1 John - the Glory of Fellowship — Stephen Kaung

May we look to the Lord in prayer, our Heavenly Father. Our hearts do rejoice before thee. Thou dost so love us as to give thy only begotten son to us. He is in us as our life as our everything. Oh our father we do thank thee for this precious gift.

We ask thee that we may discover him more and more. That we may know his power within us we may know his character his nature within us. That by thy spirit daily we may be conformed transformed and conformed to his image.

Eternal Life and Fellowship in First John

That thou may get all the praise and the glory. We just commit this time into thy hand and ask thy spirit to give us revelation and utterance in thy precious name. Amen. We are studying together. The first letter of john we mentioned at the very outset that the gospel of john is on life eternal life.

The life that comes by believing in jesus as the christ the son of the living god the life of christ christ is that life. And the first letter of john is on fellowship life in action. This life that has been given to us we who have received that life we are called into the fellowship of god's son jesus christ.

We are to fellowship with the father and with the son and with one another. Now we mention also that the fellowship we are called into is the fellowship of god's son. He is the substance of our fellowship.

We fellowship with christ with the cries that has been revealed and experienced by us. And we fellowship on the basis of him that is of his life. Now this fellowship has no other ground but the ground of life.

For the ground of christ we do not try to make any other thing as the ground of our fellowship. Therefore this fellowship is most inclusive. It includes all god's people who have his life. And yet it is very exclusive because anything that is not of life that is not of christ does not enter into that fellowship.

So when it comes down to this matter of the reality of fellowship the practice of fellowship we find there are three conditions that must be met. The first we mentioned yesterday morning for fellowship to be real and living it must be in life.

And by life it doesn't mean understanding of the scripture it is life. But by life. Here you find it is god is life in him was life and the light was the light of man. We have the life of christ in us.

And this life within us is our life. It shines upon our path and by this light we walk. If we walk in the light as god is in the light we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of jesus christ god's son cleanses us from all our sins.

As we walk in the light that has been given to us we begin to grow in life from children to young people and to the fathers. Now this morning we would like to continue on with the second condition of fellowship.

Practicing Righteousness as the Second Condition of Fellowship

If we want to see that our fellowship is real is living is unhinged is full. The fellowship must be in righteousness. So let us read a portion. First john chapter 2 verse 29. First john chapter 2 verse 29.

If you know that he is righteous know that everyone who practices righteousness is begotten of him. See what love the father has given to us that we should be called the children of god. For this reason the world knows us not because it knew him not beloved.

Now we are children of god and what we shall be has not yet been manifested. We know that if it be manifested we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. And everyone that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure.

Everyone that practices sin practices also lawlessness and seeing is lawlessness. And you know that he has been manifested that he might take away our sins and in him seeing is not. Whoever abides in him does not sin.

Whoever sins has not seen him or known him. Children let no one lead you astray. He that practices righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous. He that practices sin is of the devil. For from the beginning the devil sins to this end the son of god has been manifested that he might undo the works of the devil.

Whoever has been begotten of god does not practice sin because his seed abides in him. And he cannot sin because he has been begotten of god. In this are manifest the children of god and the children of the devil.

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of god. And he who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning that we shall love one another. There is no fellowship if we are not of the same kind as light has no fellowship with darkness.

So righteousness has no fellowship with things. We are told that god is righteous. This is his very nature. Just like light is god's nature. God is open transparent all of life nothing hidden no shadow nor shade.

Glorious that is the very nature of god. And to have fellowship with god there must be the same kind of condition within us. There must be openness in us to be transparent as far as our light goes there shouldn't be anything hidden.

And if we are of the same kind of light if we walk in the light as god is in the light then we have fellowship one with another. Not only with other father and the son but also with one another. Likewise god is righteous.

Therefore for us to have fellowship with god we must practice righteousness. Now what is righteous simply means it is right. It is just without prejudice no partiality. It is the quality of god. God is righteous in all his ways.

God is righteous in all his doing. God is righteous in all his judgments. Righteousness is the very nature of god. He is right. He cannot be but right. Whatever he thinks whatever he feels whatever he does whatever he says everything of god is just right just what it ought to be.

There is no compromise there is no accommodation. He does not to anything but is just what it should be now that is what our god is. He is righteous. Therefore anyone who decides to have fellowship with god he must does righteousness.

Righteousness simply means the quality the character of being right and just. But dear brothers and sisters we all know there is none righteous not even one what sometimes we consider as our righteousness.

Human Righteousness and the Righteousness of God

According to the prophet isaiah we are told that our righteousness this are as filthy rats. They are not only rats full of holes they cannot cover our nakedness before god but they are even filthy in the eyes of god.

