"Walking in the Light" - 1 John 1:5-10 - Thomas Slager

[Music] in a world of disagreements large and small I believe that you exist will fit with everyone go ahead how can a good eval for God allow innocent people suffer unspeakable tragedies then there's all these questions you know about ethics is rural issues as well and I would say well they're crazy for not testing what they think just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not real it's just real it's what you see and then I begin with the assumption that God is love historic Christian condition is this vast diverse conversation that's been going on for thousands of years [Music] first John chapter one verses five through ten last week we saw that the Apostle John is writing this letter to some churches in Asia Minor and one of the intentions he has in writing this is to correct some heresy some false doctrine that it infiltrated those churches and I think this morning as we look at our life we might even realize that some false doctrine some bad teaching may have even infiltrated our own hearts and may have be affecting our fellowship with the Lord so this morning we're just going to read it hop in and see what it says first John chapter 1 verses 5 through 10 let's read it 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 if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in the darkness we lie and we do not practice the truth 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 if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness but if we say we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us let's pray God though it's my voice that's been heard we know it's your word that's been spoken and God this morning we submit ourselves to your authority to your word God we believe that to disbelieve or disobey this message in this book is to disbelieve or disobey you so God we ask that you would give us help and not just understanding but also help in applying the concepts that we learn today Holy Spirit would you be so evident with us this morning would we fill your conviction God would you show us any darkness that's in our life as we seek and strive to live in the light because that's where you are Jesus you are in the light so help us be in the light also God thank you for allowing us to be together would you bless this time and receive all glory honor and praise to you and to you alone in Christ precious name we said we pray amen first John one five through ten again in case you're not there yet I'm you'll see two main points each those main points have two points the first main point we see the message proclaimed the message that John proclaims it's in verse five he writes this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you so what what he's been shown he now makes known that's a cute little way to remember what where does John getting this stuff from and and what's he doing well what he's been shown by God he now makes known to the people and what does he say well he explains the character of God he helps people understand who God is he says God is light and in him is no darkness at all the very first thing we see from our passage who is God God is light God is light we see light all throughout the scriptures we see God appearing as light we see him passing by people as light we see righteousness as light we see purity as light we see truths as light we see direction as light light in the scriptures is always a good thing so when God defines himself as being like what does that mean it means God is perfect it means he is moral purity it means he gives that sense of direction it means he's good it means he's everything that's right it means that he's the truth it means he's visible that means he's revealed himself which is interesting especially in light of these people that John is writing against remember these guys called Gnostics so there's Gnosticism thing had infiltrated into the church and one of the things that these Gnostics believed is that there was this secret knowledge and that you had to do the right thing say the right thing and kind of conjure up this God so you could believe him it was like this secret thing that God was really really hard to find and unless you did all these special things then you never could find God but here's the interesting thing about light against a backdrop of darkness is light really all that difficult to find not at all I got here early this morning and enjoyed a cup of coffee and out of my office I watched the sunrise it wasn't difficult to find why is this pitch-black out and you look out where's the Sun oh there it is it it's it's plain to see it's easy to see so God being light God has revealed himself God has shown us who he is and because of that he can be known last week we looked at John chapter 1 I want to look at it again because John has a lot to say about light in this process of light and how we too can become light and follow the light John chapter 1 verses 1 through 4 I have it up on the screen for you it says in the beginning was the word John chapter 1 verse 14 says the word became flesh the flesh dwelt among us and and and who is that that's that's Jesus right so when we're talking about the word we're talking about Jesus in the beginning was the word the Word was with God in the Word was God he this is the word was in the beginning with God all things were made through him and without him not anything has was made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men interesting so we see that God is light in in first John chapter 1 verse 5 in John chapter 1:1 we see that Jesus is also God