IJOHN

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04600640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000066" FACE="Arial" ><B>BOOK OF JOB</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>    |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BOOK OF JOB"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Content"><U>My Content</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photo Album"><U>Photo Album</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Favorite Links"><U>Favorite Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="JOHNS GOSPEL"><U>JOHN'S GOSPEL</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="PSALMS"><U>PSALMS</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" 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TARGET="_top" TITLE="JAMES"><U>JAMES</U></A>   |   <B>IJOHN</B>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="IIJOHN"><U>IIJOHN</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="IIIJOHN"><U>IIIJOHN</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#0000BF" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="06ba4130.jpg" border=0 width="420" height="275" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=380 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>IJOHN</I></div> <bR> <div> THE VOICE OF EXPERIENCE  Based on I John 1:1-2</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <div>   </div> <div>      James Thurber tells the fable of the bear that use to go on a spree of drunkenness, and come home at night and break up the furniture, and frightening the children and drive his wife to tears.  One day he reformed and decided to never drink again, and from then on he would come home and demonstrate how fresh and vigorous his new way of life made him feel by doing gymnastic exercises in the living room.  In so doing, however, he broke the furniture, frightened the children, and drove his wife to tears.  Thurber is pointing out that one extreme is no better than another in its practical outcome in life.  One has little to boast about who has escaped falling flat on his face by bending over so far backward he falls on his head.</div> <div> It is the man who keeps his balance, and falls neither way that represents the Christian ideal.  Neither the rider who falls off the horse on the left or the right side is to be compared with the man who stays in the saddle.  </div> <bR> <div>      Albert Schweitzer said, "No man ever gets a great idea without carrying it too far."  He illustrates his statement as he makes it, for he certainly went too far when he said, "No man," for Jesus as a man showed perfect balance.  What he said,  however, is a valid judgment on most men and movements.  The Apostle John in writing this first Epistle is combating a movement that has gone to an extreme and has become a dangerous heresy.  The Gnostics, as they were called, were not trying to destroy Christianity, but were trying to make it an intellectually respectable philosophy that would appeal to the contemporary mind.  </div> <bR> <div>      They were doing the same thing that we see being done in our day.  There are men and movements within the framework of modern Christianity who are saying we need to cleanse the church of old ideas, and make its message relevant to the contemporary mind.  Such things as the virgin birth, miracles, and the literal resurrection of Christ are not acceptable to  many modern minds, and so they are saying we  need to cut them off as branches that will bare no more fruit.  </div> <bR> <div>      The Gnostics in John's day had the same idea, and there have always been men in movements to promote this way of thinking.  That is why you notice this Epistle is not addressed to anyone in particular.  It is called a Catholic Epistle, which means,</div> <div> it is a universal Epistle.  It is God's perpetual answer to all believers in all generations who are being thrust into turmoil and confusion by the muddled thinking and speculation of men.  God gave the church this teaching and guidance through the Apostle John, who was one of the first chosen by Christ; who was uniquely loved by Christ, and who lived longest in the service of Christ.  When we listen to John we listen to the voice of experience, for no man who has ever lived has had, either in quantity or quality, a greater experience with Christ.  John does not answer the heretics on the level of debate and theory, but on the level of experience.</div> <bR> <div>      The Gnostics were very spiritual people.  In fact they fit into the category of those who are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good.  The Gnostics were so spiritual, so fanatically spiritual that they became anti-Christ, for Christianity it based on the fact that Jesus, the very Son of God, did not remain Spirit, but came in human flesh.  The Gnostics were too spiritual to accept this.  They said that God was spiritual, but they wrongly concluded that all that is not spirit is evil.  They said flesh is evil, and all that is material is evil, and, therefore, the Son of God could never become a real man.  He only appeared as a man.  He was like a phantom.  He seemed to be a man, but was really not.  They denied the incarnation, and that is why John is so emphatic when he says, "Every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God."  </div> <bR> <div>      The Gnostics had such a high view of the spiritually of Christ that they actually became anti-Christ.  They refused to balance their high view with the belief in the incarnation, and so even though believing Jesus to be divine, they were not Christians, but enemies of the church.  They illustrate that half the truth can be a whole lie.  Half truths are even more dangerous than lies, for they are often so plausible.  They deceive so many  more people.  Never be content to ask is it true of a teaching, but go on to ask is this the whole truth.  Heresy is almost always based on half truths.  </div> <bR> <div>      The Gnostics proved that even the best things of life, and God's greatest truths can become curses if not kept in balance.  The reason the Bible is so full of paradoxes is to keep us ever mindful of the need for balance.  Fishing nets are only of value when they have both lead and cork; the heavy and the light.  If all the net had was cork, it would float on the surface and catch no fish.  If all it had was lead, it would sink to the bottom and catch no fish.  But with cork and lead to make it both sink and float, it accomplishes its purpose and catches fish.  The Christian who is weighted down with the duties of the Christian life is too gloomy to be an effective fisher of men.  The Christian who is super-spiritual, and floating on cloud nine, is also too irrelevant to attract the fish.  The effective Christian life is the balance life.  </div> <bR> <div>      The Apostle John is the great Apostle of balance.  He was a profound theologian, and also a man of great personal piety.  He was deeply profound and highly practical.  Bernard Ramm wrote, "How to put together theology and spiritual life has been one of the main concerns of my life.  Theology ought to lead to the depths of spiritual experience.  It certainly did with Paul.  Spiritual experiences ought to create a great hunger in the soul for the truth of God.  But how fractured we are!  Theologians are frequently spiritually snobbish or over-sophisticated.  And men who emphasize the spiritual life can be so theologically naive and Biblically illiterate.  Great theology and great spiritual experiences ought to go hand in hand.</div> <bR> <div>      The Gnostics were spiritual, but very poor theologians.  Those who stress the deity of Christ and deny His humanity fall on their face, and those who stress the humanity of Christ and deny His deity fall on their head.  The Christian is committed to stand with John with his unwavering balance based on historical revelation and personal experience with the God-Man, Jesus Christ.  Let us listen to his authentic and authoritative voice first of all concerning-</div> <bR> <div> I.  THE HISTORICAL REVELATION verse 1.</div> <bR> <div>      John here, as in his Gospel, begins at the beginning.  The source of the Christian faith goes back beyond history into the realm of eternity where Christ was eternally before the beginning.  John only goes back to the beginning, for that is as far back as creatures of time can go.  John is conveying to us the fact that Jesus was from the beginning.  He did not begin then, but was then.  All else and all others have entered the scene later, but he was the Alpha-the first to be on the stage for the drama of history.</div> <bR> <div>      It is as if I said, Henry Ford was from the beginning of the Ford Motor Company.  This tells us nothing about what was before that except that Henry Ford was in existence before the beginning of the Ford Motor Company.  He did not begin at the beginning of his company.  He only began his role as founder and creator of the company at that point.  Likewise, Jesus did not begin at the beginning, but already was, for He was eternally with the Father before the beginning.  Jesus did begin at this point, however, as the founder and creator of the universe.  The eternal Christ did have a beginning as Creator just as He had a beginning as a child, and as a sacrifice for sin, and as a resurrected Lord and interceding high priest at the right hand of the Father.  The eternal Christ has a variety of beginnings in various roles, because He left the realm of timelessness and entered the realm of history.</div> <bR> <div>      John is making clear that the foundation of the Christian faith is indeed the foundation.  It is not secondary in any sense, but goes right back to the very beginning of time and history.  Whatever is really new is not really true, for He who is the truth was from the beginning.  How could we trust our eternal future to anyone that did not have an eternal past?  There is no end to the newness of the experiences we have in Christ, and new are His mercies each morning, but all that is new is our personal experience of the eternal grace of Christ.  In other words, all we experience in time has its origin in eternity.  The Gnostics would not object to this, but John then leaps immediately from the beginning right into the present historical setting of his day and says that we have heard and seen and even handled with our hands this one who was from the beginning.  He not only made the stage of history, but He came on the stage to play a role Himself-the role of redeemer.  </div> <bR> <div>      Now if John would have kept it more general he still would not have been offensive to the Gnostics, but when he talks about actually handling Christ with his hands he has gone too far for them.  John is saying that the eternal Christ actually entered history and was manifested in human flesh.  Westcott said, "A religion that is to move the world must be historical."  The world has had more than enough philosophic speculation about God and religion.  If speculation could save the world, </div> <div> we would have been in paradise long ago, but only a real, literal, actual historical Savior can really, literally, actually, historically save us, and this we find only in Jesus Christ.  The God of eternity and the God-Man of history.  </div> <bR> <div>      Often as Christians we speak of God being seen in His handiwork of nature, but let us never forget that the Bible stresses far above this the fact that God is a God of history.  All the great acts of God and revelations of God have been historical, and His final, fairest, and fullest revelation was in the Incarnation when God became man.  This is so basic that to doubt it or deny it is to reject the Christian revelation as a whole.  John goes even further than emphasizing that Jesus became man; he also stresses-</div> <bR> <div> II.  PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.</div> <bR> <div>      Jung once said, "The best of truths is of no use...unless it has become the individuals most personal inner experience."  Even truth is not an end in itself.  </div> <div> Even the Bible is not an end in itself.  John in all of his writing makes it plain that the eternal Christ not only became the historical Christ, but that he must become the experienced Christ to fulfill his purpose and our salvation.  It is not enough to know Jesus as eternal and historical if one does not know Him as personal.  </div> <bR> <div>      John says we have personal contact with Christ.  We knew Him through the avenue of our senses, and we bear witness of Him.  John is an eyewitness conveying his experience to those who were not.  Almost everything we know about any of the great personalities of the past is known on the same basis as this:  Personal testimony by contemporaries.  He who would doubt the historicity of Christ would on the same grounds have to doubt all that is written about Plato, Socrates, and all the Ceasars, as well as all the kings and queens, philosophers and statesmen, and poets of the past.  The very knowledge of their existence is based on the same evidence that we have concerning Christ.  </div> <bR> <div>      John is no arm chair speculator, for he is an eye witness contemporary of Christ. </div> <div> He was writing this 50 to 60 years after the cross, but he makes it clear that Christ was still his contemporary.  In verse 3 he talks about present fellowship with the Father and the Son that he and all that believe can have.  His experience with Christ is not a mere matter of memory, but a matter of continuous day by day fellowship.</div> <div> This is the goal for every believer.  This is the ultimate in Christian happiness, for when we have come to this experience, John says then our joy will be complete.  </div> <bR> <div>      The evidence of the past is effective in getting one on the road to belief, but the personal encounter with the present Christ is essential to get us to the destination of certainty and commitment.  John knew the dangers that Christians faced in his day</div> <div> because of confused thinking in theology.  He knew that the anti-christs were already come, and that believers would be in danger of being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.  That is why he gives this strong testimony as to the historical revelation and personal experience of the eternal Christ.  He knows a Christian needs to have a solid and sure anchor when the storm hits.  He knows a believer who is not in a state of fellowship with Christ and fellow believers day by day is in dangerous waters.</div> <bR> <div>      The same holds true for our day.  It appears that there are rough waters ahead for faithful believers.  Doctrines unchallenged for centuries are being rejected by leaders of the church.  Men are reviving the Gnostic plan to update Christianity so it fits the thinking of our day.  Subtle error is going to touch everyone of us, but if we take advantage of the light we have and walk in it, we need not fear the darkness.</div> <bR> <div>      Those men who became living torches in the garden of Nero, and those women flung to wild beasts in the amphitheater were not dying for any theory, or system, or vague hope.  They were dying because they had encountered the eternal Christ in their own personal experience.  James Stewart wrote, "Our religion is going to make absolutely no impact whatever on the world....is going to leave not the faintest impression on the paganism around, unless it is our own assured possession."  We know Jesus is eternal by revelation, and we know He is historical by the witness of others, but we can only know Him as personal and contemporary by experience.</div> <div> It is time that we begin to take seriously our need for greater fellowship with the living Christ, and for one another in Christ.  </div> <bR> <div>      The American Commentary says on these first two verses, "In the verses before us, we see a deep and vivid experience attempting to put itself in sentences.  The life in Christ has become life in John, and he wants to make such a declaration, such a testimony of it as will lift up all his readers to the same plane of divine experience."</div> <div> Personal experience is vital both for enjoying the Christian life, and for sharing it with others.  One woman said, "You can no more tell what you don't know than you can come back from where you ain't been."  </div> <bR> <div>      What you have experienced is a reality that no one can deny.  The Pharisees said to the man who had been made to see by Jesus, "We know that this man is a sinner."  He answered in John 9:25, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know:  one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see."  The experience did not prove Jesus was the Son of God, nor did it prove He was not a sinner, but the experience convinced the man that he had encountered the supernatural, and no one could refute that, or deny the reality of his experience.</div> <bR> <div>      There's no way to escape the paradox of experience.  It is both essential and inadequate.  Josiah Royce wrote in The Source Of Religious Insight, "Without intense and intimate personal feelings, you never learn any valuable truths whatever about life, about its ideals, or about its problems; but, on the other hand, what you know only through your feelings is, like the foam of the sea, unstable-like the passing hour, doomed to pass away."  We need the objective theology as a source of our authority, and the subjective experience as the source of our motivation.  </div> <bR> <div>      Ruth Paxon in her classic Life On The Highest Plane writes, "The grave danger of fixing one's eyes upon an experience, however exalted and blessed, instead upon Him who bestowed it was expressed very tellingly by Spurgeon when he said, </div> <div>                I looked at Christ</div> <div>                And the dove of peace flew into my heart;</div> <div>                I looked at the dove of peace-</div> <div>                And it flew away.</div> <div> Take  you eyes off Jesus and you can have much religious experience, but it is not related to any objective revelation and thus it is unstable, and its value uncertain."</div> <bR> <div>      The craving for experience is both wise and foolish.  During war time young men fear they will die and miss out on much of life's experience, and so they rush headlong into all sorts of immoral behavior in order to experience all of life before they die.  This war mentality is becoming a standard philosophy for our world.  You only go around once so get all you can out of it, and live with gusto.  This is the modern version of, let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.  </div> <bR> <div>      An old sea captain told of how an inexperienced youth went to a hiring hall to get a job as a seaman.  The hiring agent asked, "Have you ever gone around the Horn?"  Well aware that the shipping companies preferred seasoned sailors who had made a trip or two around Cape Horn, the young man admitted that he had not made the trip.  The agent said, "Follow me," and then led him into the next room.  A horn of a steer was in the middle of the floor.  The agent said, "Now just walk slowly around that horn."  The startled would be sailor did as he was ordered.  "You have now gone around the horn and I can get you a job on a ship going to India."  The youth had been made a sailor in name only.  He had the name, but not the experience.  </div> <bR> <div>      There is a great deal of difference between calling yourself a Christian and being a Christian by the experience of yielding your life to Jesus Christ, and trusting Him as your Savior.  Many take the name, but do not have the experience.  It is the experience that saves and not the label.  John had personal experience with Jesus, and his whole letter is urging all of us to enter into personal experiences with the Living Christ that we might like Him be able to speak with the voice of experience.</div> <div>  </div> <div>      </div> <bR> <bR> <div> FELLOWSHIP IS FUNDAMENTAL  Based on I John 1:1</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>      No one can doubt that this is an age of ecuminicity.  Everybody is talking about getting together with someone else for dialogue or merger.  Even those who are opposed to the ecumenical movement are merging and uniting.  In other words, wherever you are today you are involved in a complex world where everybody is trying to make it more simple.  The Apostle John gives us some guidance by teaching about fellowship.  This will help us to know what to do in all relationships of life.  If we know what Christian fellowship really is, we will be able to determine which relationships in life are consistent with fellowship with the Father and Son.  Verse 3 supplies us with these three things:  1.  The essence of fellowship; 2.  The essential of Christian fellowship; 3.  The extent of Christian fellowship.  We will consider them in that order.</div> <bR> <div> I.  THE ESSENCE OF FELLOWSHIP.