Walking In The Light

The life that is real, the title of our series, is a life of fellowship, one of the keywords in the Gospel of John, and we're going to hit it all the way through the series, is fellowship, fellowship, fellowship, fellowship. John today is going to be talking about the basis of our fellowship with God. What do we need to live in fellowship with God? He uses the phrase walking in the light.

Now, he introduced the theme of fellowship back in verse three, and I want you to back up for just a moment to verse three of chapter one. He says, "That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that you may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His son, Jesus Christ." John says what we saw, what we heard, we declare unto you that God wants you to have fellowship with Him, with the Father, with Jesus Christ, and with one another.

What is the Christian life? What is the life that is real? Fellowship with God, which is the Greek word, koinonia, which means to share in common. Joint participation with God, the life of God and the soul of man. It's a person that has been born again, has God's life in them, and they're walking in obedience to God's word, to God's precepts, and they're living a life of godliness and holiness. And walking in fellowship with the true and living God, and in fellowship with other believers.

But there is an enemy of walking in the light, there's an enemy of fellowship, and that enemy is a little word with three letters in it, S-I-N. Now, that's not a popular word. That's not a word we like to talk about. That's not a word we like to hear, but guess what? It's in the Bible. And we're here to study God's word and to hear what the Bible has to say.

Did you notice, and you probably haven't noticed, excuse me, because we haven't read the text yet, but I want you to note the references. In verse seven, he mentions sin. In verse eight, he mentions sin. In verse nine, he uses the word sin or sinned, as sins. And then again in verse 10, and then we drop into chapter 2:1 and two, make reference to sin. Nine times in eight verses, John used the word sin, sins or sin.

You get the idea? John is telling us that there's a thing called sin that will hinder your walk with God, your fellowship with God, your communion with God. Now, if you're not born again, your sins separate you from God. If you have been born again, when you fall into sin and you don't confess your sin, then your sin will separate your fellowship from God. It doesn't affect your sonship or relationship, but it does affect your fellowship or your communion with God.

Now, there are three foundations that we see in this passage that are the foundations for walking in the light, our fellowship with God. I want you to write them down if you're taking notes. The first is the character of God. Very important for us as Christians to understand the nature and character of God as it pertains to how we live our lives.

Now remember I told you 1 John is a family portrait and we're going to see the birthmarks of a true Christian. What does a Christian look like? And one of those birthmarks is that he is holy. And the reason he is holy is because God himself is holy. God says in his word, "Be holy for I am holy," says the Lord. The foundation of walking in the light or living a holy life is the character of God.

Let's read verse five down to verse seven, and I'll show you what I'm talking about of chapter one. John says, "This then is the message which we have heard of him and we declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all." Now, if we say, verse six, that we have fellowship koinonia with him and we walk in darkness, we lie and we do not the truth. We're self-deceived, we're lying. We're not practicing the truth.

Notice verse seven. But if, here's the positive, we walk in the light as he is in the light. We have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin or is continually, ongoingly cleansing us from sin. Now the character of God determines the character of our fellowship with God. If we lose sight of the ethical nature of God as holy, we miss the truth on which all Christianity is based and we land in a moral confusion. The purity of the Christians corresponds to the purity of God. Without this moral kinship, there is no fellowship.

Simply stated I'm saying that because God is holy, those who fellowship with God, those who walk with God, those who are in communion with God must equally be what? Now we'll never be as holy as God. We're going to see that in a moment, but we need to be walking in the light which is obedience to God's word, God's revealed moral standards in the scriptures and we're living a life of holiness. Which God enables us to do by the way, by the power of His Holy Spirit.

God doesn't expect you to live a holy life in your own strength. You can't do that, but God comes into you. That's what a Christian is, life of God in your soul, and he lives through you. Now, I want you to note the origin of this message, verse five, we heard of him. In other words, Jesus talked about the holiness of God. And then notice the announcement of the message, verse five, "Declare unto you." And then the substance of the message, verse five, "God is light and in him is no darkness at all."

