20260513 Living as a Christian Wednesday Bible Study Mike Dickmann

Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for this

evening. We thank you for your word and your

keeping of it, giving it to us to this very day.

We're asking then now as we open your word this

evening that you would help us, that you'd guide

and direct the time, that you'd open our hearts

through the power of your Holy Spirit, that you

would guide me as I deliver the word, that all

would resound in your glory and our good. And

we ask it in Christ's name, amen. Okay, first

off, half the congregation's not here, but I

listened to the sermon on the way back, and a

reference was made to me in the sermon. So I

wanted to clarify what actually happened in the

administration of discipline. So I'm not trying

to defend myself, but I'm taking this opportunity

really as a teaching opportunity. What we were

trying to do and what really I think everybody

should try to do with their families is to create

a culture and a culture that's built on the word

obviously and proper priorities, but part of

doing that then is to create a culture of love

and honesty. If we don't have love and honesty,

we don't really even have a family, much less

a culture. So all the kids knew that if they

told the truth, the discipline would be lighter.

That's all that was required, really. Admit your

mistake, your sin, whatever it was. So on this

particular instance, everybody, all the children,

should have known who the culprit was. They did

know There's no way they could not know they

were all involved So I just said I said okay,

so who who did it and? Nobody came forward So

I said well who did it? If the person doesn't

come up forward and admit their guilt, then you're

all gonna be punished And so nobody nobody told

on the on the bad guy and the bad guy didn't

never his his sin in the matter so yeah they

all got they all got punished so that that's

how it was and and really you know i don't know

i don't know if i would do it again i probably

would and obviously i guess timothy forgot the

lesson or he he didn't he never got the lesson

so i really didn't accomplish anything with the

with the uh corporal punishment that i did administer

but anyway that was the story So That's that

whether I was right or wrong I'm not I'm not

Judging that but I'm I'm just letting you know

what we what I think is important to do and that

is to establish like I said the culture of honesty

and love So today I got the assignment this morning

And so I I think this is what the Lord would

have me to talk about this evening and hopefully

it is beneficial to those of us that are here.

So if you'd like to turn with me to Ephesians

chapter four and five, we're gonna look at just

a few of these verses. Hopefully we'll get the

first John as a corollary to this place. But

here in Ephesians four, Paul is talking about

the new life in Christ and how it could be lived

out in the church amongst Christians. Everybody

has equal responsibility before the Lord and

before each other to put these truths into practice

with Paul's deliverance. So at the end of chapter

four, in verse like 28, he says, let him that

stole steal no more. but rather let him labor,

working with his hands, the thing which is good,

that he may have to give to him that is needy.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your

mouth, but that which is good, to the use of

edifying, that it may minister grace unto the

hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,

whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger The clamor,

evil speaking, be put away from you with all

malice. So pausing here just a moment, we can

see that there's admonition after admonition

not to sin. Paul was very much aware that it

was a battle for Christians to not sin, to live

a holy life, to live like a Christian should

live, like he's called to live, to live after

the pattern of Christ. And he's telling him that

this is necessary. It's necessary. Hopefully

none of us here has any kind of a real problem

with these things that Paul listed here, but

obviously these New Testament Christians did.

And though we may not have these, what we would

consider gross sin problems, we all do sin. We

all do have a problem with sin and we all must

be in the battle against sin. So again, it's

just a reminder to us. We all know this. We've

probably heard it a hundred times, but we are

reminded of it here, the importance of not sinning.

And one of the main reasons that it's important

is in verse 30, where it says, grieve not the

Holy Spirit of God. And in other places, I think

he's talking about quenching not the Spirit.

So we all have the Spirit, but we're all capable

of grieving the Spirit. We grieve the spirit

by our sin So that's a very important reason

that we don't want to sin the spirit seals us

He sanctifies us. He keeps us. He guides us.

He directs us. He opens the word to us So he's

our close friend and We don't want to grieve

him. He is a person. He is God and in reality

when one of the godhead is listed they're really

all included it's not three separate gods but

that's another that's another story so we don't

want to grieve the spirit but we should be aware

that we have the capability of doing it so let's

not do it so then he's going to go into here

in these next three verses some positive uh admititions

positive facts and I'm gonna read those. I'll

read all three verses beginning in verse 32 and

then on into chapter five, verse two verses.

He says, and be kind one to another, tenderhearted,

forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's

sake has forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers

of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ

has also loved us. and hath given himself for

us for an offering and a sacrifice to God for

a sweet smelling savor. So there's a lot there

and obviously I'm not going to go into great

detail on any of these admonitions and instructions

but again to remind us what that what the sin

was what we used to live in it's what we used

to do what we were what we were all about. We

couldn't get enough of it. But now we're leaving

that behind. And the new man is just the opposite.