</div> <bR> <div>      What does the word fellowship mean apart from any Christian content?  This word did not just fall out of the sky into the Bible, nor did John make it up, nor did God give it to him as a new word.  It was a Greek word in wide usage long before it became a part of the Bible.  Koinonia is the Greek word.  It was used to refer to many relationships by the Greeks in which people shared a common bond.  Business partners, trade guilds, and burial societies were all called fellowships in the first century.  Those who had a common social relationship had fellowship, and those who shared a belief in a common god had religious fellowship.</div> <bR> <div>      The basic idea is a relationship persons have because of what they hold in common.  This meaning is clearly seen in the New Testament.  This verse, for example, has that meaning for John.  He is saying, we are declaring what we  have seen and heard to you, because once you also know it, then we will have a common knowledge and belief.  This is the very essence of fellowship.  Without something held in common between two persons there is no possibility for fellowship.</div> <bR> <div>      In all four cases of the use of the word communion in the KJV it is a translation of koinonia-the same word translated 15 times as fellowship.  There is no distinction between the two at all in the New Testament.  Sometimes we hear, "May the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all," as if they were two different words,  but they are not, for they are identical.  Paul says in II Cor. 6:14, "What communion has light with darkness?"  In other words, what koinonia, or fellowship, can there be, for what do they have in common?  On the other hand, the Lord's Supper is called communion.  The meaning is clear, for when we partake of the elements symbolizing the body and blood of Christ, we remember together the common basis of our salvation.  What do believer's have in common?  They have salvation through the shed blood of Christ on the cross, and, therefore, this most basic and common factor in our lives is called communion, or fellowship.  </div> <bR> <div> II.  THE ESSENTIAL OF CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP.</div> <bR> <div>      John says, "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you."  This is what distinguishes Christian fellowship from all other forms of fellowship.  It has one foundation and that is the historical Christ.  Nothing else can constitute a basis for Christian fellowship.  If we did not have an objective record of what the Apostles saw and heard, we could have no common basis for fellowship.  The very reason the Bible is in print is not just to satisfy our curiosity about the past; it is the only way that the revelation of God can be a common factor in the lives of all believers.  The Word of God in print makes it available to all men, and thereby increases the basis for fellowship.</div> <bR> <div>      The Gnostics, whom John was opposing, had just an opposite attitude.  They said, keep the truth in the hands of the elite.  Do not make it common knowledge, or it will be contaminated.  The truth is only for the intellectuals.  The vulgar masses are unworthy of it.  But John says, I am putting down in writing what we have seen and heard so that anyone can read and believe, and then enter into a common union with us and God.  The basis of Christian fellowship is not locked  up in a temple vault.  It is not confined to any priestly class or body of intellectuals.  It is not composed of mystical or magical incantations learned only by the elite.  It is found in the form of paper and ink-the most common means of communication in the world.  Christian fellowship is based on fact, and not fantasy, fiction, fallacies, or force.  That which was seen and heard is recorded, and this objective factual record is the foundation of true Christian fellowship.  By this alone the Christian determines what is, and what is not, Christian fellowship.  </div> <bR> <div>      Many other things are held in common and provide a basis for fellowship, but only when this essential factor is involved can it be called Christian fellowship.  If Jews and Christians have fellowship around the ten commandments, which they hold in common as the Word of God, it would be true fellowship, but it would not be Christian fellowship, for the essential for that is not in the ten commandments.  This means there is two levels of fellowship.  There is a level based on anything in common, and then there is the Christian level based on the revelation we have in Christ.  This means a Christian and a non-Christian can have fellowship based on common interests, but it is  not Christian fellowship.  It is not even Christian fellowship when two or more Christians get together to watch a game or share in some common secular interests.  It is fellowship, but it is not Christian fellowship.  </div> <bR> <div>      Christians have fellowship with non-Christians in many areas of life.  It might be in sports, or music, or culture of all kinds, or hobbies, or clubs, or of a professional nature.  Jesus had a great deal of fellowship with unbelievers of all kinds from Publicans to Pharisees.  In His manhood He had things in common with each, and He used that common bond to make contacts with all people.  This enabled Him to have the opportunity to lead them into a higher fellowship with Himself as Savior and Lord, and not merely as a man and friend.  </div> <bR> <div>      To criticize someone for having Christian fellowship with an unbeliever is folly, for it is impossible to have Christian fellowship with one who does not have Jesus as their Savior as a common bond.  To criticize them for having natural fellowship with them is also folly, for any Christian who does not have natural fellowship with unbelievers is not doing God's will as a child of light.  There is no way you can be the light of the world and the salt of the earth without some form of fellowship with unbelievers.  This does not mean a Christian can participate in anything sinful with unbelievers, but it does mean they can share in common many interests which are legitimate.  Jesus sets the example, for He could fellowship with sinners and yet never be defiled by sin. </div> <bR> <div>       A little boy who was lonely said to his mother, "I wish I was two little puppies so I could play together."  That was a natural expression of the desire for fellowship.  We have a need to have something in common with someone else.  The Christian is to take advantage of this natural desire, and use it for the glory of God by finding a common basis for fellowship with an unbeliever, and then introduce him to what you have in fellowship with Christ.  </div> <bR> <div>      We have seen that the essence of fellowship is the relationship of persons who have something in common.  We have seen that the essential of Christian fellowship is the reality of the historical Christ, and one's acceptance of Him as Savior.  Now let's consider-</div> <bR> <div> III.  THE EXTENT OF CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP.</div> <bR> <div>      You cannot be a Christian alone.  When you enter the kingdom of God you can only do so alone, in the sense that only you can make that decision, but after  you enter you become a part of the body of Christ, and are from then on you are not your own, for you belong to Christ.  After a person is saved he is in a family where he has many brothers and sisters who share in common with him the same heavenly Father and Savior.  John desired to share his experience with Christ that others might enter into this fellowship with him and the other Apostles.</div> <bR> <div>        Every picture of the church in the New Testament illustrates the concept of fellowship.  It is a body with all cells in the body having a common interest in the life and health of that body.  It is a building, and all the stones form a common structure.  </div> <div> Jesus said I am the Vine and you are the branches.  A branch not connected with the Vine will wither and die.  Christian fellowship is not a luxury, it is a necessity, for you cannot be a Christian alone.  Jesus says the shepherd leaves the 99 to go after the one lost sheep.  The 99 can survive temporarily, but if the one is not found and brought back to the fold, it will parish.  </div> <bR> <div>      William Morris once said, "The lack of fellowship is hell."  This is literally so, for those who do  not enter the body; the building; the vine or the fold-that is the church of Christ, will not have fellowship with God but be separated in outer darkness forever alone.  A Latin proverb says, "One man is no man at all."  You cannot have anything in common without someone to have it in common with. As soon as a person trusts in Christ as Saviour they become a part of a vast fellowship of believers from all races where all are equal in Christ. The Gnostics were extremely prejudiced. They felt Christians were contemptible and absurd in treating the riff raff and lower classes as equals, but Christian fellowship is extended to all in Christ. God loves all for whom Christ died and this means all, and so our fellowship goes all the way to what we have in common with God and Christ. We have a common bond with God Himself and so our fellowship extends to the highest heaven and to the ends of the world and to all peoples. Only Christian fellowship leads us to be partners with God, for Jesus, the God-Man, is the common bond between God and man.</div> <div>      </div> <bR> <bR> <div> TRUTH IN ACTION Based on I John 1:6</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>      The story is told of how years ago a hard shell Baptist returned to his community after visiting Jefferson, Texas, and he reported to his neighbors that he had seen ice made there in July.  It is claimed that the first artificial ice in the United States was made in Jefferson.  When the word of this got back to the church he attended, he was promptly charged with lying, and was going to be expelled from the church.  One of the brothers suggested, however, that in all fairness they should make an investigation first.  So the deliberating body appointed this concerned brother to go to Jefferson and investigate.  When he returned he reported that as amazing as it sounded he actually saw ice made there with the temperature nearly 100 in the shade.  The church voted to expel both members for lying.  </div> <bR> <div>      They were certainly uncharitable and unfair in the this decision, but they were wise to be so concerned about the matter of lying.  Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all." We generally think of Eve's sin of disobedience as the first recorded sin of the Bible, but there is one before that.  The first sin in the Bible is a lie.  It was the lie that they would not die, as God said, if they ate of the forbidden fruit.  The significance of this is magnified when we go to the last chapter of Revelation and discover that the very last sin named in the Bible is also the lie.  In verse 15 we read of those who are shut out of heaven, and the last on the list is "Whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."  </div> <bR> <div>      In between the first and last reference there are many texts warning about the sin of lying.  In Prov. 6:17 a lying tongue is among the 7 things God most hates.  In Prov. 12:22 we read, "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord..."  Many were the miseries suffered in the Old Testament because of lying prophets.  Satan is the father of lies, but man has been of considerable help in multiplying them.  It was so much a part of the pagan way of life, out of which the early Christians came, that it was a sin yet wrestled with in the church.  Paul in Eph. 4:25 admonishes them, "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor."  A Christian is one who must shed the rags of deceit and falsehood, and be clothed in the garments of truth.  </div> <bR> <div>      The Apostle John is very concerned about this matter because the Gnostics, like many false teachers since, were masters at the use of the big lie.  John does not hesitate to expose them as liars, and warn believers that if they follow this false doctrine, they too will be liars.  In verse 5 John laid down the fundamental concept of God that becomes a standard by which to judge all truth and conduct.  God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.  In reference to the current problem in that church it would mean-God is truth and in Him is no lie at all.  The Scripture clearly states it is impossible for God to lie.  He has nothing in common with a liar, therefore, a liar cannot have fellowship with God.</div> <bR> <div>      Who then is the liar that John has in mind?  He is the one whose profession does not match his practice; whose claims do not coincide with his conduct; whose words do not harmonize with his walk.  The man who says, "I have fellowship with God," but who walks in darkness, is a liar, says John.  The son of thunder has not lost his forthrightness, but  now it is under control, and serving the purpose of warning believers in love.  The danger is a real one yet today, and it will be for our profit to do some self-examination on this matter.  We want to consider first the danger of the lie in our talk, and then the demand for truth in our walk.</div> <bR> <div> I.  THE DANGER OF THE LIE IN OUR TALK.</div> <bR> <div>      John says, if we say we have fellowship with God, we are making a great claim, and if we do not back it up with action, this is where the lie begins. If the man who walks in darkness does not profess to be in fellowship with God he is still a sinner not doing the truth, but at this point, at least, he is not a liar. The lie that John is exposing here is the one that is most dangerous, and we can see this by considering what the Gnostics taught. They said that spirit is spirit and flesh is flesh. God as Spirit is concerned only about the spirit.  The flesh is totally corrupt and evil, and has no part in the spiritual life.  They had a dualism that left the body out of one's relationship to God altogether.  This kind of thinking leads to a Jekyll and Hyde type of living where the man serves God with his spirit and Satan with his body.  </div> <bR> <div>      What made the Gnostic heresy so dangerous was the fact that they used the same concepts as true Christians, but the perverted them.  Salvation  they said is all of grace and no works whatever.  Any work of the body was of no value in the spiritual realm.  Therefore, it makes no difference what you do with the body.  You can give your body completely over to sin, and not be any the less spiritual.  In fact, you would be more spiritual for recognizing the body is irrelevant to fellowship with God.</div> <div> If good works are no help to salvation, then evil works are no hindrance to it.  </div> <bR> <div>      You can easily see how this subtle lie could be appealing to the pagan mind who wanted salvation in Christ, but who wanted also the old pleasures of his pagan life.</div> <div> The same heresy is at work today.  The father of lies may have a new label and a new approach, but the lie is still the same.  Christianity is all a matter of talk and thinking is the foundational principle of this big lie.  It is all a matter of creeds and words and not action.  This error has invaded orthodox movements over and over again, and left them as dead orthodoxy.  All of the truth is there, and everyone has the proper vocabulary, and so all are convinced they are in the kingdom of God.  Words become everything.  If a person does not use the right words, you doubt his salvation, even if he lives a life dedicated to Christ.  But if a man is practically indifferent to the work of the kingdom, and lives a mediocre life of godlessness, he is on the in group because he has learned the code.  </div> <bR> <div>      If you examine your own attitude, it ought to scare you how strong the tendency is to move toward the Gnostic heresy.  I hear men ridiculed and denounced who are giants of the faith, by men who are spiritual pigmies, and the basis is almost always the subtle Gnostic heresy that true spiritually is in words.  Let us note carefully:  the primary lesson John is teaching here is that the truth is in the walk.  A statement of faith, or a claim to have fellowship with God, is in itself neutral.  It is the action of the person that determines its truth.  Our second point then is to observe-</div> <bR> <div> II.  THE DEMAND FOR TRUTH IN OUR WALK.</div> <bR> <div>      Saying the truth is a lie without doing the truth.  Lack of action, or contrary action makes a lie out of what could have been true.  The son in the parable that Jesus told said to his father, "I will go into the field to work."  When he said it, it was a potential truth, but it became an actual lie as soon as he failed to act and not go into the fields.  Truth is not in words but in actions.  It was what he did that made what he said a lie.  If he would have acted different, what he said would have been truth.  Actions not only speak louder than words, but also much clearer.  I can say I have fellowship with God, but if I go and walk in darkness I lie and do not the truth.  Truth is not in words but in the walk.  Truth is in action or it fails to be true.  All we say becomes truth or falsehood depending on our actions.  </div> <bR> <div>      Light must be seen or it is no different than darkness.  Talk will never be an adequate means of communicating the truth of the Gospel.  Jesus did not say we were to be the sound of the world.  If that had been the case, the Gnostics would have been great, for they were all noise.  Many of the present day believers also feel that sound is the key to evangelism.  If we just get people to  hear the Gospel;</div> <div> if we could only get Gospel blimps to fly over every city with loud speakers proclaiming the good news, then we could reach our world.  There is so much truth to this perspective it is hard to see the fallacy of it.  We need to face the reality that masses of people have heard the joyful sound that Jesus saves, and they couldn't care less.</div> <bR> <div>        It is time we see that Jesus meant what He said, "You are the light of the world."  He said men are to see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.  The Gospel needs to be seen, and so we must walk in the light and let our light shine that the truth might be seen and not just heard.  Sound is essential for the truth must be heard, but it is inadequate without a visual demonstration of changed lives.  Men must see the truth in action, for they are fully aware that talk is cheap.  It costs something to walk in truth and apply truth in action, but anyone can talk about it.  Some of the most eloquent praisers of spirituality were the Gnostics.  If truth could be fully embodied with words alone, they would have been the elite they thought themselves to be, but truth can only be adequately and finally exhibited in action.  In other words, if men cannot see truth in your actions, you just as well save  your breath.  It took the Word to be incarnated to adequately express God's love.  The written word and spoken word were  not enough.</div> <bR> <div>      Without the life of Christ in which He embodied all He taught in action, Christianity would not be what it has been.  His talk without His walk would add another philosophy of religion to an already overcrowded field.  Jesus not only spoke truth, He lived truth.  He was truth incarnate, and truth in action.  It is legitimate to test the truth that Jesus taught by the pragmatic standard, which is to ask, does it work?  What does not work is not true.  All the truth of God is truth that will stand this test if practiced, and it is our task to prove it to the world by doing the truth, and not just speaking it, for truth is not just what you say, but what you do.</div> <bR> <div>      Shakespeare said, "Be great in act, as you have been in thought."  Again he said, "Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant are more learned than there ears."  What a picture of what John is saying.  Men will learn the truth faster and more surely by means of what they see than of what they hear.  Whittier saw it to be true in his day and said, "Speak out in acts:  The time for words has passed, and deeds alone suffice."  The church in many ways is alive to this truth, but we each must be alive to it, and avoid the Gnostic heresy like the plague. We must never be content with verbal truth until it is backed up with vital truth, that is truth in action. The world is not interested in essays on piety. They want to see lives that exhibit the reality of the truths in those essays.</div> <bR> <div>      A man whose house is burning down does not care to listen to a lecture on the principles of spontaneous combustion. He wants help to get the fire out. His ears are not open to advice, but his eyes are searching for those who will act to help him. The world with all its problems is not listening for advice, but it is looking for demonstrations of victorious living that exemplify the teachings of Jesus. Our task is to talk, but with a matching walk that gets the attention of a looking world who want to see the truth of Christ in action.