The Message, the Incarnate Son, the Eternal Son | 1 John 1:2-3

ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church

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you can see from the title of the sermon on the bulletin, it's the message, the

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Incarnate Son, the Eternal Son, based on 1 John chapter 1 verses 2 through 4, and before we dive into the text,

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I did want to talk a little bit about some things pertaining to preaching in particular, and some of the things that I've been doing,

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I've been striving or I've been emphasizing in my preaching these past few weeks, and it's just to make it more clear that if I'm striving to make a point and referring to several passages in the process,

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I always try to have a good reason for doing so. So if you don't see the reason, please let me know or ask, because that feedback can, if you have any feedback like that, please let us know, because that can also help me and us clarify our preaching, and we want to be approachable, of course, as well.

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We want to, we're just starting out as, obviously, we don't have any formal training, and so we're relying on God's grace and mercy and His calling in our lives and the affirmation of you all as a church to continue to strive forward, but we might also have different ideas of what good preaching should look like, but there are, however, different kinds of preaching which are both good and necessary, so this is why

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I think it's important to highlight a few points about preaching. Now, some preachers, for example, will only preach topical messages.

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That means they preach specific topics or series of topics, but those can be very good and very edifying, which is similar to what

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I did when I taught, when I preached on church discipline and then on abortion. That's topical preaching, and so there are some preachers that tend to do this exclusively.

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One example that I like is G. Craig Lewis. There is a problem there, however, because it can create an imbalance, and for example, the preacher that I like,

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G. Craig Lewis, he's a strong Arminian, and part of this is because, and another issue is that if you don't have an explicitly defined systematic theology, which helps you to grasp the whole counsel of God, sometimes it can have the effect of leaving you, the audience, hanging on every word, on every word that they say, because you don't know where they're going next.

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It makes you wonder and guess what they're going to say next or where they're going to go next, and so it's not always clear, and that's not always helpful, and so while topical preaching is good, it's not the only kind of preaching that we should hear or preach.

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Others also like to use certain methods like call -and -response. Call -and -response is when the preacher will say, everybody say amen, and the church says amen, things like that.

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Now this, when done right, can have a very motivating effect on the preacher and on the audience, because the audience is expressing agreement, which is exactly what amen means.

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Amen. It's agreeing. Let it be so. It's funny, because I once heard during a conference that when

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Sproul was speaking, an audience member would periodically say amen after Sproul would make a point, but eventually he stopped doing it, and so when

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Sproul made his next point, he started prompting him by asking, hey, where's my amen? What happened? And so that can be good when it's done appropriately, but not all preachers do it, and some preachers also primarily preach verse by verse, which is also called like expository preaching or exegetical preaching, verse by verse, which is also very good, very important.

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It's very meticulous, and it's very detailed. Two prominent preachers that are like this are

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Martin Lloyd -Jones and John MacArthur. Martin Lloyd -Jones, for example, he spent 12 years on the book of Romans.

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12 years. 366 sermons just on the book of Romans.

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He would often preach several sermons just on a single verse. Similarly with John MacArthur, he spent like 40 years preaching through the entire

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New Testament. That's a lifetime, practically. But even this kind of preaching can have imbalances, because if you preach the trees too often without backing up enough to see the forest, to preach the big picture, the forest, you can lose sight of the whole counsel of God, and consequently both

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Martin Lloyd -Jones and MacArthur have developed unbiblical imbalances that could more easily be corrected with a sound, systematic, all -encompassing approach to Scripture by preaching the whole counsel of God systematically.

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And this is exactly what Paul said, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

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In Acts 20 verse 27, Paul spent three years there, and in three years he said he did not neglect the entire counsel of God.

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So he preached these kinds of messages. He preached topically, he preached verse by verse, and he preached systematically to bring everything together.

