Let's gather in prayer to the Lord for his grace and help. Good to see you in the Lord's house. Again, we've got a number of people sick today, various folks not able to be in the house of God, so we're glad you're here. Do pray for one another, that God would raise up those who are unwell at this time. Let's all seek God's face together. Eternal God and our Father in heaven, we do immediately recognize, O Lord, thou alone art holy. And we come, dear Father, again conscious that we are not Very much aware, O God, that even today in thoughts and word and deed, we've sinned and done those things that are not righteous in your sight. And so we plead afresh the blood of Christ. We thank you, O Lord, for the blood that cleanses from every sin. Thank you for our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And we pray upon the ground of his merit, we pray for grace and help today in your house. We thank you, dear Father, for time granted unto us in your kindness this one day in seven for these exercises of public and private worship. We ask, O Lord, that you'd meet with us throughout today, that we would know the joy of communion with the living God. Draw near, we ask, O Lord, and speak to your souls. Help us, O God, to worship and to glorify your name. We thank you in order that we can be here today in your house for mindful of those who are unwell at this time in the season. We pray you'd raise them up and encourage them, give strength to those who are weak. And we pray for healing. And again, the soon we'll be back together as a full congregation in the house of God here. So minister to all those in their various needs and for those otherwise hindered providentially. Again, keep your hand upon your people and bless our congregation. Help us, O God, to to walk humbly and to go forward in your will and seeking to please you in all things that will be said and done. So bless our time of study this morning and give help will as you come around the word and teach us and guide us help us O God to even understand more fully. the way you've revealed yourself in the word, and we'd see you, God, as a holy God, and that you'd show us how you manifest that in the word. So bless us together now. Help us in the scriptures as we pray in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Amen. Let's take our Bibles and turn together to 1 John 1. 1 John 1. We're going to read together from the verse number 5. 1 John 1 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declared unto you, 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, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with 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, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Amen. This is again the word of the Lord. May it again be a blessing to our hearts throughout today. Again, let me recap where we are, just given the gap from last Lord's Day. We're considering still the subject of the holiness of God. And often understood in these two connected aspects, the supreme majesty of our God, He is wholly separate He is altogether supreme in His majesty. But also, I'm not going to say what the proportion is, but the Word of God also manifests God's holiness in terms of His sinless morality, His purity, His divine purity. And you have that here, of course, in 1 John 1, where it refers to God being light and in Him is no darkness at all. And again, the image of light here in the absence of darkness does denote God's supreme holiness, His set-apartness. But in the context here of sin, mentioned in verse number 8, the contrast here is God's light. is a sinless light. The absence of darkness is the absence of any moral defilement. And so he's a holy God in sinless morality. And so we've really taken our time to look at that in more detail in the Word of God. How does God show himself to be holy? in the Scriptures began by considering the person of Christ Jesus, who is of course holiness incarnate, and every aspect of the Lord's life and ministry reveal the holiness of God. But that's not the only place that God's holiness is revealed in this creation. It's revealed in the act of creation itself. It's revealed in Scripture. Again, if you like, not just the content of Scripture, but the doctrine of Scripture itself. The Word of God is pure. It's a holy law. commandment. And so scripture itself reveals the holiness of our God. And then we look more closely at the fact that the holiness of God is revealed in salvation applied. Salvation applied. That's why we spent some time a couple weeks ago now. The Christian life is a holy calling. The work of God in the soul of man is the work of a holy God, and because a holy God, a holy Spirit, works in our hearts, He produces a holy nature in those in whom He works. So the people of God have this holy calling. It's by a holy God and it's unto holiness. Hence in the scriptures is this continual call to a holy life. It is God's sanctifying purpose to make us a holy people. Salvation again from sin shows us God's commitment to holiness. Again, we're just seeing how God reveals Himself and how He deals with us. He's making us holy and we'll see more of that as we close our time this morning with