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> WALKING IN THE LIGHT     Based on I John 1:7</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>      John has made it perfectly clear that Christians are still sinners even as saints, and that to claim that one is without sin is to call God a liar.  He is not defending sin, but warning against a false kind of perfectionism.  The Gnostics attained their perfection by simply denying that anything they did in the flesh was sin.  Sinlessness is fairly easy to attain if it is all a matter of words, for all you have to do is define  yourself into a state of perfection.  Lust is a sin, but if you call it aesthetic appreciation of art, you could define the man who lusts into innocence.  </div> <bR> <div>      As long as men are deceived into thinking that truth is basically a matter of words only, they will be able to rationalize anything as being consistent with perfection.  Pious words can be weapons against the truth, and we all need to be aware that virtue is far more than one's vocabulary.  Men mean different things by the same words.  Humpty Dumpty boasted to Alice in Wonderland, "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean-neither more nor less."  It was no wonder that Alice was puzzled at his use of the word glory, for he meant by glory "A nice knock down argument."  This kind of irresponsible use of words has no place in the Christian life.  He is to avoid deception of himself and others by calling sin what it is and dealing with it instead of eliminating it as the Gnostics did by playing with words.</div> <bR> <div>      Our fellowship with God is not based on words but on our walk, and if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we do not have to rationalize our sin away, for God has made provision through the blood of Christ to cleanse and forgive us.  Christian perfection is to be realistic.  It is a matter of a very real and practical condition, and a very real and practical consequence, and it is these two things we want to examine as they are revealed in verse 7.  </div> <bR> <div> I.  THE CONDITION.</div> <bR> <div>      If we walk in the light-but if we do not, we have neither fellowship with God nor forgiveness of sin.  This then is no incidental truth, but is essential to the Christian life.  No one can be a Christian who does not fulfill this condition.  Notice that the believers condition does not consist in making great claims like the Gnostics.  They were all talk and no walk.  John would caution us against bragging about our marvelous fellowship with God.  Beware of laying bare your soul before men, and exalting yourself by speaking of  how intimate you are with God.  This leads to a superficial and sentimental mysticism that is not edifying to believers nor appealing to unbelievers.  The Christian who is edifying and witnessing is the one who does  not have to boast because his attitudes and actions make it clear he is walking in the light.  He shares the truths and treasures he discovers in fellowship with God, and let's them speak rather than boast of this fellowship.  </div> <bR> <div>       The condition all of us are to strive for is not to talk about light, but to walk in it.  Walking has these two characteristics:  </div> <div> 1.  It is voluntary.  The Christian is not one who walks in the light because he compelled or pressured to do so.  He gladly performs Christlike acts, not because they are required, but because he chooses to do them, and would have it no other way.  When Christians do only what the organized church requires, the church has become an institution rather than a living organism, and is a hindrance to the true mission of the church.  Christians are to voluntarily do what they know must be done, and what is right and good regardless of any other consideration.  He loves and serves just because he loves to serve and be a partner with Christ in reaching the world.  Out of gratitude alone he wants to walk in the light, and lead others into the light.  If a Christian is fulfilling this condition he will be one who lives for Christ voluntarily, and not because he is pushed.  </div> <bR> <div> 2.  Walking is not only voluntary motion, it is continued motion.  It is a series of steps.  One who takes two or three steps is not walking.  The believer may take a step or two into the dark, but this is not walking in darkness.  One walking in darkness makes a continuous series of steps in sin, and, therefore, is out of fellowship with God.  The unbeliever may take several steps into the light, and do acts in harmony with God's will, but these steps are not walking in the light, for they are not continuous and consistent.  To be said to be walking in either sphere of light or darkness means one is making continuous strides in that sphere.</div> <bR> <div>      In Jer. 9:3 we read, "...falsehood and not truths has grown strong in the land, for they proceed from evil to evil."  This is a description of walking in darkness for it is consistent and progressive.  They were going on from lesser evil to a greater degree of evil.  Paul gives us the same picture in II Tim. 3:13, "Evil men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived."  In contrast, one who walks in the light is proceeding from one stage of glory to another.  A Christian who is fulfilling this condition is not in the same place today as he was last year.  He is making progress in godliness, and is developing more fruit of the spirit.  If you are not conscious of being more Christlike as time goes on, it may indicate you have ceased to walk in the light.  </div> <bR> <div>      Christians can be compared to the strange substance called selenium which is used in photoelectric devices.  When it is in the dark it is an insulator, and electricity will not pass through it, but when it is in the light it is a conductor, and the current passes through.  The greater the intensity of the light the more effective it is as a conductor.  It changes its nature and function according to its environment.  It is the chameleon of the non-living realm.  It illustrates the truth that the man who walks in the light of God's truth will be a conductor of that light to others, but if he walks in darkness the light of truth will not flow through him.  He is a closed channel in the dark.  The greater the intensity of the light, or the closer one walks with Christ, the greater will be his communication to others.  Walking in the light then is essential to be an effective Christian.  John then goes on to describe-</div> <bR> <div> II.  THE CONSEQUENCES.</div> <bR> <div>      The consequences here are so important that it forces us to realize just how much the complete Christian life demands of the believer.  Fellowship with God and forgiveness of sins are both conditional upon the believers walk.  For the sake of clarity, let me emphasize that John is writing to believers.  Therefore, this  not referring to a condition of salvation.  These are saved persons who need  instruction on how to go on and be fully sanctified.  This means that all of the acts and attitudes of the believer are important in becoming what God wants him to be.  When he walks in the light, the first benefit will be-</div> <bR> <div> 1.  Fellowship with God.  This is one of the basic goals of the Christian life, and one of the main purposes for John writing this letter.  Fellowship with God is essential to the full Christian life.  Harry Emerson Fosdick said, "Opinions about God are a roadway to God, but the end of the journey is a personal fellowship that transfigures life; and to seize opinions as though they were the objects of faith is like a man who tries to reach his destination by firmly clutching the dust of the road."  The poet said,                By all that God requires of me,</div> <div>                I know what He Himself must be.</div> <bR> <div>      God requires us to walk in the light for fellowship with Him, and this is just another way of saying that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  When the believer walks in light he has all things in common with God, and, therefore, has fellowship with God.  The second result is-</div> <bR> <div> 2.  The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.  This means that though the Christian is yet a sinner and cannot claim he has no sin, he can claim to be cleansed from all sin, for this is the promise to those who walk in the light.  It is not the light that cleanses, but the blood of Christ.  The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin ought not to be quoted out of this context, however, for it is not true unless the condition is fulfilled.  It does not cleanse the sin of any who do not walk in the light.</div> <div> Like selenium, it only works in the light.  </div> <bR> <div>      The atonement of Christ is adequate and available for all men and for all sin.  But since is only cleanses those who walk in the light, many will never be cleansed, for they love darkness rather than light.  Cleansing here is different from forgiveness in that it indicates a removal of the stain of sin, and the desire for sin in the person.  It is a part of the process of sanctification.  One can be forgiven and yet still go on sinning, but to be cleansed implies a victory over sin.  Forgiveness is a change in God, but cleansing is a change in us.  This means that one consistently walking in the light could be constantly cleansed, and at least temporarily be sinless.  If we take the "all sin" literally, then one could be totally free from sin in his life.  The only way to maintain it, however, would be to never take a step out of light into darkness. </div> <bR> <div>      Here is the possibility of being restored to perfect fellowship just as Adam had with God before the fall.  </div> <bR> <div>                Oh, how sweet to view the flowing,</div> <div>                Of my Savior's precious blood,</div> <div>                With divine assurance knowing</div> <div>                He has made my peace with God. </div> <bR> <div> The sacrifice of Christ was once for all, but it is of perpetual effectiveness.  Cleanses is the present tense.  The blood of Calvary is still working today, and will wash away the sin of the believer.  The sacrifice at the cross was unconditional grace, and God's once for all provision for all sin, but the actual application of that  blood's power to cleanse in our lives is conditional upon our walking in the light.</div> <bR> <div>      The two consequences of walking in the light are external and internal.  One is made right with God and can fellowship with God.  And one is made right in himself so there is inner peace and harmony as he is cleansed from sin.  Our action of walking is met with God's action of cleansing.  Our words of confession are met with God's word of forgiveness.  We see here that just as we are justified through the blood of Christ, so also we are sanctified.  Faith in His sacrifice without works saves us, but it is faith plus works that sanctifies us.  It is in sanctification that faith without works is dead.  Faith alone justifies, but faith and works sanctifies.  </div> <bR> <div>      Since the greatest blessings of God, and the greatest benefits that can be gained from the atonement of Christ, can only be ours if we are walking in the light, it is to be our primary concern to make sure that it is in the light that we walk.  The degree of our sanctification, as well as the quality of our eternal life, are dependent upon our walk.  Certainly nothing more could be added to challenge us to go forth and voluntarily and persistently walk in the light.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> WALKING IN THE LIGHT     Based on I John 1:7</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>      John has made it perfectly clear that Christians are still sinners even as saints, and that to claim that one is without sin is to call God a liar.  He is not defending sin, but warning against a false kind of perfectionism.  The Gnostics attained their perfection by simply denying that anything they did in the flesh was sin.  Sinlessness is fairly easy to attain if it is all a matter of words, for all you have to do is define  yourself into a state of perfection.  Lust is a sin, but if you call it aesthetic appreciation of art, you could define the man who lusts into innocence.  </div> <bR> <div>      As long as men are deceived into thinking that truth is basically a matter of words only, they will be able to rationalize anything as being consistent with perfection.  Pious words can be weapons against the truth, and we all need to be aware that virtue is far more than one's vocabulary.  Men mean different things by the same words.  Humpty Dumpty boasted to Alice in Wonderland, "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean-neither more nor less."  It was no wonder that Alice was puzzled at his use of the word glory, for he meant by glory "A nice knock down argument."  This kind of irresponsible use of words has no place in the Christian life.  He is to avoid deception of himself and others by calling sin what it is and dealing with it instead of eliminating it as the Gnostics did by playing with words.</div> <bR> <div>      Our fellowship with God is not based on words but on our walk, and if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we do not have to rationalize our sin away, for God has made provision through the blood of Christ to cleanse and forgive us.  Christian perfection is to be realistic.  It is a matter of a very real and practical condition, and a very real and practical consequence, and it is these two things we want to examine as they are revealed in verse 7.  </div> <bR> <div> I.  THE CONDITION.</div> <bR> <div>      If we walk in the light-but if we do not, we have neither fellowship with God nor forgiveness of sin.  This then is no incidental truth, but is essential to the Christian life.  No one can be a Christian who does not fulfill this condition.  Notice that the believers condition does not consist in making great claims like the Gnostics.  They were all talk and no walk.  John would caution us against bragging about our marvelous fellowship with God.  Beware of laying bare your soul before men, and exalting yourself by speaking of  how intimate you are with God.  This leads to a superficial and sentimental mysticism that is not edifying to believers nor appealing to unbelievers.  The Christian who is edifying and witnessing is the one who does  not have to boast because his attitudes and actions make it clear he is walking in the light.  He shares the truths and treasures he discovers in fellowship with God, and let's them speak rather than boast of this fellowship.  </div> <bR> <div>       The condition all of us are to strive for is not to talk about light, but to walk in it.  Walking has these two characteristics:  </div> <div> 1.  It is voluntary.  The Christian is not one who walks in the light because he compelled or pressured to do so.  He gladly performs Christlike acts, not because they are required, but because he chooses to do them, and would have it no other way.  When Christians do only what the organized church requires, the church has become an institution rather than a living organism, and is a hindrance to the true mission of the church.  Christians are to voluntarily do what they know must be done, and what is right and good regardless of any other consideration.  He loves and serves just because he loves to serve and be a partner with Christ in reaching the world.  Out of gratitude alone he wants to walk in the light, and lead others into the light.  If a Christian is fulfilling this condition he will be one who lives for Christ voluntarily, and not because he is pushed.  </div> <bR> <div> 2.  Walking is not only voluntary motion, it is continued motion.  It is a series of steps.  One who takes two or three steps is not walking.  The believer may take a step or two into the dark, but this is not walking in darkness.  One walking in darkness makes a continuous series of steps in sin, and, therefore, is out of fellowship with God.  The unbeliever may take several steps into the light, and do acts in harmony with God's will, but these steps are not walking in the light, for they are not continuous and consistent.  To be said to be walking in either sphere of light or darkness means one is making continuous strides in that sphere.</div> <bR> <div>      In Jer. 9:3 we read, "...falsehood and not truths has grown strong in the land, for they proceed from evil to evil."  This is a description of walking in darkness for it is consistent and progressive.  They were going on from lesser evil to a greater degree of evil.  Paul gives us the same picture in II Tim. 3:13, "Evil men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived."  In contrast, one who walks in the light is proceeding from one stage of glory to another.  A Christian who is fulfilling this condition is not in the same place today as he was last year.  He is making progress in godliness, and is developing more fruit of the spirit.  If you are not conscious of being more Christlike as time goes on, it may indicate you have ceased to walk in the light.  </div> <bR> <div>      Christians can be compared to the strange substance called selenium which is used in photoelectric devices.  When it is in the dark it is an insulator, and electricity will not pass through it, but when it is in the light it is a conductor, and the current passes through.  The greater the intensity of the light the more effective it is as a conductor.  It changes its nature and function according to its environment.  It is the chameleon of the non-living realm.  It illustrates the truth that the man who walks in the light of God's truth will be a conductor of that light to others, but if he walks in darkness the light of truth will not flow through him.  He is a closed channel in the dark.  The greater the intensity of the light, or the closer one walks with Christ, the greater will be his communication to others.  Walking in the light then is essential to be an effective Christian.  John then goes on to describe-</div> <bR> <div> II.  THE CONSEQUENCES.</div> <bR> <div>      The consequences here are so important that it forces us to realize just how much the complete Christian life demands of the believer.  Fellowship with God and forgiveness of sins are both conditional upon the believers walk.  For the sake of clarity, let me emphasize that John is writing to believers.  Therefore, this  not referring to a condition of salvation.  These are saved persons who need  instruction on how to go on and be fully sanctified.  This means that all of the acts and attitudes of the believer are important in becoming what God wants him to be.  When he walks in the light, the first benefit will be-</div> <bR> <div> 1.  Fellowship with God.  This is one of the basic goals of the Christian life, and one of the main purposes for John writing this letter.  Fellowship with God is essential to the full Christian life.  Harry Emerson Fosdick said, "Opinions about God are a roadway to God, but the end of the journey is a personal fellowship that transfigures life; and to seize opinions as though they were the objects of faith is like a man who tries to reach his destination by firmly clutching the dust of the road."  The poet said,                By all that God requires of me,</div> <div>                I know what He Himself must be.</div> <bR> <div>      God requires us to walk in the light for fellowship with Him, and this is just another way of saying that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  When the believer walks in light he has all things in common with God, and, therefore, has fellowship with God.  The second result is-</div> <bR> <div> 2.  The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.  This means that though the Christian is yet a sinner and cannot claim he has no sin, he can claim to be cleansed from all sin, for this is the promise to those who walk in the light.  It is not the light that cleanses, but the blood of Christ.  The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin ought not to be quoted out of this context, however, for it is not true unless the condition is fulfilled.  It does not cleanse the sin of any who do not walk in the light.</div> <div> Like selenium, it only works in the light.  </div> <bR> <div>      The atonement of Christ is adequate and available for all men and for all sin.  But since is only cleanses those who walk in the light, many will never be cleansed, for they love darkness rather than light.  Cleansing here is different from forgiveness in that it indicates a removal of the stain of sin, and the desire for sin in the person.  It is a part of the process of sanctification.  One can be forgiven and yet still go on sinning, but to be cleansed implies a victory over sin.  