Untitled Sermon (7)

Can You Imagine

Can you imagine a light so perfect, so bright, so complete that when it shines there are not shadows and that you can walk in that light? Can you imagine One who always acts in accordance to His character and that character is perfect in every way? And if you can, can you imagine being in fellowship with Him? Can you imagine a life completely cleansed of sin, no dark corners where sin can remain to destroy you? Can you imagine that there is a Savior who maintains that cleansing? Can you imagine that being convicted of sin is God’s merciful work in your life? Can you imagine One who is righteous speaking on your behalf knowing full well that you have acted unrighteously? And can you imagine One who would offer Himself in your place, taking your judgment so that you can have fellowship with that perfect light? Let’s pray.

We will be continuing our look into 1 John this morning with chapter 1:5-2:2. Remember that is towards the back of the book where most people stay away from, we usually stick somewhere in the middle of the New Testament. So let’s read God’s word: 5This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

I believe John is still proclaiming his first hand knowledge of hearing, seeing, looking on and handling the Word of Life, Jesus. So he says: "This is what we heard and this is what we will proclaim to you. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." John is drawing a comparison between light and darkness in a metaphorical way. He did the same thing in when He said; the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light. Jesus Himself does it as well in 12 “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” I’m not going to give Scriptural references but in the New Testament; Light is used to describe – moral purity, enlightenment or revelation from God, life, good behavior, openness, truth, and God’s kingdom among many other uses. Darkness is used to describe – Sin, ignorance and rejection of God, death, bad or evil behavior, secrecy or deceptiveness, falsehood or lies, the kingdom of Satan or the world. So when John says that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all he is saying that with God there is goodness, there is moral perfection, in Him is life and He reveals Himself and His kingdom in truth leading us to good behavior. But I want to draw our attention to the last 4 words in that verse: “no darkness at all.” It is easy for us to look at absolute words and make them relative. When we speak of “good” we are talking about relative goodness. So when we talk about light we speak as if it is some light that makes it to where we can see but it is not necessarily a perfect light that reveals all things and in which there is no shadow. James tells us in 17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. When we speak of the truth of God it means that there is no shadow of false, with His moral goodness there is not even a hint of evil. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all, His light casts out all shadows.

Since God is light and that light is so all encompassing, so brilliant that there is no darkness, no shadows then; Verse 6 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. Here John lays out a contrast between verses 6 and 7 continuing to contrast light and dark.

We talked about fellowship last week. It is a sharing of all things in common, like the fellowship Adam and Eve had with God before the fall. Jesus described it like the Father in Him and Him in the Father and us in Him and Him in us. I know that is a paraphrase of but that is in essence what it means to be in fellowship. So John tells us that if we say that we have that close fellowship with God the Father that was restored by Jesus the Word of life, yet we live a life that is best described by the descriptors we used for darkness like: Sin, ignorance and rejection of God, death, bad or evil behavior, secrecy or deceptiveness, falsehood or lies, the kingdom of Satan or the world, then John tells us very clearly that we are liars and do not practice the truth; which is that God is light and there is no darkness in Him.

I told you last week that there were some pretty bold statements in 1 John and this is indeed one of them. If your life, the way you live and respond in this life is exemplified by what we just described as darkness then you do not have the fellowship that gives the full joy we talked about in . Paul described that life this way in 19Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: £adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21envy, £murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. John says you still walk I darkness, Paul says you do not inherit the kingdom of God.

If you have fellowship with Him then your life will be exemplified by the descriptors we gave for light: moral purity, enlightenment or revelation from God, life, good behavior, openness, truth, and living in God’s kingdom. Paul described that life this way in verses 22-23 of 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Verse 7 is interesting. In verse 5 John says that “God is light” and in verse 7 he says that “He is in the light.” This is interesting because what John is saying is that God is not just a bunch of ethereal attributes but He actually acts within those attributes. All of God actions are morally good, all of His revelations are perfect, all of His love is complete, His judgment is perfect and right and that our fellowship with Him is based on Him and what He has done through Jesus Christ the Word of life. When we have fellowship with Him we will have fellowship with one another because of His work in the shedding of the blood of Jesus. Without the shed blood of Jesus there is not remission no cleansing of sin. Since all of the acts of God are good, complete, within His character then we know that the blood of Christ Jesus cleanses all sin. There are no shadows left.