the will of the Lord. But I'm going to move on today to the second aspect of the revelation of God's holiness in salvation applied to the issue of our communion with God. When I use the word communion here, I've got three C's, I suppose, under salvation applied. But the idea of communion here, it's not so much the table. We have communion around the Lord's table, of course, that is a communion ordinance. But the word is being used more generally in terms of fellowship with God. And so terms that are used in the scriptures, abiding in God, knowing God, fellowship with God, communion with God, that's what we're looking at here. And how God brings us into communion is another way in which he reveals his holiness. How does he deal with sinners? How does a holy God bring sinful men into communion with himself? And so we're coming back really to the very fundamentals of the gospel. And so you have here in verse number five, this is the message which you have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. There is no fellowship between light and darkness, as Paul says to the Corinthians. And so communion here has to be a communion that addresses the nature of God's holy character. How do we deal with this? So, we'll come back to 1 John in a moment or two, but let's turn back initially to Isaiah 55, just to show you this again. This is not just a doctrine taught in 1 John. It's something taught throughout the word of the Lord. The holiness of God has to be addressed when you come to think about the subject of our communion with God. This is very, very practical. You know, we are those who want to fellowship with God. We have that desire, I trust, when you come to the house of God. Today, you have that desire. Tomorrow morning, or this evening, when you open up your Bible and want to meet with the Lord, you want to know communion. You want to know fellowship with God. You want to hear God speaking to you, and that you can speak to the Lord. Well, Isaiah 55, and the verse number 15. For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabit the eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place." Again, you could really see the scriptures ending there at that section. You could see the fact that God is holy, God dwells in that holy place, in the purity of, again, that heavenly realm with the Trinity in perfect holy communion, and indeed even God in holy communion with the angels. But He continues, with Him also, that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. The God who inhabits eternity, the God who is supreme in majesty, is the God who is willing to dwell with those of a humble and a contrite spirit. So you see immediately there is encouragement here. The holiness of God does not render communion impossible. That could be your conclusion. God is of such holiness that there is no possibility of God ever communing with sinful man. How could that possibly come to pass? You see, turn across to Isaiah 59, and the verse number two, where we're told in very, very clear terms, your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Remember the key, if you like, the key etymology of the holiness language in scripture has this idea of being set apart. But fundamentally we are born and we sin in practice and that renders us those who are separate from God in nature. And so God, in His mercy, set us apart out of that sinful community, but by nature we're separate from God. And your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear. Of course, that's true very much here of the people of God in the Old Testament. This is the time of their captivity. It's the time of their sinfulness. But it makes the point, makes the point very clearly. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God. And if you're here and you're still in your sin, that's true of you right now. You can be in a church, and you can sing the hymns of praise, and you can read the Bible, but you're still separate from God. There is the need for God's holiness to be addressed. And so the Lord encourages His people. Again, you turn back to Exodus chapter 25. This is my reading just this morning, Exodus 25. And what an encouragement this is. It really shows us, again, what's really God's purpose in the gospel. Exodus 25, in the verse number eight. We're not going to read all the details regarding the construction of the tabernacle in the wilderness, but all the instructions that are given there denote a place that is holy. In fact, when you get into the holy place, remember it's termed that in the Bible, Or you have in the holy place, you have the altar of incense, you have the showbread, you have the candlestick, those are there in the holy place, and yet as a barrier, There's the curtain, the veil, beyond that is the most holy place. The tabernacle is revealing a holy God. And there's a sense when you think of Sinai, don't approach the mount, don't touch it or you'll die. God reveals himself as a holy God as he brings the people out of Egypt into the wilderness. But yet in all of this holiness, the tabernacle is showing us the holiness of God, yet it says there, that I may dwell among them. Verse number eight. The sanctuary is the place where he's