The best that we consider we have the merits the good deeds the good actions that we consider to be of some pride to us. They are as filthy rats in the sight of god we have no righteousness. We do not practice righteousness.

We are not right at all but thank god. In romans chapter 3 we are told that there is the righteousness of god that comes upon all who believe in the lord jesus. The righteousness of god what does he mean.

It simply means that in forgiving our sins in justifying us god is still just. He is just and he justifies us now. That is the righteousness of god. How can the just god justifies us sinners. If god said he would forgive our sins that is merciful.

That is very gracious. But they will compromise god being just. But thank god he has a way to justify us sinners and yet he remains to be just. And that is called the righteousness of god. Of course we know that he who accomplishes this by giving his only begotten son to us he who has no sin is made sin for us.

And that is the way that we find the righteousness of god comes upon all who believe in jesus christ. And as we believe in the lord jesus we are clothed with the robe of righteousness. And this robe of righteousness is none other but christ himself.

So in other words we who believe in the lord jesus we who are justified by god we are closed with cross. And now christ is made unto us righteousness. What does it mean. Christ is made unto us righteousness.

It simply means that he gives us a right standing before god. Formerly we cannot come to the presence of god without being slain. No one can enter into the presence of god without being killed because he is just he is right.

And we are full of sins and iniquity. God has to judge us. But now as we are clothed with christ christ is made righteousness unto us. We can boldly enter into the holiness of all. We can boldly come to the throne of grace.

We can approach god with a holy boldness. Not because we have merit not because we are worthy we are never worthy but because we are closed with christ as god looks at us he sees christ our righteousness.

He does not see us. And that gives us a standing before god. And that standing is a permanent standing to put it in a way we may change but our righteousness never changes. Sometimes you know dear brothers and sisters if you get up in the morning and you have a good night sleep and the sun is shining and you feel very happy.

When you go to god to pray you feel you're full of confidence knowing that you can stand before god. But if you wake up in the morning and you had a sleep last night you had a headache and it was gloomy outside you do not feel as much confidence as the other day in approaching god.

Why. Because somehow we still have that misconception that if we approach god there must be some merit in us. But dear brothers and sisters it has nothing to do with it. We have no merit whatsoever. Christ is our only merit and he never changes no matter how you feel he is the same yesterday today and forever.

Therefore our standing before god our approach to god never changes. But dear brothers and sisters that is our position. When you come down into our daily experience of fellowship then you find there is an if there.

If we have fellowship with god who is righteous we must practice righteousness. What do you mean by practice or do righteous. Here you'll find it is more than just once in a while you do something right.

This is righteousness. And the word practice is a word of continuation. If you continue to do right if you live in righteousness if you practice righteousness as an habitual thing then you have fellowship with god is not just an isolated some isolated single acts of right but it is a continuous life in righteousness.

And that is the meaning here he who practices righteousness is begotten of god. How can we live a righteous life so that we may have fellowship with god who is righteous. You cannot live such a righteous life unless you are begotten of god.

In other words to practice righteousness is not a condition to to be the children of god. On the contrary to practice righteousness is the consequence of being children of god. Thank god we have no righteousness in us.

We are not able to live a righteous life. But thank god we are begotten of god. Not only we have a right standing before god being closed with christ but christ is within us as our life. Oh dear brothers and sisters you find we have not only a position ascending being closed with christ our righteousness but you find that christ within us is righteousness unto us this very life of christ is a righteous life.

His very life of christ has the habit of doing just the right thing. Not that we can do the right thing but he always does the right thing. And because he is our life. Therefore you'll find he who is begotten of god practices righteousness.

Christ Within Us and the Family Resemblance

Righteousness. What is the standard of righteousness in this world. You'll find people take the law of the land the custom of the country the opinions the public opinion of the people as the standard of righteousness.

If you keep the law of the land if you follow the custom of the country if according to the public opinion they consider you as all right then you're in the eyes of man as being righteous. But man can be righteous in the eyes of man and be very sinful in the eyes of god.

What is the standard of righteousness. The standard of righteousness is none other but god himself he is the standard of righteousness. And that's the reason why sin is lawlessness. Sin is not only a transgression of a law.

Sin is lawlessness. In other words sin is an affront to the very character of god. It is lawlessness. How can we be righteous. How can we practice righteousness with god himself as the standard. Again we have to go back and see it is not us.

It is christ who practices righteousness is begotten of god. And when the apostle john comes to this point suddenly he breaks out in worship. He says see what love the father has given to us that we shall be called the children of god.

