The Great Deception

God is light, therefore we must illuminate our darkness with Him

Introduction

In the series by JR. Tolkien, the Lord of the rings, Frodo Baggins is charged with the task of carrying the right of power to mount doom. The Ring was forged in the fires of mount doom by the evil Lord Sauron. He forged it with all of his evil power and darkness. It was born of evil and whoever bears the ring feels the weight of evil. The longer they bear it the more it corrupts their hearts. The weight of the ring fell to Frodo to carry across middle earth to the fires of mount Doom to destroy. He faced many obstacles along the way and throughout the journey the ring began to wear on him. The darkness began to creep into his heart. Slowly he began to turn against his best friend without even knowing it until when standing over the flames he chose to keep the ring. The darkness had overwhelmed his heart so much that he wanted the darkness, he wanted the power of the ring.

We don’t carry around a ring of power that slowly corrupts our hearts, but we can carry darkness around with us. Every since the garden we have been fighting sin in our lives. You know sometimes we kinda like the darkness. We don’t like to admit it, but we have certain things that we kinda like, so we leave it alone. You know, this isn’t always obvious, it could be a little thing like the tv shows we watch that objectify men and women as being less than a uniquely created masterpiece of God. Or it could be those less than innocent conversations we have about Linda Lou or Jimmy G that gives others a negative view or discredits their reputation. Or it could be the thoughts we allow float unabated in our minds about the man or woman that we just passed while driving down the road or walking down the street. We allow the darkness to invade our hearts, we give sin a foothold in our lives, and it festers, it grows bigger, we deceive ourselves into thinking that its okay because we like it. But darkness is darkness, sin is sin, and it corrupts, it kills, it destroys marriage, lives, parents, homes, children, and God does not tolerate it. It will destroy us. God is light, therefore we must illuminate our darkness with him!

Context

We find ourselves in the book of John was written by the apostle John to believers who were facing doubt in the face of false teaching. He was writing to encourage them in their belief. They were being infiltrated by those who claimed they had not sinned which as we will see is the opposite of the truth. We will be reading in

We see first that God is light.

God is Light

Verse 5

John was expressing that the message he was delivering was the same message that Christ proclaimed. It was the good news, it was the gospel, it was the same message that God had given through His sone. John was establishing his authority as an apostle of jesus Christ and his authority as a teacher. This is carried over from the first 5 verses of the book. He was showing that the message he was teaching and proclaiming was the actual truth.

Symbolisms

It was the good news, it was the gospel

Light - used to symbolize truth, goodness, perfectness

Darkness - used to symbolize error, the opposite of light, sin

So what we see from this imagery is that John is telling us that God is perfect in every way, he is the light, he is the truth, he is everything that is good. But he also follows this up with a descriptive phrase “and in him is no darkness”

Because God is light, he reveals the darkness for what it truly is!

Darkness is the absence of God

Darkness is sin

God cannot tolerate darkness, God cannot tolerate sin - Darkness is sin

Application

So the question that we have to ask ourselves then is what do we do with our darkness? What do we do with our sin? John isn’t finished with this theme yet. He continues on, he writes.

We must not Deceive Ourselves

Verses 6-8

John continues on with the imagery of light and darkness.

Fellowship - Referring to this idea of a personal relationship with God

Refering to this idea of a personal relationship with God

John is addressing the idea that you cant live in two worlds at the same time. You cant both walk in darkness and live in light. You can’t claim to have fellowship if it is not accompanied by a person relationship

Illustration

Basically he is saying you cant live in two worlds at the same time. You cant both walk in darkness and live in light.

As many of you know, I am a Virginia Tech fan. I read about them., I watch the games, I keep up with recruiting, I get upset when they lose, and i get excited when they win. If i were to meet someone who said they were a fan yet didnt watch the games, or couldnt tell me who their coaches were, i don’t think i would believe them. To be a fan of something or a team you have to buy in, you have to cheer for them, you have to invest in liking them. You have to walk the walk and talk the talk as they say.

Just because we say we believe something doesn’t mean we actually do! This is the idea that John is addressing here and we see to things that we are guilty of:

Those who do are guilty of two things

Lying about their relationship with God

Not doing the truth

Right standing with God demands righ behavior. We cannot live our lives with one foot in the pool!

We cannot live a life characterized by sin and expect to be part of God’s family! John has already told us that God cannot tolerate darkness.

When we allow sin to grow and fester in our lives the darkness in our heats begins to grow.

The sin that we hid, the sin that we convince ourselves isn’t a big deal…it separates us from God. And the consequences of this separation is death, eternal separation from God, eternal life with no hope.