So he says here, in verse 5, chapter 1, it says,

Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children.

So that's what we want to do. We want to follow

God. And we don't want to follow God as soldiers

or robots or everybody being exactly the same.

We want to follow God as what? As dear children.

As His dear children. We are followers of God

as His children. He didn't just redeem us. He

just didn't save us. He brought us into His family.

He made us His children. He adopted us. He set

us free from sin. He threw open the prison gates.

We no longer are dominated by sin and the devil.

And we are dominated by the Spirit. and by God

himself who is transforming us into the image

of Jesus Christ. That's what a follower is. If

you're following somebody, you're becoming like

him. That's what Paul's admonishing us to do.

Be followers, be like God. As dear children,

grow up into a mature Christian man and woman.

And it doesn't just happen. It's up to us again.

How much effort are you willing to put into?

How much of a God do you want? We're going to

get into that later. But but so that's that's

the first thing we are children of God. How are

we children of God? Well in chapter 4 we read

that God for Christ's sake has forgiven you and

then in verse 5 we say we see that God, that

Christ, has offered Himself for us. So He's done

it all for us. He's done it all. Jesus Christ

has done it all. He was a sacrifice. It was a

sweet savor unto God. He's given Himself to us.

He's forgiven us. All of our sins washed away.

It's gone forever. That's what God has done for

us. We all know that right? Yeah, but does that

have an effect upon how we live? That's what

Paul said Therefore, how are you gonna live?

Are you gonna be a follower? Are you gonna be

like Christ? And who has given himself entirely?

For the salvation of his people he held nothing

back He didn't deny that the necessity of dying

for sin. There is a punishment for sin. We didn't

just get skipped. Christ took that punishment.

He actually took our punishment. These truths

are things that we all know, but do they have

a real effect upon us? Do we really? Treasure

Christ above all else? Are we really following

after him? As dear children, we desire the Father's

fellowship. We'll see. We'll see when we get

to 1 John. So it says then, if you're going to

walk in love, in verse 2, it tells us to walk

in love. Now think about that. Doesn't say walk

according to the law Walk according to all the

rules It says walk in love You can keep all the

rules you can follow it whatever whatever you

want to bind yourself to But if you're not walking

in love, that's all meaningless If you're walking

in love you will not sin you will please God

I mean, let's not kid ourselves. If you love

me, Christ says, you will keep my commandments.

There are commandments. Christ has his commandments.

He didn't tell us, if you love me, keep Moses's

law. He didn't say, if you love me, put yourself

back under that law and do what it says. That's

not what he said. He said, if you love me, you

keep my commandments. You will walk in love.

That's how you will walk in love. You will be

like me. You will love as I love. And then in

particular, it tells us back in verse 32, it

says, be kind one to another. Tender hearted,

forgiving one another. Now if you're doing that,

is it going to be even possible for you to sin?

Can you do that and sin? Well, you can't You

can't do both. One is light and one is dark.

We're going to see it in first John, but they're

total opposite So we want to we want to spend

our time and our efforts and our energies and

our Studies on the light on the positive Be kind

one to another Hopefully we are hopefully I can

say yeah, we're kind We are kind one to another

we want the other ones good. We want the other

one to benefit We want the other one to receive

the blessing We're kind we go out of our way

To do things for one another We are we're kind

one to another we're tender -hearted It's the

direct opposite of hard -heartedness. We're tender

-hearted. We're affected by other people's problems.

We're affected by other people's blessings. We

rejoice, we cry. We're tender. Other people have

an effect upon us. We don't hold ourselves aloof,

in other words. We become... What is, we live

out what we actually are as a body of Christ,

joined together in Christ. What happens to one

affects the whole body. That's tenderheartedness.

So your actions have an effect upon other people

because everybody should be tenderhearted. We're

not isolated, we're not in a vacuum. What we

do affects everybody. That's what Paul's telling

us. We need to realize this and we need to act

accordingly, forgiving one another. What do I

need to say? We are going to hurt one another's

feelings. We are going to be encountering difficulties

and problems if we're living close together.

Some of us or maybe most of us here are married.

And there's nobody I love more than my wife.

But even we have difficulty. It's usually my

fault. I'm not going to throw any shade on my

wife. But there's always something to work out.

There's tension sometimes. There's disagreements.

Forgiving one another. Most of the time, you

don't even say anything. forgotten about. And

that's what most of these hurt feelings and everything

should. It doesn't need to be blown up and make

a big deal out of it. We just forgive each other.

Nobody is going to need more forgiveness than

we ourselves before God. That's the point. God

has forgiven us everything when we deserve exactly

the opposite. Therefore it's easy for us or it

should be easy for us to forgive one another.

