Living a Life in the Light
1 John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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5 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.
6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 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.
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1. We have a message to proclaim.
1. We have a message to proclaim.
5 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.
“what we have heard”
Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John We Have a Gospel Message to Announce
“what we have heard,” and the perfect tense of the verb means this message is still ringing in our ears
Going back to the previous verses, we know that John is saying that they had heard this message from Jesus. The message of Jesus was on going and it was continuing to resonate and ring in there ear.
When we have been impacted by the working of the Lord in our lives, it does not cease to resonate within us.
Think a rock, dropped in a body of water, the small pebble can send waves rippling off into the distance. While those ripples might eventually fade. The words of Jesus should never stop rippling through our minds as we meditate on him and his word.
The result of these words that continue to impact our mind is that we ultimately proclaim it.
We are commanded to proclaim the words of Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
This command serves to propel us to share the gospel with other people.
https://joshuaproject.net (accessed Dec 11, 2024)
There appears to have been a change in how people groups are counted or there were new groups discovered. The current statistics show that there are 17,260 people groups and that 7,187 are unreached groups which means that 41.6% of the world’s people groups are unreached! In terms of population 42.4% of the worlds population is unreached or 3.43 billion or 8.08 billion people in the world.
We have a significant mission. The numbers show the true urgency which we have to take the gospel to the nations. Without taking God’s word to them, they will never escape hell.
We want to take people from their life of darkness and bring them into the glorious light of Christ.
John says that “God is light”
Here are just a few examples of texts where God is called light.
1 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?
9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.
3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
12 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.”
In reality, there is no possible way that God who is light can have darkness, John states in Him, that is God, is no darkness at all.
There is no shadow, there is no speck, there is no impurities. He is perfect light he is holy!
What significance does this hold for us? Since we have experienced the goodness of God we have a desire to take that goodness, that light to the darkest parts of the world!
Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John (We Have a Basic Truth to Affirm)
John Falconer said, “I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light” (in Sills, The Missionary Call, 181).
We have a much more powerful light when we leave the comfort of our church walls and live for Jesus in the world of darkness.
Don’t believe for a moment that it will be easy though, Jesus tells us in John 3:20
20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
They killed Jesus because of him being the Light; the world will also hate us for being a light to the dark places. Yet, we should be excited to be in those dark places as C. T. Studd rightly puts it. He says that,
Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John (We Have a Basic Truth to Affirm)
“Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell” (Hannah, “C T Studd”).
With a world so dark from sin, so many that do not have hope or light. So many unreached peoples, will we take the light to them? Will we establish ourselves in a way that allows us to proclaim the gospel in the pits of hell on earth? Will we bring the gospel to the most blackened souls? Or will we be satisfied with being here, in these walls?
Far to often we make excuses when it comes to going all out on reaching the lost with the Gospel,
Youth—to young and inexperienced
Young Adult—to poor and unestablished
Middle Aged—retirement is not far off and I have to pay for my kids school and activities
Senior Adult—I am to old, my health isn’t good, let me support it financially.
The church needs to get out of the excuse business and become a people of action and it begins with sharing Jesus with those around you where you are, right now!
Transition: We have a message to proclaim, now lets see how,
2. We have a life to pursue.
2. We have a life to pursue.
6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 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.
John tells his readers that if we are walking in darkness yet say that we are in fellowship that we are liars.
A few things to note,
because God cannot fellowship with darkness, if we are living in unconfessed sin we cannot have fellowship with God.
John is talking to Christians, it is important to that he says “if we.” He is including himself in the statement along with those who would read and hear these words.
“While we walk”
1–3 John—Fellowship in God’s Family Walk in the Light (vv. 6, 7)
The tense of the verb “walk” is present and conveys habitual lifestyle. You cannot “walk” in darkness and be practicing the truth at the same time. Notice here that the truth is not only something to be believed, but is something to be lived out.