so not only is God the Father light we see that God the Son is also light from John chapter 1 verses 1 through 4 in John chapter 8 verse 12 Jesus speaking he says I am the light of the world I am the light of the world so we see this progression happening and first John 1 God is light in John chapter 1 we see Jesus is also light in John 8 verse 12 we see that God the Father the light has sent the light Jesus into the world and he says two things whoever follows me this is important that whoever follows me two things happen one you will not walk in darkness and secondly you will have the light of Life Jesus the light of the world does two things as we follow him the first thing he does he gives us directions so that we do not walk in darkness he shows us how to live he tells us where to go but then secondly it says we will have the light of life it's a possessive thing so not only is the light of Christ the light of the world giving us direction in our life he also comes in US and then drives the darkness out okay so it gives us direction so we can follow the light as long as we follow the light we will know where to go especially when we're in the darkness and if we believe in the light he gives us the light and the light then drives the darkness out of our life so we see God as the light Jesus coming as the light if we follow the light the light does things in our life we continue on in John chapter 12 verses 36 john or 35 and 36 john continues this idea of light starting in chapter 12 verse 35 so jesus speaking again said to them the light whose light its himself the light is among you for a little while longer walk while you have the light lest darkness overtake you the one who walks in darkness does not know where he is going this might be one of the most practical things you're going to learn this morning and the one who walks in darkness does not know where he is going it almost sounds like a fortune cookie in some ways just super straightforward and really really helpful in a practical sense he ever walked into a kid's room after dark did it work out well for you no last week I got Legos to the bottom of the foot why because the one who walks in darkness does not know where he is going right it's helpful to flip the light on turn the light on so you can actually see and in the darkness of our world don't you think that having the light and walking in the light will be so much more helpful for you as you try to follow Christ of course it will the one who walks in darkness does not know where he is going while you have the light again this is Jesus believe in the light now check this out that you may become sons and daughters children of light interesting progression let's walk through it again first John chapter 1 God is light in him there is no darkness at all John 1 Jesus is God therefore Jesus is light John 8 verse 12 Jesus says I am the light of the world John 12 if you believe in light you then become a child of light God's children supposed to look like their father God is light therefore how should the children look like light our light should our life should not be characterized by darkness Matthew chapter 5 verse 14 and 16 Jesus speaking different Gospels same guy he says this you are a light of the world you are the light of the world wait a minute so God's the light Jesus says the light Jesus is the light of the world I believe in light therefore I become a child of light or now Jesus says I am the light we are the light the light of the Father that lighted the Sun is supposed to come inside of us and then shine through us the city set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house in the same way let your light shine did you learn this as a kid this little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine this little I'm gonna let it shine right hide it under a basket is it no I'm gonna let it shine it's so simple is it not but we complicate this so much God our Father is light and when we believe in Jesus the light of the world we become children of light are we to not then supposed to go out and shine the light we're supposed to look like our father we're supposed to look like the light this is the message we have heard from the beginning and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all it's the second thing that we see of who God is there is no darkness in him there is no darkness in him so if the light represents the moral purity darkness would represent sin if light represents knowledge then darkness represents ignorance if light represents truth and darkness represents the lie God is light there is no darkness now lest we complicate things let me explain to you how simple this is there's a a wonderful resource let me say this for us on the back of your sermon thing there's a little R inside of an orange dot we told you guys about our new partnership with the organization called right now media couple weeks ago we sent out about 3,000 invites and 700 of you all accepted it so 2,300 of you are really missing out go on today tomorrow whenever you can and login to your right now media account or follow the instructions on the back because there are amazing resources for you on that website you can download it to your Apple TV you can download it to your phone your Roku your Google something or other whatever a thing you stream and media from you can download it on that thing why do I say that because one of the really great resources on there that we've been utilizing in our family is a first John Bible study geared towards children it's the guy named Phil Vischer he's the guy who started VeggieTales VeggieTales