It's not always that way Because we're still

in the flesh, but that's the idea Just remember

how much you have been forgiven in your relationships

and dealings with one another So it's a beautiful

picture there of Christian relations living together

in the church living together as families Following

after Christ we should we should really I think

we should say following hard after Christ putting

the decent effort into Being desiring it So that's

the picture there. That's what that's the positive

Christian life It's the positive relationship

that we have with God and with each other And

it's it's a beautiful relationship it's it's

wonderful it doesn't happen without the church

remember that so then if you turn with me then

to first john john wrote this epistle so that

All of the Christians would know that they had

eternal life. That was the purpose of the letter.

We want everybody to be assured of their standing

before God. And again, that's vitally important.

If you don't have assurance of your salvation,

it's very difficult to walk in confidence and

with love and everything that we've already talked

about. Because you're always wondering, you're

always in doubt. Am I really saved? Are my sins

really forgiven? So on and so forth. So John

doesn't want that. He wants these folks to know.

And so he starts off here, and this is just a

remarkable beginning to a letter here. If you

let it sink in, it's just wonderful. So he says,

that which was from the beginning, which we have

heard, which we have seen with our own eyes.

Which we have looked upon and our hands have

handled of the word of life Now he's talking

about Jesus Christ there. So you realize that

for the life was manifested 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 So there's Jesus Christ again. Jesus

Christ is the life He said so himself. I'm the

way, the truth, and the life. John's witnessing

to that. And it's this eternal life. It's not

just life, it's eternal life. He was with the

Father. From all eternity he was with the Father.

He was in the glory of heaven, the close relationship

with his Father. And then, at the appropriate

time, at the exact time, was manifested unto

us. He revealed himself unto us, John says. And

then he says in verse 3, that which we have seen

and heard declare we unto you. I'm not making

this up, he says. This isn't my gospel. This

isn't something that I just decided to tell you

about. This is something that we have felt, we've

heard, we've seen it. We declare unto you. He's

declaring what he knows to be true All about

Jesus Christ. It's all about Christ here as always

So he says we declare unto you that you also

may have fellowship with us So there's that the

fellowship that we were talking about back in

Ephesians John once fellowship with these folks

He wants to have a relationship with these folks.

And he wants them to be happy in their relationship

with him. And the only way that this can happen

again, as we've already said, and as John now

repeats for us, is that we are in Christ. We

are in eternal life. We are living in the regeneration.

We're not in the world. We're not like we were.

So he says, that you might have fellowship with

us. And then here's the kicker. And truly, our

fellowship is with the Father and with His Son,

Jesus Christ. Now, do you have fellowship with

the Father and with the Son? Hopefully you do.

Hopefully when you get in your closets and open

your Bibles and prayer, that's... It's real fellowship

to you. You are experiencing God when you're

having your quiet time or devotional or whatever

you call it. You're not just sitting there in

an empty room. Now how do you do that? Well,

you prepare yourself. You come expectantly. Maybe

you have to sing a hymn. Maybe you have a favorite

song or a favorite verse or so whatever it is

that you need to read To bring all of these things

that you know to your mind Then you ask God to

be with you you ask God to open his word to you

Encourage you through the Holy Spirit And you

start to read the word and you it certain parts

jump out at you You make notes or whatever you

do it In other words, it's you're not studying

the Bible just to be studying the Bible like

any other book You're studying the Bible to be

in fellowship with God through Jesus Christ in

the power of the Holy Spirit It's a real relationship

in other words This this relationship with other

folk other Christians is really all about the

fellowship that we have with Jesus Christ and

our Father. That's what John's saying. It's a

personal relationship. So it's good. It's fun.

It's strengthening. It's comforting. It meets

the need of all of our hearts. And it's just

an amazing thing to think about that everybody

can read the same chapter and everybody can get

something for themselves out of that same chapter.

Why? Because the Holy Spirit's involved. He's

using the Word in an individual basis to speak

to individual Christians. And here. In verse

four, here's the really exciting thing. And these

things write we unto you that your joy may be

full. And there you have it. How's your joy gonna

be full? Is your joy full? Joyful. Are you joyful?

The joy of the Lord. The joy. of knowing eternal

life, knowing Jesus Christ, serving Jesus Christ,

being empowered to live for Christ by the Holy

Spirit. Is that our joy? Is that your joy? Would

you rather do that than anything else? Where

is your joy coming from? If it's not coming from

the Lord, if it's not coming from your personal

relationship with Jesus Christ and the Father

through the power of the Holy Spirit. And you

say, well, I do have joy. And that's a wonderful

thing, a statement. If you can make that statement,

that's wonderful. Hopefully we all can. But it's

not full. And it never will be full. Until that

day. Until that day that we are there. Or we

meet him in the air. One of the two. Then the

joy will be full. So what am I saying? So I'm

saying... Don't ever be convinced that this is

all that you're ever going to get, because it's

not. You can get whatever you want. What do you

want? What's the desire of your heart? If you

have no desire, you'll have no joy. If you have

no desire, you'll have a very shallow and just

elemental relationship with the Lord. It's not

that much different in a relationship here. If

you're in a relationship with a man or with a

woman, you're not just satisfied with saying,

hello, I had a good day, everything's fine, bye.

