Walking in Fellowship With God

True Christians are Christ-like, they do not continue to sin.

Summary

Many false teachers present the message of God’s grace in a manner that proclaims that when God sees us, He only sees Christ with the subtle implication that it is ok to continue sinning as a believer.  True Christianity and the true teaching of scripture, however, is that whoever continues in sin belongs to the devil.  When someone is a true Christian, when their sin is revealed to them, they submit themselves to God and walk in love.  True Christinity causes people to walk in love.  Any other “Christianity” is a false gospel that has no power to save.

Outline

1. Childlike faith believes in God’s word and acts on it.
   1. God always backs up His word.
2. 1 John – Some say 1:9 is not for the believer, and that believers do not need to confess their sin.
   1. First of all, the letter was written to believers, not unbelievers.
   2. The message that we hear and declare is that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all – this explains what John is addressing – If we say we have fellowship with God but walk in darkness we lie and are not in the truth.
   3. We see this all across America – people profess to be believers but walk in habitual sin.
   4. You can put your boots into the oven but that does not make them biscuits – Going to church does not make you a Christian – you need to bend your knee to Jesus Christ.
   5. You can go to church 7 days a week and still end up in church.
3. Kenneth Hagan died and was resuscitated several times during a sickness and experienced going to hell.
   1. He was angry at God because he was a baptized member of the church.
   2. He died a second time and went to hell again, and realized that church does not save, so he surrendered his life to Jesus.
   3. The third time he died he went to heaven.
4. John’s issue is with how people respond when they sin.
   1. If they are seeking help and seeking to be in Christ then there is an advocate with the Father for them – Jesus.
   2. If people are sinning willingly, they are rebels against Christ’s kingdom and are headed for hell.
5. The purpose of excommunication according to Paul is to get people to repent and to restore fellowship with the Father.
6. If we walk in the light – then the blood of Jesus cleanses us of all sin.
   1. “If” if a conditional particle – it describes uncertainty.
   2. If someone gets saved and is living in sin but does not know it, and they start growing in the Lord and each time God shows him something he repents and does what God requires – then the blood of Jesus covers all of the things that are not right.
   3. If something is exposed and he does not correct it, now he is living in darkness, so the blood of Jesus no longer is cleansing him of it.
   4. As long as you are walking in agreement with all that God is enlightening you of, you are walking in the light.
   5. If you fail to surrender to God’s enlightenment, then you are in darkness – the solution is to repent, and then God will cleanse you of all unrighteousness.
7. Revelation – 2:18 – God promises to send those who rebel against Him into great tribulation and to kill their children.
   1. This is not the “grace message” that is so popular today.
   2. Maybe the church is in the shape it is in and America is in the shape it is in because we tolerate sin in the church.
   3. Sin is not okay – it destroys people’s lives and more importantly, it destroys our fellowship with God. Sin is fellowship with satan.
   4. Correction comes to break our fellowship with sin and to restore our fellowship with God.
8. Col. 3:2fff – “set our affections on things above…”
   1. Grace messages say that when God sees us, all He sees is Jesus – with a subtle nuance that we can sin and still be okay with God.
   2. The passage says we are hidden “with” Christ not “from God.”
   3. When people preach a message that makes us comfortable with sin, it hurts people.
9. A great summary about whether we can lose our salvation – “You cannot lose it by accident.”
   1. God wants us in heaven so bad that He sent His son to die for us.
   2. But He will not allow us into heaven if we walk in sin.
   3. When a person hardens themselves against the Holy Spirit we disconnect ourselves from the life of Christ.
   4. We can harden ourselves so much that we will actually deny Christ.
   5. The Holy Spirit wants to prevent that in our life – therefore God corrects us.
   6. Ministers are to use the word of God to correct people’s lives so that the walk in the light.
   7. Some preaches teach us that God’s whole purpose is to make us happy – God does not care if we are happy, He wants us holy.
   8. There is absolute freedom in Holiness.
   9. When you are not walking in holiness, you are a slave to sin.
   10. Sin ruins our lives and brings tons of trouble.
   11. Holiness walks in a place of trusting in God and walking in love.
10. There are things that God wants to do in the church but the church is too unholy.
    1. God did die for our sin, but he died to save us and deliver us from it.
    2. Sin destroys our life.
    3. Sin ruins our testimony.
    4. Correction comes into our lives to save the people who are watching us.
    5. When the world looks at the church do they see sons of God or do they just see themselves in a mirror?
11. God wants to help us.
    1. If we fall into sin but confess and seek God, He will restore our fellowship with Him and cleanse us of all sin.
    2. Jesus hated iniquity because He knows what it does to human beings – and He wants to save us from it.
    3. Sin satisfies the flesh, but the flesh is an enemy of God.
    4. God did not come here to strengthen our flesh, but to kill it.
    5. The flesh will get us into trouble.
    6. When we set ourselves from the world, it is for the world’s sake.
    7. Unfortunately, so much of the church is just like the world, and you cannot tell any difference – yet they profess to be Christians and to love Jesus.
    8. Such faith is apostasy – if we say we are in the light but walk in darkness, we lie and the truth is not in us.
    9. We are not loved because we are obedient, yet obedience proves that we love God in return.
    10. God is our Father and He absolutely loves us, yet if we continue to walk in sin, we better be afraid, because He loves us enough to confront evil.
    11. If we do not repent of our sin, God promises to blot our names out of the book of life.
12. Lazarus was raised from the dead.
    1. Yet he was still wrapped in grave clothes – Jesus commanded his disciples to set him free.
    2. Jesus often brings people to life, but then uses the church to set them completely free.
    3. All of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be judged according to the deeds of the flesh. We need to be committed to both healing and holiness.