Forgiveness is a change in God, but cleansing is a change in us.  This means that one consistently walking in the light could be constantly cleansed, and at least temporarily be sinless.  If we take the "all sin" literally, then one could be totally free from sin in his life.  The only way to maintain it, however, would be to never take a step out of light into darkness. </div> <bR> <div>      Here is the possibility of being restored to perfect fellowship just as Adam had with God before the fall.  </div> <bR> <div>                Oh, how sweet to view the flowing,</div> <div>                Of my Savior's precious blood,</div> <div>                With divine assurance knowing</div> <div>                He has made my peace with God. </div> <bR> <div> The sacrifice of Christ was once for all, but it is of perpetual effectiveness.  Cleanses is the present tense.  The blood of Calvary is still working today, and will wash away the sin of the believer.  The sacrifice at the cross was unconditional grace, and God's once for all provision for all sin, but the actual application of that  blood's power to cleanse in our lives is conditional upon our walking in the light.</div> <bR> <div>      The two consequences of walking in the light are external and internal.  One is made right with God and can fellowship with God.  And one is made right in himself so there is inner peace and harmony as he is cleansed from sin.  Our action of walking is met with God's action of cleansing.  Our words of confession are met with God's word of forgiveness.  We see here that just as we are justified through the blood of Christ, so also we are sanctified.  Faith in His sacrifice without works saves us, but it is faith plus works that sanctifies us.  It is in sanctification that faith without works is dead.  Faith alone justifies, but faith and works sanctifies.  </div> <bR> <div>      Since the greatest blessings of God, and the greatest benefits that can be gained from the atonement of Christ, can only be ours if we are walking in the light, it is to be our primary concern to make sure that it is in the light that we walk.  The degree of our sanctification, as well as the quality of our eternal life, are dependent upon our walk.  Certainly nothing more could be added to challenge us to go forth and voluntarily and persistently walk in the light.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> PERFECTION   Based on I John 2:1</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>      There's an old story about a couple who lived by the sea and kept a boarding house.  There boarders had only one complaint, and that was lack of variety on the menu.  Breakfast consisted of fish, chicken, and eggs; dinner consisted of chicken, eggs, and fish, and for supper they had eggs, fish, and chicken.  The boarders finally rebelled and insisted on something different.  The woman said, "All right, what would you like?"  The spokesman said, "We don't care just so its meat.  Why don't you make some sausages."  She said, "I've never made them, how do you do it?"  The spokesman was no cook either so he just said, "The same as you cook fish."  The next evening as they all  sat at the table a large tray was brought in as they sat in excited anticipation.  They could hardly wait for it to be uncovered.  When it was, it was a tragic sight, for in the center of the dish were some dark brown looking things huddled together like sand bugs in the desert.  The old lady was on the verge of tears.  She broke out in a sobbing voice, "I know something went wrong, but you know there just isn't much left in those things after they are cleaned."</div> <bR> <div>      She certainly made a mistake in cleaning or gutting her sausages as she did her fish, and some people feel it is just as big a mistake to cleanse your life from sin.  These are people who consider this as a destruction of life, for if all evil were removed life would be nothing but an empty shell, or dried up skin with all the meat of life removed.  They hesitate to receive Christ, because they feel that giving up sin is giving up the best part of life.  They want to go to heaven, but they think the path of getting there is so drab and lifeless they just can't see it is worth it.  </div> <bR> <div>      As Christians, we can recognize the folly of their thinking, for they only know the pleasures of the flesh, and have not experienced the joys of spiritual blessings and the peace of God.  They are unable to conceive of the superior pleasures of abundant life in Christ, so they hold back and cling to their sins and lose life's best.</div> <div> There are two kinds of people then.  There are those who feel life's best is in sin, and those who feel it is in salvation from sin.  But as one has said, there are only two kinds of people in the world:  Those who think there are only two kinds of people in the world, and those who know better.  We know better, for in the second category there are also different kinds of people.  There are Christians who believe in entire sanctification, or, that one can be completely victorious over sin in this life.  Then there are those who feel that this is impossible, and that we must remain sinners to some degree all our life.</div> <bR> <div>      The amount of literature and debate on this subject is staggering, and the more one reads the more  he becomes aware that both sides of the issue can be well defended.  When godly men can be equally convinced of opposite points of view, it usually indicates that there is truth on both sides, and what is needed for a total view is to combine the truths of both.  This, I feel, is exactly what the Apostle John does.</div> <div> Both those who hold to the doctrine of Christian perfection, and those who reject it, </div> <div> quote I John for support.  John teaches the paradoxical truth that the Christian can victorious over sin, and yet at the same time be always in need of cleansing from sin.</div> <div> The first verse of chapter 2 brings out this paradox very clearly.  We want to examine this verse in detail, and look at two key aspects of John's teaching.  First-</div> <bR> <div> I.  IDEALISTIC PURPOSE.</div> <bR> <div>      John is writing to these Christians in order that they may cease to sin.  It would be possible to read all that John had written so far and come to an opposite conclusion.  One could say, since we are all sinners, and there is no use denying it, and since all we need to do is confess and they will be forgiven, then there is no point in getting excited about sin.  Why bother to fight it?  In other words, the good news of forgiveness could lead us to a lite view of sin.  </div> <bR> <div>      John says for us not to get any such misconceptions.  I am writing, not so you can sin and not worry about it, but that you sin not.  Complete freedom from sin is the idealistic goal for which John is aiming.  The sinless Christ is our model, and it is to be our aim to be conformed to Him, and to obey His command, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."  This goal can only be attained by a continuous walking in the light with Christ, and that is why John speaks so much about the Christian walk.  B. H. Benson said, "No man can advance three paces on the road to perfection unless Jesus Christ walks beside him." </div> <bR> <div>       Many feel that even then one can never make it, but none can deny that John had the goal of perfection as his ideal.  John refused to set the Christian goal lower than that of the Gnostics he combated.  Their goal was perfection, but they attained it by watering down the definition of perfection so as to exclude sins of the flesh.  John says the Christian aim is for perfection, and he includes victory over sins of the flesh.  There is no true sanctification that does not include the body.  It is nothing but self-deception to think you can separate the soul and body, and be perfect in spirit while our body like a snake slithers in the slime of sin.</div> <bR> <div>      The Gnostics may pursue their goal of perfection without ceasing to sin, but John says, I am writing that Christians attain the goal by ceasing to sin.  Forgiveness is not to entice us to further sin, but to make us so grateful for the chance to begin again with a clean slate that we go forward, determined more than ever to keep it clean.  John Wesley, the father of Methodism, and also the father of all the modern perfectionists movements, felt it was possible to keep the slate clean and be filled with perfect love, and there are testimonies of hundreds of his followers who claim to have attained this goal.  Wesley himself never claimed to have reached the goal but he felt it to be the most essential doctrine for Christians to believe and aim for.  He wrote of visiting one place: "I was surprised to find 50 members fewer than I left in it last October.  One reason is, Christian perfection has been little insisted on, and wherever this is not done, be the preacher ever so eloquent, there is little increase, either in the number or the grace of the hearers."  </div> <bR> <div>      John Wesley felt he was only following the path of John the Apostle when he urged Christians on to entire sanctification, and it is hard, if not impossible, to dispute it, for John could say that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin and all unrighteousness, and then go on to urge us to sin  no more, he certainly believed this was possible.  We must be aware, however, that both John the Apostle and John Wesley were speaking of a perfection that cannot rightly, or without confusion, be called sinless perfection, for this leads to such criticism as that of F. Osborn who writes, "He that seeks perfection on earth leaves nothing new for the saints to find in heaven; as long as men teach, there will be mistakes in theology, and as long as they govern, errors in state."  Entire sanctification does not eliminate mistakes, errors, and ignorance, nor sins of omission.  There is plenty left for the saints to find in heaven even if they reach the highest goal in this life.  John says in 3:2, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see Him as He is."</div> <bR> <div>      In the context of what John is saying and knowing the conduct of the Gnostics which he is combating it is clear that John is saying that willful disobedience to the known will of God can be eliminated from the Christian life.  Wesley defines the sin that Christians can be free from as, "Willful transgression of a known law."  In other words, even the perfectionists like Wesley recognize that the Christian is far from perfect, and will never be that until he is transformed at the second coming of Christ.</div> <div> But he feels the New Testament warrants the belief that the Christians can be so filled with love, and in such fellowship with God, that he never willfully breaks anything he knows to be God's will.  F. Faber wrote, </div> <bR> <div>                O keep thy conscience sensitive</div> <div>                     No inward token miss;</div> <div>                And go where grace entices thee;</div> <div>                     Perfection lies in this.</div> <bR> <div>        There is much more than can and ought to be said on this matter, but since we will come to it again in this epistle we will conclude that all must agree that John had an idealistic purpose in writing this letter, and that he certainly must have believed that it could be attained, and that believers could cease to sin in the sense of willfully transgressing God's known will.  In this sense I believe the New Testament clearly teaches Christian perfection.  Even the Old Testament suggests it when it says, "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might sin against thee."  John wants Christians to hide the truth he writes in their hearts for the same idealistic purpose that they sin not.  But then John goes on, and we see his statement on a-</div> <bR> <div> II.  REALISTIC PROVISION.</div> <bR> <div>      "And if any man sin we have an advocate."  It may seem that John is the enemy of  his own purpose here.  He says do not sin, but if you do, here is the good news, for we have an advocate.  Those who reject the possibility of Christian perfection say  that John is clearly revealing that he knows it will never be, and so as soon as he mentions it he follows up by making it clear we will need a constant defense, for we will always be sinners.  This is reading too much into John's statement, however, all John is doing is being realistic.  He knows many will fall in their climb to perfection, and he wants to assure them that they are not eliminated from the race.</div> <div> They can be pardoned and forgiven, and still press on for the goal.  John did not say they would certainly fall.  He simply says, if they do, they have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  </div> <bR> <div>      We learn from this verse the necessity of combining realism with our idealism.  If we do not, it will lead to a perversion of truth.  Many who have set their goal where John says it should be set, have not gone on to include John's provision for those who fall as they strive for the ideal.  For example, many perfectionist retain their perfection by denying sins, just as the Gnostics did.  They do  not want to admit that they have done wrong, and so they call their disobedience a mistake, or in some other way cover it up.  This is the very danger that John was afraid of, and that is why he went on to immediately point out the only realistic way for a Christian to deal with sin.  Plead guilty; seek a pardon, and go on.  The Christian does not arrive at the goal of Christian perfection by denying sin, and neither does he maintain his relationship with God by covering up sin.  He does so by admitting his sin, and taking full advantage of God's provision for pardon and cleansing.  </div> <bR> <div>      Just as the only way a sinner can become a saint is through Christ, so the only way a sinner can remain a saint is through Christ.  The Christian who is truly sanctified and living close to Christ will be sensitive to sin, and as soon as he offends, he will seek a pardon.  There are only two ways to deal with sin:  The Gnostic way of denying it, and the Christian way of confessing it and being cleansed.</div> <div> John wants to make sure that the high ideal of the Christian does not lead them to fall into the same error with the Gnostics, and so he adds this realistic provision to his idealistic purpose.  This provision does not mean the ideal is not possible.  It only means it is not necessarily permanent.  One can only maintain it in a moment by moment walking with Christ, and if he stumbles off the narrow path he loses his state of perfection, but this loss is also not permanent, for God has provided a way to restore him.  Christian perfection is relative, and not a once for all experience.  </div> <bR> <div>      The provision is an Advocate, who is Jesus Christ Himself.  And advocate is a defender, or a lawyer.  We get a picture here of the court of heaven.  A just God is judge, and everyone who breaks His holy law is held accountable.  Even the Christian whom He has redeemed cannot violate His law and expect it to be overlooked.   Every sin must have its day in court.  The Christian, however, does not stand before God alone, as does the unsaved.  He has a defender-Jesus Christ the righteous.  The fact that we are there in itself shows that the sin that John is speaking of is willful transgression of a known law.  The believer knows he has offended the holiness of God.  He is there to plead guilty, and he has an advocate, not to defend his innocence, but to plead for mercy, and to gain his pardon.  John Wesley wrote, </div> <bR> <div>      Guilty I stand before thy face, on me I feel thy wrath abide,</div> <div>      Tis just the sentence should take place, tis just, but O, thy Son hath died;</div> <div>      See where before the throne He stands and pours the all prevailing prayer,</div> <div>      Points to His side and lifts His hands and shows that I am graven there.</div> <bR> <div>      The Christian has an advocate to gain mercy and not justice, for God will always do justice anyway, but justice will lead to condemnation.  We who have Jesus as our Advocate will gain mercy and be pardoned.  Jesus, who was innocent, had no advocate at His trial, and the result was He was condemned and suffered the punishment of the guilty.  Now, as a result of that, we who are guilty can be pardoned, for He who bore our guilt is present before the throne of God to plead for us.  Jesus  not only bore our guilt and sin on the cross, He now lives to make intercession for us that we might gain the full benefit of His sacrifice.</div> <bR> <div>      There is some controversy over the matter as to whether or not the intercession of Christ is necessary for our salvation.  I personally believe it is and feel the Scripture definitely teaches this, but this will have to wait for another sermon.  We have accomplished our goal for this message.  We have seen that Christian perfection is definitely possible, and every Christian is to aim for a life in which all willful disobedience is eliminated.  We have also seen that he must, like John, recognize that his perfection, even when attained, is relative, and he who stands must beware lest he fall, but if he does, he does not need to be saved all over again, but needs to plead guilty and trust his Advocate to gain him a pardon.  The conclusion on the whole matter is this:  Is it possible to be entirely sanctified?  The answer is yes.  Will Christians always need provision for pardon and cleansing from sin?  The answer is yes.  Both are true and only as we combine the idealistic purpose of John, and his realistic provision, do we have a total picture of the doctrine of Christian perfection.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> WE HAVE A LAWYER  Based on I John 2:1</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>      Two men were looking at the epitaph on a tombstone which read, "Here lies an honest man and a good lawyer."  One looked at the other and said, "I wonder why they put two men in the same grave?"  Lawyers have not gained the best reputation for being honest men.  One doctor asked another how his lawyer patient was doing, and he replied, "Not well, he is lying at deaths door."  "Well, that's a lawyer for you, </div> <div> "responded the other, " At deaths door and still lying."  It is reported that a lawyer should be a good sleeper since he can easily lie on either side.  </div> <bR> <div>      The very nature of the profession leads one to be tempted to bend the truth by manipulating words.  Thomas Jefferson referring to congress said, "How can expedition be expected from a body which we have saddled with an hundred lawyers, whose trade is talking."  When one does a great deal of talking and debating he learns how to convey a message in such a way that you get the opposite impression of what you would if you knew the truth.  For example, a lawyer out West did not want to admit that his first client was hung, so he reported to his friends back East that he got him a suspended sentence.  </div> <bR> <div>      Like every profession, that of the lawyer is the object of many slams and jokes, but in spite of them we know it is a necessary and valuable profession.  It is essential to our sense of justice that every man have a right to defense, and that he have a defender skilled in the law.  Our Constitution guarantees this, and that is why even the worst criminals are provided with a lawyer if they cannot obtain one.  It may bother us that known criminals, who are obviously guilty, have such skilled defense that they often escape the penalty of the law.  But let us not forget that everyone of us who have received Christ as Savior are in that same boat.  We are guilty of breaking God's law, yet, because of our adequate advocate and divine defender we gain a pardon and escape punishment.  </div> <bR> <div>      The difference of course is infinite in quality, for an earthly lawyer by immoral and unethical means, or through weaknesses of the law, gets his client off, but as we shall see, Jesus fulfills the demands of justice in gaining our pardon.  The fact that Jesus is our advocate raises this profession to the highest possible level.  Jesus was a carpenter for a few years on earth, but ever since His ascension He has been the believers lawyer in the court of heaven, and He will remain in that ministry until He comes again and takes the throne of judgment.  This means that all who do not have Jesus as their defense attorney now will have Him as their judge when He comes again.  This shows that Christ's present ministry is exceedingly important for every person to consider, and our purpose in this message is to gain a better understanding of His present ministry by examining the three factors of it brought out in John's statement:  "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."  </div> <bR> <div> I.  HIS CLIENTS.