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So even when you're preaching a single verse, you want to ensure that you're preaching it systematically in light of the whole counsel of God so that you're not contradicting other parts of the

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Bible. We always need to keep the whole counsel of God in mind. And there's also deep preaching, like the

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Puritans, and Reformed preaching especially. That's the kind of preaching that we strive to do here at a

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Thorncrown Covenant Baptist Church. Reformed churches, in fact, would often preach two sermons on Sunday because of a high regard for the

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Lord's Day as the Christian Sabbath, and they would preach an expository sermon in the morning and a doctrinal or catechetical sermon based on the confessions in the evening.

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In fact, the Larger Catechism, the Westminster Larger Catechism, was designed for public exposition from the pulpit.

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And I think we've lost a lot of this in our modern -day church. It's very shallow, very superficial, and we lack a lot of this deep kind of preaching that we're striving to do here.

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And so with that said, I don't want to let our preconceived notions about what a good sermon should look like distract us from the benefit of hearing the

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Word preached faithfully. So we need these different kinds of preaching to properly grasp the whole counsel of God.

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So please be patient with me and also try to follow my reasoning and consider stretching or expanding your definition of what a good sermon is.

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You can also listen to different kinds of edifying sermons and feel free to ask me for any recommendations.

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But as always, we want to discerningly chew the meat and spit out the bones with whatever you listen to, whatever you read, whatever you hear.

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So now, that concludes our public service announcement for today.

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Now let's start on the context of 1 John. Let's go to 1 John chapter 1 verses 1 through 4 and read the whole passage to get the context again.

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1 John chapter 1 verses 1 through 4. So here,

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John says, "...that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the

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Father and was made manifest to us, that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us.

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And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things to you so that our joy may be complete."

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So in the previous sermon, I sought to establish that the Logos of life, the word of life referred to there in verse 2, is referring primarily to the gospel message proclaimed, to the gospel message proclaimed.

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But it also refers to Christ incarnate. It refers to both Christ incarnate and Christ His message, the gospel of salvation.

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Why is this? Because we cannot separate Christ as a person from His words,

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His message, His doctrine. These are inseparable. According to Scripture, we also cannot separate a person from his or her thoughts.

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After all, a person fundamentally is His thoughts. So it's not even possible to separate them.

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Like Proverbs 23, 7 says, which I read last sermon, For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

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As he thinks as you think, so you are. Gordon Clark, in his commentary, also says here very helpfully,

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We should not so sharply distinguish the gospel message from the incarnate Son, and say that either

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Logos means the gospel and not the Son, or that Logos means the

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Son and not the gospel. Those two are invalid conclusions based on what

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John is saying in this passage. Now, Clark also continues,

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Christ too is His mind of which the gospel message is a part. God is a spirit, an intelligence, a mind.

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God is truth, and the message is a part of that truth. Therefore, the proclamation of the gospel is the proclamation of Christ, of Christ Himself.

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Amen? So, call and response, there you go. But there are spiritual imbalances that we need to guard against from older and modern -day preachers.

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We have to be careful with this. One prominent example is that of Paul Washer.

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Many of you have heard Paul Washer's sermons. He is a missionary who often preaches about the doctrines of salvation, and my wife and I used to love

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Paul Washer's preaching when we were much younger in the faith, but he really messed us up.

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I mean, he messed us up pretty badly. He has some very extreme, this radical lordship teaching in his messages, and in one of his most popular sermons, which is called

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Examine Yourself, this message is about examining yourself in light of 1st

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John. So, I re -listened to that sermon with more mature ears now to see if anything would jump out at me.

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Now, in that sermon, Paul Washer claims emphatically that there are people who love the

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Bible more than they love Jesus, emphatically.

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Ironically, however, the very first verse of 1st

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John refutes precisely this kind of thinking, because John says the

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Logos of Life is the message proclaimed, and it is Christ Himself. John's letter, along with the rest of Scripture, asserts that you cannot separate the living

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Word from the written Word. The written Word. They are one. They are inseparable.

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It is wrong to do so, to separate them. This kind of errant and imbalanced superficial thinking is overwhelmingly prominent today, and it has taken root in even conservative and Reformed churches as well.

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That's why we have to guard against it. It is very common for churches to do this, but it is very wrong and very dangerous.