going to show them how they can approach a holy God and not die. Sinai, touch it and you'll die. Here's the clue. Here's the lesson to learn. How does God show his holiness in communion? Because he meets with us above the mercy seat. From between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. Again, you know the picture here. The mercy seat. The mercy that sits upon the ark. In the ark are the tables of the law, and upon the mercy seat is sprinkled blood. And the cherubim can look upon the mercy seat, representing God's holiness. The cherubim are there, and they look with holiness upon the mercy seat. But the blood makes atonement for the soul. And the blood of Christ Jesus, again being pictured here, opens the place for sinners to approach a holy God without fear of death. This is communion with God. It's a revelation of the holiness of God. And you know, the modern liberal, woolly-headedness of false gospel teaching seeks to bring sinners to God with like blood, with like redemption, with like atonement. And it's bringing sinners to God whereby God will strike them dead in the final day. You can only approach God through the groin of Christ's atoning blood. There is no other way. And you remove these cardinal elements of the gospel, and you remove the hope of the gospel for sinners. They're confronted with the Holy God, and yet they're not. How do they have communion with God? Well, you'll see this, of course, also in the language of the New Covenant. Turn across to Jeremiah 31. These are very, very familiar truths for you all here. We understand this thing. You've been teaching this to your children since they were very, very little. You're apart from God due to sin, to draw near to God. You need your sins forgiven. You need atonement. You need blood sacrificed for you. Well, Jeremiah 31, of course, contains for us the promise of the new covenant, the covenant sealed by Christ's blood, the covenant secured by the mediator of the everlasting covenant, the new covenant. And in Jeremiah 31 and the verse number 34, you have one that promises, it says here, Now, this knowledge is a knowledge that Christ refers to in his prayer in John 17. This is not a knowledge about God. This is communion. This is fellowship with God. This is that intimacy that we have with God in the gospel. And the promise of the new covenant is that we shall all know God. Every member, every blood-bought member of this covenant has this fellowship with God. But look what it says. They shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. There is no fellowship with God without the forgiveness of sins. There's no fellowship with God without the justifying work of God in and through the person of Christ Jesus. Fundamental, but absolutely essential. And so we're looking at this, if you like, in a positive fashion. You know, if you are justified, you are brought in communion with the Holy God. In a negative sense, if you're not forgiven, there is no communion. But if you are forgiven... That forgiveness, that justification is not without consequence. It doesn't just render you, if you like, not guilty or innocent before God. It ushers you into a standing of communion and fellowship with God. These promises are connected. There is no one who's forgiven who's not also in communion. That's a blessing. He's a holy God who is so far removed from us, and yet He provides everything required to bring us into communion, that you can come to church on the Lord's Day with a confident knowledge that God will be here, that He'll meet with you, He'll dwell with you, He'll speak to you, He'll hear you as you pray. These are things that you bring into the house of God on the Lord's Day. What a confidence there is in these things, the assurance we have. And so you go back across now to 1 John chapter 2, go back to our 1 John, our 1 John 1, sorry. 1 John chapter 1. And again, verse number 6, if we say, we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleansed us from all sin. You've got to remember what 1 John is all about. It's all about leading the people of God to a deep and settled assurance. There were those in that time, this is towards the end of the New Testament period, and there were those in this time and they were suggesting, well, if you're going to know God, you need some sort of higher, deeper knowledge and experience. And they were questioning the assurance of the people of God. And so John writes to them that they would know they have eternal life. Now, oftentimes we read this as a set of commandments. We read it in such a way, you've got to do this, this, this, and then you'll have assurance. But in reality, John's writing it from a different perspective. He's writing it saying, because this, this, this is true, Therefore, you do have assurance already. He's arguing from the reality of their experience to then give them this assurance. And so he's saying to them, you know, yes, if you walk in darkness, you're lying and do know the truth. But if we walk in the light, then we fellowship one with another. And his argument is that's what they're doing. Now, to encourage them, he is not suggesting that they are sinlessly perfect. It's so important. We're looking