God is Light (2)

GOD IS LIGHT, What is the Meaning of this?

1 John 1:5–10 NLT

This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

1 John 1:5 NASB95

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Sentence 1 john 1:5

This is the message...

Subpoint 1 - we have heard from Jesus

Subpoint 2 - now declare to you

Subpoint 3 - that God is light

John 8:12 NLT

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

1 Timothy 6:16 NET

He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen.

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James 1:17 NASB95

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

Jame 1:17

Subpoint 4 - and there is no darkness in Him at all.

1 John 1. Sin and the Nature of God (5)

1. Sin and the nature of God (5)

John 1:19 NLT

This was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, “Who are you?”

1 John 3:11 NLT

This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 1. Sin and the Nature of God (5)

This is God’s message about Himself (which we have heard from Him), which John now reveals to us (and declare to you).

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1 John 1. Sin and the Nature of God (5)

i. What John will tell us about God is what God has told us about Himself.

1 John 1. Sin and the Nature of God (5)

God is light and in Him is no darkness at all:

1 John 1:6 ESV

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

1 John 1. Sin and the Nature of God (5)

John declares this on the simple understanding that God Himself is light; and light by definition has no darkness at all in it; for there to be darkness, there must be an absence of light.

John 8:12 NASB95

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

1 John 1. Sin and the Nature of God (5)

i. A good definition of God is, “God is the only infinite, eternal, and unchangeable spirit, the perfect being in whom all things begin, and continue, and end.”

1 John 2:11 NASB95

But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1 John 1:6 NASB95

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

1 John 1. Sin and the Nature of God (5)

Another way of saying that God is perfect is to say that God is light.

John 8:55 NASB95

and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word.

1 John 1. Sin and the Nature of God (5)

“LIGHT is the purest, the most subtle, the most useful, and the most diffusive of all God’s creatures; it is, therefore, a very proper emblem of the purity, perfection, and goodness of the Divine nature.” (Clarke)

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1 John 1. Sin and the Nature of God (5)

“There are spots in the sun, great tracts of blackness on its radiant disc; but in God is unmingled, perfect purity.” (Maclaren)

1 John 1. Sin and the Nature of God (5)

c. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all: Therefore, if there is a problem with our fellowship with God, it is our fault. It is not the fault of God because there is no sin or darkness in Him at all.

1 John 2. God’s Sinlessness and Our Relationship with Him (6)

2. God’s sinlessness and our relationship with Him (6)

1 John 2. God’s Sinlessness and Our Relationship with Him (6)

Many Christians are not aware of their true condition. They know they are saved, and have experienced conversion and have repented at some time in their life. Yet they do not live in true fellowship with God.

1 John 2. God’s Sinlessness and Our Relationship with Him (6)

b. And walk in darkness: John speaks of a walk in darkness, indicating a pattern of living. This does not speak of an occasional lapse, but of a lifestyle of darkness.

1 John 2. God’s Sinlessness and Our Relationship with Him (6)

c. We lie and do not practice the truth: God has no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). Therefore, if one claims to be in fellowship with God (a relationship of common relation, interest, and sharing), yet does walk in darkness, it is not a truthful claim.

1 John 2. God’s Sinlessness and Our Relationship with Him (6)

i. The issue here is fellowship, not salvation. The Christian who temporarily walks in darkness is still saved, but not in fellowship with God.

1 John 2. God’s Sinlessness and Our Relationship with Him (6)

iii. In 2004, the governor of the state of New Jersey was caught in a scandal. Though he was a married man with children, he was also having a sexual relationship with a man. At the press conference he held to admit this, he began by saying: “My truth is that I am a gay American.” Those were very carefully chosen words: My truth. In the thinking of the world today, I have my truth and you have your truth. But Jesus said, “I am the truth” and the Bible clearly tells us of a truth that is greater than any individual’s feeling about it.

1 John 3. The Blessing of Walking in the Light (7)

3. The blessing of walking in the light (7)

1 John 3. The Blessing of Walking in the Light (7)

But if we walk in the light: This means to walk in a generally obedient life, without harboring known sin or resisting the conviction of the Holy Spirit on a particular point.

1 John 3. The Blessing of Walking in the Light (7)

i. John’s message here means that a walk in the light is possible. We know that on this side of eternity, sinless perfection is not possible. Yet we can still walk in the light, so John does mean perfect obedience.

1 John 3. The Blessing of Walking in the Light (7)

b. As He is in the light: Since God is light (1 John 1:5), when we walk in the light we walk where He is. We are naturally together with Him in fellowship.

1 John 3. The Blessing of Walking in the Light (7)

c. We have fellowship with one another: We would have expected John to say, “We have fellowship with God.”

1 John 3. The Blessing of Walking in the Light (7)

i. This leads to an important idea: if we do not have fellowship with one another, then one party or both parties are not walking in the light. Two Christians who are in right relationship with God will also naturally be in right relationship with each other.

1 John 3. The Blessing of Walking in the Light (7)

• You can’t come to fellowship with God through philosophical speculation. You can’t come to fellowship with God through intellectual education.

1 John 3. The Blessing of Walking in the Light (7)

• You can’t come to fellowship with God through drugs or entertainment.

1 John 3. The Blessing of Walking in the Light (7)

• You can’t come to fellowship with God through scientific investigation.

1 John 3. The Blessing of Walking in the Light (7)

• You can only come to fellowship with God by dealing with your sin problem through the blood of Jesus.

1 John 3. The Blessing of Walking in the Light (7)

We might say that the only sin that cannot be cleansed by the blood of Jesus is the sin of continuing to reject that blood as payment for sin.

1 John 4. The Presence of Sin, the Confession of Sin, and the Cleansing from Sin (8–10)

4. The presence of sin, the confession of sin, and the cleansing from sin (8–10)

1 John 4. The Presence of Sin, the Confession of Sin, and the Cleansing from Sin (8–10)

a. If we say we have no sin: John has introduced the ideas of walking in the light and being cleansed from sin. But he did not for a moment believe that a Christian can become sinlessly perfect.

1 John 4. The Presence of Sin, the Confession of Sin, and the Cleansing from Sin (8–10)

“Our deceitful heart reveals an almost Satanic shrewdness in self-deception … If you say you have no sin you have achieved a fearful success, you have put out your own eyes, and perverted your own reason!” (Spurgeon)