I I sing songs with my kids that's the world I mean I apologize we did this first John study it's five minutes and it was all about how God is light and he is not darkness how how we're supposed to be lied how we're not supposed to be darkness and the last three minutes are these discussion questions at the screen asks you and then you talk about it with your kids and let me tell you how simple this concept of God being light and not darkness really is so the questions come up first question what does it mean that God is light so we asked our kids hey guys what does it mean that God is light what does that mean because we we make it real difficult here's the first answer my four-year-old it means he's everything good what yeah that yep you got it what else what else doesn't mean that God is light daddy it means that he is he is holiness okay so not just that he is holy or that he has that he has holiness or does some holy things but but he is holiness okay maybe the darkness will trigger maybe if we ask him that question it'll be way more difficult than I think right guys then if God is light and he's he's holiness and goodness then what is darkness Oh daddy that's the bad things what does that mean it's the bad things it's the sins so what does it mean that God isn't darkness it means he's none of the bad things he's all of the good things without the bad things is the sixth in a four-year-old yet we for whatever reason we complicate this thing so much if God is light and God is the father and then gives children and we become children of light should his children who look like the father who is light or should his children who are supposed to be light look like darkness it's quite simple when you think about it the children are supposed to look like their father we're children of light who are meant to walk in light so who is God God is light and in him is no darkness at all who then are his kids and how are they supposed to act that's the next thing we see in our outline this morning is the marks of our fellowship if he marks of our fellowship with God what does it look like what does it look like to be a Christian to our life be characterized by certain things and and John would say yes he gives us a few examples of what those are in verse 6 he says this if we say we have fellowship with him if we say we have fellowship with him now real quick in your Bible go to first John chapter 1 verse 3 because we've we've mentioned fellowship already twice in this book it says that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you that sounds a lot like verse 5 right verse 5 says this this is the message we've heard from him and proclaimed to you so he's it's a continuation of the same thought this is the message we've heard and proclaimed to you also so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our Fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ fellowship it's an interesting word it's the Greek word Koinonia the root word being Koine which means common in common with and common union with to share in now we often use fellowship in the church as going to a fellowship hall or we're hanging out and we'll say we're just fellowship and right because that's what Christians do we fellowship together and here's the interesting thing the way that John uses the word fellowship is not something that we do but it's something that we are it's not something that we do it's something that we are we are in fellowship with Christ if we know Christ then you are in Christ you are in his body in united common union communion you are in communion with Christ and brothers and sisters if you two are in communion with Christ if you are in the body of Christ that means I'm in the same body you're in the same body we therefore have fellowship with one another it's not just this thing that we do that Christians do it's this thing that we have we don't just do fellowship for the sake of being in good relationship with Christ it's actually the exact opposite think of Ephesians chapter 2 verses 89 it's that hold by grace you've been saved through faith not by work so no one can boast but then fast-forward to verse 10 it says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for what for good works what does Paul say he says we're saved therefore we do good works there is not the opposite he doesn't say you do good works and therefore are saved he says you have been saved therefore you do good works it's the same thing with our fellowship we don't do things with one another in order to have a fellowship we have fellowship in Christ therefore we do things with one another it's not something we try to maintain in our life it's something we experience and Express because God has United us if you are in Christ then you are in the fellowship if you love more on fellowship again right now media we dropped a video on their pastor John MacArthur talking really really long about fellowship and it's amazing I'd encourage you to go ahead and watch that and see more about it another intention that John has in his letter is 1st John 5 verse 13 you can turn there or I can just read it to you first John 5:13 because we're talking about fellowship how do we know if we're in the fellowship how do we know if we're in Christ how do we know if we're in the faith that's actually John 1 says he wants us to know that first John chapter 5 verse 13 he says I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that means you're in the faith that you may know you have eternal life you ever asked yourself the question how do I know if I'm saved you ever wonder that how do I know if I'm in