</div> <bR> <div>      A big burly man called at the house of a woman known for her charitable impulses, and when she came to the door he addressed her in a broken voice, </div> <div> "Madam, I wish to draw your attention to the terrible plight of a poor family in this district.  The father has been fired; the mother is too ill to work, and the nine children are starving.  They are about to be turned out into the cold streets unless someone pays their arrears in rent which amounts to fifty dollars."  The woman exclaimed, "How terrible!  May I ask who you are?"  The sympathetic pleader applied his handkerchief to his eyes as he said, "I am the landlord."  Here is a case where the advocate obviously had only one client, and that was himself.  His pleading was not for there need, but for his greed.  But we have in Jesus and Advocate who is ours-literally ours, in that His purpose in the court of heaven is not for His own defense, but for our pardon.</div> <bR> <div>      John says, "We have Him."  That is, He is always available, and is never too busy, or tied up on another case, or on vacation.  Hebrews tells us the same thing by saying, "He ever lives to make intercession for us."  In earthly courts there are cases backed up for months and years, but we who are clients of the eternal Advocate have immediate defense when we sin.  It is tragic when Christians let their sin go unconfessed and suffer needless pain and guilt when they could have immediate pardon before the court of God.  </div> <bR> <div>      It is important that we recognize, however, that Jesus is not the Advocate of every sinner.  The "we" here includes only those who believe and have trusted in Christ as their Savior.  One must be a child of God before he can be a client of Christ's and be a beneficiary of Christ's present ministry.  The unbeliever will have to face God alone, and with no advocate, and the result will be, he will loose his case and suffer the full penalty for breaking God's law.  </div> <bR> <div>      Someone has said, "He who appears as his own advocate has a fool for a client."</div> <div> This may not always hold true in an earthly court, but it is certainly true concerning the court of heaven, for only a fool could hope to defend himself before God and expect to prove himself righteous, and thereby escape judgment.  One does not need to be rich to be a client of Jesus.  Barton Holyday said, "A man may as well open an oyster without a knife as a lawyers mouth without a fee."  A pelican, it is said, would make a good lawyer, for he knows how to stretch his bill.  These things do not apply to the ministry of Christ, for it is free to all who claim it.</div> <bR> <div>      John says in verse 2 that Jesus has already paid for our sins, and the sins of the whole world.  Every sin in the world then can be freely pardoned though the ministry of Christ.  The poorest can benefit fully from His services.  One does not even need to be right to be His client.  Sometimes mothers say to their children when they are naughty, "If you do that, Jesus won't love you anymore."  This is the world's worst theology, for if Jesus only loved us when we are good, like everyone else, who is to our helper when we most need it, when we are  not good?  It is when we are guilty that we need an advocate, and not when we are innocent.  When the Greek lawyer phacian was criticized for appearing on behalf of an unworthy client he said, "The good have no need of an advocate."  Jesus said, "It is the sick who need the physician and not those who are well."  We conclude this point by making it clear, there is only one requirement to be a client of Christ.  You need not be rich or right, but you must be redeemed.  You must be one who has Christ as personal Savior.  Only then are you in this, "We have an advocate."  Jesus is a specialist, and thus,</div> <div> and advocate only of believers.</div> <bR> <div> II.  HIS CALLING.</div> <bR> <div>      He is an advocate with the Father.  We have here His profession and the place where He practices that profession-with the Father.  The place of His service is important, for it is that which makes His ministry distinct from that of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is also our Advocate, but His ministry is within us.  When Jesus said to His disciples in His last discourse before He went to the cross, "I will pray the Father and He will give  you another Comforter," He used the same word that is used here-paraclete.  It is used four times of the Holy Spirit and just once of Christ.</div> <div> Jesus calls the Holy Spirit our Advocate, and the Holy Spirit through John calls Jesus our Advocate.  Jesus, however, says He will send another advocate, and by saying another He claims also to be one, even when He was with the disciples.  The terms comforter, counselor, advocate, are all descriptive of the one Greek word paraclete.  It means one who is called to one's side to help and give aid.  When summoned to court the paraclete is at your side to aid  you.  The Christian than needs two advocates, for he needs aid in two realms and in two ways.  He needs earthly and heavenly aid, and he needs subjective and objective aid.  </div> <bR> <div>      In the last part of the first century, not long after John wrote this letter, the Roman Emperor Adrian in a letter to Minucine Fundanus said, "If, therefore, the people of the province will appear publicly and in a legal way charge the Christians, that they may answer for themselves in court, let them take that course, and not proceed by importunate demands and local clamors only.  For it is much the best method."  Here was an earthly court situation, and Christian lives were at stake, but they were given the right to defend themselves.  Here is where the Holy Spirit's ministry came in.  Jesus said they would be taken before courts, but they need not worry, for the Holy Spirit would teach them what to say.  Time does not permit us to examine the great Christian defenses of the early Christians, but we do want to refer to one more modern example of how the Word of God has made great victories through Christians being tried before men.  </div> <bR> <div>      F. O. Nilsson, the first Baptist preacher in Sweden, was summoned to the supreme court of Southern Sweden in 1850 on the charge of heresy.  He was found guilty and sentenced to banishment.  The news media, however, carried the minutes of the trial and the convictions of Nilsson were spread over the land.  Nilsson reported, "From this day the Baptists and their doctrines were no longer confined to an obscure corner of the land, and to a few poor despised laborers.  The truth was with trumpet voices proclaimed on the housetops, and the sound thereof re-echoed from cottage to palace, throughout the length and breadth of the land.  Thus my appearance before the High Court at Jonkoping was the public introduction of Baptist principles into Sweden."   In 9 years there were 95 churches; 4,000 members, and it all began in court.  This is of additional interest because the banishment of Nilsson was even a blessing, for he came to America and became one of the founders of the Swedish Baptist Conference which is now the Baptist General Conference.   </div> <bR> <div>      The point of all this in relation to our subject of advocates is that it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to give guidance and counsel here on earth as we defend the faith before courts or elsewhere.  It is he who aids Christians in bringing good out of evil situations.  It is also the ministry of the Holy Spirit to defend us before the court of our own conscience, and to help us experience the pardon and peace of God.  It is not enough that we are pardoned objectively through the ministry of Christ, for we need to sense its reality within also.  We need to know we are free from condemnation, and this is the calling of our other advocate the Holy Spirit.</div> <bR> <div>                Christ is our Advocate on high,</div> <div>                Thou art our Advocate within;</div> <div>                O plead the truth and make reply</div> <div>                To every argument of sin.</div> <bR> <div>      The statement of Christ being our Advocate with the Father is not incidental and insignificant, for it designates his specific calling and sphere of ministry, for it is with the Father.  Jesus does not plead for us in the state court, or the supreme court of the nation, nor in the international courts of the world, but rather, in the highest court in the universe.  It is there where, not just a man's rights or property, or even his life is at stake,  but his eternal destiny.  This is the high calling and present ministry of Christ.  It is said that three Philadelphia lawyers are a match for the very devil himself.  But all the Philadelphia lawyers combined would be of no benefit to us before the judgment seat of God.  Our need there is not to outwit the devil, but to satisfy the demands of God's holiness, and that is impossible unless we have an Advocate who is not just brilliant, but who can also satisfy God's holiness.  That is why John writes to believers and says if you sin you need not despair, for you have an Advocate whose calling is to gain your pardon in the court of heaven.  If this truth alone does not add to our Christian joy and fulfill one of John's purposes for writing this letter, then we must be deaf to the Holy Spirit.  We who love Christ are His clients and benefit daily because of His ministry before the throne of God.  </div> <bR> <div> III.  HIS CHARACTER.</div> <bR> <div>      Jesus is called the righteous.  It is not just incidental either that John adds this word of description of Christ's character as our Advocate.  Unless He was righteous, it would be of little comfort to be His client, for it is His righteousness alone that enables Him to gain our pardon.  On earth and advocate need not be righteous to win his clients case.  In fact, he may be more guilty than the man he is defending.  None of the cleverness of men and loop-holes in the law, however, can help the guilty sinner before God.  If there is no just way for God to grant pardon, than he cannot and will not do it.  And the only way He can justly pardon the guilty is, if there is a compelling cause such as a substitutionary sacrifice on behalf of the guilty.  Even God's mercy must be in harmony with His holiness.  Jesus Christ the righteous is the only being in the universe who can meet the need at the throne of God.  He is not just the best, He is the only lawyer that can win our case.</div> <bR> <div>      Jesus died for our sins and took the wages of sin on Himself, and since He was righteous and, therefore, totally undeserving of any punishment, His sacrifice makes it possible for God to pardon all for whom He pleads.  Justice demands mercy since is would be unjust to punish again for the same sin.  This would be to deny the value of Christ's sacrifice.  It would be unjust to deny the substitute his right to suffer for another.  If I take ten lashes that you deserve, because out of love I do not want you to suffer, that should be my right to so express my love, and it would be an injustice to me, and a denial of my right to so love, if the punishment were also then given to you.  That would make my suffering be for nothing, and it would be injustice.</div> <div> Justice demands that the penalty be inflicted only once.</div> <bR> <div>      How much greater wrong it would be to take the suffering of Christ the righteous, and count it of no value.  God's justice demands that He hear and grant every plea of Christ for pardon.  Jesus can never loose a case, for since He died for all sin, there is no sin that cannot be pardoned if He is the sinners Advocate.  Sir Walter Raleigh sat in prison waiting for his trial for high treason, for which he was to be condemned to be executed.  He felt all was unjust in the courts of earth, but he looked to the court of heaven and wrote, </div> <bR> <div>           From thence to heaven's bribeless call,</div> <div>                         Where no corrupted voices brawl,</div> <div>           No conscience molten into gold,</div> <div>           No forged accuser bought or sold;</div> <div>           No cause deferred, no vain-spent journey,</div> <div>           For Christ is there, the King's Attorney.</div> <div>           And when the grand twelve-million jury,</div> <div>           Of our sins with direful fury,</div> <div>           Gainst our souls black verdicts give,</div> <div>           Christ pleads His death, and then we live.</div> <div>           Be thou my Speaker, Taintless Pleader,</div> <div>           Unblotted Lawyer, True Proceeder!</div> <div>           Thou giv'est salvation even for alms,</div> <div>           Not with a bribed lawyer's palms.</div> <div>           This then is my eternal plea,</div> <div>           To Him that made heaven, earth, and sea.</div> <bR> <div> If Christ is your Advocate, this too is your hope.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> HATRED HIT HARD  Based on I John 2:7f</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>       One of the most exciting books you can read is The Count Of Monte Cristo.  The hero of the book, Edmund Dantes, had been unjustly cast into a dungeon.  Fortunately, by means of a tunnel he met an old man in another nearby dungeon.  The old man told him of a great treasure that was hidden on the island of Monte Cristo.  It seemed to be a worthless bit of knowledge, for he was just as trapped as the old man.  His chance for escape,  however, did come when the old man died.  His body was put into a sack and was to be thrown over the cliff into the sea.  Edmund Dantes saw his chance for escape.  He managed to drag the body of the old man through the tunnel into his dungeon, and then he returned and got into the sack himself.  He, of course, was thrown into the sea, and thereby became a free man.  </div> <bR> <div>      He was far from free, however, for he so despised those who put him into the dungeon that he was a slave to hate.  He spent the rest of his days, and his great wealth in tracking down, one by one, those who were responsible.  He was clever enough to escape the bondage of the dungeon, but he remained a prisoner of the chains of hate.  When one is intoxicated with hatred, he is not even free to chose to how to respond to persons, but is compelled to be hateful, and therefore, is among the least free of all men.  None are so bound as those who are wrapped in the chains of hate.</div> <bR> <div>      Catallus, the Roman said, "I hate and I love.  Perhaps  you ask why I do so.  I do not know, but I feel it, and I am in torment."  He was a victim of his own depravity, and though he hated to hate, he knew of no way to escape.  Hatred is just a part of the very being of unregenerate man.  John says if a man hates, you can be sure he is still in the darkness.  Even Freud, who was no great friend of Christianity, recognized the truth of man's depravity.  He said, "Those who love fairytales do not like it when people speak of innate tendencies in mankind toward aggression, destruction, and in addition cruelty."  Everyone who has their eyes open to the facts are compelled to believe that hatred and hostility are basic problems of our world.  In the United States alone there are on the average every hour 15 persons who are stabbed, clubbed, or shot.  The daily news could appropriately be titled-who's hating who.  </div> <bR> <div>      The big question is what can be done?  Is there any escape, or will man's hatred eventually be the force that brings down the curtain on the stage of history, and then blows up the stage to boot.  Bombs and missiles are not the problem, for it is the hatred of men that makes them so dangerous.  The most popular panacea for overcoming man's hatred is education.  Herbert Hoover once said, "If we had just one generation of properly born, adequately educated, healthy children, developed in character, we would have Utopia itself."  This is the view of numerous leaders, but it is unrealistic.  Even though it is known that hostility is not inherited, and, therefore,</div> <div> you could presumably begin with a generation of unhateful babies.  But there is no way to raise them without them learning to hate, for they must grow up in a world where hate is always on the loose.  Their parents hate; their relatives hate, and their neighbors hate.  It would not be long before these potential utopianites would be responding as J. Petit-Senn who said, "We are told to walk noiselessly through the world, that we waken neither hatred nor envy; but, alas!  what can we do when they never sleep?"  </div> <bR> <div>      You cannot educate men out of hatred when the most powerful influences in their lives are teaching them to hate.  Men are born with the tendency to hate, but the actual hatreds they acquire are learned from their parents, relatives, and associates.  Dr. Leon J. Saul a professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine says in his book, The Hostile Mind, that studies indicate that very definitely that hostility begins in the home.  Man is depraved, but the expression of that depravity in hate and prejudice are not in the child.  These things  have to be taught, and so the very cause of man's hatred is evil education.  Oscar Hammerstein II captured this truth in poetry:</div> <bR> <div>                You've got to be taught to hate and fear,</div> <div>                You've got to be taught from year to year,</div> <div>                It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear,</div> <div>                You've got to be carefully taught.</div> <bR> <div>                You've got to be taught to be afraid</div> <div>                Of people whose eyes are oddly made,</div> <div>                And people whose skin is a different shade,</div> <div>                You've got to be carefully taught.</div> <bR> <div>                    You've got to be taught before its too late,</div> <div>                Before you are six or seven or eight,</div> <div>                To hate all the people your relatives hate,</div> <div>                You've got to be carefully taught.</div> <bR> <div>      The Christian recognizes that education is essential, but it is inadequate to solve man's hate problem.  Hate is more a matter of the heart, and so man needs his heart change before education will be of any profit.  Man needs to know God through Christ, and he needs to know the commands of Christ, and live in obedience to them, for only then can the love of God be perfected in him, and only then can he have the power to snap the chains of hate that bind his heart.  Education can help get men out of bondage, as Edmund Dantes clever thinking got him out of the dungeon, but only the love of Christ can get men free from the chains of hate.  The most brilliant of men are still slaves of hatred if their education has not included a knowledge of God through Christ. </div> <bR> <div>      For example, take Joseph Goebbles of Hitler's Germany.  He was a smart man, and he earned his PH.D. from Heidelberg.  He rejected the Gospel, however, and he wrote in his diary just before his 28th birthday:  "I have learned to despise the human being from the bottom of my soul.  He makes me sick at my stomach."  His brilliance only enabled him to hate with greater power and cruelty.  </div> <bR> <div>      We have spent a lot of time setting the stage.  We have seen that the problem of hate is great.  We have seen that man's solutions to it just do not work, for these very solutions are infiltrated by the forces of hate.  We have arrived then to where man has always been.  The stage is set the same as in John today.  Only the actors are different.  The Gnostics said knowledge is the cure-all.  You can just attain unto full knowledge, then you will be in the light.  They, of course, despise and hated those who were ignorant.  There knowledge did not free them from hate.  John warned the Christians of his day that they ought not to be duped into thinking that brilliance is the key to the realm of light.  Love alone can get you in.  If a genius says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, John says he is still in the darkness.  He is not a free man, but is bound and blind, and like captured Samson, he is a slave to the Philistines of hate.</div> <bR> <div>      There is only one way out of the darkness of hate says John.  We must hit hate hard with the only weapon that can snap its heavy chains, and that weapon is obedience to the supreme commandment of love.  John had just said in verse 3 that assurance grows out of obedience to God's commands, and now he explains the commandment which is the essence of them all.  He begins in verse 7 where he addressed them as brethren, or beloved, as the modern versions have it.  He assures them that he is not introducing any new idea like the Gnostics were doing.  He is only writing of the old commandment which they had from the beginning.  Cults and heretics always stress the fact that what they have is new and different.  