How to Experience Fellowship with Jesus

1 John 1 speaks of our fellowship as Christians, which comes through the life that we have in Jesus Christ. In this message, Adrian Rogers shares three things we must know in order to experience and enjoy the sweetest fellowship this side of Heaven.

Now not everybody here in this congregation and not everybody listening to me by television has life.
You say if I don’t have life, how could I be listening?
Because you can be existing and not have life.
Jesus spoke of an unsaved woman or the Bible says this, she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she lives.
That’s the reason Jesus said in John chapter 10 in verse and I’ve come that you might have life and have it abundantly.
Now he was talking to people whose heart were already beating blood flowing through the veins, but Jesus said, you don’t have life.
You have an existence.
ProFound truce simply stated. This is love worth finding with pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers.
The finding first John.
First John, and that’s right back near the back of the Bible, almost to the book of the Revelation, the first John, and find the first chapter And we’re gonna be studying the book of 1st John.
It’s not a very long book, only 5 chapters, and, uh, we’re going to enjoy it.
The title of our study, the sweetest fellowship, this side of heaven, because the theme, uh, first John is fellowship.
You know, John wrote, five books of the Bible, he wrote the gospel of John, and the purpose of the gospel of John was to convince sinners.
That is to lead us to faith in Christ.
And then he wrote the book of the Revelation, and the purpose of the, uh, book of the Revelation was to comfort saints.
Done to help us to understand the days in which we’re living and and to give us a hope for the second coming of the lord Jesus.
But, uh, then he wrote these epistles. He’s wonderful epistles And they are written, uh, to confirm saints.
And so we thank god for this epistle that has for its theme, the word no, k n o w, and the word fellowship, and the word life.
Look, if you will, now as we read and we’re going to share together the first four verses, the apostle John says that which was from the beginning, which we have heard and which we have seen with our our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life, underscore the phrase, the word of life for the life was manifested, underscore the word life, And we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the father and was manifested unto us.
That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that, uh, ye also may have fellowship with us, underscore the word fellowship, And truly, our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ.
These things right we unto you that your joy may be full underscore the word joy.
Now what is this this fellowship? This this wonderful fellowship?
Well, it is a fellowship that comes through the life that we have with the lord Jesus Christ.
Now not everybody here in the congregation and not everybody listening to me by television has life.
You say if I don’t have life, how could I be listening?
Because you can be existing and not have life.
Jesus spoke of an unsaved woman or the Bible says this, she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she lives.
Uh, the walking dead, dead while they live.
That’s the reason Jesus said in John chapter 10 and verse 10, I’ve come that you might have life and have it abundantly.
Now he was talking to people whose hearts were already beating blood flowing through the veins, but Jesus said, you don’t have life.
You have an existence. And oyster has existence, but it certainly doesn’t have life as we consider life today.
The life that is full and free in the lord Jesus Christ.
Now in order to experience this life and enjoy this life, this life that is full and free The apostle John tells us three things in these few verses that we’ve looked at.
And first of all, he tells us that there is a fact That is established. Write it down.
A fact established. Look, if you will, here in verse 1.
Look at that which we that which was from the beginning, which we have heard and which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life.
Now the devil always wants to muddy things.
The devil always wants to distort and deny things And, of course, the greatest truth is the truth concerning the lord Jesus Christ.
And so the devil since the lord Jesus Christ was here on earth and even before he came, has been trying to confuse people as to who the lord Jesus is was and always will be.
So John starts out to establish who Jesus is.
It and remember now we’re talking about that this life is a fact a fact of FACT, a fact established.
And he’s saying here that Jesus is now write it down. Jesus is an eternal fact.
Jesus is an eternal fact. Look, if you will, that which was from the beginning.
He is the Christ of the Eternities.
And John had already written in his gospel, and John 11 in the beginning was the word in the beginning was the word.
Before anything began to begin, Jesus was there. Uh, and that is god’s for Jesus.
The word in the beginning was the word, and the word was with god, and the word was god.
Uh, Jesus has called the word of god in Revelation chapter 19, uh, verse 13, speech of Jesus coming in glory, and it says, and he was clothed with the best you’re dipped in blood.
And his name is called the word of god. Now that’s interesting, isn’t it? Jesus is called the word here.
We see here in verse 1, he’s called the word of life.
John 11, he’s called, uh, the word of god. Well, what is a word?
A word is the expression of an invisible thought and idea.
