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Prayer
As we consider the passage that is before us this morning,
we need to remember that John has written so that we know we are believers.
Not that we may think we are, but that we may know we in Christ.
1-3 John (Chapter 2: Live in the Light (1 John 1:5–10))
Have you ever stared directly at the sun?
That is one of those strange activities that your mother warned you not to do
Then what happened?
Immediately your eyes began to burn, and the intense burning compelled you to turn your face.
Then, when you turned from looking into the sun back to the world around you, your eyes had trouble refocusing.
The witness from John here is that he is LIGHT.
1 John 1:5 (ESV)
that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
This is not the first time we have ever heard this before, all throughout the OT, God is described this way.
David says in Psalm 27...
Psalm 27:1 (ESV)
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
In another place he declares...
Even in the prophet Isaiah, when God is describing the effects of His Messiah who is to come he says...
Isaiah 49:6 (ESV)
I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
All throughout the OT we see this witness to God’s light and brilliance.
The imagery that John picks up here is easy for us to comprehend.
Light and darkness have often been terms used in religious circles.
The light representing the good and the darkness representing evil.
For John, LIGHT is righteousness and DARKNESS is unrighteousness and sin.
It is the nature of light itself that makes clear that which is hidden in the darkness.
When we walk into a dark room, we turn on a light.
We don’t turn on the darkness.
When we hear the statement, “God is Light” we should hear ethical implications.
Light is a symbol or a representation of the concept of purity.
A Dark Stage with a Bright Spotlight
Picture with me an extremely dark stage.
And in the middle of that stage there is an extremely bright light that hangs down.
The light provides illumination for everything else.
If the light were somehow removed, the person on the stage would be absolutely lost.
What is God like in His nature?
The Standard: The Purity of God
When we say God is pure?
What do we mean?
Louis Berkhof helpfully talked about God’s ethical holiness in this way....
This ethical holiness of God may be defined as that perfection of God, in virtue of which He eternally wills and maintains His own moral excellence, abhors sin, and demands purity in his moral creatures.
Basically what Berkhof is saying is that God is completely perfect in His ethical and moral excellence.
Affirmation: God is Completely Pure
He is completely and wholly absent of the presence of sin and darkness.
He is the plumbline of morality.
We ONLY understand what morality is based off of Him.
The demand then of this perfection is purity.
Like the prophet Isaiah who cried out, “Woe is me, for I am lost!”
This God that we serve is so utterly different than we are.
He is so utterly pure because He is so utterly devoted to Himself!
John even gives the same truth in the negative...
1 John 1:5 (ESV)
that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Denial: God is NOT Darkness at all
For example
A person may have a good characteristic
And that may be a true quality of that person.
But to say that God is light and there is no darkness is to say that He is ONLY Light.
He is so extremely LIGHT that there is NO DARKNESS at all.
“there is no darkness in Him, none”
Basically this is saying that God is so pure that there is not a trace of impurity within Him.
When we consider how we view God in our minds and in our hearts,
we must reject the challenge from the serpent in the garden, that God is somehow BAD.
We need to be aware and able to speak the truth of this passage to that lie.
This passage is deeply encouraging because it shows us that no matter our situation, GOD IS PURE.
Job situation
Family Loss
1 John 1:5 (ESV)
that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Not only is He Himself completely and totally pure, he demands that of His creatures as well.
When the Scriptures tell us a fact about the nature of God, it always demands us to change in some way.
Since God is Light, You Should Walk in His Light
There are several responses to God’s perfection and purity.
Today we will be examining the response of Hypocrisy.
Now what John is about to do is interesting and deserves us spending a minute reflecting on the pattern.
Claim
Reality
Truth
He does this in verse 6, verse 8, and verse 10...
John is describing a term we know as HYPOCRISY.
What is hypocrisy?
Hypocrisy is most simply a theatrical term.
A term which is used in theater productions.
It is a theatrical term because it denotes the mask an actor wore to impersonate another character.
Essentially, these opponents of John are putting on masks that say, “We have fellowship with God!”
While on the underneath, they were fakes.
Hypocrisy: The Leaven of the Pharisee’s
Jesus addressed a group of people like this while he was on earth.
As he was privately talking with his disciples about the Pharisee’s, this is what he said...
Luke 12:1–3 (ESV)
“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.
3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.
He says that what the Pharisee’s are doing is like “leaven”
Leaven is essentially the yeast that you put into dough to allow bread to rise.
What Jesus is saying that theatrical masks and leaven are essentially the same thing.
They produce appearances but are really just false impressions.
The leaven allows the bread to rise but it does not actually give any substance or weight to the bread.
He is saying that these Pharisee’s appear to be one way by their confession, but their lives tell a different story.
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