That Your Joy May Be Full

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Please turn in your Bibles to the book of 1st John and chapter 1 1st

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John and chapter 1 and I'll be reading the entire chapter This is

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God's holy and infallible word That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes

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Which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life the life was

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Manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life

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Which was with the Father and was manifested to us that which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and Truly our fellowship is with the

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Father and with his Son Jesus Christ and these things we write to you that your joy may be full

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This is the message We have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all

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If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness We lie and do not practice the truth

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But if we walk in the light as he is in the light We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and The truth is not in us if we confess our sins

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He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

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If we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is

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Not in us May the Lord be pleased with our new study in First John let's pray together.

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Oh Lord, I want your people to know the fullness of fellowship with you and the corresponding

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Joy that flows thereof. Oh Lord, would you grant this to your faithful saints today?

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Would they know what it means to have real genuine fellowship with you? with one another and to bask in the the bottomless river ocean

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Space of your joy and we ask this in Jesus name Amen Please be seated

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Today we'll be considering only two verses of first John and it'll be verses three and four and the title of the message today is very much encapsulates what

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I hope to Preach on in this time that your joy may be full

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For those of you who are needing some way to organize your thoughts I would like to supply three questions, which

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I hope to answer during the message the first What is fellowship? What is fellowship?

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The second is what is joy? What is joy?

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And third what should you do if your joy is? Waning what is fellowship?

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What is joy and? What should you do if your joy is waning?

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How does the Christian attain or lay hold of the fullness of God's joy?

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Christ is both the fount of fellowship and joy and he is also the source and object of our joy

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There is no fellowship without Christ and there is no joy that we speak of here

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Without Christ Let's look at our text again really quickly

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Last week we considered the divine logos. We considered

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Christ the Incarnate Son of God coming in the flesh to bring salvation

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But also to communicate to us the very mind of God The truth of God does not exist in the ether it resides we learned last week in a person

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The person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He himself is the truth He proclaims the truth and he bids us to come walk after him in that truth and John citing his apostolic authority

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Says this is not just an idea again about divine wisdom and revelation

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This is something that we as the Apostles have ourselves Seen with our eyes verse 1 we have looked upon these things

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We've peered intently into them our hands have handled He has touched the

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Lord Jesus not only in his earthly ministry, but after the resurrection

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This we speak of concerning the word of Life in verse 2 this life this incarnate

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Christ is revealed personally bodily in the incarnation and John says not only did he teach these things

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But we attest and we bear witness to the efficacy of his message

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We see in Christ the salvation that comes from God Everything that he preaches all that he puts forth everything that is positive reveals to us this truth about life and salvation and Now it's incumbent upon us as the sent ones to bring this message to you to declare it to you that eternal life

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Which existed with the father before the world was Has now been

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Manifested to us a very powerful very grand introduction to this very practical epistle

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So let's consider our text for today verses 3 & 4 it would seem that the way to Have the fullness of joy is to have some connection to the

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Apostles in their doctrine That's what John is saying here to have fellowship with the

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Apostles their doctrine is to have fellowship and connection chiefly to the expounding of Christ as the one who brings us into this fellowship and communion

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With the Godhead the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit There can be no fellowship with God if there be no fellowship when union with Christ There can be no joy in the

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Christian life. There not be this union with Christ in his joy. It's all very

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Christocentric the message of John and his preaching you see it in his gospel you see that even in Revelation in these epistles.

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He wants people to know Christ and to experience the fullness of that Union with Christ and that touches the whole of the person in the whole of life

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You and I must be challenged today and ask the question where are we in the

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Spectrum, where are we on the line of joy? Where are we when it comes to fellowship with God and with one another you and I are going to be challenged in our study of 1st

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John We're gonna be corrected But also we must never forget.

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This is John's aim That you might be in full fellowship With the

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Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and that your joy

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May be full Now I say full fellowship because the

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Christian experiences joy and fellowship by degrees

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If you be in Christ you have real fellowship with God. It's irrevocable but the fullness of that communion and fellowship now that may be going up and down and that may be tied to things that we're

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Responsible for not just for the work of the Spirit in its general sense but the work of the

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Spirit in a very practical sense you and I must Cultivate and invest and give time and energy and diligence to our communion with God Sometimes you and I are privileged to soar to the heavenly realm with ecstatic joy in our hearts

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The Call to worship today. You have come to Mount Zion DJ prayed in the time before the church

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Here assembled this little humble church United to Christ into each other we enter into that place

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Because we're united with him. We are carried heavenward in our worship

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Now we come here. We don't act like that's true always go Well, we've got to get through this and we got to go through the liturgy.