The message conveys that God is light essentially and imperfectly in unmixed light God is perfectly holy and righteous. And when John says this in verse five, he uses what is difficult to translate into English. It's called the double negative. It would be translated darkness there is not in him, no, not in any way. Notice even in our English translation of verse five, and in him is no darkness and then he adds at all. Why did he throw that in there? No darkness at all. If there were some darkness, then you couldn't say no darkness.

This is what's called the double negative. No, not at all. And it's emphatic in the Greek, which means it starts with the word God in him is no darkness, no, none at all. The emphasis there is that God is light. Now, what do we mean when we say God is light? God is light in his majesty and his splendor.

When we get to heaven, I expect to see a God of glory, a god of majesty, a god of splendor. Whenever God manifested himself on earth, there was glory. Even when he was veiled in flesh and the person of Jesus Christ, the Bible says, "We beheld his glory. The glory of the only-begotten of the Father full of grace and of truth." Jesus was the glory of God. And when we get to heaven, it's going to be glorious. When we get to heaven, there'll be no more night. Can you dig that? Perpetual daytime.

You go, "Well, I like night. I want to sleep." You don't need to sleep in heaven. You don't need to sleep because you're going to get a brand new body. I think that's pretty cool. I don't know about you, but it's time for me to check this body in for a new model. I need a new body. And God dwells in unapproachable light. God is a God of majesty and glory. God is light as to his nature.

Secondly, God is light in his self-revealing. What do I mean by that? I mean God isn't hidden. God isn't hard to know. God isn't hard to see. God reveals himself when we speak of God revealing himself. As a matter of fact, no one could know God unless God chooses to reveal himself to us. You can't find God by searching. God finds you. Sometimes I hear people say, "If there really is a God, why doesn't he show himself?"

Really? You haven't heard about Jesus? God manifested in the flesh. God come down from heaven and they beheld his glory, the glory of the only God and the Father full of grace and truth. He healed the blind. He walked on water, he multiplied bread and fish. He cleansed the lepers. He spoke like never a man spake. That was God in the flesh.

And not only that, even before Christ came on the scene, Psalm 19 says, the heavens declare what? The glory of God. Day unto today, they utter their speech, their line has gone out to the ends of the earth. No tribe, no language, no place, no place on planet earth where people do not see and hear the glory of God and the voice of God in creation.

You want to know if God exists? Walk outside tonight after dark and look toward the heavens. The heavens declare the glory of God. And they're speaking a universal language, day unto day they utter their speech. Creation, our conscience, all confirm that there is a God. And so God is not silent. God being light is self-revealing.

And the greatest revelation of God is in this book we call the Bible. The Bible is God's autobiography. God is revealing himself to us in his word. God does speak and when we read the Bible, we're hearing God speak. But thirdly, and I think that this is what John had in mind when he used that title, God is light, that God is light in his moral perfection. That he is absolutely holy, absolutely righteous and that he is absolutely pure.

The one attribute that God wants to be known by more than any other attribute is his, guess, holiness. None of you wanted to guess, right? I don't know. You tell me, you're the preacher. Over and over and over again, God says, "I am holy." When Isaiah saw God high and lifted up, the angels cried, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty." If God wants to be known by anything, he wants to be known by his holiness.

If God is light, God is speaking of here His holiness. "I am a holy God so be ye holy for I am holy," says the Lord. Because God is holy, guess what? We need to live in holiness and true righteousness. What does this have to do with our fellowship with God? Well, he makes it clear in verses six and seven. If we say we have fellowship with God, verse six, we have koinonia with God. We are walking in fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness, then we're lying and we're not doing the truth.

I want you to notice the difference between saying and doing. We are all aware of that, right? Someone can say one thing and do another. What someone professes doesn't mean that they possess that. This is what we call a hypocrite. You ever heard of a hypocrite? They say one thing and they do another thing.