The fact that John states clearly that it is only because of the shed blood of Jesus that we are cleansed of our sin is important. Remember last week we talked about how the heresy of Gnosticism had crept in and was drawing believers away from the truth of the Word of life. We talked about how the Docetists claimed that since all flesh is evil then Jesus really did not come in the flesh but only appeared to be in the flesh; thus John’s claim to have touched Jesus. If Jesus did not really come in the flesh then He did not really die and His blood could be of no significance. You need to understand that this religion is alive and well today. There are those who claim that Jesus came to give us understanding on how to trust in God. He lived a good life and indeed died but His death was simply an example of how we should be totally devoted to God and spend our lives doing good works, and by that devotion, exemplified by doing good works we are saved. Let me just say that that belief is the pop culture Christianity of the day. People don’t want to hear about the blood or the sacrifice or the atonement for sin. They want to hear about the love, and inclusiveness of Jesus. Let me show you an example of what I am talking about when I say pop culture Christianity. I took this off of a pastor friend of mine’s Facebook page: This year I want to be more like Jesus: Hang out with sinners, Upset religious people, Tell stories that make people think, Choose unpopular friends, Be kind loving and merciful and Take naps on boats. Not that any of that is bad but that is exactly what the lost who are in many churches today think Christianity is, it is a pop culture Christianity that is based on doing good and fun stuff. Those who are bound up in that kind of pop culture Christianity know nothing of the blood of Christ cleansing them of their sin; they know nothing of the sacrifice made on their behalf even though clearly states that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Through the shed blood of Jesus the Son of God we have fellowship with one another, walking in the light in fellowship with God the Father through His Son.

Let’s look at verses 8-10. 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. I think that John is still addressing the false teachings that had drawn some away from their faith in Jesus, the Word of life. The Gnostics taught that salvation came to man not by the work of Christ but by a secret knowledge that only a few receive. With that secret knowledge the soul is saved and all flesh is evil then you are no longer a part of your flesh really so it does not matter what you do it is not sin. I know that is a pretty simplistic description of the Gnostic beliefs, and it is much more complicated than that but for our purposes today it will suffice. The Gnostic religion is alive and well today in Christian Science who believes that there is a special understanding of the Bible that only those in that organization has. Then there is Scientology that teaches that when we come to understand the secret of our own divinity we are united with God and, this one is a bit more controversial for some people, Freemasonry which teaches that there is a special knowledge that brings you into right standing with whatever your god is. All of these, and others, teach that it is not sin that separates us from God it is a lack of knowledge. So in John’s statement he is saying that if we say that we have no indwelling sin, that we are not inclined and bound to rebel against God then we are lying to ourselves and the truth that God is light and to have fellowship with Him we have to walk in light is not in us. John goes on to say in verse 10 that if we say we have not sinned, the acts of a sinful rebellious nature, the fruit of sin, then we have not only deceived ourselves but we are calling God a liar because He sent His Son to shed His blood to give us forgiveness for and freedom from that sin and those sins.

We have to come to the understanding that our sense of being sinners or having sinned comes exclusively from the fact that we are walking in the light. It is the light of God’s presence in our lives that causes us to see the filth that we allow into our minds, hearts and actions. When we first came to Christ it was the light of the Word of life that caused us to see the need for our sins to be cleansed. Otherwise we would still be as Paul say in , dead in our trespasses and sin. It is that same light that causes us to recognize our sin and we confess those sins knowing full well that He will forgive them based on the work of Jesus who cleansed us from all of our sins in the first place. Acknowledging our sin is not informing God of them it is admitting that we have offended Him in His holiness.

Much of the problem in pop culture Christianity is that we do not call sin, sin. Parents are told, even by “Christian” counselors not to use the “s” word. Instead we are to let them know that they made a bad decision, a poor choice. How many times have you heard someone say: “I should not have done that, I made a mistake.” Adultery becomes an affair, lies become prevarications or if you are a politician “I misspoke”, stealing becomes helping myself to what was available, and selfishness becomes standing up for yourself. Until one is willing to call sin what it is, rebellion against God, then there will be no confession and no cleansing from unrighteousness.

Whether it was the first century problem John was facing or whether it is today in pop culture Christianity that the denial of sin is experienced it is none the less deadly and the only means of correction is the confession of sin so that forgiveness and cleansing can come.