This is even more so with those who want to exploit the masses who crave for the novel in religion.</div> <div> The faith once for all delivered to the saints is often labeled as old hash, and discarded, but John, and all of Scripture, says it is this old hash alone that can nourish the soul and give it life and strength.  </div> <bR> <div>      John says the commandment you need to obey is the old one you heard, and he is referring to the words  of Jesus in his Gospel in 13:34, "A new commandment I give you that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."  John has just said in verse 6 that we are to walk as Jesus walked, and He walked in love, and commanded us to also walk in love.  This command is the foundation stone of the Christian life.  Then in verse 8 John seems to deliberately contradict himself, for he says it is a new commandment he is writing.  It is not hard to see how it can be both old and new.  The old songs are often the new songs, and old subjects dealt with in a new approach become fresh and new.  John is simply saying, the Christian answer to the problem of hate, and all other problems is an old answer that goes back to the author of truth-Jesus Christ.  Yet, it is ever new and fresh.  The message is old, but the experience of it is always new in the lives of those who obey it.  </div> <bR> <div>      The commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself goes back to the early days of Israel, but it became new in Christ, for he did not just repeat it, he lived it.  It was an old truth made new and fresh by being exhibited in life.  John says it is true also in you, for in following Christ the old commandment of love becomes new because it is experienced and exhibited.  This is so says John because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.  Darkness is not past, for if that was the case John would not even need to write.  The Gnostics were still a force of darkness, but they would be conquered.  John was optimistic and says the light will continue to shine until the forces of darkness are destroyed.  The speed of the process will depend upon believers obedience to the command of love.  </div> <bR> <div>      John says even Judaism was darkness in comparison to Christianity, for the true light was not shining in the Old Testament.  The Jews despised the Gentiles.  One Rabbi said, "The Gentiles were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell."  The true light in Christ, however, came to shine upon the Gentiles, and they became children of God.  Jesus came, not as a light of Israel only, but as the light of the world.  All walls were broken down, and all hate and prejudice were excluded from His kingdom.  John Paul Wheelock wrote, </div> <bR> <div>                I lift my gaze beyond the night, and see,</div> <div>                     Above the banner of man's hate unfurled,</div> <div>                The holy figure that on Calvary</div> <div>                     Stretched out wide enough for all the world.</div> <bR> <div>      God's new age of grace and light has begun says John.  The message supreme is that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  He goes on to say in verse 9 that this makes  hate incompatible with the Christian life and fellowship with God.  John hits hatred hard.  It is a black and white area.  Regardless of what you say, if you hate your brother you are not a part of this new age of life.  You are still free-Christian, and you are yet in darkness.  We do not judge the hater when we say he cannot be a Christian.  It will be of no avail to tell us we cannot judge, for God has given us this revelation that the man who hates his brother is still in darkness.</div> <bR> <div>      Hatred hurts the hater far more than the hated for it excludes him from the fellowship of God.   It is he who obeys and follows Christ, who loves as He loved that becomes the recipient of God's blessings, and in turn becomes the greatest blessing to society.  The only answer to man's hate is love, and not just natural love, but the love that God imparts into the hearts of all who receive His Son as Savior.  This is the Christian message to the world, and it is our responsibility to exhibit the love of Christ to the world.  Henry Longfellow wrote, </div> <bR> <div>      The sole thing I hate is hate; for hate is death and love is life,</div> <div>      A piece, a splendor from above; and hate, a never ending strive,</div> <div>      A smoke, a blackness from the abyss.  Where unclean serpents coil and hiss.</div> <div>      Love is the Holy Ghost within; Hate the unpardonable sin!</div> <div>      Who preaches otherwise than this, betrays his Master with a kiss.</div> <bR> <div>      Let us neither betray Christ by word or deed, but obey the great commandment of love and be free from the chains of hate.  Only then can we be living examples that give the prisoners of hate the hope that they too can be delivered by putting their trust in Christ.  </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> WORD OF WARNING  Based on I John 2:18f</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>      A deaf but pious English lady visiting a country town in Scotland went to church with an ear trumpet.  It was a new device then, and the elders of the church had never seen one, and they viewed it with great suspicion.  After consultation one of them walked over to her and waging his finger at her warningly said, "One toot and ye're out."  This, of course, was a warning that was unneeded. </div> <bR> <div>       Not so the warning a man received in New York.  He was walking down fourth ave. and stopped on a temporary bridge to watch some work being done on the subway.  A worker told him to move on, for he was in danger of being hurt.  He said he had a right to be on a public street, and he refused to move.  A few moments later he was struck on the head by a piece of metal and was severely hurt.  He sued for damages, and the courts decision is of real interest.  The court agreed with him that he had a perfect right to stay where he was.  However, since he was warned of the danger of doing so, it is presumed that he accepted the risk involved, and, therefore, could not collect damages.  The contractor had no right to remove him by force, and so had fully done its duty when it gave warning.  Here was a warning that was needed, but was unheeded, and so was of no effect in preventing what it was meant to prevent.  To be forwarned is not to be forarmed if the warning is ignored.  </div> <bR> <div>      In Scripture there are no warnings but those that are needed, and so we ought to make sure that we give heed to every one of them.  Our study of I John has brought us to a warning concerning antichrist, or antichrists.  John only mentions the anti-christ, but his warning covers his numerous predecessors which he calls antichrists.</div> <div> The thing that impresses me about this passage is the fact that John is judging who these antichrists are, and he lays down a standard by which Christians of all time can judge the antichrists of their day.  From a superficial point of view this would be contrary to the words of Christ that we judge not.  These words of Christ are so often quoted and given such an absurd application that I wanted to call your attention to the fact that there are clear areas where they do not apply.  This saying comes up all the time in conversations where the character and conduct of persons are being discussed.  Even non-Christians quote it to throw up a smoke screen to avoid being examined.</div> <bR> <div>      Nothing can be more absurd than to suppose that Christ meant for us to suspend our critical and moral faculties, and refuse to determine the worthiness of any man's character and conduct.  Such an application of the words of Christ would lead to the neglect of all the warnings of Scripture to beware of false prophets.  It would make John's warning and advice both wrong and worthless.  Not applying the truth of the Bible to life is a common problem, but to give it an absurd application is even worse.</div> <div> A boy said to his father, "Dad, did you go to Sunday School when you were a boy?"</div> <div> Dad said, "Why yes son I always went to Sunday School."  The son replied, "Well then, I think then I'll quit, it isn't doing me any good either."  Lack of application of what one learns leads to no good, but an absurd application of what one learns can lead to definite harm.  Therefore, let us give heed to these words of warning by John, and recognize that some things we must judge.  The first thing we must judge is-</div> <bR> <div> I.  THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.</div> <bR> <div>      In 3:1 John says it is the last time, and we know it by the signs we see.  All of the New Testament authors indicate that Christians will be able to know when the end is near, for there will be signs.  In Matt. 24 the disciples asked Jesus what the sign of His coming will be, and of the end of the world.  They assume there would be signs of the end of history.  Jesus told them not to be alarmed at false messiahs, wars, and rumors of wars, nations rising against nations, famines, and earthquakes in various places, for all of these are to characterize all of  history and not just the end.  Many have perverted the clear words of Christ and quoted these things as signs of the end, but Jesus says they are only the beginning of sufferings.  Jesus goes on to say there will be much tribulation for the church to go through, and there will be a great falling away, and many false prophets, but the church will still succeed in taking the Gospel to all nations, and then will come the end.  </div> <bR> <div>      Paul later explains more concerning this falling away, and the man of lawlessness who will arise before the end.  John, now later yet, adds some more details to the picture.  He says to the Christians of his day that they have heard that antichrist would come.  He does not say that he has come, but he says that there are so many antichrists already that it is a sign of nearing the end.  We will consider the problem this raises in a moment.  I want to pause here and draw a conclusion that I feel is inescapable and important for our whole understanding of the doctrine of last things.  </div> <div> The Christian who studies the Word of God will be able to see signs of the approaching end of the world.  Christians have made many false judgments, and given many erroneous applications of the signs of the end, but, nevertheless, the whole  New Testament justifies us in believing we will be able to know when the end is near.</div> <div> To deny this and say we will have no idea is to make a large portion of the New Testament meaningless.  Everything the New Testament says about signs is worthless if we cannot judge the signs of the times.</div> <bR> <div>      Now we must consider what seems to be an embarrassing problem arising out of John's dogmatic assertion that it was obvious 1900 years ago that it was the last hour of history.  John had good reason to believe the end was near in his day, for except for the fact that the antichrist  himself had not yet appeared, the other signs seemed to be almost fully fulfilled.  The great falling away due to the Gnostic heresy seemed to fulfill Paul's first sign, and sense the know world then was practically all reached with the Gospel, it would appear that Christ's major sign was also fulfilled.  When John wrote at the end of the first century, it looked as if the last hour was at hand, for all that was left was for the man of sin to appear.  Many, especially of those who are liberal, just say that John had good reason to believe it was the last hour, but it turned out he was wrong for antichrist did not appear.</div> <bR> <div>      Others say that John is referring to the fall of Jerusalem in 70A.D. and that it was the last hour for Judaism.  This is highly improbable, for there is not the slightest hint that would lead the reader to get this meaning.  If John meant this, he could not have done a better job of being obscure.  If this were true, it would solve the problem, but not convincingly.  Bengal, the conservative Greek scholar, solves the problem by an even less likely interpretation.  He says John is referring to the last hour of his life.  He was old and the end was near for him, and he knew it.  It is hard to see any connection with the text in this interpretation.  The fact of many antichrists is what caused John to know it was the last hour, and not his feeling that he was not long for this world.  </div> <bR> <div>      The most obvious interpretation is to recognize that John is only speaking in the common Christian language of his day.  Christians looked at time as being in 3 ages:</div> <div> The former age, the present evil age, and the age to come.  The present age is the last age of history as we know it.  It is an age that is passing away.  The age to come has already broken into the present age, and runs parallel with it.  We who know Christ already partake of the things to come such as eternal life.  It has already begun, and we are rescued from the darkness of this present evil age and are made citizens of the kingdom of light.  This concept leads the New Testament authors to refer to this age as the last.  It does not mean it will end soon, but that it is passing away, and will give way completely to the age to come.  For the Christian then, it is always in the last days.  </div> <bR> <div>      The book of Hebrews begins by referring to the former days, when God spoke by prophets in various ways "but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son."  When Jesus came into history that was the beginning of the end.  The last days began, and Peter at Pentecost said that what was taking place there was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel that in the last days God would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh.  The coming of the Holy Spirit was another sign of the last days.  In other words, from the Jews point of view in the Old Testament there was only the present age and the age to come-the last age.  That last age began with the coming of the Messiah to establish His kingdom.  The present church age is the last age.  God has no other plan.  He has given His final and fullest revelation in His Son, and when these last days are over, eternity begins.</div> <bR> <div>      John was simply saying that we are seeing the signs clearer than ever that these are the last days, and the end is near.  That history has gone on yet for nearly 2000 years does not show that John was in error.  It only emphasizes the long suffering of God.  John also wrote by God's inspiration the book of Revelation, and told of multitudes of things yet should happen in these last days before the end.  The fact that John could sense the real possibility of the end being right around the corner explains why the book of Revelation can be interpreted in so many ways.  It can be so interpreted to be nearly all fulfilled in the first century, as the preterists do, or as being fulfilled in every century, as the historicists do, or as being fulfilled at the literal last hour, as the futurists do.</div> <bR> <div>      The book of Revelation is obviously calculated to keep the church aware that the end is always near for every generation of Christians.  John could sincerely believe that the last hour was near and be correct, for it always is, yet God can continue to be longsuffering, and we can only go by the revealed signs in judging if the end is at hand.  In a sense the apostolic age was a type of the history of the church to the end.  All the signs were fulfilled on what they thought was a universal level.  We know now it was not, but know now that the whole world is involved, and when we see the signs fulfilled again on a truly universal scale, we will know it is the last of the last days. </div> <bR> <div>      Let us be cautious in applying this truth, and not depart from Scripture principles, and start finding signs that are irrelevant.  A poet has done a fine job in giving us a sense of the urgency that is to characterize us, but he misses completely the real signs of the end.</div> <bR> <div>      There are worries in the air, filling men with hope and fear;</div> <div>      There are signals everywhere that the end is drawing near,</div> <div>      There are warnings to prepare, for the King will soon be here.</div> <div>      Troublelous times are gathering around, the days of lawlessness and crime.</div> <div>      Mighty earthquakes shake the ground, war clouds rise in every clime,</div> <div>      While there comes a solemn sound, we are near the end of time.</div> <bR> <div>      His conclusion is correct, but not his reasons for thinking so.  Earthquakes and trouble have nothing to do with the signs of the end.  The reaching of the whole world with the Gospel and the rise of anti-Christ are the signs we are to watch for.</div> <div>                           </div> <bR> <bR> <div> SATANIC SEPARATISM  Based on I John 2:19f</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>      Harry Emerson Fosdick has much thinking that is not acceptable to the evangelical Christian, but he also has many valuable insights that make his writings of real worth.  One of his ideas is that a man should not be judged so much by the position he is in, as by the direction in which he is moving.  He uses the stock market as an illustration.  To judge the value of a figure quoted on a certain stock, it is not enough just to have the figure of its present position, but one must know whether it has reached that figure on the way up or the way down.  It is not where it is, but the direction in which it is going, that tells the value of the stock.  </div> <bR> <div>      So it is with people.  It is not enough just to know where they are.  You must also know which way they are headed, and whether it be up or down.  Some start very high by natural endowment or fortunate circumstances, and then head downward, while others start at the bottom and struggle upward, and at some point says Fosdick,  they will pass, and be considered equal, but not so, for one is drifting down while the other is climbing up.  It is not their position, but their direction that determines the value of their position.  </div> <bR> <div>       This is true, not just for judging for secular success, but it fits the spiritual life as well.  The Apostle John is using it as a standard by which to judge the anti-christs of his day.  In verse 19 John says that they have been made manifest by the direction in which they have gone.  They were visibly with us at one time, and could have been judged as equals, for they were in the same church and same fellowship.  Now, however, they have gone out from us, and this departure shows us they were really not of us, even when they were with us.  Their position fooled us for a while, but once we saw the direction in which they were going,  we knew they were not of us.</div> <bR> <div>      It is significant to note that the anti-christs were not outsiders, but were those who were within, but who then went out of the church.  This makes sense, for false doctrines seldom have their origins outside the church, for those outside have no interest in doctrine.  The heretics down through the centuries were men who were deeply interested in theology, and considered themselves Christians.  So it is today with the radical theologians who question orthodox theology.  So it was with the Gnostics in John's day.  They were not anti-God by any means, but they were convinced they had the real truth about God, and they were deeply religious.  Their departure from the true church, and from the deity of Christ revealed that they were really never a part of the body of Christ.  </div> <bR> <div>      What makes this of interest is that John is admitting that the Apostolic Church was not infallible by a long shot.  Just like churches today, the membership roles then were filled with those who were not truly saved.  Whenever you  hear some saint complaining because non-Christians get into the membership of the church, you can remind them that Judas got in on the ground level when Christ began to build the church, and that the church of the first century was also filled with false Christians. </div> <div> That has been the case in every age.  </div> <bR> <div>      It is ignorance of history that causes Christians to look upon the past as golden, and see only rust in the present age.  The church is in bad shape in many ways, but is far stronger now than it has been in other periods.  The sooner we quit groaning in self pity and recognize we face only the same problems the church has always faced, the sooner we will get moving along the road of fulfilling our task.  John says that there was a great apostasy in the church of his day.  John doesn't sink into pessimism, but simply says that it teaches us that all who are with us are not necessarily of us.  