Here the false teachers were saying that my sin does not affect my relationship to God. There are Christians that think that today. Some reason they think, "You know, I can still sin and it's okay. And God's grace covers it. God's not worried about my little mess-ups or my little mistakes or my little sins. God loves me. God is a God of grace. I can practice sin and I can still be in fellowship with God."

John says, "No way can you do that because God as to his very nature and character is holy." You cannot practice un-holiness and be in fellowship of communion with God. If we say now three times in this section today, we're going to see that verse six. If we say verse eight, if we say verse 10, if we say, if we say, if we say, if we say. Three professions that are faults made by the gnostic heretics that believe that matter was evil, only spirit is good so it doesn't matter what you do with your body, you can sin. God's only concerned about your spirit.

They would say, "My sin doesn't affect my relationship to God." They would say verse eight, if we say we have no sin, they'd say, "I have no sin." And then verse 10, I've never sinned. And that's going to be a hindrance to our fellowship with God.

Now, I want you to notice what he says there in verse six. If we say we have fellowship with him and we walk in darkness, guess what we're doing? We are lying and we are not practicing the truth. John doesn't mince words, does he? The man is a liar. You know why John says that? Because he's old. And when you get really old, you don't care what people think about you. You're going to die any day anyway.

You're not trying to impress people. You're not trying to win their favor. When John was young, he would say, "The man is in error." You get real, guy's a liar. Wow, say it like it is, John, tell us what you really think. He's a liar. I like that. We don't like to say that. We don't like to confront people. We don't like to challenge people. Okay, whatever you want, that's okay. You're okay. I'm okay. We try to accept it.

John says, "Look, you are lying. If you say that you're walking with God who is light, but you're walking in darkness, you're a liar and you're not practicing the truth." It's impossible to think that I can have fellowship with God and still live. Now, you need to understand in this context, he's talking about walking in the darkness means habitually, willingly, voluntarily living a sinful, disobedient life.

He's not saying that once in a while you stumble and fall. We're going to see Christians do sin. But he's saying that as a Christian, you don't go out purposely to sin. You don't intentionally sin, you don't voluntarily sin. You don't habitually practice sin. That's inconsistent with the very nature of God who is light. Now, I want you to notice that John goes on in verse seven and he says, "But positively if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we do have fellowship. And we have fellowship on a couple different levels, one with another."

Now this could mean one with another being God, which is true, or one with another, being other Christians. Nothing will hinder your fellowship with God more than sin in your life. Nothing will hinder your fellowship with other Christians than unconfessed sin in your life. If we say, verse seven, that we're walking in the light, but we walk in darkness, we do not do the truth. But if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his death on the cross is continually, ongoingly cleansing us from sin.

Are you professing to have fellowship with God? Then you should have this birth mark. You know what the birthmark is? You walk in the light. You walk in the light. You can say, I guess, that, "I'm a Christian. I'm a follower of Christ," then walk in darkness. But if you do that, you're lying and you don't practice the truth.

And John says, "His word has no place in you." These verses are not only deep theologically, but they are very, very in your face practically, because we're examining ourself in light of these verses. Am I professing to walk with God but walking in darkness, then I'm lying and I'm not doing the whole truth. Our words and our lives are a lie. Walking in the light means a life of conformity to the revealed will of God.

And by the way, that's in the present tense. When he says in verse seven, if we walk in the light, it's ongoingly, continually, presently. We're always continually walking in the light. How do we do that? We read the word, we pray we obey him. We surrender and yield to the Holy Spirit. We're walking in the light as he is in the light. And the two benefits, fellowship and cleansing. Awesome.