Jesus is the visible expression of the invisible god. Jesus articulates god.
He is god’s, uh, first word. Uh, he was there in the beginning, and the beginning was the word.
He is god’s full word. He says over in the book of Revelation, that he’s the Alpha and the omega, the word of god.
The Alpha and the omega. You know what that means?
The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, Alpha, and Omega.
If he were speaking to us today, he’d say he’s the aid of the Z.
I have uh, 100s and 100s of books in my library.
All of them are made up with just 26 letters.
Every thought every thought in in my library is just 26 letters, uh, and what Jesus is saying, I’m God’s alphabet.
Anything that god’s going to say He’s going to say through me and by me.
Uh, Jesus is god’s first word. He’s god’s full word. And he’s he’s god’s final word.
Book of rep uh book of Hebrews says, god hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son.
Now, friend, when you’ve said Jesus, you’ve said it all. Can’t say anymore, and you don’t need to say anymore.
Uh, all of the revelation of god is wrapped up in the lord Jesus Christ. And he is a fact.
He is an eternal fact. He’s he’s the word that existed before anything else was created He is the expression, uh, the visible physical expression of the invisible spiritual god, but not only is he not only is Jesus Christ an eternal fact, but write this down.
Jesus is a physical fact. That’s very important that you understand this.
Now notice what John is saying, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we’ve looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life.
Now John says he wasn’t a phantom. He wasn’t a ghost. He said we had the audible evidence.
We heard him. Had they had tape players back in that day, you could have taped the voice of the lord Jesus.
And then not only was there audible evidence, there was visible evidence, John says, we saw him, that which we’ve looked upon.
And John uses the word Theomai. It’s the word we get our word theater from.
It means to look carefully. John said, look, I was with him for 3 years. I watched him.
I saw him And not only was there the audible evidence, not only was there the visible evidence, there was the physical evidence.
He said we handled him. We touched him. Let me tell you what Jesus Christ was like.
Jesus Christ weighed a £180. He had chestnut hair He was 6 feet tall or something like that.
I mean, I don’t know what he was, but it but there were the actual physical dimensions.
I am saying that Jesus Christ was in human form. He was born of a virgin.
He was as much a man as if he were not god at all. Now let me tell you this.
It’s as much a heresy to deny the humanity of Jesus as it is the deity of Jesus.
Now you have to understand that. He was god very god. He wasn’t half god and half man.
He wasn’t all god and no man. He wasn’t all man and no god. He was the god man.
Never another light. The lord Jesus Christ.
But remember, the humanity of the lord Jesus Christ, and it if you deny the humanity of of Jesus, you’re denying Christianity That’s what John is saying.
Look, listen. We saw him. We heard him. We touched him.
The word of life, he is an eternal fact, but he is a physical fact.
Thank god for his humanity. You see, apart from his humanity, I couldn’t be saved.
He became a man to die on the cross.
And apart from his shedding of blood, there’s no remission of sin. Apart from his humanity, I have no example.
I can’t follow as an example, the god and the glory, because I’m a human.
He’s not a human. But I can walk as Jesus walk, and I wanna tell you something, friend, when Jesus Christ was upon this earth, he did not pull rank on me every miracle he did, he did not as god would do a miracle.
He did the miracle as man filled the holy spirit would do the miracle.
All of the life that he lived.
He lived as a man, and he depended upon the same power that Adrian can depend upon day by day and moment by moment.
So he is my redeemer because he’s a man.
He’s my example because he’s a man, and I wanna tell you he’s my comfort or friend because he’s a man.
I don’t have a high Priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of mine firmities.
He was tempted in all points like as I am, and thank god he knows and he cares and he understands.
So what is John talking about when he’s talking about this life?
He is talking about an established fact, but I wanna tell you something else.
Not only is he an eternal fact and not only is he a physical fact, but I wanna say something else about him.
He is a spiritual fact. Now what do you mean by that? We’ll look and see what John is saying.
That which we that which was from the beginning, the eternal fact, which we have heard and which we’ve seen with our eyes, we’ve looked upon with our hands, our hands of handle of a word of life, a physical fact.
For the life was manifested, we have seen it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life.
Now now wait a minute. These other people haven’t seen. No. That’s right.
John says, I am gonna tell you what I have seen so that you can believe.
I have never seen Jesus. I’ve never heard Jesus. I’ve never touched Jesus.
Not with my hands, but I believe in him because Jesus Christ is also a spiritual fact.