That's the secret. When you come to the point of practicing righteousness and you know that you cannot do it it is just impossible with you. And then suddenly you realize that you are begotten of god.

See what men of love the father has bestowed upon us that we are called the children of god. We are not only called the children of god but we are the children of god because we are begotten of him. In other words you'll find it is the love of the father.

Beget us. Give us a new life. Give us christ as our life. And with this liking us doing right is now available to every child of god. Is it not true that when you first come to the lord jesus there is not only an outward change of position from being condemned to be justified but there is also an inward change.

You find anyone who is begotten of god there is a constitutional change within him. Formally you love sin is your very life. You get pleasure out of sinning. But after you believe in the lord jesus there is an inward change within you.

You find that you begin to abhor sin and you begin to love righteousness. Things that come upon you within you. Anyone who said he is safe and yet he still loves sin and he does not abhor sin. It is very questionable whether he is born again because it is more than an outward change of position.

There is a constitutional change even though through weakness you may feel their fall and sin. And yet within you you'll find there is an abhorrence towards sin. You do not want to sing anymore. You consider seeing as a horrible thing to do.

And on the other hand you'll find you do have a desire to be right. You do have a desire to do the will of god. What is righteousness. It is none other but the will of god. No matter how weak you are you may not have the strength to do the will of god.

To will is in me but to do is not in me. And yet you do will to do the will of god because you want to please the father. To do right is no longer a matter of trying to appease your conscience. To do right becomes a matter of trying to please your father.

That is the difference. The great difference. You know formerly sometimes we tried to do a few good things in order to appease our conscience to bribe our conscience. But no longer today we do want to do right.

We do want to do the will of god. There is a desire within us because we want to please the heavenly father. Think of our lord jesus in psalm 40 we are told our lord said no i come to do thy will. Oh god thy will i come to do is my pleasure and thy law is written in my heart.

Now this is a family likeness. Our father is righteous and all who are begotten of the father love if we do not practice righteousness. If we do not live our righteous life by that we mean to do the will of god.

There is the family resemblance. How can people see that we are like the father. And thank god you find that the life is not. We are able to do right righteous in the sight of god beloved. Now are we children of god.

And what we shall be has not yet been manifested. We know that if it is manifested we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. We are the children of god. We are born of god. We have the light in us.

Therefore you'll find there is within us this desire to do right to do the will of god to please our father. And as we are living a righteous life we do not know what will happen in the future. But we do know that when it is manifested we shall be like him because we shall see him.

This is our blessed hope. What is our hope. Our hope is one day we shall be like him as our lord jesus is so we shall be like him as he live on this earth. And what a righteous life he lives. As our brother already mentioned you find that his whole life on earth is i can do nothing of myself.

Whatever i do i do it because i've seen the father have done it. I cannot say anything of myself. Whatever i say is because i've heard the father has said it. And you'll find the whole life our lord jesus is to do the father's will.

The gospel say he goes around everywhere doing good. And by doing good it doesn't mean simply that he does some good deeds. No doing good simply means he does the will of the father. Everything he does is doing the will of the father.

That is his delight that is the way that he lives. If it is the father's will that he should go to calvary he should go to the cross. Then thy will be done. And this is a righteous life. This is practicing righteousness.

The Hope of Becoming Like Christ

Now dear brothers and sisters we have this hope before us. One day we shall see him as he is and we shall be like him. And with this blessed hope before us it should purify us. It should give us additional incentive to press on to live a righteous life like he does today.

We are only a little bit like him. There is a little bit of family resemblance that can be seen. But one day we will be like him as he is we will be conformed to his image fully grown into sonship. Oh brothers and sisters it means that one day we should be like him conformed to his image his character shall characterize us his personality will be fully manifested throughout what a glorious hope it is.

And all because life is already in us and the process is already begun as the light of christ begins to live in and through us you find we begin to grow in likeness to him until one day when we shall see him we shall be like him.

And this hope ought to purify us. Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness and sin is lawlessness. You find the contrast here on the one hand is righteousness on the other hand is sin. Righteousness practice righteousness leads us to holiness.

To be like him is lawlessness. It is rebelling against god. But thank god he has provided salvation for us. And in the following verses you'll find several things. One is we know that he has been manifested that he might take away our sins.

That is the first point. We who are full of sins we live a sinful life. And yet the son of god has been manifested. And the reason why he is manifested is to take away our sins. When he was born he was given the name jesus who takes away our sins.

Behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world. He bore his body our sins on the tree that we may be dead to sin and alive to righteousness. He who knew no sin was made for sin may sing for us that we might become the righteousness of god.

