Posts
Thru the Bible Radio Network
Pasadena, California 91109-7100
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, cleanseth [keeps on cleansing] us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
He died to save us from the guilt of sin. I have been saved – that’s justification. I am being saved – that is sanctification. That’s what the old theologians call deliverance from the pollution of sin. That’s what is needed today. Then there is the future, where death lurks. Friend, I don’t have the viewpoint a great many folks have of death, that it will be wonderful. I don’t think so. You may argue that the sting is gone from death. Yes, but I can never tell when a bee has a stinger and when it doesn’t have a stinger; therefore, I’m afraid of every bee. I’m not looking forward to death by any means, I can assure you. But do you know what Christ did? He delivered us from that fear of death. He has taken care of the future – I shall be saved. “Beloved…it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him…” (1 John 3:2).
Don’t be discouraged; God is not through with us. A dear little lady down in Mississippi years ago in a testimony meeting got up and said, “Most Christians ought to have written on their backs:
This is not the best the grace of God can do.” Sometimes I ought to have that written on my back. He’s not through with us, thank God for that. But He wants to deliver us from the pollution of sin.
There are a lot of songs I don’t like, and one of them is the little jingle that says, “Jesus is a friend of mine.” Is He? Listen to Him: “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatever I command you” (John 15:14). If I said to you that the President of the United States is my friend, I would bring him down to the level of Vernon McGee. But if the President went on television and said Vernon McGee is his friend, he brings me up to his level.
There are those who say they’d like to shake the hand of the Lord Jesus. If He entered a room today where a group of us had gathered, none of us, friend, would be rushing up to Him. We’d all go down on our faces before Him. Even John – who had handled Him – when he saw the glorified Christ on the Isle of Patmos, “fell at his feet as dead” (Revelation 1:17). Jesus said you are His friend if you do what He commands. When I hear anybody sing, “Jesus is a friend of mine,” I always feel like saying, “Look, are you obeying Him? Are you following Him?” I tell you, we need to be very careful about getting familiar with Him and bringing Him down to our level.
“If we walk in the light,” that is, if we walk in the light of the Word of God. Dr. Harry Ironside tells of his own confusion of mind relative to this verse. Noticing that the cleansing of the blood depends upon our walking in the light, he read it as though it said, “If we walk according to the light, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” He thought it meant that if he was very punctilious about obeying every command of God, God would cleanse him. Then he noticed that it does not say if we walk according to light, but if we walk in the light. The important thing is where we walk, not how we walk. Have we come into the presence of God and allowed the Word of God to shine upon our sinful hearts?
You see, it is possible to walk in darkness, thinking you are all right. Let me illustrate this. I went squirrel hunting several years ago when I was holding meetings in my first pastorate in Middle Tennessee in a place called Woodbury. After the morning service a doctor came to me and asked if I would like to go squirrel hunting, and I told him there was nothing I would rather do. After lunch he brought me a shotgun, and we drove out to his farm and parked in the barnyard. We walked along by the creek there and had some good hunting. Finally we came to a fork in the creek, and he said to me, “I’ll take the right fork, and you take the left fork. It will lead you around the hill and back to the barnyard. We will meet there.”
In the meantime, it looked like it was going to rain. When I started out by myself, it started drizzling. I kept going, and I made the turn around the hill. I noticed quite a few caves in the hill, and when it started to really rain, I knew I was going to get wet; so I crawled into one of those caves. I went into the largest one I could find and sat in that dark cave for about thirty tinutes.
I began to get cold and decided I needed a fire; so I gathered together a bunch of leaves scattered on the floor of the cave and put a match to them. I soon had a small fire going, and when I looked around the cave, I found out that I wasn’t alone. I have never been in a place where there were as many spiders and lizards as there were in that cave! Over in one corner was a little snake all coiled up, just looking at me. My friend, I got out of there in a hurry. Working on the assumption that possession is nine-tenths of the law, and since those creatures had the cave ahead of me, it belonged to them. I proceeded down to the barn and really got soaking wet, but I wasn’t going to stay in that cave!
Now let me make an application. I had been sitting in comfort for about thirty minutes while I was in darkness, but when the light of the fire revealed what was in the cave, I could no longer be comfortable there. My friend, across this land today are multitudes of folk who are sitting in churches every Sunday morning but are not hearing the Word of God. As a result, they are sitting there in darkness, hearing some dissertation on economics or politics or the “good life” or an exhortation on doing the best they can. And they are comfortable. Of course, they are comfortable! But if they would get into the light of the Word of God, they would see that they are sinners and that they cannot bring God down to their level. John has said that if a person says he is having fellowship with God but is living in sin, he is lying.
