God is Light
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Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
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.
God is Light
God is Light
One of the common things we do as believers is reflect on the character of God. The things that make God God. We can reflect on how God is good. On how our God is forgiving. How the Lord is righteous, powerful, all knowing and just. But most peoples favorite is that God is love. It is even found in the Epistle we are walking through together.
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
And man is He a God of love. But way before John calls God love he says that the Lord is something else.
John Calls Him Light.
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.
On the surface this may seem like a basic description but I assure you the depth of what John just said is a beautiful thing to behold.
Today we will be looking at what it means for God to be light, what it means to walk in the Light with God and what is the effect of this Light.
Last Sermon: Slide 1 John
Last Sermon: Slide 1 John
Before we dive into today’s text let’s refresh ourselves on where we are in the Epistle of 1 John.
John the Apostle is writing to early believers to help them refute gnosticism, make John’s joy complete and provide a series of tests to see if we are truly converted as a Christian.
John started this letter addressing Jesus’s eternality. That Christ was with God and was God from the beginning.
He then shifts to Christ’s humanity. That God took on flesh to be Emmanuel: God with us.
He points to both to refute the gnostics but to also make sure we have the true Christ. The God Man who took on the sins of all who would believe in Him.
Believing this brings us into the family of God by having fellowship with the Father and the Son. This leads us to fellowship with the body of Christ including John.
All of these things John writes about are to complete His joy that you walk with the risen Christ.
Transition
Transition
So after John informs us of these basic Christian truths that stand as the first test of our faith he moves to the message that can bring joy.
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.
John describes God as light without any darkness. But what does John mean by light?
We typically think of light as a means of flipping a switch. The bulbs in the spotlights above that shine on the stage. Or maybe the headlights on your car.
For those of us who enjoy the scientific side of things may think of photons, the speed of light or the visible spectrum of light.
But seeing as John is in the first century and not a scientist I doubt that’s what John is pointing to.
What does it mean God is Light?
What does it mean God is Light?
The Scriptures throughout our Bible’s speak of God and light in many ways.
In the beginning God created light on the very first day.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
It must be pretty important to be made on day one.
As Creator, God is the provider of Light. Light does not exist without Him because He is the source of it as well. In the beginning there was darkness and then God spoke through His Word the light into existence.
But is John referring to physical light? Based on the text it wouldn’t seem so.
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.
The text seems to be pointing to the attribute of God. The Light that He is speaks to a defining marker of what makes God God. That He is holy. That he is pure. That He is good. That no darkness resides in Him. A God without spot or wrinkle. A God so magnificent that you cannot even see Him fully. 1 Tim says:
who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
His light is so pure and holy you couldn’t even approach it. His dwelling is beyond what mere mortals could fathom. A Light so powerful and deserving of honor and dominion forever.
This light will also be what replaces any need of the sun in the new heaven and the new earth.
And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
This was foretold long before Revelation as well. In the Prophet Isaiah it says:
The sun shall be no more
your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
give you light;
but the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
God is and always will be the source of everlasting light. From the beginning to Eternity our God will light the way for us.
So we know that God is Light. We also know that Jesus is God from the first four verses. This means that Jesus is Light. John, James and Peter saw a glimpse of this at the transfiguration.
And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.
Christ gave a glimpse of His glory, His holiness, His Light during this moment. Moses got to experience this as well with the Lord. He was given the privilege of looking upon the veiled glory of God and then his faced shined like the sun.
That is what the Lord has to do with us or we would perish because of the shear magnitude of His unapproachable Light. This isn’t your 60 watt bulb you place in a lamp this is Light that will tear you apart. And that Light is Jesus. This is crucial but first we have to address this contrast between light and darkness.
This contrast of Light and darkness shows up throughout Scripture. It is contrasted intellectually, morally, and in relation to our salvation as a whole.
When we speak of the intellect light is truth and darkness is error or falsehood. What is true guides our understanding and shapes our world. If we have light as our truth we will have our eyes opened, but if darkness is our truth then we will be blind. Only the light is truth because God is light.
Paul tells us this in:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
So we know that Light is truth. And Jesus Christ is the truth.
Morally this contrast though points to the difference between purity and holiness as light and darkness is sin and wrongdoing. Light is righteousness and darkness is unrighteousness.
Paul addresses this in:
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.
Light is the opposite of darkness and sin. It means to walk in obedience to God’s commands. It is to repent from the evil deeds of men and submit to the Lord Jesus.
One more contrast to be seen is in relation to salvation. If you are in the Light you are saved. If you are in darkness you are damned.
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
The Light of Christ through His life, death and resurrection has provided the means of which you can be saved. And if you have the light of the Lord He is your salvation. If you do not have the Lord you are walking in darkness and your path of destruction is leading you closer to Satan and eternal damnation. We can see from the Psalm if you walk in the Light your response to the world and Satan is whom shall I fear?
Now I mentioned how crucial it is for Christ to be the Light. The reason I say this is because if He isn’t the Light He couldn’t give us this Light which leads to life and more specifically eternal life. He has to be the pure/holy Light to make us pure and holy. That is the only way to be right with God is to be holy and blameless. That was only possible through the light of the world.
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
As we follow Jesus we receive this Light. And that’s exactly where John takes us next.
Don’t just talk, walk
Don’t just talk, walk
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.
This is the part I like to call don’t talk the talk, walk the walk. John says that if we say but do not do, we become liars and we do not practice the truth.
Without the Light: Liars, no fellowship, No salvation
Without the Light: Liars, no fellowship, No salvation
Painful but healing Light
Painful but healing Light
Application
Application
Closing
Closing
Benediction
Benediction