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I got to follow along We have come to Mount Zion We've come into the presence of the

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Living God and we're welcome there because of Christ We have entered into the full fellowship of the

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Father the Son and the Holy Spirit This should be a great cause of our rejoicing it is an ordinary thing that happens 52 times a year

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But it's utterly extraordinary, isn't it? Do you believe that when we come together as the church

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That we are really united to Christ of both Individually as families and corporately the body of Christ Attached to her glorious head has come today to assemble in his presence

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Our hearts should well up with joy sometimes

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Our joy is weak It's diminished Sometimes it only barely flickers

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It's never fully extinguished in the believer. That might be where you are today. You may not be soaring in the heavens

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I wish it were true for you and for me, but you may not be soaring you you may not feel the real sense of your fellowship and communion with God and the

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Overflowing wellspring of joy, which he supplies Take heart today his fellowship with Christ cannot be broken

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That wellspring of joy never stops bubbling. We merely have to lay hold of it again

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We need to drink deeply from these wells again But the first thing is you and I must have this desire

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Our first parents we learned again recently When they sinned against God they hid from his presence

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You and I in our sin we want to hide from God's presence But we really need to desire to have the full light of his truth and his righteousness

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Shined on our wretched nakedness and we find that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ We're shy about coming back to our father our

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Savior our friend our Holy Spirit We must desire the full vent the fiery fullness of joy which is found and fellowship with God and his people

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If you haven't had that desire today today desire

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I ask of you to seek this fellowship in the fullness of joy

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Here in our text we have the first word. I'd like us to consider with some depth is found in verse 3 that answering the first question

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What is fellowship? We mark taught on this recently in prayer meetings that right

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So this is gonna be review for for some of you It's very essence this idea of koinonia this thing that we're always striving after it seems in the

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Christian Church is a a joint participation a sharing in a communion

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It is a spiritual sharing of something in common As you know

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There's some nuance in the way these words are used and in our text the really the closest grammatical construction

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Here to understand this idea of fellowship is contact and intimacy

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Close contact and intimacy with one another in Galatians 2 9

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Paul is Given some contact and some intimacy it says in Galatians 2 9 and when

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James and Cephas that's Peter children and John the author of this epistle that we're reading

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Who seemed to be pillars? They were the Apostles and they were big strong powerful men in the church filled with the

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Holy Spirit they perceived the grace that had been given to me and Barnabas and they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship

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The clasping of the hands This was not hey Paul. How are you?

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How are you doing? This is the grip of Paul's hand the embrace of his hand the squeeze the clutch of his hand

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We're apostles Paul and we see the strange surroundings of your apostleship

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We squeeze your hand and intimacy we say you are an apostle We acknowledge you to be so Because of Christ the clasping of those joined hands is indicative of the intimacy of their bond as servants of Christ we of course see this and the marital

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Relationship that close contact that intimacy this very strong connection to one another

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This is what we experience that The church as I've already mentioned as the bride of Christ as the body of Christ has close contact and intimacy with Christ I Don't know how we reckon this

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But Christ's body is ascended. He is reigning and ruling in heaven and We are so united to him that though we be here on earth

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We are never disconnected from our head just like your head is not disconnected from your body

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There's some spiritual wonder happening there This is real.

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This isn't an idea. This is real communion real fellowship a clasping of intimacy with us and with Christ Paul says in 2nd

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Corinthians 6 Children you're always wondering why Your parents were saying you could never date or court or marry an

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Unbeliever don't ever even consider it. I don't care how handsome they are pretty they are rich they are

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Do not be unequally yoked together Marriage family business church life for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness and What communion has light with darkness

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Light and darkness do not have the close clasp of intimacy and contact they can never really touch

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That the light pushes the darkness away The darkness when we embrace it it puts the bushel basket over the light of our shining

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This Is the intimate bond which unites Christians in an absolute sense

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Acts 242 they continued steadfastly in the

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Apostles doctrine and Fellowship koinonia and the breaking of bread and in prayers

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Now here's the part that Expounds our expands our understanding of this in it.

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I think really makes us Understand why verse 1 and 2 are here in this context is doesn't really fully return to this idea of the divine logos and first John It seems according to John's teaching in our text this

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Fellowship consists in the fact that Christians. I want you to listen carefully to this are partakers in common of the same mind as God and Christ If we be in fellowship with Christ by virtue of our union with him on the basis of faith

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There is a partaking of us as his people into the divine mind of God We're either united to Christ or we're not and if we be united to Christ and we are partakers of the divine logos

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We are Having in common the same mind of God now you say well my mind doesn't work as good as God's That's does it

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Doesn't say you possess it. It says you partake in it and also

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This is the part should make us leap out of our seats and we get the blessings that arise therein

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This is why

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John I think starts With this lofty notion theme of logos the word of life

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Eternal himself the Creator God now made flesh Accomplishing in the flesh the work of redemption risen and reigning manifested seen heard handled witnessed testified to the

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Attested to that this person the Lord Jesus Christ and his people of God may see more and more of the glories of Christ and draw nearer and nearer to God and to one another

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That they might experience joy to the full

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You are united to God in Christ and to one another

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Joy awaits and Abounds our vision of fellowship is far too small

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Excuse me Our vision of fellowship

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Is far too small do we see the deepness of?