He is not here now in a physical body, but the Holy Spirit of god reveals him.
And as John heard him, faith now becomes the ear of the soul.
As John has seen him, faith now becomes the eye of the soul as faith has felt him as as John had felt him, faith now becomes the hands of the soul.
We can know him through the spirit. Let me give you a verse.
John says over here in first John chapter 5 in the back, beginning verse 9, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of god is greater.
For this is the witness which god of god which he had testified of his son.
You see, god sends the Holy Spirit now to testify through the words of the apostles and we have the words of the apostles.
There there was a a college professor who was an atheist, and he loved to ridicule the students.
And so he he asked his students, have any of you ever heard god? Nobody answer.
Have any of you ever seen god? Uh, nobody answered. Have any of you ever touched god?
Nobody answered. He said, so there is no god.
And the class sat there, all of them cowed and so forth until one student lifted his hand and said, uh, professor, uh, may I may I ask a question to the class?
He said, alright. He said, have any of you uh, heard the professor’s brain.
Nobody answered. Have any of you, uh, touched the professor’s brain? Nobody answered.
Have any of you seen the professor’s brain? Nobody answered.
He said, then we can conclude the professor has no brain according to his logic. No.
You see, Paul, uh, John said that which we’ve seen and that which we’ve heard, we declare into you And then the Bible says, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of god is greater.
And today, I am not dependent upon oratory or illustration or logic to convince you.
Thank god the Holy Spirit of God is here to say what he’s saying is true.
That is the witness of god. Jesus is an eternal fact. Jesus is a physical fact.
Jesus is a spiritual fact, and the Holy Spirit of god testifies unto the lord Jesus Christ.
So what is this life? The first point, it is a fact established.
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2nd point, it is a fellowship experienced. Not only a fact, but a fellowship.
Now look, if you will, in verse 2.
For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and showing to you that eternal life, which was with the father and was manifested unto us, and that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye may have fellowship with us.
Now John wants to share it. John said I saw it. And now I wanna share it.
And anybody who sees it hears, that knows it wants to share it. Amen? Yeah.
That’s the reason why we call witnesses and not lawyers. Uh, law yard is a case.
A witness tells what he’s seen and heard.
And the only person who can’t witness this person that hadn’t seen or heard anything.
Now he says, I do this. That you might have fellowship. What is fellowship?
Fellowship is not coffee and donuts.
Fellowship is not, as some people acutely say, 2 people, 2 fellows in the same ship.
What is fellowship? This is a very technical word that you may have fellowship with us.
It is the Greek word, Coinania. Now get that word in your heart and in your mind.
That needs to be in your vocabulary.
It is the Greek word, and it means to hold things in common.
That is this Jesus This established fact because of this established fact that is established, there is a fellowship that is experienced that we can have fellowship one with another.
It literally means to have, uh, something in common. Now notice who we have fellowship with.
Notice he says in verse 3, Our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ.
Well, that brings up a real question. How can what do I have in common with the father? Nothing.
Nothing. He’s holy. I’m unholy. He is almighty. I am a worm.
And how can Adrian have fellowship with god? But yet the apostle John says our fellowship is with the father.
I have nothing in common with the father. Notice the in verses 56.
This then is the message which you have heard of him and declared to 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.
We’re in the dark. He’s in the light.
I mean, there’s a There’s a great chasm between us and almighty god.
So how can I have fellowship with almighty god? Here’s how.
This god who knows as a chasm between Adrian and himself and between you and himself sent the lord Jesus Christ to take something that is common between us, human flesh.
Jesus becomes a man. And now he never discards his deity, but now he takes humanity.
And now we begin to have lightness. We become uh, together.
He he takes on the nature of man that I might take on, the nature of god, And he says in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 4, you’re gonna love this.
We are now have become partakers of the divine nature. Now partakers of the divine nature.
And the word partaker that is translated there, Peter translates it there, is exactly the same word that has translated fellowship over here in first John.
We have the fellowship of the divine nature.
You see, Jesus took humanity And and and therefore, he became like I am that I might become like he is, that we might have that he took the very nature of man that we might take the nature of god.
And so I have fellowship with god through the lord Jesus Christ I mean, a worm like I am can walk and talk and fellowship with him and can sing.
I come to the garden alone when the dew is still on the roses.
And the voice I hear falling on my ear, the son of god discloses and he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I’m his own.
That’s the fellowship, the coin and ear that we have with him because of the incarnation And that’s the reason old John is saying, look, he’s a man.