Every church since has  had to recognize this, that just as Christians can be in the world but not of it, so the world can be in the church but not of it.</div> <bR> <div>      When the unsaved within in the church get organized, as they did in John's day, then you usually have a split.  This is not to say that all splits are a matter of saved and unsaved factions, for this is not so.  This would be giving Christians a credit they do not deserve, for they have often been foolish and unchristian, and have been tools of the devil in causing divisions.  In John's case, however, he judges those who have gone out as being anti-christs, and he can do so, for he is an Apostle, and knows that the true church is built on the foundation of the Lordship of Christ, which they reject.</div> <div> He knows that anyone who would forsake the group that holds to Christ's deity must be unsaved.  By the same standard we can judge persons today.  Those who do not accept Christ as Lord are made manifest as anti-christs.  </div> <bR> <div>      This passage has been used in false ways.  The Catholic church made much of it when Luther went out of the Catholic church.  He was branded as anti-christ.  Any group can take this passage and brand any who depart from them as anti-christs, if the main concept of the passage is ignored.  It is only in this context as departure from the body of Christ, which holds Christ as Lord, that fulfills the type of apostasy of which John is writing.  We cannot judge any person to be an apostate until we can say they have denied the Son.  When person have done so they can be labeled as anti-christs.  B. H. Carroll said, "When you see a star fall you can know it is not a star."  So when you see a deserter of the faith, you can know he was not a true disciple of the faith.  </div> <bR> <div>      We see from this verse that there are two sides to the concept of separation.  In itself it is not a virtue to be a separatist, for it is as much the method of anti-christ as it is of the true church.  The multitude of false cults are the product of separation.  The truth is irksome to the unsaved, so they depart and start their own religion where they can do and believe as they please.  It makes all the difference in the world what you are separating from.  If it is from the world and false doctrine, then you follow Christ, but if it is from the truth and God's people, you follow anti-christ.  </div> <div> John says, when you can see a person going the wrong direction, you can judge him to be an apostate.</div> <bR> <div>      The New Testament pictures the church as a living organism, and believers are members of it.  They are hands, feet, eyes and ears etc.  Every true believer is a living part of the body, and if he is not, he is not of the body.  John Cotton, the old Puritan commentator wrote concerning these apostates:  "A glass eye maybe an ornament to the body, and a wooden leg may support the body, yet they are not true members.  So much may be ornaments and supports of the church, but yet not true members.  Though they cleave to the body, yet they are not joined by nerves and sineus, nor anointed by the head.  Just as not all Israel was true Israel, so not all the church is the true church.</div> <bR> <div>      It also shows a very close unity of true Christians in this period.  The implication of this verse is that only unbelievers would ever leave the church.  No true Christian would forsake the body of Christ.  This text should have prevented many of the separations that have occurred in history.  John Cotton comments on this matter in a way we need to consider.  He wrote, "It may be just to separate when a church is heretical, yet that alone is not a sufficient ground.  The church at Corinth denied the resurrection of the dead, yet Paul calls them saints; so the Pharisees charged that none should profess Christ, and taught false doctrine, yet Christ charges His disciples to obey them because they sit in Moses' chair.  Therefore error, even fundamental error, is not always a just cause."</div> <bR> <div>      Many Christians built their separatist ideas on political, sociological, and systematic theological foundations, and not on Scripture.  Man made differences become a matter of idolatry when they are used to divide Christians.  Unless it can be established that a group or man has denied the deity of Christ, it is a Christian obligation to work out any differences in the spirit of Christ, and not be separated.</div> <div> If Christian would have always done so, there would never have been so much disunity among Christians.  Christians need to stay in places of leadership in all organizations to maintain a Christian influence, rather than separate and leave the group to become totally secular, or even anti-Christian.  R.E.O. White writes to evangelical Christians concerning their relationship to the ecumenical movement and points out all of the dangers and risks involved, but adds, "Nevertheless, evangelicals must remember that to stand aloof from a movement for fear of what that  movement might do, when standing aloof may make more likely the thing you fear, involved some responsibility for the thing you foresaw but did nothing to prevent."  </div> <bR> <div>      If Billy Graham was a separatist, he would not be Billy Graham, and the Gospel he preaches would remain unheard by millions.  Graham has the attitude of John, and says if men do not like the truth they will leave us, and thereby prove they are not of us.  In other words, let the devil retreat, but let not the church for sake territory it has already won.  John was doing all he could to keep the church stable and centered on the solid rock of Christ.  The influence of false doctrine was everywhere, but John did not advise retreat, but like Paul and other New Testament authors, he encouraged Christians to stand fast for the truth.  If any separation is to take place, let it be the satanic separation of those who cannot tolerate the deity of Christ.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> THE WINNING WIND   Based on I John 2:20</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>      Determining the superiority of either side in either conflict is difficult since the decisive factor in gaining a victory is often hidden.  This was certainly the case when the Spanish Armada sailed against England.  It was one of the greatest fleets ever assembled, and the Spanish ships dwarfed the English vessels.  They towered above the sea, and the very sight of them threw fear into the English.  It appeared to be no mystery where the superior power was, until an unforeseen factor entered the picture.  A strong wind began to blow up the English Channel and it was discovered that this made the large Spanish ships unmanageable, whereas the smaller English vessels could still maneuver.  The result was, the Spaniards were at the mercy of the wind, and were blown up the channel into the North Sea, and around the coast of Scotland, and finally on to the Hebrides where they were smashed to pieces.</div> <bR> <div>      The wind changed the whole picture, and gave the victory to the apparently inferior.  The winning wind was the decisive factor.  It is the wind that changed the whole picture in the battle of light against darkness also.  Go back to Pentecost, and you find a small group of 120 people facing a Roman Empire, and an unfriendly Judaism.  A picture of weakness facing a great strength.  Yet, when the wind came upon the 120, they received the promised power of the Holy Spirit, and they went out and turned the world upside down.  The wind was the decisive factor, and again, the apparently inferior gained the victory.  Pentecost was the day of the anointing of the church, and from that time on all who enter in the body of Christ by faith in Christ are anointed with the Holy Spirit.  John is saying to the Christians of his day that it is this anointing that is still the enabling power to be superior over evil forces, and it keeps the believer from being deceived by the antichrists.  </div> <bR> <div>      In verse 20, John with one blow destroys the professed superiority of the Gnostics.  They said they were unique and above all others, for they knew what only the initiated could know.  Those who had not gone through their particular rites just were not capable of knowing the mysteries of God.  John tells the Christians that this is nonsense, for he says to all of them, "You have been anointed by the Holy One-Jesus Christ Himself."  He said, you know all things, or as the modern versions have it, you all know.  John is contrasting the Christian position with that of the Gnostics.  They say only the elite can know the deep truths of God, but John says </div> <div> all Christians know the deepest truths possible to know in knowing Christ.  John did not make a distinction between the slave and the educated Roman convert, or the even more knowledgeable Jewish Christian.  They all had the anointing of the Spirit,</div> <div> and they all knew the basic truth of Christ's deity, and the need for faith in Him alone for salvation.</div> <bR> <div>      Every Christian is equal when it comes to the knowledge of God's greatest truth.  Educated Christians go deeper, but none can go higher, for knowing Christ is the pinnacle of Revelation.  All of the true believers are one here, and this is why John knew that those who went out of the fellowship were not true believers, for had they been anointed of the Spirit, they too would have known Jesus to be the Christ, and could never have forsaken Him or His body.  </div> <bR> <div>       The word here for anointed is chrism, and so all Christians have a chrism from Christ.  As He is God's Anointed One, so we are His anointed ones.  We are Christ's Christs, or as one has said, we are little christs-miniature messiahs seeking in Christ's stead to bring the world to be reconciled with the Father though Him.  Every believer is protected by the Holy Spirit within from being lead astray by the folly and deception of the antichrists.  This explains why, when the antichrist comes,</div> <div> that Paul speaks of in II Thess. 2, that though all the unsaved in the world will be deceived, there will be none of the elect deceived.  They cannot be, for the Holy Spirit within makes it impossible for them to be deceived, for they know Christ, and can recognize any lie that would seek to deny this most fundamental of all truths. </div> <bR> <div>      This whole concept of the anointing takes us back to the Old Testament where priests and kings were anointed for God's service.  It was a special thing for them only that set them apart to be used as instruments of God's Spirit.  Now in the New Testament age all believers are anointed.  We see in this another support for the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.  Every one of us are anointed by Christ, and not just pastors and missionaries.  They have the additional distinction of being set apart by the church, and they must give an account to the church, but all are anointed by Christ, and equally accountable to Him.  The layman is not obligated to prepare sermons, baptize, marry, etc., but he is just as responsible for witnessing to the lost as is the pastor.  </div> <bR> <div>      John is not saying this here, but it is the logical result of what  he is saying.  He makes it clear that all Christians have this in common; that they are anointed, and have the most basic knowledge of salvation in Christ.  This fact, plus all we know of the significance of anointing in Scripture leads to the conclusion that every believer is commissioned to be a servant and a witness in the world.  </div> <bR> <div>      When David was selected out of his brothers to be king we read in I Sam. 16:13, </div> <div> "Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward."  When one was anointed of the Spirit he was used as an instrument to accomplish God's will on earth.  This was for kings and priests, and the thought occurred to me that there should be a doctrine of the kingship of all believers, as well as the priesthood of all believers.  Just as we are ministers to the world for Christ, so we also reign with Christ, and are called in Rev. 1:6 both kings and priests.  </div> <bR> <div>      The significance of these Scriptural truths are just being rediscovered, and are the basis for the modern interest in the layman.  The church became clergy centered, and the rest of the believers became spectators, and the result is that the church became Americanized to the point of everything centering around the performance of the clergy.  With the development of so many more places to go to be entertained, and better entertained, the church has lost a great many spectators to the world, which gives them what they want.  The result is the church is trying to figure out how to get the laymen more active.  This is a good sign and should bring renewal to the church.  It is not enough to have a gland active here and there.  The whole body must be active if the church is going to fulfill its purpose.  All are anointed, and all are responsible for proclaiming the good  news.  </div> <bR> <div>      In verse 21 John says he writes to them, not because they do not know the truth, but because they do.  His purpose is not to address the unbeliever, and try to convince them of the deity of Christ, but to strengthen those who are already convinced.  Knowing the truth made them able to detect the lies of the Gnostics, but the Gnostics were deceived by lies because they did not know the truth.  In other words, truth is only of real value to those  who already know the truth, for they alone can appreciate it and distinguish it from error.  Those who are deceived cannot tell truth from error.  They are victims of the lies of the antichrist.  </div> <bR> <div>      This verse shows us what we often forget:  That the Bible is for Christians, and not for the unbeliever.  God's written revelation is for believers, while the preached word, and the word of testimony from believers, are God's instruments for reaching the unsaved.  Some unsaved people are won by Bible reading, but it is rare.  Most people are won through the spoken word.  The Bible is not meant to be evangelistic, but is for the purpose of preparing the believer to be evangelistic.  Paul gives us a list of the values of the Bible, and not a single one of them apply to the non-believer.</div> <div> He says in II Tim. 3:16, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine," (this is the number one value, and only a believer cares about doctrine,) "reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."  The whole Bible then, and not just John's letters, is written to those who already know the truth, that they might grow in it, and recognize all of its implications, and not only avoid the lies of heretics, but be victorious over them.  With the word and the wind, that is the Holy Spirit within, the believer will always be a winner in the conflict with evil ideas.</div> <div> May God help us to be more aware of our unique anointing, and to be more conscience of the winning wind within.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> CHILDREN OF GOD Based on I John 3:1-2</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>      When I was a student at Bethel, Lavonne and I were invited as honorary guests to a banquet held each year for students near the top of their graduating class in the colleges and law schools of St. Paul.  I was delighted with this opportunity, and it was with a real sense of satisfaction that I put on my best clothes, and headed for the hotel in downtown St. Paul to meet my sponsor.  Each student was the guest of a sponsor who bought their tickets, and we were to be at the same table with our sponsor to give the whole affair a personal touch.  </div> <bR> <div>      Lavonne and I walked around a bit and marveled at the beauty of the setting.  We were quit excited to be in such an expensive atmosphere.  We were always several hundred dollars behind in our bills that we owed to Bethel, and so our experience of eating in fancy hotels was somewhere around zero.  When we splurged, we went to </div> <div> The Flame Burger instead of McDonalds.  The point is, this was a unique and exciting experience, and we were impressed.  </div> <bR> <div>      Then the pin and bubble met.  Our sponsor found us at the appointed place, and we introduced ourselves.  Then he said that his family was from such and such a line of descendants going back for centuries, and his father was some prominent person in the community.  Then he asked where my family was from, and what my father did.</div> <div> I was surprised by the question and puzzled.  I didn't see the relevance of it at all.  I stammered out something to the effect that my father worked in a meat packing plant, and that I know about my ancestors was that my grandfather had been a farmer.  </div> <bR> <div>      There was a wall between us immediately, for he had apparently expected to spend the evening comparing which of us had the most dukes in our family tree.  </div> <div> I thought it was rather unmannerly of him to wave his pedigree before us before he found out if I was also a nobleman like himself.  The result was a rather boring evening, probably typical of other such encounters of pauper and prince.  The point of all this autobiographical introduction is that I in my first encounter with strong family pride was made to feel embarrassed.  His boasting of his superior heritage made me feel aggrevated.  In analyzing the situation I have concluded that the problem did not consist in his pedigree, but in his pride which was expressed in a self-exaulting manner.</div> <bR> <div>      Certainly there is a legitimate pride to be had in one's ancestors and line of decent, but one must be aware of the dangers of a false pride.  Plutarch wisely said, </div> <div> "It is indeed a desirable thing to be well decended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors."  In other words, if we can be grateful for a good heritage, and avoid assuming the credit for it, as if we merited such a heritage, then we are within the bounds of true dignity.  Wordsworth put it: </div> <bR> <div>                True dignity abides with him alone</div> <div>                Who in the silent hour of inward thought</div> <div>                Can still suspect, and still revere himself,</div> <div>                In lowliness of heart.</div> <bR> <div>      True dignity is characterized by a grateful humility, and not boastful pride.  This is where men fail and allow their good heritage to be a liability rather than an asset.  They become proud and make others feel uncomfortable when, by humility, they could use such a noble heritage as a subject on which to express gratitude, and to cause others to also count their blessings.  A good heritage is only of value if it makes you a better person yourself.  Even a pagan poet can see the worthlessness of a noble family tree as an end in itself.  Juvenal said to one who was falsely proud:</div> <bR> <div>                 Your ancient house!  No more-I cannot see</div> <div>                The wondrous merits of a pedigree;</div> <div>                No, Ponticus, nor of a proud display</div> <div>                Of smoky ancestors in wax or clay.</div> <bR> <div>      Sir Thomas Overbury adds this remark against the boasters:  "The man who has not any thing to boast of but his illustrious ancestors is like a potato, the only good belonging to him is underground."  Unless there is fruit above ground in one's own life, you merit no praise or credit for your family tree, and if there is fruit in your life because of them, the glory is to be shared with them in grateful humility.  </div> <bR> <div>      Now you might say that I have spent a lot of time proving a point that might be of use to those of noble birth, but what good is this to us who have no noble pedigree-who have every reason to be humble because there is nothing of note of which to be proud?  What good is this to those who may have a few horse thieves hanging from their family tree?  It could be many of us would be in the same situation as the man who paid a lawyer 200 dollars to trace back his ancestry, and when it was completed, he paid him 2,000 to keep it quiet. </div> <bR> <div>       None of this really makes a difference, for John wrote to persons who ancestors were pagans or slaves, and yet, in as clear and forceful language as possible, he tells them they are of exceedingly high birth as Christians.  John is saying that Christians have a heritage so rich and noble it makes the chain of the succession of the kings of England look like a string of paupers in comparison.  We would have to coin a new word to express it anywhere near adequately, for if it is a noble birth to be born of a king, what is it to be born of the King of Kings?  This is what John says in 2:29 is the case with those who are righteous through Jesus Christ-they are born of God.  He goes on into chapter 3 to dwell on the marvel of it.  It is simply amazing and astounding John says that we should be called the sons of God, or more accurately, children of God.  