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It tends to come from a movement from the 1600s called

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Pietism. Pietism tends to overemphasize emotionalism and emotional experiences, experientialism, the experience, as most important, and at even the expense of sound doctrine.

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It tends to associate knowledge with arrogance, because according to them, it harms true piety and leads to pride, because of a misunderstanding of passages like 1st

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Corinthians, where it says knowledge puffs up. Thus, it associates ignorance with true humility and piety, this humble ignorance.

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And consequently, it overemphasizes certain emotional experiences, such as prayer, quiet time, these kinds of things, as more important than sound doctrine.

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This leads to spiritual stagnation and lack of growth, and also hinders sanctification and true piety.

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We have to guard against this. This is wrong and it's dangerous. In fact, let's ask ourselves this question.

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What does John say? What does John the Apostle say, along with the rest of Scripture? We talked about this when

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I introduced the letter, that 1st John actually says that ignorance is used thematically.

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John preaches that ignorance thematically is darkness, it's blindness, it's bondage, and death.

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Not only is it not true piety to be ignorant, it's darkness, blindness, bondage, and death.

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If you don't know God and His Word, you are in darkness. In fact, it is knowledge, truth, and sound doctrine that give us light, sight, freedom, and eternal life.

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It is precisely the truth and the knowledge of the truth that gives us those things, light, sight, freedom, and eternal life.

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Why is this? As I mentioned last week, because Christ's own words and doctrine are spirit and life.

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That's John 6 .63. And He Himself, He Himself as a person, is the way, the truth, and the life.

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John 14 .6. He is the source of the truth and of the gospel. He is the source and substance of the gospel.

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He is the gospel. He is the living and written

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Word of God. He is both. Sound doctrine is what grounds all of our piety, all of our holiness, and our walk with God and with our fellow man.

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If you don't have sound doctrine, you don't have anything. This is why also 1st

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Timothy chapter 6 verses 2 through 4 says, teach and urge these things.

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If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words, the sound words, the sound doctrine of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching that accords with godliness, teaching that accords with godliness, that grounds godliness,

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He is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving and controversy and for quarrels about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, etc.

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It is the lack of sound doctrine that produces this sin. Blindness and ignorance and arrogance, in fact.

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It is arrogant to think that you don't need to learn more about God. God is infinitely, is incredibly, is inexhaustible.

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It is arrogant to think that we don't need to learn more about God. We are not omniscient and we never will be, not even when we get to heaven.

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We will always be increasingly learning and deepening our knowledge and understanding about God, His ways, and the world and ourselves.

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So what else does Christ say? John 17 17, sanctify them in what?

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In the truth. Your word is truth. The truth is primarily what sanctifies us, not other exercises of piety.

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That's false piety. That's misguided piety. It's unbiblical piety. These exercises of piety are not bad.

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I'm not saying they're bad and that we shouldn't do them, but they must be exercised with the right understanding and sound doctrine, which is always the first importance and should be our primary focus.

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That should always be our primary focus, to grow in the knowledge and grace of our

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Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. That is what 2nd Peter chapter 3 verses 15 through 18 says, and I'll read the full passage because it's very pertinent here.

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So 2nd Peter chapter 3 verses 15 through 18 says, and count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother

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Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.

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These are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and the unstable twist to their own destruction.

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You see that ignorance creates instability and twist causes you to twist the scriptures to your own destruction.

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It's a bad thing, very bad thing. As they do the other scriptures, twist them.

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You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our

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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity.

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Amen. A right understanding of sound doctrine leads to true, balanced piety and holiness.

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That is the only way you can get it. Therefore, I exhort you with the apostles to not be ignorant, lest you twist the scriptures to your destruction.

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Like Paul says in 1st Thessalonians 4 13, but we do not want you to be ignorant or uninformed brothers about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope.

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Our hope is grounded in sound doctrine, in the truth of God's Word. That is what sanctifies us.

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That is what gives us hope. And that is what, as Jesus said, sets us free.

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I apologize, my notes are getting locked up here. All right.