In other words, we are lying about having a fellowship with God that is in good standing with God when we live habitually in sin.
We are to walk in light, and no longer live in habitual sin.
1–3 John—Fellowship in God’s Family Walk in the Light (vv. 6, 7)
if someone within the church lives contrary to the gospel on a regular basis, there is good reason to question the genuineness of his or her conversion. Second, it is possible for Christians to sin, live in periods of carnality, and yet be truly saved. The Bible affirms both of these realities.
Recently, when Hurricane Helene went through Augusta it knocked out the power for several days. One of the nights, I woke up, it is pitch black, I was extremely thirsty and began walking to our door to head to our living area. As a walked towards the door, I ran into the side of the half empty door. Talk about painful. Killed over in pain. It was brutal. I was familiar with the house but walking in darkness led to mistakes being made. Harm was done and I felt the consequences.
When we chose to live in our sin, we have decided to walk into harm and we are not actively fellowshipping with the Lord in our lives.
Yet it is not only fellowship with God that can be impacted look at verse 7 again, 1 John 1:7
7 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.
When we are walking with God, fellowship with other believers who are walking with Jesus is strengthened!
Also, keep in mind to walk with Jesus means we are living a confessed life, see the last part, he says the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
Walking in the light cannot be done without experiencing the cleansing power of God’s Son Jesus in our lives.
The fellowship we experience is far more than friendship,
1–3 John—Fellowship in God’s Family Walk in the Light (vv. 6, 7)
Fellowship” is a word that means a deep sharing of things in common via association and participation. To be in fellowship with God means more than just having an association or friendship with God. It means having a relationship with God. To have fellowship with one another is not just a matter of being in the same room at church, but it means having a relationship with each based on our relationship with Christ that causes us to participate together around a common bond.
Keep in mind this means that
1–3 John—Fellowship in God’s Family Walk in the Light (vv. 6, 7)
The terrible thing about sin is that it not only breaks fellowship with God but with other Christians as well.
As a result, we have a life of purity that we are to pursue through living a life that is in the light of God. Living as God intends for us to live.
Transition: We have a message to proclaim, and how we have a life to pursue, now lets see how,
3. We have a blot to purge.
3. We have a blot to purge.
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
There are two types of people who believe that they are really not sinners.
There is the lost person who doesn’t acknowledge that they are sinners.
There is the saved person who doesn’t see the sin in their life.
1–3 John—Fellowship in God’s Family Don’t Deny Sin, Confess It (vv. 8–10)
Satan is crafty when it comes to sin. Luther stated that when a Christian sins, the devil always alarms his heart and makes him tremble. “Look at you!” he scowls, “Now you’ve blown it!” Satan wants you to sink into the sin of despair. On the other hand, Luther said, Satan “lets some live smugly without temptation in order that they may think and believe that they are holy. And when somewhere he tears the Word out of one’s heart, then he has conquered. This is his cunning. He wants to make saints sinners, and confident sinners saints.”
We must live repentant lives. One we live repentant lives we experience the Lord’s forgiveness and we are cleansed of our unrighteousness
unrighteousness—ἀδικία—adikia
just—δίκαιος—dikaios
1–3 John—Fellowship in God’s Family Don’t Deny Sin, Confess It (vv. 8–10)
What John is saying with something of a play on words is, “God is ‘righteous’ to forgive and cleanse our ‘unrighteousness.’ ”
There’s a famous story of a man who bought a new suit but spilled grape juice all over it at a party. Instead of trying to hide the stain, he held a 'Repentance' party, inviting everyone in the room to share their funniest food mishap. They laughed, swapped stories, and he made a new suit the talk of the night. Just like this man, sometimes we need to own our mistakes with a light heart and turn them into moments of joy and connection, celebrating the importance of repentance in our lives.
We all make mistakes, repentance is part of the Christian life. Unlike the suit that was spoiled with the stain of juice, we have been soiled with sin that can be erased with the blood of Jesus!