Dear brothers and sisters our lord jesus came into this world to destroy things to take away our sins. He brought our sins in his body on the tree. Our sins therefore are forgiven. That is the first step.

Abiding in Christ and Overcoming Sin

Then the second thing you'll find here is and in him sin is not. There is no sin in him. And because he is sinless therefore he can bear our sins on the cross. But it is more than that. In him sin is not.

And this him this he is now in us our life. So dear brothers and sister we need to realize that today as children of god we have within us a sinless life a life that knows no sin not only has never seen but does not even know what sin is because it has never rebelled against god it always pleases the father.

And this life is now in us. Number three whoever abides in him does not sin because we have him in us. He who is sinless who has overcome destroyed sin itself. Therefore whoever abides in him now here comes our responsibility it he is in us.

And yet if we want to practice righteousness if we want to overcome sin in our life we must abide in him. And the word abide simply means make home. We must make our home in him. We must fellowship with him.

We must commune with him. We must stay with him. We must remain with him. We must continue with him as the branch abides in the vine. And if we abide in him what is the result. We do not sin if we do not abide in him.

If we so far as our experience goes if we come out as it were we positionally never. But in our experience if we begin to walk in the flesh if we begin to live by our own old life that was already crucified.

If we do not live by the life of christ then there is still the possibility of sinning. But on the other hand if we abide in him we do not sin. Why. Because we live by his life and his life cannot sin.

His life never knows what is sin always do the right thing and pleases the father. So here you'll find number three whoever abides in him does not sin. And number four whoever seen has not seen him or known him.

If anyone should sing it simply means you do not see him or know him at the time when you sing. It doesn't mean that you have never known him. But it comes down to your current experience. At the moment you see you have not seen him.

You do not know him. If you see him if you know him you cannot sing because he is your life and he lives in. You know brothers and sisters some people have problems with this passage because so far as our experience goes thank god sometimes we are able to overcome sin.

We do not sing. But at other times we still sing. And yet our apostle john said he who practices sin is of the devil. He does not know god not sin god. And he who practices righteousness is of god. And this is the way we know who are the children of god.

And who are the children of the devil. Now brothers and sisters we do find a problem here are we children of god. Are we children of the devil. We know we are born again. We know we are children of god.

But how come that we live in the gray area. Now with apostle john it is either light or darkness. It is either righteousness or sin. There is no middle ground. Why. Because if we look with god's eyes truth is absolute with god.

In truth there is no middle ground no mixture. It is absolute. It is either this or that. Either it is truth or lie. Either it is light or darkness. There's no twilight. Either it is righteousness or sin lawlessness.

If you look from god's viewpoint the truth is absolute. But of course when you look at it from our experience you'll find things begin to be relative. But no matter what our experience is the truth has not changed.

The truth remains the same. We have two problems here. Some people when they read this portion they think well he who is because of god cannot sin because the seed of him of god is in him. He does not sing.

And he cannot sin. Thank god i am a child of god. I'm because of god. Therefore i cannot sing. I am singless perfect. You'll find among christians there is a teaching of singless perfection. When i was saved i was saved among the holiness people.

Even though i was a methodist i was saved among the holiness people. And the holiness people has the teaching of the eradication of the root of sin. You after you are converting your faith you shall go through a second experience second blessing and have the root of sin eradicated.

And from then on you will never sing. You are singless perfect. It is a very attractive teaching. But right at the at the conference when i was saved i saw the founder of that work lost her temper in public.

Yet he continued nothing. It was just a weakness. What am i saying. Say christ is singless perfect. The life that is in you who is is singless perfect. It never sings. It cannot sing. It does nothing.

But so long as we still have the flesh we still live in this world there is yet a possibility of sinning. And when we sing call it a do not try to cheat ourselves. We are not singless perfect. Survival is christian perfection but not singless perfection.

Now what is christian perfection. Christian perfection is if we are abiding him we do not sing now that is christian perfection. But here you'll find there is another problem. Some people go to the other extreme.

He who sings does not see god nor know him. Therefore you can be unsaved again. You are saved now you see you have not seen god not know god. Therefore you are unsaved. And you have to be saved and unsaved unsaved and get saved.

And it is just going up and down heaven and hell all the time. You do not know where you will end up. Now let's go into the other extreme. Because apostle john is not teaching about our initial salvation so far as our initial salvation country is already settled it is already finished it is already settled in christ.

What he tries to tell us. Actually instead of telling you that your salvation can be lost he is trying to tell you that your salvation can be secured eternally if you are abiding him you do not sing for.