Now, I want you to notice the second foundation for walking in the light. It's in verses eight to 10, and that is confession of sin. Number one, it is the character of God. And number two, it is the confession of the child of God. Read or follow with me as I read verse eight to 10. John says, here's the second profession, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we can confess our sins," verse nine, "he is faithful. He is just to forgive us and of our sins and to cleanse us," from what? All unrighteousness, not some unrighteousness, all unrighteousness.

"And if we say we have not sinned," again the third profession, "I have never sinned, we make him that is God a liar and his word is not in us." Verse eight, the second false assertion, the first was sin does not affect our fellowship with God. The second one in verse eight is that it goes beyond that, claiming that sin does not exist in our nature. One translation has if we claim we're sinless. You ever met somebody that claims to be sinless? You go, "Yeah, my wife, my husband."

We know better than that. We know better than that. Bible says all have sinned. No one is perfect, right? Some of you are going, "Speak for yourself, preacher boy. I'm pretty doggone good. I got my act together." Really. I have met people who have claimed they don't sin anymore. I want to back up just a little bit like, whoa. Can I touch you? Awesome. I just touched a sinless human being.

I've even had them get mad at me. "I tell you I don't sin anymore. You don't believe me, I'm going to punch you out." Whoa, okay. I actually had them get mad and lose their temper and arguing, "I don't sin anymore. I'm perfect." Really? Are you listening to yourself? This false profession is not sin doesn't affect my relationship to God. This fault profession is I have arrived. I'm under the spot where the glory comes out. I'm dwelling in Canaan's land. I'm perfect. I glow in the dark now as you walk around. I don't think so, dude. Let's talk to your wife or let's talk to your husband. We'll find out if you sin or not.

This profession is false. What happens when we do that? We are verse eight, self-deceived. Worst kind of deception, self-deception. Literally, we lead ourselves astray. You deceive yourself. The closer you walk with God in the light, the more conscious you are of your sinfulness. You meet a Christian that says they don't sin, something's wrong big time with that person. They haven't seen God. They don't know God. They haven't drawn close to God.

When Isaiah the prophet was called into ministry for God, Isaiah six, he said, "I saw the Lord, high and lifted up and his glory filled the temple." What did Isaiah say? "Hey, God, what's happening? How you doing? Good to see you." No, he said, "Whoa is me for I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell amongst the people of unclean lips." When Peter had Jesus in his boat and he, Jesus told him to throw your nets on the other side, he caught the great draft of fish. And it dawned on Peter that Jesus Christ was more than just a man. When they got the shore, Peter fell on his knees before the Lord and said, "Depart from me. I'm a sinful man. I'm not worthy to have you in my presence. I'm not worthy to be in your presence."

The closer you draw to God, the more painfully aware you become of your unworthiness and of your sinfulness. You're self-deceived to say, "I have not sinned." And then secondly, verse eight, the truth is not in you. No truth in you. We don't have the word of God in us. We lose our fellowship with God. Now, what should we do with our sin? One of the greats verses in the Bible, verse nine. We should confess our sins. Notice sins, plural. Not sin, nature, but sins. And when we do, he that is the Lord is faithful. He is just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Now, what does it mean verse nine, to confess your sin? Does it mean just glibly say, "Okay, yeah, I'm a sinner." I believe there's more involved in that. The word literally means to say the same thing. To say the same thing as. God says you've sinned. And what do you do? You agree with God. And notice, as I pointed out, is not sin, which would be the root, but it sins which would be the fruit. Specific sins must be confessed to God.

If you lie, say, "God, I lied. I agree with you that that's sinful and it's wrong. Please forgive me." Or, "God, I lusted. God, please forgive me. God it's sinful. I know it's wrong." Or, "I stole something. God, I'm sorry. Please forgive me." Or, "God, I've had bitterness or pride or anger in my heart or unforgiveness. God, it's wrong." And you name your sins specifically. You confess your sins unto God.

Now notice you don't have to confess them to a priest. You don't have to confess them to a pastor, you confess them to God. Basically all sin is against God. If you sin against a person, you need to ask them to forgive you. But our sin is against God and we go to God and we confess our sin. I've heard people pray, "Lord, if I've done anything wrong, Lord, just please forgive me." Slap that dude.

