Fellowship With God / Part 5

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I have noticed that there is a sadness among believers today. It ought not to be there, friend. There ought to be joy. You know, the trouble is that the devil has made the world outside believe that if you want to have a boring time, the thing to do is to go to a church service. (If you want to know the truth, some of them are that way.) But actually, going to church or to a Bible conference ought to be a time of great joy in our hearts. When you share the things of Christ and have fellowship, there ought to be real joy. It can come only through fellowship with Him.

John said he wrote these things so that we can have fellowship and so that our joy might be full (and our joy would naturally be full if we could have fellowship with God). However, there is a hurdle to get over, which every child of God recognizes. The very possibility of man having fellowship with God is one of the most glorious prospects that come to us, but immediately our hopes are dashed when we face up to this dilemma:

This, then, is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

God is light, which means He is holy. I believe that’s the thing which is all-important as far as God is concerned. We’ve emphasized love all out of proportion. God is love and He is life, but first of all God is light – holy. Light speaks of the glory of God, the glory of this universe, and the radiance, beauty, and wonder of it all. Light also reveals flaws and impurities, so it speaks of the purity of God. God is light; He is holy.

Now we are presented with this dilemma. I am a little creature down here on earth filled with sin. If you want to know the truth, I am totally depraved. Without the grace of God for salvation, I would be nothing in the world but a creature in rebellion against God, with no good within me at all. God has made it very clear that He finds no good within man. Paul said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). He also said, “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). Not only have they no innate goodness, but they are in rebellion against God.

Paul goes on to tell us about the rebellion that is in the human heart: “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can be” (Romans 8:7). We are living in a world today that is in rebellion against almighty God. God is holy; I am a sinner. I am saved by grace, yes, but how am I going to have fellowship with Him? How am I going to walk with Him? Men have attempted to do this in three different ways, two of which are wrong.

The first method is to bring God down to the level of man.

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. (1 John 1:6)

That’s strong language! If you and I say we have fellowship with God and we walk in darkness, we are liars. I’m too polite to say it so bluntly, but John makes that harsh statement. We always think of John as being a ladylike apostle. I don’t know how that rumor got started, unless it began during the Middle Ages when an artist painted John with curls. I wouldn’t want to be that artist for anything in the world, because if he is in heaven someday he’s going to have to settle with John. I suppose the artist got the idea of curls because John is called the apostle of love, but our Lord called John a son of thunder! I think that artist is going to know what thunder is, even in heaven! John was a very rugged fisherman. When he talked about love, I tell you, it made it all the more important. He is called the apostle of love, but our Lord called him a son of thunder because he had that nature in him.