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Jesus said, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. It's the truth that sets free.

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Which is funny because in another message, Paul Washer was despairing of how he knew too much truth and wasn't able to handle it and felt guilty.

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In a cry of despair, he said something along the lines of, I've already got more truth than I can handle.

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And he was like yelling and despairing. But what did we just read?

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Isn't the truth that sets you free? Doesn't the truth set you free from guilt, from ignorance, from despair, from error, from imbalances and misunderstandings?

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Lest you twist the scriptures to your despair and destruction. Something is wrong with Paul Washer's understanding of the truth and resting in its freedom.

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He's not resting in that freedom of the truth that that truth brings. On the contrary,

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Paul Washer does not have a good enough understanding of the truth with respect to this matter and needs to study it more carefully to be corrected by it and to stop guilt -tripping people when he preaches.

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We need more truth. Always. We never not need truth.

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Don't ever let that kind of thinking rule you. It is completely perverse, a perversion of what

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God says and what God commands us. To be ignorant with respect to evil but to be mature with respect to understanding.

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Amen? It says it in so many different ways. So should we give

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Paul Washer the benefit of the doubt here? Maybe he meant something else. Did he mean that there's like scholars, there's religious scholars and unbelievers who like studying the

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Bible but don't actually believe it? That, however, is a different issue altogether.

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Not believing the Bible is a completely different issue and he's not referring to that problem. He's referring to professing believers who think they're saved but are not, according to him, because they love the

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Bible more than they love Jesus and the whole message is about examining yourself. Do you love the

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Bible more than you love Jesus? How can you say that? So Paul Washer, I'm afraid, he's also, he's a hardcore advocate of Lordship Salvation, which is why he really messed me and my wife up.

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It is dangerously inconsistent, imbalanced doctrine of salvation that misrepresents and misinterprets several biblical teachings.

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I don't have time to go in to get into it right now but I do encourage you to listen to the

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Lordship Salvation classes that I taught a few years ago. Just ask and you shall receive them.

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So I think now let's bring this back to a more sound grasp of what

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God says. Gordon Clark, in his commentary, says very good stuff here. There is no possibility of identifying the life with the person of Christ as distinct from his words.

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Pietistic, mystical, neo -orthodox, non -doctrinal Christianity is simply not

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Christianity at all. At all. Note that Christ very plainly said, if anyone holds my doctrine he shall not see death ever.

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It is this doctrine, these words, or more accurately, these thoughts, symbolized by the words which

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John proclaims or announces. This is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true

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God and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ. God is truth and is to be known.

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Amen? Now, continuing on to verse 2, 1st

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John chapter 1 verse 2. There we read, the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaim or preach to you the eternal life which was with the

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Father and was made manifest to us. Okay.

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Apologies, my phone here is acting up. So I'm gonna have to switch phones.

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My apologies. Brief holds.

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My apologies. I replaced the screen on my phone and I thought I was so proud of myself because I did it all by myself and it doesn't work.

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It doesn't always work properly. Okay. So let me jump to where I was here.

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In verse 2 then. Let's focus on verse 2. Now, there we are.

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Okay. I want to raise a question to you all. If the logos of life, the word of life, that John refers to in the first verse, if that refers to the message of the gospel primarily but also to Christ incarnate,

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Christ the man, then is it possible that it can also refer to Christ as God the

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Son pre -incarnate? We've already seen that you cannot separate

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Christ's doctrine, the gospel specifically in this passage, from himself as a person.

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Therefore, much less should we separate Christ the man from Christ as God.

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That would be what's known as the heresy of Nestorianism. Nestorianism causes too much of a separation between Christ as God and Christ as man.

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But Christ is one in the same. Christ as God, Christ the God -man, is one in the same person.

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We cannot separate the two. And the church has historically defined this doctrine as Christ having one person but two natures.

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Fully human, fully God. But he is one. He is not two separate persons or people.

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Now, here in verse 1, when we read, from the beginning, if you recall,

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I mentioned that it's referring to the public ministry of Christ. It's the beginning of the public ministry of Christ.