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the bonds of intimacy That he seeks with us as his people and also

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What he wants us to have with one another Peter says in 2nd

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Peter 1 grace and peace be multiplied to you and the knowledge of God we should put these ideas together

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The divine wisdom of God not obscured from our view brought into full view of the church

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This God and his perfect knowledge is knowable Revealed in the person of Jesus Christ the text continues as His divine power has given to us all things pertaining to life and godliness

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The this is the benefits that flow in accord with our communion and fellowship with him

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Through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue

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By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises That through these you may be

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Partakers the divine nature Now if you're panicking and thinking

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I'm teaching some kind of deification, I'm not I'm trying to preach the text straight

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If I be united to Christ better said if the church if you are united to Christ We are partakers of the divine

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Soaring idea it follows the text continues having escaped the corruption

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That is in the world through lust Now, let's look back at our text

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John is speaking not only from Inspiration But he is a witness

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He has seen it. He has heard it and now he is obligated and duty -bound to declare it

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It should be noted The church is duty -bound to declare this truth

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You see John doesn't want to just stay with the 120 disciples and the

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Apostles He wants the church to flourish and to grow He wants them to know the outsiders for them to be brought into the fellowship of God and the fellowship of the people of God that they too might receive and experience this fullness of joy modern evangelicalism has said that being part of the church is just Expedient It's helpful you have some

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Bible classes Maybe a sermon will encourage you or help you get what you want.

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You can build a good network for your work life We need this grander loftier vision of what communion with God and his people is

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It is a mutual joint partaking of the divine

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This is so amazing John wants his people to know and to hear this message because this is always under threat in the life of the church

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There are two errors that seem to be significant in John's purview the first we mentioned last week is the denial of Jesus Christ coming in the flesh

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Sounds a lot like the Christological controversies that would be coming in the years ahead

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Because of his emphasis on love for one another it seems that there was a lack of dearth of love amongst the brethren in these churches

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This fellowship is with the Father And with his son

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Jesus Christ It should be knowing helpful to us to realize

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We think about the doctrine of the Son being fully on display really the fatherhood of God and his personal

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Connection to the church is really a big part of the New Testament that that was obscure from Saints before The idea that close communion and fellowship

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God could not be looked upon But now we look into his face

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We talk with him as a man face to face in Christ That's the first idea

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Fellowship The second that I'd like us to consider is joy you say well,

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I know what joy is And You may know but I think we need a grander vision of joy

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Would you like the fullness of joy? I want it. I want every drop of it Whatever fellowship and community with God and his people is

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I want that that should be your desire, too But do you want to experience the fullness of joy?

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There's a there's a helpful key in this today these things we write to you

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So that your joy may be full Now joy is the word kara and it's close to Karis, which is grace and I think we know what joy means at least on the surface

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It's to delight and to be filled with gladness But it starts to develop a little bit more richness and we peer deeply into it is the extent of favor

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It's a leaning towards to be favorably disposed

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And here is the kicker of it all Joy is properly.

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I want you to catch this joy is properly the awareness of God's grace

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We'll just stop for a moment It's not tied to our circumstances

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Joy is the awareness of God's grace when you look into your precious children's eyes, it's a

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Recognition of God's grace. That's what joy is and in fact in every

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Circumstances of life whatever befalls you whatever trouble you are in Joy is grace recognized

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I See the grace of God at work in my life though.

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These circumstances be hard and difficult. I see God's favor

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His grace in my life. I am filled with joy and gladness because I recognize his grace

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If you will do that your life will be utterly Transformed if it's circumstantial

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If it's based on things going well You're gonna be stuck in the miry clay

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But if you see all of life because of your perfect union with God in Christ You see everything in a different way.

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Now you see everything in the lens of grace. I Recognize the grace of God in X and in Y and in Z.

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Oh that we would have this joy Well, I think we know what full means, but I'm not sure

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John says I want you to Experience this fellowship that we have with God The fullness thereof which is the wellspring of this joy.

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I want you to have both of these the idea of fullness means to of course fill to individual capacity to cause to abound

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To furnish or supply liberally Christians one

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Greek commentator has said are those who are pervaded filled with the gifts and power of the

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Holy Spirit and Exodus in the Septuagint. This was the word that would be used for The people are flooded.

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They're filled to the full Christians are so full of Power and the gifts of the

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Holy Spirit Because they have an intimate relationship Fellowship communion with God that he himself has entered into with them

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Christ fills the universe with his presence power and Activity in Him is all the fullness of God and he fills us up with that fullness and here the structure of the language the joy that John seeks for the church in this fellowship with Christ is

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He wants it to be complete in every particular in Every facet in every realm.

