Darkness or Light?
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Please turn to 1 John 1:5-2:1 as we consider Darkness or Light?
Last week, as we began our new series in 1 John, which I have titled: Be Assured, I mentioned that one of the reasons for John writing this epistle is to combat the message which false teachers were asserting. It appears that these false teachers had once been a part of the faith community in Ephesus, for John wrote:
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
John wanted to distance himself from these false teachers. And he wanted his readers to do so as well. That is a good practice for us as believers as well — distance ourselves from false teachers. In his second epistle John wrote this:
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.
Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.
Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting,
Not every person who preaches on TV or radio is a teacher of the truth. Many are false teachers. And we need to be discerning regarding which preachers we listen to via mass media. Did you know that if you listen to one of these false teachers on TV or radio, or any other form of social media, you are violating what John wrote? We need discernment. And in order to have such discernment we need to be students of the Word!
Most of these false teachers are sincere in their belief of what they teach — but they are sincerely wrong. Every once in a while a false teacher comes along who is purposefully seeking to destroy the church of Christ. Jim Jones was one such false teacher. He did not have any sort of relationship with Jesus Christ. But he saw how effective modern evangelists were at getting people to believe what they preached. And so, he sought to mimic that, hoping to spread his communistic doctrines via his so-called church, which was named Peoples Temple. The results were disastrous. Many people, including a congressman, were murdered, and his followers were forced to drink the Cool-Aid which was laced with cyanide, and they died.
Tradition tell us that John had a regular conflict with a man by the name of Cerinthus. Cerinthus is not mentioned in the Bible. He was an early Gnostic who lived at the close of the first century A.D. According to Irenaeus, he appeared about the year 88, was known to the Apostle John, and it was in refutation of his errors that John wrote his gospel and first epistle. The apocryphal Epistle of the Apostles, written around the middle of the second century, lists him with Simon Magus as one of the two “false apostles, concerning whom it is written that no man shall cleave with them.”
Cerinthus was a Jew by race and religion. He studied in Alexandria, appeared in Palestine, and was most active in western Asia Minor, spreading his false teaching about the person of Christ. He taught that the world was created, not by God, but by a power far separated from Him; that Jesus was the natural son of Joseph and Mary, although he was more righteous, prudent, and wise than other men; that at Jesus’ baptism the Christ descended upon Him in the likeness of a dove, providing Him miraculous powers; that at His death the Christ departed from Him, so that it was only the human Jesus that died and rose again. These views regarding Christ became known as Cerinthianism.
A story is told of how John, along with one of his disciples, went to the public bathhouse in Ephesus. And when he noted that Cerinthus was in this same bathhouse at the same time, he said to his associate, “Let us flee lest the roof of the bathhouse fall upon us since that devil is inside” (My paraphrase of many summaries).
In our text for this morning, John begins with a thesis statement, and then he describes three erroneous teachings by false teachers, gives denials to each of these teachings, and then offers an antidote against such false teaching.
Before we delve into the text, let’s read it together.
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.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Let’s look first at
The Thesis
The Thesis
Note that,
Due to God’s Absolute Holiness He cannot be Associated with Sin
Look at verse 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 did John mean when he stated that God is light? James Boice wrote, “light seems strikingly appropriate as an image of God, for it points to God as the true source of revelation, intelligence, stability, ubiquity, excellence, vision, and growth. It is the nature of light that it is visible and that it makes other things visible. So also is it God’s nature to make himself known.” (James Montgomery Boice, The Epistles of John: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004), 29.)
So, light has to do with illumination. But it also has to do with righteousness. Light enables the believer to see the truth as well as to walk in it.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Light enables us to see where to walk. In our new home there is a bright outside light which shines all night long. It is so bright that when I get up in the darkness of night I can find my way due to the light filtering into the house through various windows which are not presently shaded.
Light is also contrasted with darkness. Light overcomes darkness, and not the other way around.
If light represents illumination and righteousness, then darkness must represent a lack of illumination and a lack of righteousness. Remember that John is writing to a church which is struggling against false teachers. There were some among them who apparently left the assembly of believers for another assembly which claimed to have a higher knowledge. It claimed that only the elite who followed their teaching had true knowledge. But John wrote,
But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
The contrast between light and darkness is a favorite theme of John’s, both in his gospel account and his first epistle. The contrast between light and darkness goes all the way back to the first day of creation.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
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.