at the matter of holiness here. But he says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. So you walk in the light, even in the presence of remaining sin. But it is sin that is not dealt with. Sin that is not ignored, but addressed. And so you go down to chapter two. If any man sin, we've an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Here's the promise. We walk in the light as those who are walking in the continual enjoyment of God's forgiving grace. This is why that our understanding of, if you like, fellowship with God is something that has a beginning point. A beginning point, if you like, we confront our sins before a holy God for the first time. But the fellowship secured when I first see the light is a fellowship that continues in gospel hope. Your fellowship with God does not require sinless perfection on your part. It requires a commitment to holiness, but not perfection. It requires a commitment to holiness that continues to rest upon the blood of Christ Jesus. And so you get this balance in John's writing here. There's a recognition that we have to be holy to have communion with God. Where do we get that? We get that from Christ's work on our behalf. But then it continues in our lives, we strive towards holiness. And so John continues, verse number three of chapter two, Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. You see the language here, I know him. Fellowship, communion. Chapter 1, walking in the light. Chapter 2 here, knowing God or abiding in God. But these terms are being used synonymously. You see, those who know God are those who have had that holy calling. Remember the previous point? Their hearts are changed. They've come to know and love the commandments of God. And therefore you can't say you know God and not keep his commandments. We abide in the Lord. And so, this idea of walking in the light. Again, walking there in the light, not in darkness. Verses 5 and 6 and 7 of chapter 1 is then explained in verse number 6 of chapter 2, walking as he also walked. So, how do you put this all together? Well, you tell me. If someone comes to you and they're part of your family, And they, they're in their sins, but they recognize they want a relationship with God. What are you going to tell them? Let's go back, simple terms. What are you going to say? This is really true and practical. If someone in your family or your friendship group or a neighbor, and they recognize they're away from God and they want fellowship with God, what are you going to say to them? Anybody. Yes, Dan, go ahead. Yeah, repent, yeah. So, but still, so what, if I repent, what hope do I have? Okay, I believe the gospel, what hope do I have? Why does that change anything? Okay, so we'll get to there later on, but that's it. So to begin with though, there's a recognition, there's a barrier. Yeah, Jim. Yeah. Yes, you've gotta give him the gospel. We're working through Bible portions. We've been in Isaiah 57, 59. We've been in Exodus 25. But how do you put this all together in simple terms? Someone comes to you, knows they're far off from God. It may be your children. Again, it may be a neighbor. It could be anybody, no matter what age they are, no matter where they come from. You've got to bring them to Christ. You know, because they can go to a public bookstore and they'll find all manner of spiritual books and self-help books to try to give them an experience and enter into the enjoyment of God, a vague notion of God. We're showing you here that God, the Bible, is a holy God. And there can be no fellowship with God without confronting the holiness of God. And your entire life marks you out as being one who doesn't deserve this. So Dan says you repent and believe the gospel because there is hope for sinners in the work of Christ that allows the sinner to be brought near to God. We can't pander again to want to be popular in the ears of those around us and we don't want to confront them. Their sin separates them from God. Their sin must be dealt with. They can't enjoy fellowship with God without sin being dealt with and addressed. They've got to deal with that. They've got to work in the sense of understanding the gospel and finding their only hope being in Christ Jesus. Let's say someone then comes a year later. They've been part of the church, all's going well. And again, they've come to know and enjoy fellowship with God. They now engage in meaningful prayer. They enjoy singing the songs of praise in the Lord's day. And then they come back and say, I've lost the joy I once had. It's just gone. Struggling. Heaven, they won't use the language. Heaven's like brass. My prayers are going nowhere. I can't even pray. When I come to church, there's no joy. Nothing at all. What do you say to these people then? What advice or counsel are you going to give them at this point? They're desperate. They recognize there's been a real change in their life. What would you say to them now? Or maybe what would you say, what would you ask them? Any questions you're asking? This is big, big topic here, okay? A lot can be said here. What's our question that you're asking? Yeah, Jonah. Okay, so reading the Bible. Have you been reading the Bible much? They