forgives, He cleanses.

I confess my sin to God, and God does two things. First of all, he forgives it, and then he cleanses me from all unrighteousness. Now, this means two things. First of all, it means that when God forgives me of a sin, he cleanses me even from the stain or the spot that that sin leaves on me. You know, have you ever at times confessed a sin to God and you knew that He had forgiven you, but you still felt kind of dirty about it? No, you're not, because when He forgives, He cleanses from any unrighteousness that that sin may have brought into your life. He not only forgives the sin, but He washes away any stain that that sin may have brought into your life. He not only forgives the sin,

but he washes away any stain that that sin may have left on the garment of your fellowship. And so after we've confessed our sin to God, we need to walk away not allowing the devil to accuse us, you see, and say, there are spots on your garment. Oh, no, they're not. God cleansed me, took all the spots out. But it means something else, too. It means, as I said, that whatever God forgives, He also cleanses.

To say it another way, God does not forgive without cleansing. Now, there's a difference between forgiveness and cleansing. Let's go back. Did we talk about little Johnny yesterday? I think, well, we didn't. Let's talk about little Johnny tonight then. What is that, about four years old? Is that four years?

It's been so long since I had one. Okay, Sunday morning comes and you get little Johnny dressed up in his Sunday best. Doesn't he look like an angel? Most beautiful thing you've ever seen. Well, you've still got about 30 minutes before it's time to go to church. And so Johnny says,

Mommy, can I go outside and play? Well, okay, but be real careful and stay out of the mud. Now, probably you shouldn't have mentioned the word mud. They calls it, I don't know, you know, it's like a wet paint sign. Do not touch. You just got to touch it.

And about 15 minutes later, little Johnny comes in and he is covered in mud from head to toe. Oh, and he knows he's had it, boy. He knows it. And so when you see him, I mean, once you recover, and he's scared to death, you know, and he said, oh, mommy, mommy, please, I didn't mean to fall in the mud.

Little liar. He said, oh, mommy, I didn't. Oh, mommy, please don't spank me. Please don't spank me. And you know, they have a way of making that little chin quiver. Have you ever noticed that? They can get that little lip quivering like that. And they get a tear, and it just hangs there. See, it doesn't roll down. It just, a big old glistening tear just hangs right there in the corner of that

big old brown eye. And he looks at, oh, mommy. And no self-respecting mother's going to spank that little boy. So he says, okay, son, mommy knows you didn't mean to get in the mud, and mommy's not going to spank you. Now get out of those clothes and jump in the bathtub, and let's take a bath. Little Johnny just stands there. Son, mommy's not going to spank you. Mommy forgives you. Now get out of those muddy clothes and get into the bathtub. Little Johnny just stands there.

Son, what's the matter? I like the mud. Johnny wants to be forgiven because he doesn't want to be spanked, but he doesn't want to be cleansed because he likes the mud. There are times when we confess a sin to God because we're afraid God's going to chasten us or judge us. We want to be forgiven, but we're not interested in being cleansed from that sin. You understand what I'm saying? Let me show you something interesting in verse 7. This is not one of those verses I think is wrong.

I keep finding a lot of verses like that. Lord, I wouldn't have said it that way. Look at verse 7. He said, If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. It occurs to me that that seems sort of backward. It looks like first the blood would cleanse you from your sin, then you would be walking in the light, and then you would be having fellowship with one another. That makes sense, doesn't it? And if I had got up here tonight and had preached that, you would have accepted it, I'm sure. First of all, you make certain that your sin is under the blood, and then you can walk in the light as God is in the light,

and then you can have fellowship with one another. But that's not the order in which John puts it. It's a conditional sentence, just like verse 9. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, then as a consequence we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. What's he saying? Well, first of all, he's saying God doesn't forgive sin in the dark. You're over here in the darkness living in sin, and you want to be forgiven, and from the darkness you're saying, God, forgive me.

He says, no, I don't forgive sin over there in the dark. You come over here to the light where I am first. That's repentance. And so I come to the light. Now, Lord, will the blood cleanse me? Not yet. Get right with your brother. What's that you say?

It says there, if you walk in the light and have fellowship with one another, then the blood of Jesus will cleanse you from all sin. Well, Lord, listen, I want to be right with you, but I'm not at all interested in being right with him because of what he did. Well, there's no cleansing from the blood. You've got to come over here to the light,

and you've got to make things right with your brother. You notice I said earlier in the message, I told you to watch because this would be important. He says, we're writing this that you may have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. They're on the same wavelength, folks. You can't have fellowship with God without having fellowship with one another. with his Son, Jesus Christ? They're on the same wavelength, folks. You can't have fellowship with God without having fellowship with one another.

And so if I want the blood of Jesus to cleanse me from all my sin, I've got to repent from my sin, turn from it, leave the darkness. And part of that darkness is walking in conflict with my brother. Let's get things right. You say, well, I've tried, but he won't make things right.

All right, that's his problem, his responsibility. As long as you've done your part, then that's okay. You're not responsible for how they respond. You're just responsible for how they respond. You're just responsible for being obedient. So there must be consciousness of sin, confession of sin, and cleansing from sin. Now, one last word. Look at chapter 2, verse 1. Before we finish, we want to look at this.