What do you mean if? Come on, fess up. "Well, I don't really know if I've done anything wrong. Just please forgive me." Slap him, slap him, slap him. Sorry about that. I just don't know anything else to do but slap people I guess. My wife's always saying, "Don't say slap him. That sounds so rough." What else are you going to do with a guy that lies? You're going, "I ain't going to Pastor John for counseling, that's for sure. He's going to smack me around." It's just a figure of speech. Okay.

It's like, what's this? If I've done anything wrong. Come on. You know they've sinned, the Holy Spirit illuminates it. The Holy Spirit convicts you, so you actually confess sin. You need to do that this morning before you leave church. If you were unkind to your wife or to your husband or your children, or you did something wrong, ask God to forgive you, ask your children to forgive you, ask your wife to forgive you. Confess your sins.

Now notice what happens when we agree with God and we confess our sins. The Bible says that he is faithful and he's just to do two things. Forgive us our sins. And number two, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, verse nine. And I think that these are two things. Number one, he forgives our sins, which mean God removes sins guilt.

You know what the word forgive literally means? It means to carry away. And I'm so glad that God carries my sin away. I want him to carry it a long way away. And I want him to bury it in the deepest ocean. And I want him to put a sign-up that says, "Satan, no fishing." I don't want him calling up my sins. It's buried in the depths of the sea. As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions from us.

John the Baptist looked at Jesus said, "Behold the lamb of God who carries away the sins of the world." He forgives us. And I'm so glad that God has taken all my sins and he carries them away. And every time I still sin and I stumble and I fall, if I agree with God and I confess my sin, God carries away my sin. He removes the guilt, but he also cleanses us from all, what? Unrighteousness. I believe more is involved than just saying with your mouth, "I sin."

I believe that it involves a repentant heart and a turning from sin. That God removes the pollution of sin. And then it involves also the idea of reformation and renewal. That God carries away my sin and then he cleanses or he washes the pollution of sin in my life. That's why when you confess, you feel clean, you feel washed. And now you can have fellowship with God.

We used to sing nothing between my soul and my savior so that his blessed face I can see. We've had a couple of cloudy days, a little drizzly rain yesterday. Thank God for that. But we haven't seen the sun for a couple of days. Haven't been outside today, it's starting to peak out a bit. But the sun is always shining above those clouds, right? The sun never stops shining, but clouds come in and they block the sun from us. And we're not feeling its warmth. We're not seeing its light.

What happens, like clouds, sin comes into your life. And like a cloud, it blocks the warmth of God's love and the experience of God's presence in your life. What confession does is blow away the clouds. And God begins to smile on you with the sunshine of his love, and he washes the guilt and the stain and he cleanses you.

When David sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba, he cried and he says, "Wash me and cleanse me. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Search me and know me and try me and see if there'd be wickedness in me and lead me in the way of everlasting life." When Nathan pointed at David, the prophet said, "You have sinned." David agreed with the word of the Lord and said, "I have sinned." Nathan said, "But God has taken away your sins."

But here's a point I want to make. I forgot to mention first service, God forgives your sins, but the scars and the consequences can remain. This is why it breaks my heart to see a child of God willfully, deliberately sin thinking, "Well, God will forgive me. God will take away my sin." Yes, he will, but the scars can still remain, the consequences.

David was told by the prophet, "The sword will not depart from your house." And David had trouble in his family because of the consequences of his sin and disobedience. We need to confess our sins. But notice in verse 10, there's the third false assertion, if we say we have not sinned. Now this is a profession of saying, "I've never sinned. I have no sin." It starts with sin doesn't affect my relationship to God or I no longer sinned, secondly. And then thirdly, if you say, "I'm not a sinner, I've never sinned. I have not had any sin."