In John’s gospel account there are many references to light and darkness. The first is found in
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Inherit in the person of Jesus Christ, who is the Eternal God of the ages, is life. He has life in himself — independent of any other factor, unlike you and I who are dependent on God for life. Jesus had authority to lay down His life, and to take it up again. Jesus gives eternal life as a gift to all those who embrace Him as Lord and Savior.
Another example is found in
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Here we see that darkness relates to sin, while light refers to righteousness. People, by and large, prefer their sin to righteousness.
How does a person who is born in spiritual darkness, and by nature loves the darkness, ever come to the light? They come because God draws them to Jesus.
Paul also used the light and darkness terminology.
for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
When a person confesses their belief in the God of the Bible, confesses and repents of their sin against Him, and fully relies on the Person and work of Jesus Christ to save them from their sins, they are delivered from the domain of darkness which is ruled by Satan, and transferred into the kingdom of Christ — which is referred to as the kingdom of light.
The wondrous truth is that we who are not righteous in and of ourselves become righteous in Christ.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Christ took our sin upon Himself, and we are credited with His righteousness. And because of that, we who are believers are to walk in the light of Christ. We are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling in Christ.
Look at verse 5 again.
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.
Jon Stott wrote, “This message has not been invented by [John] or the other apostles, but is what they have heard from him. It is unlikely that he is quoting any specific saying of Jesus that God is light, as no such saying has survived. Rather he is summarizing the Lord’s teaching according to the emphasis he gives to it in his own Gospel.” (John R. W. Stott, The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 19, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 74.)
Let’s move on from John’s thematic statement to the first false teaching which he deals with.
False Claim #1
False Claim #1
Stott noted, “The false claim here is the assertion that we have fellowship with God, while at the same time we walk (that is, habitually live) in the darkness (cf. 2:11; Isa. 9:2; John 8:12; Rom. 2:19). Some of the early Gnostics were guilty of such blatant antinomianism ( a teaching which states that since we are forgiven for all sins based on the death of Christ, then we are free to sin as we please). They thought of the body as a mere envelope covering the human spirit, which, they further maintained, was [secure from destruction]; it could not be contaminated by the deeds of the body. Others, according to Irenaeus, taught that if a person had become truly ‘spiritual’, he had progressed beyond the possibility of any defilement. You could, they said, be righteous without necessarily doing righteousness (cf. 3:7, where John denies this). Consequently, the communion of the spirit with God was independent of the morality of the body.” (John R. W. Stott, The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 19, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 78.)
Look at verse 6.
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Note that,
We Cannot have Fellowship with God While We are Embracing False Teaching
And quite frankly, we cannot have fellowship with God when we are living in sin. I know that “living in sin” used to be used as a reference to couples living together outside of the boundaries of marriage. While it includes that, it is so much more. Sexual sin is not the only type of sin which God is concerned with. What about habitual outbursts of anger? What about malice? What about greed? What about gluttony?
Paul tells us in Colossians 3 to put to death what is earthly in you. And to put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Let’s look at John’s
Denial #1
Denial #1
Look at verse 6 again.
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
John is saying that anyone who teaches you that you can have fellowship with God while embracing their false teachings — while reveling in sin — is a liar and void of truth. These teachers thought that they had an enlightened or special knowledge of the ways of God which only was available to the “spiritually elite.” And that was a bunch of hogwash!
What is more is that those who follow these teacher’s lies are not practicing truth either. “Brooke (p. 14) says, “ ‘Speaking’ the truth is only one part of ‘doing’ the truth and not the most important. To ‘do the truth’ is to give expression to the highest of which one is capable in every sphere of his being. It relates to action, and conduct and feeling, as well as to word and thought.’” (Glenn W. Barker, “1 John,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews through Revelation, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 12 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981), 310.)
Note that,
As Believers in Jesus Christ, We are Called to Believe and Practice the Truth
We are called to be doers of the word and not just hearers or readers of the word.
Let’s turn now to John’s
Antidote #1
Antidote #1
Note that,
The Antidote is to Live in the Light of Scriptural Truth
Look at verse 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.
Leon Morris wrote, “Walking is a metaphor for the whole way of life. It brings out the truth that the Christian should make steady, if unspectacular, progress. To walk in the light is to live righteously day by day. Here it is reinforced in the strongest way possible: as he is in the light (cf. Mt. 5:48). It is just not good enough to live with our eyes firmly fixed on some decent but merely human standard; the Christian is the servant of God and thus his standards are God’s standards.” (Leon L. Morris, “1 John,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 1400.)