We must not deceive ourselves because our deception will have eternal consequences.

What we must understand is that right standing with God demands right behavior

Here is put bluntly…

We cannot live a life of sin and still expect to be part of the family of God.

But we must make something clear. John is not saying that one us be perfect. This is the very heresy he is writing against. he is writing bout unconfessed sin, he is writing to tel us what our posture towards our sin must be!

Listen to what John is saying, he

Just because we say that we believe something, doesn’t actually mean that we do.

Our belief and behavior belong together

Really think about what John is saying, if we walk in darkness, if we are sinning, he is saying that we are deceiving ourselves. He is saying that we are not practicing the truth. He is saying that we are living in darkness, and God cannot tolerate darkness.

This sin that we hide, that we convince ourselves isn’t a big deal, it separates us from God. John says that it makes ourselves and it makes God liar.

We must not deceive ourselves into thinking that sin is not a big deal because sin destroys, sin kills, sin separates us from God.

We must Live in the Light

Verses 9-10

You know at this point John has kind of wrecked us. God is light, we are surrounded by and often participate in darkness, yikes.... But this is not the end. John does not leave us dangling like spiders on the end of a thread over the fires.

John does not write in perfect linear order and we see similar ides come from verse 7 and 9. He writes in 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.”

Well you may be thinking, man…I’m screwed then, my life is super messed up, I’ve got all kinds of things hanging out in my closet!

We see the idea of fellowship arise again but this time it is focused around people. But the idea that we see is that proper fellowship with God leads to fellowship with other believers.

John tells us that if we walk in the light we will have fellowship with God, and with others and our sins will be cleansed.

So your probably thinking, great, that sounds good, but how do we walk in the light when we so full of darkness. I mean i dunno about you, but the last time i checked I have a problem with sin. I mean most of the time I don’t even realize I have sinned.

I lose my temper, I envy something my brother or sister has, or I find myself entertaining thoughts that are disrespectful of others.

Lets not even think about all the times I try to do everything on my own and leave God completely out of the equation.

But then we see verse 9....John uses the word confess

It is through confession that our sins are forgiven. There is a lot wrapped up in this idea of confession. It is not just saying that I did such and such wrong, please forgive me. or man, i really screwed the pooch on that one, better luck next time.

No...

Authentic Christian living involves honest and ongoing acknowledgement of our sin.

This is not turning a blind eye to something that we do over and over again but doesnt seem like a big deal

This is crying out to God in sorrow when we grow angry at our spouse, or when we lose our temper with our children, or when we realize we have slandered someone’s reputation.

Walking in the light involves a willingness to be open towards God and his revelation in Christ while ‘walking in Darkness’ involves refusal to do so!

Our lives must be characterized by repentance

Why was David considered a man after God’s own heart? Not because of is upstanding character…he had a man murdered so he could steal his wife…not it was because of his constant posture of repentance.

John is giving us a picture of what Christian living should look like. If we hide our sin, if we are not always looking at our lives and seeking to see where we have messed up, then we are not living a life of repentance.

But here is the reality of the situation, we cant do it on our own. If we are left to our own devices then we are going to convince ourselves that half the darkness in our lives is okay. Its not hurting anyone, I enjoy it, so its got to be okay. If you are going all Rambo on your life then friends you are walking a dangerous road.

We need fellowship, we need community, we need the local church. We need other believers to speak into our lives, to encourage us in God’s word, to call us out when our actions do not align with Scripture, to help us think introspectively about ourselves and evaluate our motives, our thoughts and our desires against the backdrop of Scripture.

This is why we need the local church. This is why we need community. If we do not live in community with one another, then we fool ourselves into thinking that we are doing alright. Guys we sin and don’t even know it!

Conclusion:

We are surrounded by darkness. It began its infiltration of our world from when Eve took the first bite of fruit while Adam watched in passive disobedience. From that point it has only grown and grown. It has put its roots down deep in our own lives. Weeds are are heard to pull, they leave behind pieces that just sprout new weeds. Some weeds look like flowers unless you have a trained eye. Some weeds are hiding behind flowers and unless you look close, you miss them. Some weeds grow so fast that if you don’t get help, you will never be able to control them and they will overtake you. Weeds are like Sin. Sin grows, it leaves behind staines, it hinds in places where we don’t even think to look. We must not be passive when casting sin out of our lives. We cant do it alone, we need each other, we need the Holy Spirit, we need the power of Jesus’ blood. A christian life is characterized by continued reflection and repentance. Do not grow weary, do let yourself be deceived…your very life depends on it.