Verse 10, "If we say we have no sin or have not sinned, excuse me, we make him that is God a liar and his word or his truth is not in us." Notice in verse six, we lie. In verse eight, we deceive ourselves. In verse 10, we make God a liar. Notice how it works. We start lying. We become self-deceived, and then we're making God a liar. How do we make God a liar?

You know how you make God a liar? God says you've sinned. You say you haven't sinned. You're trying to make God a liar. God says you've sinned. Either you agree with that, you confess your sin or you disagree. But if you disagree and say, "I haven't sinned," then you're making God a liar. And the very reason and purpose which God sent his son to die on the cross, was to take away your what? Your sins. And now you're saying there is no sin.

The very purpose that Jesus bled, suffered and died on the cross was because of your sin. And for you to deny your sin as though you're making God a liar. And his word, verse 10, is not in you. Our character and conduct should be shaped by God's word. Did you hear what I just said? Your character and your conduct need to be shaped by God's word.

You want to walk in the light? Then you better walk in the word of God. You better open the book, hear the book, and heed the book and live by the book. You can't neglect your Bible and be in fellowship with God. You can't neglect your Bible and live a life of true holiness. His word is not in us. But let me give you the third foundation and we'll wrap this up. The first foundation was the character of God. The second foundation was confessing your sins, agreeing with God that you've sinned, turning from your sin, being cleansed from your sin.

The third foundation for a life of walking in the light and holiness is the cross of Christ. Chapter two, verse one and two, "My little children." John uses this expression seven times in this epistle. He's talking to his children in Christ. He is their spiritual father. He is their pastor. "My little children," an endearing term, "these things write I unto you." John is telling us why he wrote these words that we just read in verse five down to verse 10 of chapter one. "That you do not practice sin. If any man sins. We do have an advocate with the Father and that advocate is Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he that is Jesus Christ," verse two, "is the propitiation or is the satisfaction or the atoning sacrifice for our sins."

And not only for our sins, but also the sins of, what? The whole wide world. I don't believe in limited atonement. I don't believe that the death of Jesus Christ was only for the elect. I believe God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son, that whoever believes in him will never perish, would have everlasting life.

Now, what is the basis of my fellowship with God? The sacrificial death of Christ on the cross. His sacrifice on the cross, his blood. John is addressing his little children, Christians. John's statement of purpose, I don't want you to sin. God's desire, God's will for your life, his holiness. You got that? Not unrighteousness. God doesn't want you to practice sin. He wants you to walk in victory.

We will sin, but not habitually, not willingly, not ongoingly. He says in verse one, "If any man sin," what do we do when we sin? We have two things. We have a personal advocate with a father, and we have a perfect propitiation, God's son died for our sins. Now, what does he mean by advocate there in verse one? He is our advocate.

The word in the Greek is parakletos, which is the same word used for the Holy Spirit in John's Gospel, 14, 15, 16, where John is referring to Jesus speaking, says in John, that he is the comforter or the parakletos. It means one who comes alongside of us to comfort us and to strengthen us and to plead our case. It was used for a lawyer in a courtroom, an advocate we would translate that.

If I have to go to court, I'm going to want a good lawyer. If you're in a trial, you don't go, "I'm going to find a dodo bird lawyer. I want a cheap one. I just want a cheap one." No, you want a good one, one that will defend you, one that will protect you, one that will sit alongside of you and plead your case, right?

Here we are in the courtroom of heaven and I sin. And guess who is the prosecuting attorney? Satan, that old accuser of the brother. Did you see John Miller? See what he just did? See what he just thought? See how sinful he is. He doesn't deserve to be a Christian, a pastor. He doesn't deserve anything. You need to kick him out of your family. And he accuses me before God.