Christ one of the things John does in this letter is he proposes all of these tests to encourage us and help us know if we are in fact in the faith and that's what he goes to next marks of our fellowship the first mark of our fellowship is this we walk in the light we walk in the light verse 6 if we say we have fellowship that's in common common union if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in the darkness we lie and we do not practice the truth now notice he says if we walk in the darkness he doesn't just say if you sin every once in a while then you're a liar and there's no truth in you okay if you're I mean you're a Christian you believe in Jesus nod your head okay you still sin sometimes welcome to the club okay that's not what he's talking about here he's talking about a life that's characterized by blatant sin disobedience darkness if you say you have fellowship with him with the light with the light of the world God the light if you say you are in common with him and God is light but your life is utter darkness there they don't work that does not mesh if you are in common with him if you are in fellowship with them that means your life looks like his second Corinthians 5 verse 17 says this therefore if anyone is in Christ he's a new creation the oldest passed away and behold the new has come you could almost say the old is like the darkness if anyone is in Christ he's a new creation behold the darkness the way you used to live the darkness that surrounded you the darkness that was in your heart if you are in Christ those things have been expelled the light of Christ has overtaken your heart and driven those things out the old the darkness is gone behold new light has come okay so if you're here this morning and you've been claiming that you have fellowship with God but your life just looks like disobedience to the Lord you might not be in the faith you might not be in the faith verse seven he says this but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin if we walk in the light now rewind first John chapter 1 verse 5 God is light in him there is no darkness at all John chapter 1 verse 1 through 4 in verse 14 Jesus is also the light john chapter 8 verse 12 jesus says I am the light of the world John chapter 12 verse 35 and 36 he says if you believe in the light you become sons of light matthew then says go and let your light shine let your light shine here he says walk in the light walk in the light walk in Christ if God is the light what does he like then be like him never those what would Jesus do bracelets that were really cool and then everyone made fun of them we should do those again why because it asks the question what would Jesus do because if I want to know what the right thing is if I want to know how to be like the light if I want to know how to walk in the light I can ask that question Jesus is the light of the world what would the light of the world do if Christ were in my situation how would he respond and then I can go and walk in the light so tough question I'd love for you to ask yourself real quick this morning am i walking in the light am i walking in the light if I'm a Christian your professors Jesus Christ is the savior of my sins who puts me in right standing right relationship with the Lord if I claim to be in the fellowship am i walking in the light now what we tend to do in these situations when someone asks that question is we start thinking things like man sure wish Jerry were here he could use that question if your name's Jerry and you're here I'm glad you're here okay it's not intended to you to hurt your feelings or anything but we start deflecting and start thinking like man I wonder so and so it really needs to hear this this isn't meant for that okay Christians love doing this whole fruit inspecting thing where we examine other people's lives and see if they have the fruits of the spirit we try to see if they're walking in the light so we can decide if they're actually saved and this isn't meant for that this is meant for self introspection of you asking the question of yourself Matthew chapter 7 3 and verse 5 jesus has a wonderful analogy says why do you see the speck that's in your brother's eye but do not notice what the log that's in your own eye or how can you say to your brother let me take that speck out of your eye when there's a log in your own eye okay don't ask that question this morning am i walking in the light and thinking about the speck in your neighbor's eye when there might be a log sticking out of your own examine yourself ask the question am I truly in the faith am I truly in fellowship am I truly walking in the light or am I just putting on a show second mark of our fellowship we see is that we confess our sins we confess our sins like I said before if you're in the faith it doesn't mean your sins are gone means I've been paid for they've been taken care of you're no longer a slave to sin you're a slave to righteousness you're a freed man the way you wants to walk you don't have to do that anymore the sins that once enslaved you you're not enslaved to those any longer you're free verse eight says this if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us that's that phrase if we say we have no sin again these are ideas that that false doctrine in the heresy had infiltrated the church right the first thing he said is if we claim to have fellowship with him but that was something these guys were teaching these false teachers came in and said we can believe in Jesus and have heaven sealed up but while we're here we can just live like hell and it doesn't matter we do whatever