Pasadena, California 91109-7100
John used the strongest language of any of the apostles, and he said that if we claim to have fellowship with God and yet are in darkness, we lie. There are a great many folk today who say they have fellowship with Him, and they’re not settling the things that are wrong in their lives. My friend, if you are going to walk with God, you are going to walk in light. And if there is sin in your life, you are not if walking with Him. You cannot bring Him down to your level.
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, cleanseth [keeps on cleansing] us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
He died to save us from the guilt of sin. I have been saved – that’s justification. I am being saved – that is sanctification. That’s what the old theologians call deliverance from the pollution of sin. That’s what is needed today. Then there is the future, where death lurks. Friend, I don’t have the viewpoint a great many folks have of death, that it will be wonderful. I don’t think so. You may argue that the sting is gone from death. Yes, but I can never tell when a bee has a stinger and when it doesn’t have a stinger; therefore, I’m afraid of every bee. I’m not looking forward to death by any means, I can assure you. But do you know what Christ did? He delivered us from that fear of death. He has taken care of the future – I shall be saved. “Beloved…it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him…” (1 John 3:2).
Don’t be discouraged; God is not through with us. A dear little lady down in Mississippi years ago in a testimony meeting got up and said, “Most Christians ought to have written on their backs:
This is not the best the grace of God can do.” Sometimes I ought to have that written on my back. He’s not through with us, thank God for that. But He wants to deliver us from the pollution of sin.
There are a lot of songs I don’t like, and one of them is the little jingle that says, “Jesus is a friend of mine.” Is He? Listen to Him: “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatever I command you” (John 15:14). If I said to you that the President of the United States is my friend, I would bring him down to the level of Vernon McGee. But if the President went on television and said Vernon McGee is his friend, he brings me up to his level.
There are those who say they’d like to shake the hand of the Lord Jesus. If He entered a room today where a group of us had gathered, none of us, friend, would be rushing up to Him. We’d all go down on our faces before Him. Even John – who had handled Him – when he saw the glorified Christ on the Isle of Patmos, “fell at his feet as dead” (Revelation 1:17). Jesus said you are His friend if you do what He commands. When I hear anybody sing, “Jesus is a friend of mine,” I always feel like saying, “Look, are you obeying Him? Are you following Him?” I tell you, we need to be very careful about getting familiar with Him and bringing Him down to our level.
“If we walk in the light,” that is, if we walk in the light of the Word of God. Dr. Harry Ironside tells of his own confusion of mind relative to this verse. Noticing that the cleansing of the blood depends upon our walking in the light, he read it as though it said, “If we walk according to the light, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” He thought it meant that if he was very punctilious about obeying every command of God, God would cleanse him. Then he noticed that it does not say if we walk according to light, but if we walk in the light. The important thing is where we walk, not how we walk. Have we come into the presence of God and allowed the Word of God to shine upon our sinful hearts?
You see, it is possible to walk in darkness, thinking you are all right. Let me illustrate this. I went squirrel hunting several years ago when I was holding meetings in my first pastorate in Middle Tennessee in a place called Woodbury. After the morning service a doctor came to me and asked if I would like to go squirrel hunting, and I told him there was nothing I would rather do. After lunch he brought me a shotgun, and we drove out to his farm and parked in the barnyard. We walked along by the creek there and had some good hunting. Finally we came to a fork in the creek, and he said to me, “I’ll take the right fork, and you take the left fork. It will lead you around the hill and back to the barnyard. We will meet there.”
In the meantime, it looked like it was going to rain. When I started out by myself, it started drizzling. I kept going, and I made the turn around the hill. I noticed quite a few caves in the hill, and when it started to really rain, I knew I was going to get wet; so I crawled into one of those caves. I went into the largest one I could find and sat in that dark cave for about thirty tinutes.
I began to get cold and decided I needed a fire; so I gathered together a bunch of leaves scattered on the floor of the cave and put a match to them. I soon had a small fire going, and when I looked around the cave, I found out that I wasn’t alone. I have never been in a place where there were as many spiders and lizards as there were in that cave! Over in one corner was a little snake all coiled up, just looking at me. My friend, I got out of there in a hurry. Working on the assumption that possession is nine-tenths of the law, and since those creatures had the cave ahead of me, it belonged to them. I proceeded down to the barn and really got soaking wet, but I wasn’t going to stay in that cave!
Now let me make an application. I had been sitting in comfort for about thirty minutes while I was in darkness, but when the light of the fire revealed what was in the cave, I could no longer be comfortable there. My friend, across this land today are multitudes of folk who are sitting in churches every Sunday morning but are not hearing the Word of God. As a result, they are sitting there in darkness, hearing some dissertation on economics or politics or the “good life” or an exhortation on doing the best they can. And they are comfortable. Of course, they are comfortable! But if they would get into the light of the Word of God, they would see that they are sinners and that they cannot bring God down to their level. John has said that if a person says he is having fellowship with God but is living in sin, he is lying.
No comments:
Post a Comment