go, yeah, I was, but it's getting more difficult. It's getting more difficult. I am still reading the Bible, but it's just not easy. I'm not getting the same benefit from it I used to get. What might be going on, Christina? Sorry, go again. Yeah, do you remember who I am in Christ? Yes, there's a recognition, yes. I remember what happened a year ago or thereabouts. I came down on the gospel. Yeah, I'm not, just not enjoying it. I'm not, I don't have any relish in coming to church anymore. My quiet times are so dull and they get more and more sporadic and more difficult. Yeah. Yeah, so you're referring to Psalm 51, restoring me the joy of thy salvation, you know. So what was the cause of the loss of the joy? The sin. Now, I'm going to be very careful here. There are multiple reasons whereby someone may find themselves in the experience of, if you like, spiritual coldness and barrenness. Multiple reasons. There may be issues regarding, as Christina says, a lack of assurance of knowing what they are in Christ Jesus. They may be struggling to grasp the gospel. There are others, again, who may become unwell physically. And again, their physical infirmities have an impact upon their spiritual enjoyment with God. There are multiple reasons. God even sovereignly can withdraw himself for a season, allowing those that feared him to walk in darkness and have no light, Isaiah 50. So there's multiple reasons whereby someone may find themselves in a place where they're not enjoying communion with God. But one key one is an issue of an unresolved sin. You cannot, as a believer, live in a pattern of unrepentant sin, unresolved sin, and enjoy continual communion with God, because God's a holy God. And so sometimes the case is There's a matter or someone, we might say it's a backslidden state, but externally, there's still a degree of conformity to the things of God, but they're coming to you because they recognize their communion with God is broken. That's our subject this morning, communion with God, but it's been broken. And we're seeing here in John the connection. First of all, you come to God through Christ, but it's also a recognition that that communion is maintained by a continual dealing with sin, by a striving after holiness, and a recognition that when we sin, we must get to Christ and resolve the matter of our sin. So even for the child of God who can never be lost, they're eternally secure, that does not mean their enjoyment of God in communion is always the same. It waxes and wanes and sometimes our commune with God waxes and wanes and it falls and we become cold because of a sin issue in our lives. And so it may be something in your home life, it may be personal. I'm not going through the Ten Commandments. But you go through the catechisms, and you go through all the way the catechism describes the various aspects of our duty before God. If we find ourselves in a pattern of unrepentant sin, it breaks our communion with God because God's a holy God. You see the point here? God is a God of holiness. Done. Years and years ago, I copied a picture of a boxer in a corner. It was a silhouette. had nothing to do with boxing for me. It reminds me of even my past experience in the ring. Whether it's Satan or your flesh, it's so much like that fight. You're slipping, you're ducking, you're moving. Of course, it's him that works in us. But in the reality of it, we're repenting. And so we're in that fight, and it can be very nasty. Yeah, so we're in a warfare, a spiritual warfare, and I'm taking time to address it because I think this is what John is dealing with here. So we're looking at how does God reveal His holiness? Well, He reveals His holiness in these various ways, in Christ, in the scriptures, but also in how He deals with us in communion. As a recognition, there is no fellowship with God without our sins being dealt with. But again, as God's people, we sometimes wrestle with this. I'm not perfect. Remaining sin continues. And so sometimes the tendency is when sin manifests itself in a believer to say, well, you know, you're justified. You're justified, that can't change. Your justification in Christ is righteous, never changes, and remember that. And we have the danger there, and I get where they're coming from. But the danger is to minimize the impact of the sin in a believer's life. Amen, our justification does not change. But our sin does impact our communion with God. It has that recognition, if you like, in the realm of our sanctification. We'll see, well, two weeks time, we'll see how God addresses this in terms of the completion of our redemption in holiness. But we shouldn't use justification as a means of minimizing the presence of sin in our lives. the Holy God fellowships with those who walk in light. But that walking in light is not sinner's perfection, but it's a gospel life of continually getting to Christ. Not to be re-justified, but to maintain that communion and fellowship with the Holy God. So I hope you get the balance here. So if you have someone and they're under deep conviction of sin due to their sinful life, perhaps for the previous month, they fall into some sinful pathway and they're coming to you and they're