Then my lawyer stands up. Guess who my lawyer is? Jesus Christ, the righteous. Gives all those titles for Jesus. Jesus, he was God in the flesh, the God made, the Savior. Christ, he's a messiah and he's righteous. I got a righteous lawyer. And guess what? The judge is his dad. This is way cool. And he holds up his hands and he says, "Father, yes, John Miller is a flake. And everything Beelzebub said about him is true. But see these wounds in my hand and this wound in my side? I bled and suffered and died. I paid the penalty for John Miller's sin. And he has received me as his savior. He has trusted me and he is forgiven and he is my child."

What does the judge do? He brings down the gavel. "I declare him righteous, forgiven." And I hug my lawyer and I go out of the courtroom praising God. Amen.
Amen.

I'm free. He took my penalty. And the cool thing is that if you notice then in verse two of chapter two, he is now our what? Propitiation. Pro, toward, propitiate. Now a word that's a big theological word, hard to understand. But what it means is that Jesus' death on the cross satisfied the broken law of God the Father. It paid the penalty for my sins. And God now is satisfied with that payment so I can be justified or declared righteous and set free. Not only do I have a defense attorney whose judge is his father, but the Father provided my defense attorney to pay the penalty for my own sin.

My defense attorney says, "Yes, he sinned. Yes, he's guilty. The punishment is death. But I paid the penalty to till us die, paid in full." And now God is not only propitiated, but I am justified. I am declared righteous. What is the basis for you and I to walk in fellowship with God, to walk in communion with God? It's the fact that Jesus died on the cross for me. It's not because of who I am, it's because of what Jesus did.

We have his person and his work. He is my advocate, his person. We have his work, he's my propitiation. He died for my sins. What a glorious, glorious truth that is. The basis for my fellowship with God, the character of God. God is holy. I must walk in the light. My confession of sin, if I confess my sin, God is faithful and just to forgive me of my sin and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness and the cross of Christ. Jesus died on the cross for my sins.

Now, this is illustrated and I'll share this story and then wrap it up. But this is illustrated in John 13 when Jesus washed the disciple's feet. Remember when he came to Peter to wash Peter's feet? Size 13D, big old honking feet, filthy, dirty. And Peter was so overwhelmed of the idea that the Lord would wash his feet. Peter said, "Lord, you're not going to wash my feet. Lord, no, no, you can't wash my feet."

Listen to what Jesus said to Peter. Jesus said, "Peter, if I don't wash your feet, you have no participation with me. You have no fellowship with me. You have no partnership with me." Now, when Peter heard that, that he needed his feet washed to have fellowship with Jesus. Peter overreacted and said, "Okay, then give me a whole bath. Dunk me Lord. I mean not just my feet, my whole bod. Let's do a body wash right now. Let's just do a whole bath."

And then Jesus, free paraphrases, he said, "Peter, calm down. Cool your jets. If you've had a bath, all you need is your feet washed." Now, this is a beautiful picture of the Christian if you've had a bath, the Bible says, "When we're born again, that we've been washed through regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit." You know what happens to you the moment you're born again? You're given a bath and you become a child of God, a son or daughter of God. That's relationship. That's our standing before God that cannot change.

But as we walk through life, after we get saved as Christians, so to speak, our feet get dirty. We think a wrong thought. We say a wrong word. We have a wrong attitude. We do a wrong deed and our feet are dirty. All that we need to have communion with Jesus is to have our feet washed. And what do I need to get my feet washed? Some of you can smell them right now. Some of you have stinky feet.

Some of us need to confess today, "Lord, I need my feet washed." It's confess. Say, "Lord, I'm sorry. Please forgive me." And he will blow away the clouds of your sin and he will smile on you with the sunshine of his love. Nothing between your soul and the Savior so that his blessed face you can see. Some of you need today to say, "Lord, I need my feet wash. I've already had a bath. I've been born again, but I haven't been walking in the light. I haven't been walking in fellowship. I haven't been walking in communion. Lord, wash my feet." And if you do that, God is faithful. God is just, he will forgive your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer.