God is Light

NT: OT:

(GOD IS LIGHT)

[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.

The word light is used over 260 times in the scriptures, and often in connection with God. It is used to declare God’s revelation of Himself. Just as light illuminates darkness, God has shown forth in this world and has made Himself known to us. That which was unknown has now been manifested. John says the message which he now proclaims about God, came firsthand from Jesus.

Yet light is also used to declare God’s holiness. To say that God is light is to speak about God’s perfection. He does not tell us that God gives light, although He does certainly do that. John’s point here however is that the moral character of God is light. God is the source of all that is good, perfect, lovely, right.

John makes sure this is as clear by saying, “in him is no darkness at all.” Because God is light, no darkness can be found in Him. God is not like us. He does not have good days and bad days. Look at how our Catechism speaks about God. “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” God always has been and always will be infinitely holy, good, just, truthful. That is simply who God is.

So God is light and no darkness can be found in him. Therefore God cannot be around darkness. The issue before us this morning is how a perfectly holy and good God can associate Himself with us. The bible is clear, “All sin and fall short of the glory of God” and because of this, the God who is light can have no part of our darkness.

Therefore we who have sinned and are separated from God deal with our sin in several different ways. John is writing to this church to correct error and encourage and strengthen true believers. John seeks to correct three sinful ways that some have sought to deal with their sin and in so doing He shows us the correct way to handle our sin.

(WALKING IN DARKNESS)

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

The first wrong way to deal with our sins is to say that we can have fellowship with God while we walk in darkness. We do this by saying God is really not that holy and my sins are really not that bad. So many people believe that they can live in habitual sin and still be a Christian. This is so common today. How often we hear that “God just loves me the way I am.”

I remember struggling against the teachings of what is commonly called “Lordship Salvation”. In brief, this is the position that a Christian can have Jesus as their Savior and be saved but not yet be under the Lordship of Christ. They claim that someone can be saved, yet while at the same time, still not having their life in obedience to Jesus. We see a denial here of Jesus’s claim of authority upon our life.

Yet John is clear, no one can have fellowship with God while still holding tight to their sins.We cannot have a lifestyle of unrepentant sin and still walk with God. There is no such thing as a carnal Christian. Everyone who makes such claims is simply lying. John says they not only lie but do not practice what is 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 corrects this lie of walking in darkness by showing what it means to have true fellowship with God. He says that in order to have fellowship with God, we must walk in light as God is in the light. Opposing the claim that God must not take sin that serious, John says we must walk in light the way God does. Yet we have already said that God is infinitely holy and perfect and we have sinned and have fallen short of that.

We see what John doesn’t say. He doesn’t say that because we have fallen short of God’s requirements, that God will lower the bar. He doesn’t say that since we fall short we can just go ahead and continue in sin. No, in fact he says that in order to have fellowship with God we be perfect just as God is perfect.

This leaves us in a desperate situation. Thankfully John is quick with the good news we need. He says that through the blood of Jesus we can be cleansed from all our sin. All our sins! Past, present, and future. Do you believe that?

Some of us really struggle with this. Satan wants to set before us our darkest moments and sins and try to convince us that we cannot be forgiven and cleansed. Yet John says the blood of Jesus cleanses us from ALL sin. There is nothing that can separate you from the love of God if you have been cleansed. There is nothing that you or I could do that could be un-cleansable.

Christians are therefore those who are perfectly cleansed and start walking in the light.

* YET There is another denial that people give in response to God’s purity.

OVERCOMING THE DARKNESS

[8] If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Some people claim that, although they used to sin, that is a problem they no longer have to deal with. As one pastor has put it, these people are professing Christians who have claimed to go varsity. They have been able to conquer the world, flesh, and devil and have now claimed to reach perfection.

Sadly this is an actually theology position. Some within the charismatic movement or certain parts of Methodism or Pentecostal churches actually claim that through God’s grace someone in this life can reach perfection. John doesn’t hold back the punches though. He is clear, those who claim such a thing are deceived and do not have the truth.

What worries me though is that so many Christians, even in good Reformed churches, act as if they too have reached perfection. It is funny but very sad how so many of us, myself included, will be the first to admit we are totally depraved, as long as we are the ones admitting it. As soon as our spouse, or children, or anyone else tries to show us an area of sin in our life, the defense go up. HOW DARE SOMEONE ELSE SAY THAT WE HAVE SINNED. This is proof that in our daily lives we function as if we have reached perfection.

Or let me ask you this. When is the last time you have personally confessed sinned. Well we all can say that we did so this morning in corporate worship. And that is very important and I in no way seek to undermine that but if we refuse to confess sins throughout the week, I am deeply worried about the confession we make on the Lord’s Day. When is the last time you have grieved for you sin and confessed it to God? Husbands, when was the last time you have confessed sin to your wife? Mothers when is the last time you have confessed sin to your children? Christian is it unthinkable to you that you might in fact need to confess sins to your employer?