you want sin it up grace will abound no may it never be so he says the same thing here if we say we have no sin it's another false and that are crept into the church that that your perfect man whatever you do God doesn't care you don't even have sin once you believe in Jesus you could just live however you want it doesn't matter at all and he says this if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us and I love he doesn't just say if we say we have no sin you're lying to yourself he says if you say you have no sin you are deceiving yourself you're deceiving yourself you're saying a lie you're actually beginning to believe you ever done that to yourself before said something so crazy over and over and over again you actually start to believe it and you're not sure if it's real or not like for 20 years you woke up looked in the mirror and said you look good this morning next day you wake up you look good 20 years later I do look good you are deceiving yourself right it's the same thing we can't just go through life thinking we don't have any sin because eventually the eventually you're going to say that enough to the point where you get to believe it and it's not healthy Romans chapter 3 verse 23 says for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God no one's exempt from this everybody your sweet grandma you think's the same the Pope anybody all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God none of us are exempt may we never think or may we never say that because we are in Christ now that we're never going to sin again it's just not the case verse 9 he follows up he says if we confess our sins so may we never say we're without sin but what he says confess our sin if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness so that one thing you've been holding on to that one thing you're afraid of confessing because God might find out as if he doesn't already know right that thing you've been hiding that thing that's giving you so much guilt and so much shame let it go why because if we can confess those things all of those things he will cleanse us and forgive us of all our unrighteousness there's no sin big enough to keep you from being forgiven proverbs 28:13 it speaks to the heart of most of our desires of things you could even remind or rewind to the Garden of Eden Adam sins messes up and then what does he do he hides all right we're gonna hide from God to make sure God doesn't find out what we actually did it spoke about it in the Proverbs the same concept whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy how much time do we spend actively hiding things especially in our relationships with people like I can't let my wife know about this I can't let my wife know I did this I gotta hide it because if that comes to the light then we're gonna have to deal with this so I'd rather just keep it in the darkness I love to conceal my transgression but it says whoever does that will not prosper but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy know that confess and forsake confess and forsake that word confess means agree with it means we come before God and say God you're right I am a sinner god you're right I'm supposed to live my life this way that I lived it like this I I confess I agree with you God I am a sinner but then it says forsakes our transgressions Christian do you hate your sin do you hate it Romans chapter 7 we get this picture of Paul of Paul talking about his sin and he says man the things I want to do are the very things I can't do and the things I hate doing these are the things I keep doing you ever feel that way you confess your sin to the Lord you like God would you just kill this thing I'm sick of struggling with the same thing might my anger issue or my lack of trust or whatever it is that you're going through do you hate it so much that you lay it before the feet of Jesus and say look Jesus I want this thing dead and I believe that it died with you do you say that do you leave that says don't conceal it confess it and hate it and then you will obtain mercy James 4:17 less we think we're not as bad off as we thought James 4:17 says this so whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him it is a sin see we have these two categories of saying their sins of commission of I know what I shouldn't do but I still do it anyway then their sins of omission which are things I know I should do but I don't do them you see the difference and I think when we really start thinking even just over your last week think of all the sins of commission if I know I shouldn't have waved to the guy out in my car window like that but I did it anyways I know the old lady had the ride away but she moving slow alright so I went ahead and did that anyways I know I'm not supposed to be rude to my wife did it anyways I know I'm supposed to be a light wherever I go didn't do it you started thinking about I mean how how much we sin in a week it's a lot and all of those things are sins of commission are sins of omission he says if we confess then he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness confess your sins forsake them and receive the forgiveness of the Lord verse 10 he says again if we say we have not sinned just like verse 8 verse 8 says if we have no sin we deceive ourselves verse 10 says if we say we have enough sinned we make him a liar now we're indict engaño a liar call me a sinner God I'm a sinner we make him a liar and his word is not in us do you deny your sin do you are you delusional about your sin or do you actually confess your sin that's a mark that we have true fellowship with the Lord