I am going to break differently than the way they are divided up by the verse numbers. I want to look at the first sentence in verse one and then at the second half of verse 1 and verse 2 together. 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

One thing I think we need to see in that first sentence John writes here, and I think this has been lost in modern, western Christianity, is that the default condition of the follower of Christ, the ones walking in the light, should be without sin. John is clear: “I write these things that you may not sin.” But we have become so calloused to sin that we just accept it in one another. Most churches do not even practice Scriptural Church discipline anymore because in most churches there wouldn’t be anyone left. Not us of course, but many Churches. In the first century when John was writing this letter when a believer sinned it was scandalous. Today it is just the normal behavior. In the first century the person who sinned was considered the odd man out in the church but in today’s church the person who sincerely seeks to keep himself from sin is the oddball. I’ll get off my soapbox but I want it to be clear that the expectation John places on the believer, and I believe God has for believers, is that we would live our lives in such a way that it is obvious that we seek to live without sin.

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. Let me state very quickly, then I will move on, that the first statement there is not an excuse to go ahead and sin since you have an Advocate. Just refer back to my last rant.

In this part of the Scripture we have two words used to describe the work of Jesus Christ. He is our advocate with the Father and He is the propitiation for our sins. Let’s define these two terms: Advocate and Propitiation.

The Greek word translated advocate is parakletos. Jesus used that word to describe the work of the Holy Spirit and it is translated there as “comforter”. A parakletos is one who is called alongside who pleads our case before the judge. He is one who stands between us and judgment, an intercessor.

Before we move on to defining propitiation I want to point out something about or advocate; He is Jesus Christ the Righteous or Righteous One. He is the One who has acted righteously, who now stands in the presence of the righteous Father to speak on behalf of those who have not acted righteously. The righteous speaking on behalf of those who were unrighteous.

The Greek word translated propitiation is hilasmos and it is often translated as atoning sacrifice. The word is only used 2 times in the whole of the New Testament and both of them are in 1 John. However it is used many times in the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, which is the Old Testament that John would have used. The word is translated to mean both the payment for our sin to bring us into right standing with God (expiation) and the attitude of God towards those for whom the payment is made (propitiation). So we could call propitiation the payment by the Son of God for the sin of those who rebelled against God Father so that the wrath of the Father towards the rebels would be satisfied. That may drive an academic theologian crazy but I think we can grasp what John is saying that way. The writer of Hebrew would have stated it more like this; He is the great High Priest who offers Himself as a sacrifice for His people.

Now here comes the sticky part of this verse. He is the propitiation for our sins, AND NOT FOR OURS ONLY BUT ALSO FOR THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD. Many people have used this statement to say that everyone’s sins have been taken care of by the work of Christ on the cross so there is a universal salvation for all (except for maybe the worst of the worst). We know that this is not the case because of Jesus words that there are those who will say LORD LORD who will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Broad is the path that leads to destruction but narrow is the way that leads to life and few find it. Many are called few are chosen. I could go on but the point is not everyone is saved so John is definitely not making that statement. To understand this we have to look at it in the overall context of John’s letter but we will stick to the part we have looked at thus far. John’s purpose for writing this letter was to make certain these believers know Who Jesus is, that He is the Word made flesh who came to save His people from their sin and there is no other way by which sin can be removed and atoned for outside of Jesus. John is telling these people that Jesus is their propitiation but He is also the propitiation for those who left the church. As we saw in Ephesians He is the propitiation for the Jew and the Gentile. There is not one Savior for us and another savior for the rest of the world. There is not a Savior for the Republicans and a different Savior for the Democrats. There is One propitiation and it is Jesus the Righteous Advocate for all those who call on His name. Jesus is the only propitiation for sin. John is proclaiming the exclusivity of Jesus as the only Savior of mankind.

So I ask you again: Can you imagine a light so perfect, so bright, so complete that went it shines there are not shadows and that you can walk in that light? Can you imagine One who always acts in accordance to His character and that character is perfect in every way? And if you can, can you imagine being in fellowship with Him? Can you imagine a life completely cleansed of sin, no dark corners where sin can remain to destroy you? Can you imagine that there is a Savior who maintains that cleansing? Can you imagine that being convicted of sin is God merciful work in your life? Can you imagine One who is righteous speaking on your behalf knowing that you have acted unrighteously? And can you imagine One who would offer Himself in your place, taking your judgment so that you can have fellowship with that perfect light? You don’t have to imagine any longer. Let’s pray.