What pedigree can match that?  </div> <bR> <div>      In the battle for producing the greatest pedigree a man in Scotland thought he had cleverly reached the ultimate, for he had this as his epitaph.  </div> <bR> <div>                John Carnegie lies here,</div> <div>                 Decended from Adam and Eve.</div> <div>                If any can boast of a pedigree higher,</div> <div>                He will willingly give leave.</div> <bR> <div> Another with different wording took the same approach:</div> <bR> <div>                Nobles and heralds, by your leave,</div> <div>                Here lies what once was Matthew Prior;</div> <div>                The son of Adam and Eve:</div> <div>                Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher?</div> <bR> <div> We do not know if the Bourbon's or Nassau's can meet that challenge, but we know that anyone who has been made righteous through Jesus Christ, even if their ancestors were slaves, and they themselves are slaves, can claim a higher and holier heritage, for their genealogy goes back, not just to Adam and Eve, but to their Creator, and the God and Father of Jesus Christ.  Our family tree in Christ contains all the saints of God from the beginning of time.  Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, the Prophets, Christ and the Apostles, are all in our spiritual ancestry.  We have two family trees, and two genealogies-one natural and one spiritual.  By the new birth we becomes members of the greatest heritage and greatest family-the family of God.  </div> <bR> <div>      If anyone has basis for boasting in a marvelously noble birth and rich heritage, it is the Christian.  Yet, he cannot boast in pride, for it is all unmerited, for it is all of grace.  We did not choose Him for our Father.  He choose us for His children.  We only love Him because He first loved us.  No matter what comes to the Christian he should be one who is perpetually and humbly grateful that he has been made a child of God.  God forbid that we take this great truth and abuse it as men do with their earthly pedigrees.  The glory belongs to our Father and not us.  A holier than thou attitude in the Christian is offensive for the same reason that the family tree boaster is offensive.  This attitude is a display of self-centered pride that acts as if one was worthy of his heritage.</div> <bR> <div>      John makes it clear that the wonder of our being children of God does not at all lie in us, but rather in the love of God.  Paul recognized this also when he said, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ."  If anyone had a good pedigree going for them it was Paul, but he counted it as dung that he might know Christ.  John makes it clear that those who are truly children of God will be so grateful and humble that they will give themselves completely to the task of being Christlike in purity.  The Christians pride is in his Father and his Savior, and this makes all the difference in the world between an effective witness and a holier than thou attitude that drives people away.  The Christian is to look down his nose at  no one, even though he be of the most noble blood in history.  To be pure as Jesus was pure is to be free from the pride that demands respect.</div> <bR> <div>       In the third century there was a devastating persecution of the Christians in Carthage by Decius the Emperor.  Christians were sought out, imprisoned and killed.  At this same time a plague struck and was also taking many lives.  Cyprian, the leader of the Christians, called upon them to minister to the heathen people who lay sick and dying, and he gave as his reason for urging such action this statement:</div> <div> "We must be worthy of our birth.  Now are we children of God."  </div> <bR> <div>      Cyprian understood John and recognized that children of God are known by their conformity to the only begotten Son of God.  We are already children of God, and have the greatest heritage possible, but there is still a greater hope yet to come, for when we see Him face to face we shall be like Him.  In other words, Christlikeness is the ultimate goal of the believer, and that being so, John says the proof that one is really a child a God heading for that ultimate goal is seeing in the fact that he is right now striving to be Christlike.  If Christlikeness is really our hope for eternity, we will be aiming for it in time, and purifying ourselves as He is pure.</div> <bR> <div>      J. R. Lowell wrote concerning those who boast of a great heritage, but who do not live worthy of it.  </div> <bR> <div>                  They talk about their Pilgrim blood,</div> <div>                Their birthright high and holy!</div> <div>                A mountain stream that ends in mud,</div> <div>                Methinks is melancholy. </div> <bR> <div> It is doubly sad for one who claims to be a child of God to let the pure stream of living water end in mud.  We must be worthy of our birth.  We are children of the King of Kings.  How we live before the world will determine how they feel about our heavenly Father.  Our concept of the Father has been determined by the life and love of His Son the Lord Jesus.  Our goal is to be like Him that the world can know God as we know Him.  John says the world will not recognize us as children of God, for they do not know the Father or the Son.  They will persecute and kill, but if we persist in being as pure as Christ under all circumstances, they will eventually see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.</div> <bR> <div>      </div> <bR> <div> PROFOUND SIMPLICITY  Based on I John 5:7</div> <div> By Pastor Glenn Pease</div> <bR> <div>      You would think that any problem dealing with only three numbers would be simple to solve, but when it comes to the doctrine of the trinity where three equals one and one equals three the apparent simplicity becomes profound.  Two youths left the church after hearing a sermon on the trinity, and the boy said, "I don't get this business of three in one and one in three."  "It's simple," said the girl.  "Mother is mama to us, Francis to daddy, and Mrs. Jones to others.  She is one yet three." </div> <bR> <div>       If the trinity was really that simple, the hardest thing to comprehend about it would be the centuries of controversy over it, and the many heresies that have arise because of it.  If you think the trinity is simple to understand, you only prove that you do not yet understand it.  The girl with the simple answer did  not have the slightest comprehension of the trinity.  If it amounts to only different names that God has, there is no way to stop at three.  Just as her mother can be called other names, such as sister, cousin, aunt, grandma, lady, and even hey you, so God can be called by dozens of names beyond Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Her explanation explains nothing, and ignores the basic truth that the triune God is in three persons, and not just three names of one person. </div> <bR> <div>       If it was only a matter of names and words the doctrine would have met the demand of Thomas Jefferson for simplicity.  He wrote in a letter to Timothy Pickering, after hearing Channing, the great Unitarian preacher, and said, "When we shall have done away with the incomprehensible jargon of the Trinitarian arithmetic, that three are one, and one is three; when we shall have knocked down the artificial scaffolding, reared to mask from view the simple structure of Jesus; when, in short, we shall have unlearned everything which has been taught since His day, and got back to the pure and simple doctrines He inculcated, we shall then be truly and worthily His disciples; and my opinion is that if nothing had ever been added to what flowed purely from His lips, the whole world would at this day have been Christian."</div> <bR> <div>      He demands that all truth be simple, and charge that Christians have added the doctrine of the trinity onto the teachings of the Bible, rather than finding it there.  Since he is not alone on this view, but represents the charge of millions, it is one that calls for a defense.  But before we defend the doctrine of the trinity, let us first recognize that some criticism is valid.  For example, one of the clearest references in the Bible to the trinity is found in I John 5:7.  It is now accepted by most all scholars that this is not inspired Scripture.  Even the very conservative notes of Scofield say on this verse, "It is generally agreed that verse 7 has no real authority and has been inserted."  No Greek manuscript before the 5th century has this verse, nor is it ever used by any of the Greek or Latin fathers in all their writings in defense of the trinity. </div> <div> Erasmus, a Greek scholar in reformation days, refuse to put it in his Greek New Testament even though it was in the Latin version.  When he was criticized for this he promised if anyone could show him a Greek manuscript with it in, he would put it in his next edition.  A late Greek manuscript was found, and he kept his word, and against his better judgment put it in.  That is how it got into the King James Version, for it followed that edition.  </div> <bR> <div>      Let us then be honest and admit that it is possible that men have made errors, and have included in the Bible what is not inspired.  But let the critics be equally honest and recognize that what has been added, though not inspired, is no less true.  We will admit that the Bible nowhere mentions the word trinity, but this in no way detracts from the fact that God is there presented as a trinity.  We ought not to ask the skeptic to believe anymore than what the Bible teaches.  This verse ought never to be quoted as proof of the trinity, for it is not needed.  Thomas Jefferson demanded that we go back to the simple teaching of Jesus.  Let us do just that.  </div> <bR> <div>      Let us go back for example to His final words to His disciples before He ascended.  He gave them the great commission and said, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Jesus did not teach a Trinitarian concept of God, He presupposed it, as does the whole New Testament.  B.B. Warfield, the great evangelical scholar, said, "The doctrine of the trinity does not appear in the New Testament in the making, but as already made."  You cannot read the New  Testament without seeing the necessity for believing in the trinity.  It is everywhere assumed that the Father is God; the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.</div> <bR> <div>      It is this concept of God that makes Christianity distinct and unique.  The radical theologians of today who are throwing out the concept of the trinity are right when they say it is a stumbling block to others.  The Jews cannot accept it, nor the other religions of the world.  It is uniquely Christian doctrine, and you cannot sacrifice this truth to promote unity with non-believers.  The folly of this is comparable to a group of modern doctors who want so much to win the friendship of a cult that believes only in taking water for illnesses that they take out all the ingredients of modern medicine, leaving only the water.  In coming down to a common level with the cult they have won unity, but they have lost all the advantages of progress.  So Christians lose all that is uniquely Christian if they give up the trinity for the sake of unity.  </div> <bR> <div>      We have an obligation to better understand this doctrine lest we be subtly lead astray.  It is so easy to be heretical on this doctrine, and it is so easy just to ignore it.  </div> <div> I trust this brief study of the mystery and meaning of the trinity will help us to avoid both.  </div> <bR> <div> I.  THE MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY.</div> <div>   </div> <div>      The reason the trinity is such a profound and difficult subject is in the very nature of the matter, and of the tools we have to work with.  To fix a car with all the modern equipment is one thing, but to do it with a putty knife is a radically different challenge.</div> <div> Such is the challenge of a finite mind trying to grasp an infinite truth.  God understands it, for He has an infinite mind, but anything resembling that is conspicuously absent in man.  This means that by necessity a full comprehension of the trinity must remain a mystery.  There comes a point where, when we wade out into the sea of theology, the legs of reason can no longer touch the bottom, and we must launch off on a swim of faith.  There is a sense of security when we can touch bottom, and it is certainly easier, but as in swimming, so in theology, the real fun and adventure is not in wading but in swimming out into the deep knowing that you will be able to remain on the top even though your feet cannot touch bottom.</div> <bR> <div>      The trinity brings us to a sea of truth so deep and wide that the poet has said,</div> <div>                So God the Father, God the Son</div> <div>                     And God the Spirit we adore,</div> <div>                A sea of life and love unknown,</div> <div>                     Without a bottom or a shore.</div> <div> Cyril C. Richardson wrote, "It has been observed by denying it one may in danger of losing one's soul, while by trying to understand it one may be in danger of losing one's wits."  We know that Paul only saw through a glass darkly, and so we cannot expect to see more, but what we can see and understand will be sufficient, for God has enabled us to grasp what He wants us to know, and gives us His Holy Spirit to enlighten us.  Our prayer then should be that of Milton in Paradise Lost.</div> <div>                And chiefly Thou, O Spirit.....</div> <div>                Instruct me, for Thou know'st, Thou from the first</div> <div>                Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread,</div> <div>                Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss,</div> <div>                And mad'st it pregnant:  what in me is dark</div> <div>                Illumine; what is low raise and support.</div> <div> With this prayer preceding, let us consider-</div> <bR> <div> II.  THE MEANING OF THE TRINITY.</div> <div>  </div> <div>      The word itself means threefoldness.  It became a description of what God is out of the experience of the early Christians.  They experience Jesus as God, and the Holy Spirit as God, and, therefore, there were three Persons they had relationship to as God.  No one sat down to figure this out; it just grew out of God's self-revelation in history through Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.  You would think this would be such a radical new concept that the pages of the New Testament would be filled with controversy over it.  But we do not see this because it was not that radical.  In the Old Testament God made it clear there were no other God's.  The Jews were under obligation to be strict monotheists.  They were to say daily, "The Lord our God is one Lord."  Yet, Elohim, the Hebrew word for God, is in the plural indicating plurality within the one God.  In the New Testament monotheism is not bypassed.  God is still one and there is no change in this at all.  There is only one God, and that truth must be preserved at all cost.  The difference is, in the New Testament God reveals fully what the plurality is of His own nature.  He revealed that He is three Persons.</div> <bR> <div>      Now get this straight:  There are three Persons in one God, and not three Gods.</div> <div> If there were three Gods this would be called tri-theism, and this is a heresy.  There is only one God and that one God is in three Persons.  The only reason this seems hard to grasp is because we come to these words with preconceived ideas that cause us to make problems for ourselves that are not really there.  Until we can think of these terms as relating to God in a unique sense, we will think of them as they relate to us, and we will be confused.  The whole thing becomes easier to grasp by getting a proper definition of God in our minds.  When we start with God defined as three eternal and equal Persons with all the attributes of love, wisdom, justice, etc., it should be easy to see how three Persons can be one God.  It is only hard because we start out with a wrong definition of God.  If you start with a definition that God is Person you are headed for problems.  If God is only one Person, then to say this one Person is also three Persons is to deserve the contempt of the unbeliever, for it is meaningless.  </div> <bR> <div>      Let us look at how this works on other things.  Let us start for example a study of the tricycle, and let us begin with a definition that a tricycle is a motorless vehicle with one wheel.  Now with this in our mind we proceed to look at the facts about tricycles, and we are told right off that the basic fact is that they have three wheels.  Now we are confused.  Our reason cannot grasp this contradiction.  It seems incredible to believe that a tricycle can be one wheeled and three wheeled at the same time.  The doubter will reject it, and the gullible will say I will accept it by faith.  Both, of course, are wrong, and all because they started with a wrong definition.  If they would go back and start with the definition that a tricycle is a motorless vehicle with three wheels, then the facts are easy to reconcile.  One tricycle equals three wheels, and three wheels equals one tricycle.  It is simple when you  start right. </div> <bR> <div>       Three can equal one in many ways, just as four, five, or any other number.  There are four quarts in one gallon.  There are twelve inches in one foot.  There are endless examples.  All of this would only be confusing if you said, four quarts equals one quart, or twelve inches equals one inch.  This is what many people think of when they think of the trinity.  This is what Thomas Jefferson called the incomprehensible jargon of Trinitarian arithmetic.  He was right, but he was rejecting an error, and not the truth, when he thought he was rejecting what the trinity really is.  When we get it into our head that God has revealed Himself as a Three Person Being, and not a one Person Being, we will no longer have the problem of those who begin with a wrong definition of God.</div> <bR> <div>      The three in one is illustrated in many ways. If you have three lights on in the room, there is only one light filling the room. It is impossible to separate the light coming from any one of the bulbs. The light from all three are so blended into one that they are one, even though three. So it is with the three Persons in the trinity. They are so one that it is hard, if not impossible, to separate them and see them in isolation from the other two. They are one in all that they do. There is nothing that one does that is not the will of the others. Just as a three leaf clover is not three clovers but one clover in three leaves, so God is one God in three Persons. Like the light from three different bulbs, they so blend together that they are perfectly one. The Father is not a trinity, the Son is not a trinity, and the Holy Spirit is not a trinity. It is God who is the trinity and it takes all three to be God. If you take away one of the wheels it is no longer a tricycle and if you take away two of the wheels it is not ever a bicycle, but a monocycle. So the One God is in Three Persons and all of them are necessary to have the God revealed in the Bible. Take away one or two and you have a different type of being than the God of Scripture.</div> <bR> <div>      Reality is filled with analogies of the trinity. All can be divided into space, matter and time. Time can be divided into past, present and future. Matter can be divided into animal, vegetable, and mineral. Space can be divided into length, width, and height. Water is composed of three atoms=2hydrogen and 1 oxygen. and it can be in three states of solid, liquid and gas. Life is a Trinitarian process with mother, father and child as a result. </div> <bR> <div>      The issue is simply this: Is God a being who has dwelt for all eternity alone in the solitary confinement of nothingness, or is He a being that can never be alone because He is a trinity, and thus, self-sufficient and complete in Himself, and capable of eternal fellowship within His own being?  If one denies this greater concept of God, which He has revealed Himself to be, then he has to reject the deity of Christ, and this is to deny the Christian faith.  The whole of the Christian faith depends upon the truth of the trinity. It is a mystery, but greater is the mystery of trying to understand the Bible without the doctrine of the trinity. If Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not God, why does the Bible give them all the attributes of God, and why are we to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?  It may be a profound doctrine, but compared to any other explanation of what the Bible reveals, it is profound simplicity.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>