He’s a man. We saw him. We touched him. We heard him.
He took the nature of man that we might take the nature of god.
And and we have become partakers of the divine nature.
And then you see, look, not only then do we have fellowship with god, but it follows as night follows day, then we must have fellowship with one another.
Because when I am born of god and you’re born of god, the same nature that’s in Adrian is in you and the Jesus in me is gonna love the Jesus in you.
We have the same nature. We’re born from the same womb, from the womb of grace.
And, that’s that’s so important.
And that’s the reason why the Bible calls that Philippians 15 the quantity of the gospel or the fellowship of the gospel.
That’s the reason it’s in Philippians 2 verse 1. It’s called the Cornania or the fellowship of the spirit.
And so listen. Listen. This fellowship, it’s a fact established. It is a fellowship experience.
And now here’s the third thing very quickly. It is a fullness in joy.
Look if you will now in verse 4. And these things right, we under you. That’s your joy.
May before there is no joy, like the joy of knowing one another in the lord Jesus Christ.
And that’s the reason we call this book, the sweetest fellowship, this side of heaven.
Now I don’t know about all of you.
I don’t know about all those folks up there, but I know one thing about every mother’s child in this building, you want joy.
I mean, you want joy.
And this is where joy is felt John says, this is why I wrote this book, but you might have joy.
A woman lost her house keys.
She couldn’t find she looked all over the house, and she couldn’t find she looked in a purse, and there there were.
You know why she didn’t find them before she looked in a purse?
She’s looking in the wrong place because the keys were in a purse.
Now you can look all over for joy, but you’re not gonna find joy until you find it in the lord Jesus Christ.
Joy is the byproduct a fellowship with god and fellowship with the family.
Psalm 16 verse 11, that will show me the path of life and thy presence is fullness of joy.
At thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. You know, sin promises joy, but it never delivers it.
You many of you have maybe a 100 television channels coming into your house right now.
We have more entertainment, more amusement, more restaurants, yet more loneliness and more depression and more alcoholism and more drugs and more divorce and more suicide than ever.
Why? Because, friend, there’s only true joy in the lord Jesus Christ.
Now I’m not saying that you can’t you can be a lost person and be happy for a while.
We’re not talking about happiness, we’re talking about joy. Happiness depends upon what happens. Joy depends upon the lord.
The Bible says rejoice in the lord.
If you live for happiness, you’re a prison president of circumstances because if the circumstances change, then you’re not happy anymore.
But Jesus never changes. Happiness is a cosmetic. It’s on the outside. Joy is character.
It is on the inside. Happiness only meet your surface needs, but joy meets your deepest needs.
Therefore, happiness is like a thermometer.
It just registers conditions Joy is the thermostat that controls the conditions happiness evaporates in a crisis.
Joy, many times, intensifies in a crisis. Happiness is wonderful.
We’re talking about miles of smiles, but let me tell you something, friend.
Happiness is at its fullest when it is mingle with joy when you know the joy of the lord.
And so, uh, what, John is saying is, look. But let me tell you about this life.
This life. It comes from god It is real. It is a fact. It is established.
And it results in a fellowship experience.
There’s a coin in here we have fellowship with god and fellowship with one another.
And then there’s a fullness in joy. We have joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Now let me say this. Jesus friend is the word of god. He is the word of god.
And he’s speaking here today. He’s communicating. He’s the word of god.
Let’s just say that he’s broadcasting today on station w o r d. He’s broadcasting.
And he’s broadcasting because he he loves you.
Now would you say if would you say in the physical realm that there’s no music in there just because your radio was turned off.
You see, just because you’ve turned off the radio, wouldn’t you be a fool to deny the music?
I mean, would you say it’s not there just because the radio is not on? No.
Let me ask you a question. Do you have your radio on today?
Do you have your antenna up? Jesus is here. He’s here. Don’t say he’s not here. He’s here.
He’s here. A lot of folks tuned in. Hold this the station w r d.
He is the word of life. It’s life that you need.
And John said, I wrote these things. That you might have fullness of joy.
I’m gonna tell you something.
I believe when I believe when I started preaching it, but I believe it’s so much more now.
I was saved as a team, and he’s kept me all these years.
But I can honestly and sincerely say this. And I know that god is listening.
He means more to me today.
Farmer than when I first met.
I’m not finding hidden flaws.
To know god, to know our brothers and sisters in Christ, when that is fullness of joy.