brokenhearted and they think they've lost their salvation. I mustn't be saved. You take them back to their justification. But you get someone else and they've sinned for a month or so and their communion with God is clearly broken. but they don't seem to really care too much, then you've got to confront with the fact that unrepentant sin will break your communion with God. It may not lose your salvation, but it has an impact upon your communion with God. And so perhaps you're here today and you've become very cold and hard and you realize you're very, very distant. It may be, it may be that you're not enjoying the Sabbath as you ought. Let me turn you to two passages and we'll finish. Psalm 68. I hope this raises your memory. So if I'm wrong here, we'll move on quickly. But I think it's Psalm 68. No, Psalm 66, sorry. There was an 8 in it. Psalm 66, verse 18. That's the way my mind works. I get some numbers and memories. It's sketchy. Psalm 66, verse 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Okay, so there's an issue of communion. What's communion with God? God speaks to us, we speak to God. There's fellowship. That's communion, fellowship. So here again, I'm very clear. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. There's the proof again, our communion with God is impacted by our unwillingness to deal with our sin. And then I give the example of the Sabbath turning to Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58 gives this wonderful promise. And so the implication is that if this is not true, then there may be a difficulty in our fellowship with God. Verse 13, if I turn away thy foot from the Sabbath and doing thy pleasure in my holy day and call the Sabbath the delight. There's a recognition here that faithfulness in remembering Sabbath is a means of spiritual nourishment and encouragement. And if we feel in this area that there could well be an efficiency in our communion with God. You can't pick and choose the commandments of God. You would easily say to a man caught in adultery, you cannot fellowship with God and walk in adultery. But the same is true. You cannot fellowship with God and treat the Sabbath in a manner of disaccretion. It must be a delight for you to enjoy fellowship with God. You can't disregard these things. And so that's just one, the fourth commandment. And the same is true for the fifth, sixth, seventh, you pick your commandment. If we live in a matter of unrepentant sin, it will impact our fellowship with the Holy God. So keep the balance. We are eternally secure through Christ and his blood. But there is a recognition of our ongoing fellowship with the Lord in terms of walking in the light. Yeah, Dan. We're going to look at false teachers this morning in Romans 16. Marking those who speak contrary to the doctrines you've learned. False teaching generally is a misapplication of truth. Not always, there's some things just so out from left field. But oftentimes the most dangerous false teaching is misapplication of truth. So the antinomian spirit of Romans 6, sin that grace may abound, is a misapplication of justification. It's also I'm warning you over here, you love your justification, but do not all use that to justify sin. And a legalistic spirit, is a misapplication of this idea of communion with God, where I've got to keep myself proper and holy if God's going to accept me. You're never going to be sinless. So don't misapply that either and then become a legalist where you've got to do everything and you begin this list of man-made dictates as to what a holiness life looks like. That's a misapplication in the other direction. So it can go either way. So let's stick to the Bible. The light and our justification. but a justification that leads to holy life, which in turn also then maintains that closer walk with God and that calm and heavenly freedom. Just some thoughts on this issue of communion and how it connects to the holiness of God and I trust it's been helpful. Encouragement to you to walk with God, to rejoice in what you have in Christ, but also to continue. So we'll come back with communion with the Lord's Supper next Lord's Day morning and then we'll come back and try to finish up these matters of holiness. Looking at the matter of public communion and then the completion of our redemption and how that shows the holiness of God in a couple weeks time. Let's just pray, let's ask for God's help again. Today, let's seek the Lord's face. Oh, eternal God and Father, we thank you again for the blood of Christ that cleansed from all sin. Thank you, Lord, that as your people, we have a continual advocate with the Father. Thank you, Lord, for the, again, the recognition that for so many of us, there was a time when we came to know the Lord. We bless you for this. And we pray you'd help us to, again, to seek first the kingdom, to continue to walk in light and to walk as Christ walked. Help us not to trifle with sin in any aspect of the commandments of God. Help us to delight in doing and knowing your will. So bless our time of fellowship throughout today. May this Sabbath day be a delight in our hearts. Help us to walk humbly with your God. Bless us together for Christ's sake. Amen.