Word of Life is Light

Good morning. How wonderful to join the angels in heaven in rejoicing over Liberty and her decision to make Jesus Christ her Lord and Savior! Praise the Lord!

God is good

and

All the time

Amen!

Let’s Pray

START OBS

This morning we start on a new adventure. As The Bait of satan sermon series was coming to an end I began to think about what God wanted me to bring next.

I thought about some topical things but we just spend many weeks covering different topics or lies of satan and how to overcome them with the truth of God’s Word

The book of James kept coming to mind and will probably be something we tackle again at some point in what is left of this year or next

Romans is another book that keeps coming to mind and one that we will tackle together at some point in the future.

I Peter came to mind and I actually began to prepare for it but God moved and said to go to I John.

So we will dive into I John together for the next few weeks, you guys know me I never know how long a series is going to be…God is in control of that

I John is written by the disciple and apostle John

John along with James and Peter made up Jesus’ inner circle....they were very close to Jesus

He lived with Jesus and personally witnessed Jesus’ ministry here on earth in a very personal, intimate way

There is an old saying the more things change the more they stay the same

That is true

The things God through John addresses here in about 90 or 95 AD are the same things we see and address today

Names have changed but truth has not!

Praise the Lord for that, Truth that never changes!

Theologians believe the false teachers John was referring to and combating were teaching Gnosticism

This was just beginning to emerge and infiltrate the early church

Make no mistake about it satan and his lies and false teachers love to infiltrate the church

Love to sow seeds of discontent and discord in the church

If he can get us fighting over the color of the carpet and things that have no eternal value it is much easier for him to infiltrate the church and deceive many

Remember satans only goal is to kill steal and destroy

Gnosticism was influenced by philosophers like Plato

it is advanced dualism that is asserting that matter was inherently evil and spirit was good.

These false teachers taught partial deity of Christ

They denied His true humanity.

Since they believed spirit is good then sin didn’t matter because it was present in the body, which was evil but spirit was good regardless

Sin didn’t matter so therefore Christ didn’t matter

That sounds very familiar doesn’t it?

Sounds like culture today

This is a big reason I felt led to I John

it gives 1st solid doctrine for you and I to stand upon

Then it gives practical calls to return to the basics of Christianity

Let’s dive right in shall we?

I John 1:1-4

________________________________________

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”

First notice

In the beginning…same phrase John uses in John 1:1 showing Jesus present from the beginning of time and creation

Here beginning is the beginning of the Gospel being preached

The beginning of Jesus’ ministry

John is showing the Gospel message has never changed it is the same always and forever

In these first 4 verses then John establishes he was with Jesus and is testifying and proclaiming Jesus…eternal life

He writes with the authority of one who was there because he was there

Fellowship

here John is not referring to physical or social fellowship but spiritual…eternal fellowship

As genuine Christians we have fellowship in eternal life

Through Jesus we are never out of fellowship

Jesus was real

He lived

He died

He rose again

All one needs is to confess Him as Lord and believe God raised Him from the dead and they are saved and have eternal fellowship

Fellowship with God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit is what you and I were created for but sin got in the way

sin stands in they way

Until sin is dealt with you will never have fellowship with God

Fellowship with each other also starts with Jesus

This is a physical fellowship on a physical level but is based upon spiritual fellowship on an eternal level which should produce joy in you!

I John 1:5-10

_________________________

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say 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 we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

There is a LOT going on here

First notice vs 5

“This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you”

Heard from Jesus Himself

Remember John walked with Jesus Himself

John was in Jesus’ inner circle

He knew Jesus

He heard directly from Jesus

By the way if you are a true Christian you hear from Jesus all the time

You will also hear from Jesus face to face in heaven.....what a wonderful thought

what a wonderful truth to give us hope!

John is proclaiming what he heard

All of us as Christians should hear from God through His Word and Holy Spirit and proclaim what we hear

So many Christians today claim they never hear God.....

If that is true they are Christian in name only

Romans 10:9-17

_________________________

English Standard Version Chapter 10

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

I started to just put verse 17 but I wanted you to see a lot of context with this because it makes it clear

In vs 9 and 10 we see how to be saved

Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord

Make Jesus Lord of your Life

take up your cross and deny yourself to live for and through Jesus

Believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead

Not just think it

Not just agree with it

Believe it

Then you are saved!

That is awesome but I wanted you to see what comes after that because so many times we stop at verse 10 but it is not the end of the conversation

First we see the spiritual transformation

No matter what happens in the physical, true Christians will not be put to shame because they have eternal life

It also eliminates all physical differences as worries

No Jew

No Greek

Physical bloodline does not matter any longer only Spiritual bloodline......having the blood of Jesus cover your sins

EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved

Even you

even me

It doesn’t matter what you have done

are doing

or will do

If you truly confess Jesus with your mouth and believe God raised Him from the dead you are saved

Period

End of Story

What a wonderful message and Truth

vs 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

You are to preach

Preach with your life

Let people see the transformation Christ has done in you

How will they ever believe if they never hear

They won’t

If you are a Christian, a true Christian here today you have not only heard from God but responded to God

Praise the Lord!