John says that a true Christian, one who walks in the light is not deceived about their sin. He says that those who are walking in the light are confessing sin.

*And this is the glorious hope for those who have not reached perfection.

[9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

John says that God not only forgive us of our sins but in fact God is faithful and just to do so. This goes back to v7. The reason God can forgive sin is because of the blood of Jesus. God is faithful to what He says. John wants his hearer to be assured that God who is always faithful will continue to be faithful to forgive us, when we confess our sins. God is not only faithful but he is also just to forgive us. God could not forgive us our sins if it were not for the blood of Jesus. The bible is clear; Jesus underwent that wrath of God for all who would believe in Him. His blood that cleanses us is also the same blood that satisfies divine justice. God has punished sin in Jesus and no longer will punish the sins of any who will believe in His Son.

Again confession of sin is a mark of a true Christian who is walking in the light. To confess sin is simply to say the same thing God says about our sin. The problem though is that we so often try to dance around confessing sin. Or even when we do confess our sins, we are simply regretting that we got caught and now have to pay the consequences. This is not a true mourning over our offense against God. As one pastor put it, “Confession of sins makes us see ourselves in light of the living God and his holy law. We stop comparing ourselves to others. We stop commending ourselves. We stop excusing ourselves, or blaming others. Instead, we confess that we are sinner and deserve to be punished.”

John addresses one last way in which people try to justify their darkness.

DENYING THE DARKNESS

[10] If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Some people flat out claim to be a good person. They might even claim that there is no God and therefore whatever they think is best must be what is right. The unbeliever who rejects God is consistent to reject any standard of morality. If God is not light and He does not exist, we have no standard for what is right or wrong. Therefore when this person is confront with the gospel, with the news that God is light. They respond, “What God?” and in so doing make themselves to be the standard of all things.

But John sees this denial to be the worst of all. In denying any reality of sin in our life we make God out to be a liar. If God has said that all men have sinned then to deny this is nothing less than calling God a liar. In denying sin, we also mock Jesus. If people are without sin, than the work of Jesus on the cross was pointless.

[2:1] 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.

Christians who wall in light refuse to believe in a carnal Christian. They realize their sin and confess it. The refuse to believe that they can obtain perfection in this life. Yet in light of these three denials, John is clear, he desires for his hearers to not sin. Even though they understand that perfection is not achievable in this life, this is the desire of their heart. Christians who walk in the light have been given a new heart which longs for perfection and hates any sin that remains.

John expects this to be the desire of the church and also seeks to comfort them when they fall short. What is the response to the Christian who is striving to be like Christ, who long to be free from sin. Who is daily seeking to walk in light but finds that they fall short. John says that our hope is that Jesus Christ is our advocate before God. John goes back to the work of Jesus. We can have great hope when we fall because Jesus is our advocate.

He is not simply an advocate but He is a righteous advocate. Our righteous advocate stands at the Father’s side right now, making continual intercessions for us. Our comfort in dealing with sin is that we will not have to be our own advocate. Rather Jesus, the Righteous has and will always plead our case before the Father.

*The reason why we can have great trust in Jesus who pleads our case goes back to the work of Jesus. John says:

[2] He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

There is some debate to the word used here for propitiation. Propitiation deals with appeasing God wrath. While some translations prefer to say expiation, which means to remove the guilt of our offense. Personally I think both are in view. John’s point is that Jesus the Righteous has done everything needed to be the perfect advocate with the Father on behalf of sinners. Because of Jesus God’s wrath has been removed from us. Because of Jesus our all of our guilt has been removed.

John goes on to say that because Jesus is the perfect advocate with the Father, no one need be excluded from His saving work. No one can say that Jesus might be able to atone for some people but not for me. John is clear, Jesus did not die for only a certain type of sin. No He is the propitiation for world.

But I want to be clear, this verse is not implying that Jesus is the propitiation for everyone. In light of books like, Love Wins, by Rob Bell and many other “evangelicals” I must be clear. The scripture does not teach universalism. There will be those who reject the gospel, reject Jesus as the perfect advocate, and therefore will go to hell and endure the wrath of God forever.

Rather, John gospel proclamation declares that no matter what you have done, no matter how sinful you are, Jesus can make you clean. The work of Jesus can cleanse you of all unrighteousness and present you before the Father perfect.

Believers, John’s message to us today shows the foolishness of those who claim to be without sin. John warns the church about those who walk in darkness. But more importantly for us, he shows us what it looks like to walk in light. As Christians, as those who walk in light, we need to be confessing sin. I pray that the Spirit of God would convict us all and give us the confidence to confess our sins. Many of us this week might have some phone calls to make. We might have some difficult conversations that no longer excuse our sin but rather confesses it to God and to others.

But our hope is this: If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, because of Jesus Christ the Righteous. When we do sin we can have boldness to confess that we are sinners because we have an advocate with the Father who has atoned for all our sins and presents us clean before our God.

Let’s pray.