My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not literally commit a single act of sin. That's the ideal. That's the standard. Then he comes down to reality. But if anyone does sin, now that's not a conditional clause. That would read like this. But since we do sin, and we all do, what happens? And are we lost forever no we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous the NIV here has a beautiful rendering it says we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense we have an advocate with the Father and he is the propitiation the

atoning sacrifice for our sins and and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now, okay, here I am down here on earth, and I've been saved, and I sin. What assurance do I have that God is going to forgive my sin and cleanse me? Well, when I do sin, I have a lawyer, an advocate. That's a fancy word for lawyer. I have a lawyer. I have an attorney

who stands in the presence of the Father and speaks for me on my behalf in my defense, you see. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. That's why the writer of Hebrews says He is able to save us to the uttermost. Why? Because He ever lives to make intercession for us. That's why the writer of Hebrews says, he is able to save us to the uttermost. Why? Because he ever lives to make intercession for us. Several years ago, oh good night, it's been 20 years ago, hadn't it honey? 20 years ago, we decided to have some work done

in our house. We wanted to take our living room and turn it into an office, a study for me. So we hired an inferior decorator. We thought it was an interior decorator, but it turned out to be an inferior decorator. And we walked through everything that we wanted done. And so they said, well, it'll cost this much, and this will cost this much, and this will cost this much. And the total was this much. Well, to make a long story short, they didn't do everything they said they were going to do, and they did something wrong, and they made a big blunder on one thing, and I called that to their attention, and so they just didn't come back. I left it right there in the middle and sent me a bill for the whole deal. Well, I sat down, took their figuring, figured up what

they'd done, didn't even deduct for the fact they had done it wrong, but I figured what they had done, and it was about half of what they wanted, and so I wrote them a check for that much, for the work they had done. Well, about five days later, I got that check back in the mail, and it had written in big black letters across it, unacceptable, and with it was a letter telling me that they were going to sue me if I didn't pay the whole thing. Well, I'd never been sued before, never been threatened to be sued before, and it kind of scared me. I thought, my goodness, boy, I'm right, you know, I'm right,

but I've discovered you can be morally right and legally wrong if you're not careful. And so I didn't know what to do, and then it occurred to me I might want to see a lawyer. Well, I'd never seen a lawyer in my life. I'd never hired a lawyer or anything. But I knew that there was a Christian lawyer in town. I knew because he was a music director at another church there, and so I said, well, I'll go to him. And so I went in, and I took my folder about all that stuff,

and he turned on the tape recorder, and I told him my tale of woe. And then when I finished, he pushed off the recorder, and he stood up, intending for me to leave. I just sat there, and I said, well, what do I do now? He said, nothing. Well, what do I say to these people? He said, nothing. Well, I need to do something. He said, you've never had a these people? He said, nothing. Well, I need to do something.

He said, you've never had a lawyer before. I said, no. He said, preacher, you don't do a thing now. I take care of everything. You leave it to me. You don't even speak to these people. You don't communicate with these people. That's what I'm for.

From now on, I take care of everything. I tell you, that felt so good. I went home, and Kay said, what are we to do? Nothing. We're going to do a thing. He's going to take care of the whole thing. Now, he told me not to communicate with him, but, well, I did. I sat down, and I wrote him a letter, and I said, from now on, my attorney will be in touch with you. Boy, it felt good. I mean, listen, you ought to go out and hire an attorney just so you can say that. My attorney, you know, that just felt so good.

And he took care of it. I mean, I never had another thing to do with those people. He just took care of it. Well, I tell you, I sinned against God. And in the court of heaven, there's the devil. Boy, I mean, he's there quicker than you can say Jack Robinson. And he said, Ah, yeah, God, that fellow you saved. Been preaching all those years.

Look, I still sin. And so, Father, I've got a list. God, I've got a list of sins here. This boy is committed. And you say in your own word, the wages of sin is death, and the soul that sinnes shall die. And this fellow has had plenty of light,

and he knows a lot better, and you've been all this good to him, and he still sins, and so I want you to do something about it. I'm standing as his accuser, and here is this indictment. I want to know what you're going to do about it. And suddenly, my lawyer stands up, and he says, may I have permission to approach the bench? And the Lord Jesus Christ, my lawyer, walks over and pulls that indictment out of the hand of Satan,

and he says, Judge, he says, everything, everything in this indictment is true. But he said, I have already paid for every sin, and I want you to forgive him. You know what the verdict is? There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.

Why? Because I have a heavenly lawyer. He's a pretty good lawyer too. You know why? Well, first of all, the judge is his father. I think you're ahead on the deal. He's also in good standing with the court, Jesus Christ the righteous. But the amazing thing is, this lawyer doesn't plead my innocence. He doesn't plead extenuating circumstances. He pleads His blood.

He Himself, my lawyer, has paid for my crime. And God is faithful and just who will not require double payment for sin. So I'm free, cleansed, walking in fellowship with God. And that's how, John says, you maintain your fellowship with the Father. Would you bow with me now as we pray together?