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But so made manifest here refers to the incarnation. Christ was made manifest in a way that he was not clearly manifested before.

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That more clearly points to the incarnation. He became manifested by means of the incarnation.

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And therefore, he says, the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you or preach to you the eternal life.

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So John is proclaiming a message. He is proclaiming that life.

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He is proclaiming the life that was made manifest. It's a message.

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But it's also Christ the man. Do you see that? This is fascinating.

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He is proclaiming to us Christ himself and Christ his message. It's both.

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It just reveals the absurdity of what Paul Washer says and what so many people like him say.

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You cannot separate those two. And it's also as Clark said, therefore, the proclamation of the gospel is the proclamation of Christ himself.

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However, look carefully with me here. The eternal life which was with the

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Father and was made manifest to us. That sounds very familiar.

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Very familiar. Maybe to something else that John wrote. In fact, let's go to the

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Gospel of John chapter 1 verse 1. In the

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Gospel of John chapter 1 verse 1. So in 1st

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John he says the eternal life which was with the Father right now in the Gospel of John chapter 1 verse 1 he says in the beginning was the word the logos and the word the logos was with God was with God and the word was

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God. He was in the beginning with God. So John there says twice the word the logos was with God and he was in the beginning with God.

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Just like in 1st John. He says the eternal life which was with the

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Father. God is the Father. John, what

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John is doing here is again the analogy of Scripture. The analogia fide.

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He is taking the theology of other parts of the Bible and incorporating them into his letter.

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He is incorporating them into what he's teaching us. John is compacting his previous teaching and packing all this theology into these verses and making weighty glorious statements from them so that you too may have fellowship with us and with a triune

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God. Amen? Praise God. That's verse 3. Okay, we're gonna get to that.

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This is the analogy of faith that we talked about. The method for properly studying and understanding the

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Bible. It's taking the other teachings of the Bible and assuming them and incorporating them into his other writings, into his letter, this letter of 1st

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John. He's calling our attention to the multifaceted picture of Christ so that we too may believe in him and have true fellowship with both

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God and man. True fellowship, not misguided fellowship based on ignorance or false piety.

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It's true fellowship. John is proclaiming, quote, that which we have seen and heard.

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Remember, we talked about this in the first verse. That's referring to the gospel message.

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That's what he's proclaiming to us, the gospel message. He is also proclaiming the whole Christ. The Christ who eternally existed with God the

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Father, who pre -existed with God the Father, God the Son, the second person of the

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Trinity. He is also preaching to us the Christ who became flesh, who was made manifest, right?

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He became flesh according to the gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 14, and was made manifest to us like 1st

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John says, Christ the man. And of course, Christ, the Logos of Life, the gospel message proclaimed.

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We cannot overlook that. That is vital. And again, a sampling of these verses help us to show what

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John is showing us in his letter about Christ, about his person, his work, and his message, the gospel.

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Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

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We've referred to this passage many times in John 14, 6. Then there's John 8, 12.

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Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness.

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What does darkness remember mean? You remember? It means ignorance, unbelief.

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But he will have the light of life and death. Darkness is death.

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It's unbelief. It's ignorance. But the light of life is eternal life, is truth, is knowledge, is understanding.

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Let's turn to, I want us to turn to this one here, John 11, verses 25 to 26.

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John 11, verses 25 to 26. Here, the

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Apostle John is making a very similar point in his gospel. In John 11, verses 25 to 26,

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Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

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Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

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Do you believe this? Christ is the Logos of life.

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He is the eternal life. And he grants eternal life through faith in his gospel, through faith in what he has done.

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And John is presenting Christ to us so that his doctrine and his doctrine, so that we too may believe it and have eternal life, an eternal fellowship with the church, with fellow believers, and with God.

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It is as John said in one of the most popular passages, verses of the Bible.

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John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his unique Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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Believing in Christ and his message in his gospel, which are the same thing. It's one in the same, inseparable, because Christ is the life.