When John wrote that we have fellowship with one another, it could be that he was referring to believers having fellowship with God since He was mentioned in the previous verse. Or it could mean that believers have fellowship with their fellow believer, which is a concept that was mentioned in verse 3 from last week’s text. Or perhaps it is intended to cover both our horizontal fellowship and our vertical fellowship as well.
Now that we have finished this first cycle, let’s move on to the second. Let’s begin by looking at
False Claim #2
False Claim #2
To put it in the simplest of terms, this false claim by the false teachers was that Christians do not have a sin nature. Look at verse 8.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
We are all Born with a Sin Nature
That is what David referred in the 51st Psalm when he stated that “in sin my mother conceived me.” This sin nature is passed down to man through the seed of the father. So, my children’s sin nature comes from me and not from Gail! Sorry Tim, Caleb, and Amanda! Thankfully I don’t have to take the blame for Luke’s sin nature since he is adopted. Charles Spurgeon once said that if we do not repent of our sin nature, then we have not truly repented.
The truth is that though we are no longer slaves of sin — we are no longer citizens of the kingdom of darkness, and we are now slaves of righteous as citizens of the kingdom of Christ — still we struggle with sin. We are not to let sin be a master over us. And yet we so often do. Within each believer there is a spiritual struggle which will last until the day of our promotion to glory. We desire to do what is right in God’s eyes, and yet we find ourselves doing what is wrong. Paul wrote about this in the seventh chapter of Romans. Paul’s conclusion was:
So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me.
For in my inner self I delight in God’s law,
but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.
Every time I read this passage I thank God that I am in good company. Even Paul struggled with his sinful nature. And it was an ongoing battle. I love what Paul wrote next:
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
I am so glad for that truth. We who are believers are not condemned because we are in Christ Jesus. We have been united with Him in His death, and united with Him in His resurrection. But these false teachers denied any such thing. And many today do the very same thing. I remember when I was teaching elementary music that parents (some of whom were my co-workers) failed to accept that their child was capable of sin. Their child wasn’t bad — he or she had a medical condition.
MacArthur wrote,
1, 2, 3 John: MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Certainty of Sin
People today minimize and redefine sin, often alleging that the “failures” of their lives and certain “disorders” exist because of how others have treated them. The victim mentality reigns supreme as popular culture comforts itself in affirming that people are basically good and whatever may be wrong is not really wrong, but merely a preference of personal freedom. Instead of accepting responsibility for their behavior, people demand to be accepted as they are. They reclassify serious heart issues “illnesses” and “addictions” and try to “cure” them with prescription drugs and psychotherapy. But because that fails to deal with sin, the actual root cause of the problem, society goes from bad to worse.
Let’s look at John’s
Denial #2
Denial #2
Note that,
The Best Way to Keep from Being Deceived by False Teachers is to be Well Acquainted with Biblical Truth
So many people have the notion that being acquainted with the truths which are taught in the Bible is for those who are professionals. But that could not be further from the truth. Each and every believer has the responsibility to be an active student of God’s word. If we are not actively engaged in the study of God’s word then we open ourselves up to the deception of false teachers.
Look at verse 8 again.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Anyone who says they do not have a sin nature is deceived. Furthermore, the truth of God’s word in not in them.
These false teachers, and their followers which they have duped, have not let the word of Christ richly dwell in them. They are not speaking the truth in love. Rather, they are speaking error and falsehood.
Let’s consider John’s
Antidote #2
Antidote #2
Look at verse 9.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Don’t be like those who deny their sinful nature. Rather confess it! Verse 9 refers to more than the sinful nature, it also refers to specific acts of sin. MacArthur wrote, “The word translated confess (homologeō) means “to say the same thing.” Thus believers are those who confess their sins, agreeing with God about their sin—they acknowledge its reality and affirm that it is a transgression of His law and a violation of His will, the presence of which the truly penitent seek to eliminate from their lives (3:4; James 2:10–11; 4:17; cf. Rom. 7:24). What John is actually saying here about confession is that since believers are forgiven, they will regularly confess their sins. Stated another way, their forgiveness is not because of their ongoing confession, but their ongoing pattern of penitence and confession is because of their forgiveness and transformation. As the Holy Spirit sanctifies believers, He continually produces within them a hatred for sin (Ps. 97:10; Prov. 8:13; Rom. 7:15–25; Phil. 3:8–9; cf. Ps. 1:1–2), which results in penitent hearts and a sincere acknowledgment of their sins. The more believers grow in Christ, the greater their hatred of sin becomes and the deeper is their penitence.” (John MacArthur, 1, 2, 3 John, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2007), 39.)