Vs 17 So faith comes by hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ

You can’t have faith until you have heard from God

If you are convicted here this morning it is not Pastor Josh you hear but God

If you are being drawn to Jesus here this morning, those butterflies, that urge to move and do something, that realization that hell is real and you are headed there because of your sin

That is God in the form of the Holy Spirit calling you to Jesus the only way to deal with your sin and the only way to heaven!

You have heard, will you have faith?

What is faith

Hebrews 11:1

________________________

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

What are the things hoped for?

Jesus

Heaven

Forgiveness of sins

Romans 8:24-25

________________________

“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Faith is believing despite never seeing with our physical eyes

Many say that is impossible

Show me the wind

Go ahead

Show it to me

Make me see it with my eyes

You can’t

Whey because you can’t see the wind

Some will say the trees move

That is the result of the wind not the wind

Some will say I feel it

Again result of the wind not seeing the wind

Those same say they can’t believe something they can’t see but they are liars

They believe the wind but the will never see the wind

They just refuse to believe in Jesus!

IF you are a Christian, a true Christian this morning you have hope and that hope produces faith

Live like you have hope and faith and others will see and hear God

Preach! use words when you have to

Back to this morning

What did John hear?

God is light and in Him is no darkness at all

God is light

Light comes from a Greek noun phos (foce)

foce means in a metaphoric sense of truth and its knowledge

When you see light in the Bible it usually refers to Biblical truth

darkness comes from a Greek noun skotia (skat-ee-ah) it means dimness and obscurity

In a metaphoric sense it means ignorance of divine things, and its associated wickedness and the resultant misery in hell

God is Truth and its knowledge and in Him is no ignorance of divine things and its associated wickedness and misery in hell

Church this is deep

This is powerful

God is light and in Him is no darkness at all

None

I want you to get this

This became very clear to me watching football with Logan yesterday

God blessed me with Logan coming home for my birthday on Friday and blessed me with some one on one time with him yesterday. Thank you Jesus

As we were watching commercials Logan kept saying they just miss it

There was one about football being life

He looked at me and said that is wrong football is not life Jesus is life

What a blessing to know that my son knows Jesus!

He didn’t get to that opinion on His own but He got there through the Holy Spirit and Jesus!

God has zero darkness

Anytime you choose darkness you reject God

Anytime you choose God you reject darkness

Check your hearts…actually don’t do that you will lie to yourself

Ask God to check your heart for darkness that His Light can drive out

Vs 6 “If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness we lie and do not practice truth”

Massive words and Truth here

Obedience matters

Anyone who says you can be a Christian and refuse to follow God’s Word is a liar

Not my words God’s Words

If you claim Fellowship with Him.....if you claim to be saved and you choose to walk in darkness you do not practice truth

Fellowship is comes from a Greek noun kionania (Kay-nohn-ee-ah) means association, community, communion, joint participation, partnership

If you have a partnership with God but continue habitually

willingly walk in sin you do not practice truth

Not sinning itself

we all sin

vs 8 If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves

You will sin

I will sin

That is not what this is talking about

This is talking about continual sin....walking in darkness

Homosexuality for example

That is a sin

That is darkness

If someone claims to be a Christian but lives a homosexual lifestyle they do not practice the truth

They love sin more than Jesus

Greed

Love of money

adultery

They all fit here as well

Idolatry

Knowing it is a sin and choosing to live in it anyway

That is what is being talked about here

Vs 9 wouldn’t be here if it was just talking about sinning

No vs 9 tells us what to do when we sin not if we sin

In fact vs 9 demands we live a lifestyle of confession

John MacArthur says this in regards to vs 9

“Continual confession of sin is an indication of genuine salvation. The term confess means to say the same thing about sin as God does; to acknowledge His perspective about sin. Confession of sin characterizes genuine Christians and God continually cleanses those who are confessing”

Are you marked by continual confession of sin?

Are you constantly running to the cross to confess your sin to the one who paid for them?

If we are honest with each other this altar should be full each and every Sunday when we do invitation because as genuine Christians we should live a life of constant confession

Can you confess without an altar absolutely and you should by the way

Each and every day should have confession a part of it just like each and every day should have bible study, prayer and worship a part of it

When you do the second daily the first happens without you even trying

Are you marked by continual confession of sin?

Remember last week, this is the time to begin to pray

Are you agreeing with God about sin?

Agreeing with God about sin is easy when you realize the Gospel is true!

You were born a sinner

The Bible says all have sinned

That sin requires your death and eternal punishment in hell

There is nothing you can do about your sin and punishment

Because of your sin you will face the full wrath of God

God knew that so He sent Jesus!

Jesus was fully man and fully God

He lived a perfect, sinless life so He could die the perfect sacrifice once for all men and women

So He could be your salvation

All one has to do is confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior and believe God raised Him from the dead and you are saved....cleansed in fellowship with God!

If you need to make Jesus your Lord and Savior as this song plays come

You don’t have to figure it out you just have to say yes

Come

If you have sin to confess come

Get on your knees and cry out to God

Come God is here waiting for you

STOP OBS

Invitation song

Come to the Altar