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He is the eternal life. And his doctrine gives eternal life to all the believing ones, all of those who believe.

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Therefore, a key takeaway from this passage is just fascinating.

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It doesn't refer exclusively to Christ incarnate in 1st John, the first four verses of John.

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It doesn't refer exclusively to Christ incarnate, but also includes his word, his doctrine, the gospel, and his eternal pre -incarnate state.

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It includes all three of those things. Christ the man, Christ the Son of God, the eternally pre -existent

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Son of God, God himself, and his message, all as one.

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This is utterly amazing and astonishing, because I am not aware of another single passage that refers explicitly to the incarnate

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Christ, to his word, and specifically the gospel, and to Christ as a pre -incarnate

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Son, all in one, in this way. It is amazing, and a lot of people miss this because of imbalanced theological biases that they filter these passages through, and they get fixated on the incarnation because of what the

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Apostles saw, and heard, and touched. But we already know that that's not what

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John was referring to primarily. He was referring to the seeing of understanding, the message proclaimed, and that he is proclaiming to us, and all of these other things as well.

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Christ is the Logos of life, and so is his message. That is why the same adjectives, the same predicates, are used to both

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Christ and his gospel. They are the same. Life, truth, all of those things are applied in the same sense to both things.

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Now I hope you see clearly, pun intended, what John is showing us, right?

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Let's meditate on this amazing truth, and this amazing reality. Truly amazing and remarkable.

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Now let's jump over to the next verse, the next couple verses. In 1

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John chapter 1 verses 3 through 4, just amazing stuff here.

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1 John chapter 1 verses 3 through 4, here we read, "...that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the

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Father and with the Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy, or your joy, may be complete."

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Here the word for fellowship is koinonia. Koinonia. Many of you have heard this word.

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The word means to have something in common. Have something in common with someone else or something else.

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That's koinonia. And John is enumerating two fellowships, or two koinonias.

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The first is fellowship with us, right? Fellowship with us, with the church.

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The second fellowship, or koinonia, is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ.

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It's fellowship with God, with the Triune God. Incidentally, the first three questions of the

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Westminster Shorter Catechism, which is why I said it was providential that we actually read one of them here on the bulletins today, the first three questions of the

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Westminster Shorter Catechism are very pertinent to John's exhortation here. Question one of the

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Shorter Catechism says, what is the chief end or the chief purpose of man? Man's chief end is to glorify

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God and to enjoy Him forever in internal fellowship, and by way of inference, to enjoy

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His people forever as well in heaven, ultimately. Question two, what rule has

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God given to direct us how we may enjoy and glorify Him? It's the

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Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy

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Him. And John affirms, John likewise affirms, that Christ, both the living and written

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Word, Christ as a person and Christ as His message, gives us eternal life and fellowship with Him so that you too may have fellowship with Him.

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Question three, what do the Scriptures principally teach? This is beautiful. The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty

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God requires of man. How do we relate to God?

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That is what the Scriptures are about. How do we relate to God? How do we understand God? And how do we relate ourselves to God?

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And what does God require of us as believers and as followers, as His people?

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How do we relate to Him and to His church and to our neighbor, etc.? The Word of God is exactly what

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John is saying here, shows us how we are called to relate to both God and man properly according to the

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Word, not according to ignorance, not according to a lack of belief or faith or understanding, but according to the truth.

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Question now, what should our koinonia, our fellowship, be based on?

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What should it be based on? What is our fellowship based on? What is it that we must have in common as a church?

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What makes us a church? What gives us that koinonia as a people, as a church, is that very common doctrine that the

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Apostles saw with their metaphorical eyes and heard with their ears of understanding and touch with their hands.

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It must be based on the logos of life, Christ the person,

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Christ the message, Christ His Word. That is the common koinonia. That is the fellowship that we have.

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That is by definition what constitutes us as a church. It is that very doctrine, one that we must hold and believe, this common doctrine of Christ and His Word.

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That is what makes a true church. A true church is one that holds and believes the common doctrine of Christ in His Word, preaches the

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Word faithfully, and lives out His Word according to Christ's commands. Amen?