Love, Righteousness, and the Believer's Conscience

Dear brothers and sisters practicing righteousness is on is shown in two different areas. Negatively the absence of sin and sin is lawlessness. Number two the presence of love. How do we know that we practice righteousness.

How do we know that we live a life as he the righteous lives. We know that we practice righteousness because we do not sing. We are not lawless before god. We know that we practice righteousness because we love the brethren.

We love the brethren. He who is the righteous loves us so much as to give his life for us. As our brother quoted this morning john chapter 13. He loved his own and he loved them to the end to the ultimate.

He who is the righteous he gives his life. And as he loves us we ought to love one another as he lays down his life for us. We ought to lay down our life for our brethren. And do the love in words. For love indeed in truth in practice loving practical matters and by loving we know we are doing the right thing.

We are doing the will of the father we are pleading. So dear brothers and sisters here again you'll find how we need to live righteousness before god and before me. Then it comes to the matter of the heart.

You'll find in chapter 3 verse 19. And hereby we shall know that we are of the truth and shall persuade our heart before him. That if our heart condemned god is greater than our heart and knows all things beloved.

If our heart condemned us not we have boldness towards god. And whatsoever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandment and practice the things which are pleasing in his sight. And this is the commandment that we believe on the name of his son jesus christ and that we love one another even as he has given us commandment.

If we walk in the light as he is in the light we find that the holy spirit will lighten our intuition. His spirit will shine upon our spirit touches our intuition power and allow us to know him intuitively.

And now you'll find if we practice righteousness or if we sing here the spirit of god will touch our heart and by the heart. Here it simply means conscience. Of course the heart includes more than conscience.

But here particularly you'll find it means our conscience. How do we know that we practice righteousness. When. How do we know that we have seen the holy spirit within us. We touch our conscience. And if our conscience condemns us then we have sinned.

If our conscience approves then we have do right done right before god. So dear brothers and sisters you know our christian conscience is very very important for our practical living. Before we were saved our conscience were not dependable even though it wasn't dependable.

Yet at the time that we are saved actually the holy spirit touch our conscience and conviction and bring us to repentance. But now our conscience is purified his command. Dear brothers and sisters how can we walk rightly before god.

Be careful. Walk according to the dictate of your conscience. Why god is speaking through your conscience. If anyone should lose his conscience he is like a shipwreck. His faith will leak out. If we have a good conscience before god it gives us fullness and confidence and know that our prayers will be answered.

So you know how important it is for christians to maintain a good conscience. A conscience void of offense. A conscience cleansed by the precious blood. If our heart condemns us god's heart is great. Of course our conscience is not perfect.

Yet our conscience needs to be developed just as light needs to be developed. Our conscience gradually become more and more sensitive. As we follow our conscience following god things that we are not conscious of we begin to be conscious things that we think is all right.

Now begin to see that it is not right. So you find that as the spirit of god begins and life begins to grow in us our conscience ought to grow in sensitivity. And if we walk with our heart uncondemned before god we are accepted.

That doesn't mean our heart is complete. It simply means according to the degree of life that we are in we can stand before god with a clear conscience. And then you'll find our fellowship will be uninterrupted.

Oh how it is important that we maintain a good conscience so that our fellowship with the father and with the son is uninterrupted. How we need to maintain a good conscience. That our fellowship with our brothers and sisters will not be under any cloud.

Whenever our conscience is under clouds you avoid your brothers and sisters and you avoid god. You know it. So dear brothers and sisters how we need to live before god and live righteously. But thank god it is not by ourselves it is the life of christ within us.

The holy spirit is just bring out the life of christ within us and patiently incorporate christ into us so that finally you find we are clothed not only with a robe of rock gold which is christ our righteousness but over a body a garment of embroidery.

The holy spirit will stitch needle by needle christ into our life as he does the work. Of course with every needle there may be a little pain there. But after the work is done you'll find a beautiful garment of embroidery.

And in revelation chapter 19 the bride has made herself ready and she is given the garment of pure living bright and shining which is the righteousnesses of the faith. And this is what john is talking about.

He is talking about practical righteousness. He is talking about how we need to live righteously before god in this world. And thus our fellowship will not be hindered. I think we will just stop here.

Shall we pray our heavenly father. How we praise and thank thee that thou who are righteous thou has justified us. Thou has given thy son to us as our righteousness as our life. How we praise and thank thee that our holy spirit is working christ continuously in us that we may be transformed and be conformed to his image.

That we may practice righteousness. We may not sin and we may do the will of thee. Oh how we praise and thank thee that all these things open to us are available to us. We just cast ourselves upon thee and say lord perfect thy work.

Enough that thy name may be glorified in thy precious name.