we do in fact confess the sins that we commit so we can walk in the light and be in fellowship with him because that's who we are we are in fellowship with him two points of application I'd love to leave you with this morning or the to application points that John gives these people the first is this confess your sins confess your sin whatever thing you're holding on to this morning get rid of that let that go God dealt with it stop dealing with it now just let him do it because he did confess her sins and then secondly walk in the light walk in the light why because that's where Jesus is so what does this look like let's run through it once more John chapter 1 verse 5 this is the message we have heard him proclaim to you God is light in him there is no darkness at all God is light what does God do God sends his son Jesus Christ to be the light of the world what happens then he says if we believe in the light we become children of light and then once we've become children of light we go out and we shine the light maybe you're here this morning and realizing you've been having some difficulty shining the light and you think it's because you don't believe in the light itself if that's you if you feel like for whatever reason the light bulb is going on this morning and you're thinking I get it I think I've been trying to do this on my own apart from Christ but I can't shine the light if I don't have the light I would love it this morning if you would confess your sins to the Lord and say Jesus I believe and you see that's what we do oftentimes we confess our sins but we forget this whole belief part Romans chapter 10 verses 9 and 10 it's up on the screen for you it says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved you want to become a child of light you want to shine the light of Christ every day of your life it starts with that it starts with believing in the light itself then you too can become like shine the light wherever God may send you in a second we're going to take communion so I'd invite the team who's going to serve us to go ahead and begin serving the worship team you can come up as well communion as we said before fellowship what's fellowship it's common union sounds like communion doesn't it that's what we do in communion we celebrate our fellowship that we have with the Lord and the fellowship that we have with one another I'd invite you this morning to do three things as we take communion the first is to look back at what Christ has done for you look back at what Christ has done for you that he died on the cross we deserve to die on that he paid the penalty for our sins that we deserve to pay ourself and if we believe in him and trust in him then we can have eternal life the light will shine in our heart we too then can become children of light I'd also ask you to look inside and ask you a question is there any darkness in my life as there any darkness in my life and if you can think of something whatever it might be would you confess that to the Lord this morning and asked him to ghin to not just give you direction of his light in your life but to drive the darkness out of your heart the third thing we do in communion is we look for it in Revelation John the same guy he wrote 1st 2nd 3rd John and the Gospel of John he's describing the new heavens and the new earth and he says someday there will be no need for Sun why because we have the glory of our God shining on us shining in us and shining out of us that's what we have to look forward to if we are in the fellowship so let's celebrate that this morning asked that question of yourself on the night Jesus was betrayed he was in the upper room enjoying a meal with his apostles and during the meal he took a piece of bread and he broke it and he said this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way he took the cup and he said this cup represents the new covenant of my blood which is poured out for you do this in remembrance of me you stand with me as I pray [Music] God thank you for being the light God thank you for sending the lights so we can so clearly see it God thank you for allowing us to believe in your son the light and in doing so making us children of light so we can go out and shine the light of Christ God this morning I ask that you would continue to give us the sense of direction that we need for our life that you'd continue to reveal yourself to us so we know where to go and then God in addition to that would you continue driving out the darkness that's inside of our hearts God we know this is only doable it can only happen by your grace so god this morning we thank you for your grace God without you we'd still be trapped in darkness but we're grateful you've shown yourself to us and given us the light so god we love you thank you for what you've done and we give you all glory honor and praise in this place this morning and all God's people said this is the message we have heard God is light and in him there is no darkness at all this morning may we see the light believe the light become the light and shine into the light may you walk in his light this week peace guys

Channel: Highlands Church

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Keywords: sermon, church, highlands church, bible, scottsdale, arizona, jesus, god, religion, christian, non-denominational, evangelical, christianity, theology, christ, pastor, 1 John, Knowing Truth, Knowing Truth: The Letters of John, The Letters of John, John, Thomas Slager, Walking in the Light, 1 John 1:5-10

Id: ef2utj9NMXw

Length: 37min 29sec (2249 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 04 2018