1 John: Walking in the Light
1 John • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsIf we claim to be Christians and claim to be God's children then we need to be acting like it. We must do as John tells us, not just encourage others to do it while we continue to live our own sinful lives.
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Introduction
Introduction
Good evening and welcome back!
Tonight if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of .
Over the course of the next few weeks, we are going to spending some time in the book of 1 John and be looking a little bit deeper into the teaching of this disciple, whom the Bible tells us is the disciple whom Jesus loved.
What made him so special?
What was so different about John?
Well, we have his gospel writings, that can give us a little bit of a clue, but the Gospel of John is more of a historic account of Jesus than the actual teachings of John.
But, when we start really digging down into the meat of John’s teaching, we will begin to get a deeper understanding of who John was and what he was all about.
And I believe that John was really so special to Jesus because John’s teachings all center on the central aspect of Jesus’ teaching, which was love.
John understands the central nature of God and has a special ability to communicate that with the readers.
And that doesn’t mean that the other New Testament writers did not have this connection with God, but their teaching served a different purpose.
When we go back and start looking at the different writings of Peter and Paul we can see how God used them in a way that they were able to teach the core aspects of Christianity in a way that matched their personality.
And John is no different.
All of their teachings are important and relevant, but they are different in tone and focus because all people are different.
For instance, I could preach a message one way and then someone else comes along and they could preach the exact same message in a completely different way.
Both messages are accurate and relevant, but the difference is that the audience may need to hear the message in one way at one time and in another way at another time.
And I may understand things one way and the other person another way.
And for John, he saw everything through the lens of God’s love for humanity, which is why he, as we will soon see, approaches some very hard subjects in the way he does.
Make no bones about it, John does not water down the message one bit and delivers some very hard news to the readers, but he does so in a way that brings out God’s love.
So, if you have found 1 John in your Bible, I’d invite you to stand with me as I read verses 5-10.
John writes . . . .
Scripture Focus
Scripture Focus
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by 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, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
God is Light (vs 5-7)
God is Light (vs 5-7)
Now I picked up right in the middle of chapter one, which is in itself a very short chapter (only 10 verses).
And where we pick up is the first place of many where John is going to be challenging and calling out their line of thinking.
He has already established his authority to give them the message and the purpose of the message in the first four verses.
In fact the book starts out this way . . .
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.
1 John 1:1
So he is essentially telling them that he has the authority to bring this message because he has lived this message.
He has walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus.
He has witnessed first hand every single thing that they knew to be true about Jesus.
He knows that eternal life and the promise of eternal life is true because he has seen it play out first-hand in Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead.
And his purpose is not to shame them or embarrass them but rather . . .
4 We write this to make our joy complete.
The ultimate joy is for people to find Jesus, live for Jesus, and eventually die in Jesus.
Because this is what restores humanity and restores hope for humanity.
But, even though he wants to bring them the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, he also needs to correct them in some ways so that they are not deceived by the enemy.
So, he starts out . . .
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
:5-
God is not only light, but God is also the source of all light.
And you could very easily substitute the words “love” and “good” for the word “light here.
You could say , which John actually does later that God is love; in him there is no darkness at all.
Or, God is good and in him there is no darkness at all.
So, where does the darkness; the hate come from?
It comes from Satan and Satan’s influence on the world.
And we already know that we cannot have one foot in the world and one foot in heaven.
We have to be all in or we are all out.
So, John continues and challenges them . . .
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by 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, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1:6-
Which is exactly what we are talking about here.
You see the problem of people claiming to be something they are not is not a 21st or even 20th century problem.
The problem dates back throughout human history.
The only problem here is that the consequences of claiming to be a Christian, when you are not are extreme.
The consequences are missing out on heaven, missing out on eternal life, missing out on God.
And John flat out tells them that they can’t claim that the are Christians, but still walk around in the sinful ways of the world.
And the fact is, there will be a change in people when they accept Jesus.
Now, that doesn’t mean they will never mess up again or that they will never sin again.
What it means is their heart wants to do better and wants to do right and they try to do those things.
And when they do mess up then they are quick to ask forgiveness and try not to repeat the same mistake.
It also means that there comes a time when they realize that in their own power they are powerless to have an effective lasting change.
So, they reach a point when they are willing to give everything, including themselves, over to God and allow the Holy Spirit to lead them and guide them into the path of righteousness.
Self Deception (vs 8-10)
Self Deception (vs 8-10)
But again, we can’t have it both ways.
We can’t claim it and not live it.
Which is where so many well intentioned people find themselves.
These are ones who maybe “joined the church.”
Or maybe they “prayed the sinners prayer.”
Or maybe they were baptized because “it was what you had to do to be a Christian.”
And the bad thing is, none of those things save your soul.
They only thing that does that is confessing, repenting, giving your heart to Jesus Christ.
All of those other things come after that as signs of what God has done inside of you.
But people get confused by it and the church has not done well in trying to clear the confusion up.
We have been way too concerned about numbers and far too little concerned about souls.
And when we do not tell people the truth we lead them down a road of self-deception and lies.
They begin to think that they are okay, that they do no wrong, that they don’t have to do any of this other stuff.
John goes on . . . .
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
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We need to hear that and let that sink in.
I will read it again . . .
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If you hear someone tell you “I don’t sin” or “I haven’t sinned in xxxx years,” they are sinning right then because they are liars.
Now, we can go days with sinning, but not very many.
And this is because our minds are so bombarded and immersed in the sin of the world and we are so independent of the Holy Spirit, that we struggle.
The Apostle Paul himself said that he had a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan.
And some say it was a physical disability, and it may have been but a thorn in the flesh is something that not only hinders you but also causes you to question God and question why you have it.
A thorn in the flesh is something you constantly struggle with in an attempt to keep it from causing you to sin.
Sometimes, hopefully most of the time, you win, but sometimes you lose.
Which is exactly why, even after we have accepted Jesus . . .
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:
Which is exactly another deceptive trap that many fall into.
And a lot of these people who have been Christians or at least claimed to be for a long time.
These are people who believe that you confess one time and that’s it, you never need to confess and ask forgiveness again.
People walking around overcome by sin because they refuse to believe that they need to come back to the altar again, ever in their lives.
Folks, even in the Old Testament, everywhere they went they set up an altar.
It wasn’t just for a one time sacrifice or a one time offering to God.
It was to be used continuously by the people.
And the same thing is true today.
However . . .
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
How many times have we made Jesus out to be a liar, because of our own self-deception?
Altar Call
Altar Call
The only one we are fooling is ourselves.
That’s it.
And the sooner we admit that we are sinners and that we need forgiveness all the time, not just that one time on the altar all those years ago, we would be much better off.
Then we could take advantage of all of God’s love, God’s mercy, and God’s grace.
So, John writes, as we close . . .
Altar Call
Altar Call
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
:1-
We have to determine though whether we are going to accept his atoning sacrifice.
Whether we are going to accept his gift to us.
And it doesn’t matter whether we need to come to Jesus for the first time, or whether we need to come and make some things right with Him.
We approach Jesus in the same way.
What matters is whether or not we are willing to come.
Whether we are willing to admit that yes we are sinners.
Yes, we need continuous forgiveness.
Are we going to accept the truth or are we going to go on deceiving ourselves?
It is our choice to make and right now is the time to make it.
What will your decision be today?