That isn't. That doesn't cut it, does it? That

will never cut it. It's just like that. You got

to go deeper than that. It's not quarter to nine

Good so then in verse 5 we say this then is the

message which we have heard of him and declare

unto you that God is light and In him is no darkness

at all if we say that we have fellowship with

him 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 so there we have it again this contrast the

old darkness everything is darkness and sin and

decay and now it's all light and life, and joy,

and rejoicing in our fellowship with the eternal

life. And then, it's really a test here. He says,

if you're walking in the light, you have fellowship.

And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from

all sin. So how do you know that your sins are

forgiven? How do you know that you're cleansed?

Well, you know that your sins have been forgiven

because you're walking in the light. You have

fellowship with the light. You have fellowship

with one another. In other words, you're doing

the right things. It's not really complicated.

You expect to have fellowship with God and walk

in darkness? You expect to have the assurance

of your salvation that your sins are forgiven

if you're walking in darkness Maybe you think

that you're just neutral I'm not really walking

in darkness, and I'm not really that excited

about the light. I'm just kind of I'm in the

middle Maybe you think I'm in the gray area and

there's plenty of people who think like that

And maybe they're Christians, and maybe they

aren't but they sure shouldn't have any assurance

of your salvation under those circumstances.

So are you all out for God? Are you all in the

light? Are you shunning the darkness? If that's

true of you, your sins are forgiven. You can

have assurance of your salvation, in other words.

That's what John is saying. And then I'll wrap

it up with this. In verse 8, 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." So John, as in all of the

writings of scriptures, they want reality. They're

not they're not interested in pretend they want

reality We all sin we all have a problem We're

none of us are perfect We're agreeing with God

if we're a Christian. We already agreed with

God and admitted our sin That's though that's

the life that's that's that's the battle that's

the battle that we're involved with all of our

lives It can wax and wane and change from day

to day, month to month. Sometimes we're on top

of the mountain, sometimes for maybe years. Then

all of a sudden we fall off the cliff and we've

got to get back up again. That's life. That's

the Christian life. That's one of the biggest

differences between the world and the Christian.

The world just goes on living and they don't

have a clue of what they're doing. Their sin

doesn't bother them a bit. They die and they're

on the brink of hell, but they don't know it.

They don't care. Their destiny is sealed and

they're going into judgment and they're gonna

be damned forever. Their sin never bothered them.

The Christian's not like that. The Christian's

bothered by his sin. and we confess our sin.

Now you say your sin's all forgiven and that

it has been. Christ died for our sins and that's

it. We are perfect before God. That's what we

believe. That's our position in Christ. So what

does that mean? Well, how does that affect our

personal relationship to Christ through and with

our Father? Does that mean that when we mess

up and sin that we don't have to admit it and

ask forgiveness? Well, John says we do. We know

for sure that he's going to forgive us. That's

what John told us. When we confess our sins,

he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

So that's a big, the biggest indication here

for me anyway, is that this is a personal relationship.

We must maintain this personal relationship.

We can't presume upon our forgiveness. We can't

make light of sin. We confess it. We tell him

about it. You say he already knows. Of course

he already knows. That's got nothing to do with

it. You confess your sin to God. Now I know we

can't confess every little sin. I'm not saying

anything like that. But when the Holy Spirit

convicts you of something, you better talk to

God about it. That's how our relationship is

maintained. If we need forgiveness, we need to

ask with full assurance and confidence that we

will be forgiven. And when you do that, that

should give you a big gigantic lift of joy and

happiness when you know you have the forgiveness

of God for your sin. So it's a wonderful life.

Well, that's a movie But this this really is

a wonderful life. This is a life full of wonder

Knowing God experiencing God growing in our love

for God I thought I loved Christ when I was converted,

but I didn't love him anywhere near what I do

now That's a growth that's knowing more of myself

and more of God Hopefully that's what we're all

after. We all want God. We all want a real relationship

with God through Jesus Christ. One that is full

of joy and happiness and assurance of our standing

before Him. Okay, we got a few minutes if there's

any questions. I know I didn't say anything new.

Verse what verse 9 I thought I said enough of

what you got a question Well, that's what he

does that's what forgiveness of sins is Well,

it's also giving you the hope that you you don't

have to sin You are cleansed from all unrighteousness.

Does it talk about sanctification too? Well,

yeah that's a word for it. Conformity to Christ.

Okay.