One of the things that I frequently pray for the believers in this church is that we would grow to hate our sins and love God’s holiness. This is in keeping with what John is writing in this verse. We should keep short accounts before God. When we know that we have sinned against Him, we should go straight to Him in prayer confessing our sin, and seeking His forgiveness. If I understand our verse correctly, John is saying that when we confess our known sins, then God forgives us for all sins, those confessed as well as those which we are unaware of. What a comforting truth that is!
Note that,
God’s Forgiveness is Based on the Faithfulness of God’s Character in View of the Work of Christ
God will always be faithful to His word. And His word tells us that when we place our faith in Jesus Christ our sins are removed from us as far as the east is from the west! When we, as believers, confess our sins, we are then enabled to walk in fellowship with God.
Let’s move on now to
False Claim #3
False Claim #3
Look at verse 10.
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
First the false teachers denied the need for righteous living. Second they denied their sin nature. And now they are denying that they ever commit sin at all.
I can’t think of any greater slap in God’s face then to call Him a liar. That is what Satan did in the garden of Eden. Did God really say that you will die if you eat from this tree? He just doesn’t want you to be like Him. In the Old West such a statement would have resulted in a challenge to a gun fight in the street.
Note that,
The Original Source of Lies is Satan
Jesus said in John’s Gospel Account that Satan was a liar — that he was a liar from the beginning — and that he is the father of lies.
Let’s move on to John’s
Denial #3
Denial #3
Look at verse 10 again.
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Note that,
Anyone who Abandons God’s Word to Follow after False Teachers Demonstrates that Their Lives were Never Anchored in God’s Word
What about you, is your life anchored in God’s Word? Are you susceptible to being led astray by false teachers?
Let’s close with John’s
Antidote #3
Antidote #3
I will readily admit that this is not as much of an antidote as in the previous two cycles. But look at
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Note that,
The Antidote is to Recognize Your Sin and Cling to Jesus as Your Lawyer in Heaven
If you were to go through this epistle and mark all the references to sin you would be amazed at all the references. I know of some people who don’t like to mark up their Bibles — and that is fine and good. But I do tend to mark them up. And in one of my many Bibles I highlighted the word sin every time it appeared. And it was a lot of highlighting. John had a great concern with the believers sin. First of all, he didn’t want them to be duped by the false teachers into thinking that they do not sin, or that they have no sin nature. Sadly, sin is still a very real problem in the life of the believer. Yes, John want’s them to stop sinning. But John knew by both experience and by revelation that believers still struggle with sin. There is no such thing as reaching a state of sinless perfection, which some errant teachers have taught.
Perhaps when John wrote that he was writing this epistle so that they wouldn’t sin, he was referring to sinning by being duped by these false teachers. But it certainly could be more general than that.
When John wrote, if anyone does sin, it could be translated something like “since you are going to sin.” John knew that his spiritual children would sin. But he also wanted to remind them that they had a supernatural being who would be their advocate. The term translated advocate is the Greek term paraklētos which means to come along side. Jesus used this word to refer to the Holy Spirit in
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
And now John uses this term to refer to Jesus. Jesus acts as the defense attorney for His people when Satan, the accuser of the brethren, brings a charge against them. When Satan says to God, the judge, that Phil Devaney has sinned and should be thrown into hell for his sin, Jesus stands up and says “I object. Phil Devaney’s sins have already been paid for. Therefore, to send him to hell for his sins would be to commit double jeopardy.” I mean Jesus is the best lawyer ever! He ever lives to make intercession for us.
Today, we have looked at three charges which John made against the false teaching that was invading Asia minor. And thankfully John provided a remedy for this false teaching.
Walk in the Light
Confess our Sins
And trust in our Advocate
Believer, I hope that you make regular use of these things in your spiritual walk.
For those who are not believers, I challenge you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Then you will find that you too have a supernatural Lawyer in Heaven.
Let’s pray.
Holy Father,
We bow before You acknowledging our constant need of You. As the hymn writer once penned — “I need Thee every hour most gracious Lord.” That is true of us as well. We are so glad that when we confess our sins You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Help us Lord, to walk in the light, to confess our sins, and to trust in our Advocate, who is Jesus Christ our Lord.
Father, I pray for any here who are not believers, that You would grant them repentance so that they will place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and be saved.
I pray this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