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He wants you to experience the fullness of fellowship with God and the overflow of joy in every circumstance

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He wants to render us perfect When it comes to the fullness of joy found

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In fellowship with God the Father the Son and the

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Holy Spirit He wants us to be filled to the full He wants to literally cram it in to imbue us and diffuse this joy

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To us in every respect well Third question has to be considered before we close and that is what do you do if you don't feel this way?

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I want you to feel it, but I first want you to believe it is the

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Reality of fellowship with God. Is that the fuel that runs your life engine?

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Or is there something else? Does your calendar does your spending does your time?

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Does it accord with the idea that I find all of my satisfaction in fellowship with God?

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Or is it in something else? If you can't open the Bible if you can't pray if this is tedious to you to come to church

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You have to acknowledge today That fellowship with God is not the greatest impulse of your life it's okay you have the

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Unceasing burning flame within you you be in Christ stoke those flames

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Stoke them add fuel to that fire Read his word sit on the edge of your seat when

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Sunday school lessons and prayer meetings and sermons are being given Peer more deeply into this knowledge

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I was thinking about this today. I was I was thinking I guess this was yesterday. I was thinking that There's treasure beneath our feet again

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We have a pickaxe and we have a spade And all we have to do is break the surface of the dirt and the precious jewels of Christ will come rushing out

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If I said to you on your yard tomorrow morning Under there are diamonds and rubies and emeralds immense wealth is there but here are your two tools tomorrow morning

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You can start digging it and using it Everybody somebody might call in sick.

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So I might get up early. They're gonna start picking and Spading and shoveling until they get to that mother load of jewels and diamonds

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Brethren this fellowship and this joy far outstrips whatever could be mined from the ground

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Take up the pickaxe take up the shovel Break the crust of the dirt peer deeply into this hole that is filled with Truth about who

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Christ is and what he has done our vision for fellowship is too small finally our joy

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Sin stifles our joy It stifles our fellowship in verse 5.

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I'm going to tell you just a couple of things that are coming in the coming weeks It says this is the message verse 5 that we have heard from him and declare to you

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That God is light and in him is no darkness at all If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness

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We lie and do not practice the truth Christian The reason you're not experiencing as much joy in your life as you ought

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Is you still got a foot in the world? And another thing our hearty ology is very strong.

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We have a good doctrine of sin and the Reformed Church We believe in radical corruption

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But I wonder could it be true that our doctrine of soteriology is weak

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This is what we're famous for is sin. Does the sin win the default battle?

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Are we always just sinners? Total depravity Or have we been transformed so much by a new nature that sin is the anomaly

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Do you think that way I've been saved and united to the righteousness of Christ Sin is the anomaly we act as though righteousness is the anomaly

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We're not going to have sinless perfection here but but have we shortchanged the grace of God revealed in Christ Joy is there for the taking real fellowship and communion with God and his people a life of purpose and joy and Satisfaction is ours for the taking but we've said

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We're not interested We're distracted by earthly cares or even the sin that so easily ensnares

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Entangle us John's going to help us with this and finally today

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I'll say from chapter 2 verse 3 Now by this we know this chapter 2 verse 3

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By this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments Says down in verse 5 whoever keeps his word

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Truly the love of God is perfected in him by this we know That we are in him see our sin

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Causes us to forget about that fellowship And extinguishes our joy.

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There's a very practical benefit of putting sin to death in our lives

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In chapter 2 verse 1 little children these things

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I write to you so that you may not sin But sin is here in this world

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But I want you to know that if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and our repentance our confrontation our mortification

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With sin becomes an occasion for our rejoicing because we recognize grace

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If you don't have the fullness of joy It's right here for the taking

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If you're not experiencing the richness of fellowship with the triune

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God and his people it's right here for the taking clasp your hands

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With one another and with our gracious God that your joy may be full

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Please pray with me now Lord forgive us for our weak vision of Fellowship Lord help grow us up into full maturity that we would perceive grace and all the things that are happening around us

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That we might be filled with gladness and delight and experience the fullness of joy.

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Oh Lord, I pray that you would give us a hunger for communion with you and a hunger and thirst for righteousness

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That we might be satisfied and experience Not only Propositionally, but in a very practical way the fullness of joy.

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We ask that you would grant this Oh Lord Whatever blessing there is for the people of God and fellowship with you

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I cry out to you according to your promises in Christ Grant it to them even now in this hour.

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Oh Lord and Lord if there be a waning or a wanting of joy

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I pray that you would overwhelm your people with the fullness of your joy and they would taste and see that you are good and they would rejoice and Worship you and praise you and live for you in response