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This is what constitutes a true church. And it is also why John later refutes the

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Proto -Gnostic heresy of docetism, which is that the heresy that Christ only appeared to die.

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He only appeared to die, but he actually didn't die according to this heresy. But if you don't hold to this common true doctrine of Christ, then you can't be one of us.

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There's no true fellowship if you don't have this common doctrine, contrary to modern liberal and ecumenical trends, that we all worship the same

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God. You can be a Muslim, a Roman Catholic, a Mormon, and all these things, some of which teach this very heresy of docetism, like Islam, like Christian science.

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You cannot have true fellowship with God and with the church, with the true church, unless you hold to the common doctrine that Christ Himself taught.

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After all, how can two walk together except they be agreed? That's Amos 3 .3.

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You cannot partake of the Lord's Supper, in fact, unless you have believed in the logos of life that John is preaching.

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It is just as 1st Corinthians 10 20 through 22 says.

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In 1st Corinthians 10 20 through 22, Paul exhorts us in saying,

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No, I imply that what pagan sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.

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You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and a cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the

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Lord and of the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

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And similarly, 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verses 14 through 18. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

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For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship, what koinonia, what common ground does light have with darkness?

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Remember what light means? Truth, understanding, right? Knowledge of Him, of His Word, and darkness.

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They have nothing in common. Nothing. What fellowship, what accord has

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Christ with Belial, with Satan, with the devil? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

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What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living

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God. As God said, I will make my dwelling come up among them and walk among them.

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And I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate from them, says the

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Lord, and touch no unclean thing. Then I will welcome you and I will be a father to you.

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He will be a father to us and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the

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Lord God Almighty. It's all based on belief in the truth of God's Word, sound doctrine.

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John is proclaiming that which we have seen and heard, the gospel message of salvation. He is proclaiming the whole

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Christ once again, the Christ who eternally existed with the Father, God the

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Son, second person of the Trinity, and who also Christ who became flesh and was made manifest to us.

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Christ the man and Christ the Logos of life. The gospel message proclaimed because as Romans 1 16 says,

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I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the

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Jew first and also to the Greek. Same predicates, same adjectives applying to the gospel, the power of God unto salvation.

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Christ himself is a power of God unto salvation. Christ's work and life and death is a power of God unto salvation.

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I could go on forever but I think our time is up now and for next week

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I want to leave you there with this next question. What should our koinonia, our fellowship with the

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Father and with his Son Jesus Christ look like? We talked about the first fellowship of faith, fellowship of faith, common doctrine that we must hold as a church but how should we relate to God now?

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What does that properly look like according to Christ and his Word? Let's close out in prayer.

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Dear God, our precious, gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord for the opportunity to gather today as a people again

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Lord. Please sharpen us with the truth of your Word. Help us to correct our ignorance,

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Father God. Help us to grow in light of the truth of your Word, your knowledge, your grace, your understanding,

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Father God. Give us your mind. Give us the mind of Christ. Help us to renew, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds,

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Father God, to seek you diligently in your Word, in sound doctrine, in sound theology,

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Father God, in a systematic understanding that grasps the whole counsel of God.

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Help us Lord, to believe these things, to understand these things, and to better and consequently to better walk this out before you and before others

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Lord, before the world, before our fellow man, before our brothers and sisters in Christ, to help us love one another the way you have instructed us, that we may be known by the truth of your

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Word and by our love for one another, which makes us a church, your very, your son's very body, the church himself, the church itself, the bride of Christ.

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We ask these things in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermons of Thorn Crown Covenant Baptist Church, where the

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Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety is applied to all of faith and life. We strive to be biblical, reformed, historic, confessional, loving, discerning

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Christians who evangelize, stand firm in, and earnestly contend for the Christian faith.

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If you're looking for a church in the El Paso, Texas area, or for more information about our church, sermons, and ministries such as Semper Reformanda Radio and Thorn Crown Network Podcasts, please contact us at thorncrownministries .com.