“Light” is a favorite word of John’s—used not only in his letters, but also in his gospel. He saw God and light as inseparable. He literally illuminated his letters and gospel with light as again and again he used that symbolism for God and truth. John, in effect, drew a circle with God at the center. God is the source of the light that fills the circle; darkness, with its evil, is outside the circle. Then, with the compassion typical of his great heart, John invited sinful humanity, who by nature are prisoners of darkness, to enter the circle of light and approach God at its center.
You can see the entire service of August 9,2020, from the Christ Church patio on the Christ Church YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/G7LtSVL38hY
For an audio recording of the sermon only click the YouTube link at the end of this manuscript.
Scripture
1 John 1:1-10 MSG From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy! This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him. If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin. If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.
Text:
1 John 1:6-7 MSG If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.
Introduction
“Light” is a favorite word of John’s—used not only in his letters, but also in his gospel. He saw God and light as inseparable. He literally illuminated his letters and gospel with light as again and again he used that symbolism for God and truth.
As we consider 1 John 1:5–10, we find that John, in effect, drew a circle with God at the center. God is the source of the light that fills the circle; darkness, with its evil, is outside the circle. Then, with the compassion typical of his great heart, John invited sinful humanity, who by nature are prisoners of darkness, to enter the circle of light and approach God at its center.
1. Let’s examine the light and its source
Where do we find the first manifestation of God as “light”?
We must flip back to Genesis 1:3: where “God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
What preceded that light? The emptiest, most hopeless scene the human mind could ever conjure. The author of Genesis wrote, in Genesis 1:2
“The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep”
Then what happened?
God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
God’s very presence, is light, that's what John says in
1 John 1:5 MSG This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.
That light completely surrounded and dissipated the dark chaos and that was the beginning of creation.
A. John 1:3-5 MSG Everything was created through him; nothing—not one thing!— came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.
The Old Testament revelations of God as light were only a signpost pointing to the perfect revelation of God in his Son, Jesus Christ, who was life and, as that life Hs was light.
We all know that light will overcome darkness. We have all heard of a single match or candle lighting up an entire room.
B. What did people see when Jesus came to earth?
As their eyes were opened to the truth, as they saw the light of Jesus, they saw his glory.
And what was that glory?
That glory was the glory of the Father in heaven, and that glory was overflowing with grace and truth. That “light,” which is synonymous with Jesus, pierced the darkness. The evil forces of darkness tried in every way to put out his light. But they couldn't! Even when Jesus was dying on the cross and they thought his light would fade away, but it shone all the brighter, for it illuminated the dark chasm that had separated people from God.
Matthew 27:50-51 MSG But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last. At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces.
The tearing of the veil at the moment of Jesus’ death dramatically symbolized that His sacrifice, the shedding of His own blood, was a sufficient atonement for sins. It signified that now the way into the Holy of Holies, God's presence, was open for all people, for all time, both Jew and Gentile. Before that only the high priest could go behind the veil and communicate with God directly.
There's more about Jesus defeat of the evil forces;
Colossians 2:13-15 MSG When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
So the Bible’s victory shout, and order is, "God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him".
A. Whenever Scripture says that people walk in “darkness,” it refers to sin—that which separates people from God.
Verses 1John 1: 6, this time from the NIV John says,
1 John 1:6 NIV If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
John declares that if anyone claims to have fellowship with God while simultaneously living in habitual sin, they are a liar in both word and deed.
The tense of the verb “walk”, where John says walk in darkness, is talking about habitual action, something done repeatedly as a lifestyle. Christians may temporarily step into darkness, but because of our new nature, we are miserable until we confess and return to the light.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
We are new creatures in Christ, so we are miserable in darkness away from fellowship with God.
B. John teaches an elementary lesson in verse 8.
1 John 1:8 NIV If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
The very first step to God that a sinner must take, which is the hardest step of all, is admit, “I am a sinner.” Such an admission goes against the grain of human nature. Yet anyone who refuses to admit that he or she is a sinner walks in darkness and is without hope in this world and in the world to come.
Notice also that the word is “sin,” and not “sins.” God is not so much interested in an unbeliever’s specific acts of sin as he is in the sinful human nature that separates the unbeliever from God. That’s why Jesus said that you must be born again.
John 3:1-8 NIV Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. ” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
C. Verse 10 of 1 John 1 contains John’s most serious statement regarding sin and its expression in human nature.
1 John 1:10 NIV If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
John just said that if you say that you haven’t sinned you are calling God a liar.
1 John 1:10 MSG If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.
Paul said it a little differently and a little nicer when he said in
Romans 3:22-24 NIV This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Anybody who thinks differently has been deceived or doesn’t understand God’s truth at all.
D. On the other hand
1 John 1:7 NIV 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.
John says something amazing says that not only can we have fellowship with God, but he can have fellowship with us because through Christ’s sacrifice we have been cleansed of sin which separates us from God! So now we can have mutual fellowship
Then In verse 9 John tells us what to do those times that we do sin.
1 John 1:9 NIV If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
We are not to despair or to believe that we will be lost because they have sinned.
Philippians 1:3-6 NIV I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
That good work he started is our salvation.
When we do sin, we are to confess our sins. That’s different from unbelievers who are instructed to “believe” first. John 3:16 says
John 3:16 NKJV For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Christians have already believed. When we sin we are to “confess”—agree with God about our sins. As a result, God will “forgive us our sins, and . . . cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” After Christians confess, fellowship is restored. We may suffer the consequences of that sin but God forgives us and cleanses us from the spiritual pollution accompanying the sin, and He restores fellowship with us.
Conclusion
A circle of fellowship is illumined by God’s pure light. In the circle’s center is Jesus Christ. When we repent of our sin and believe that Jesus died for our sin and rose from the dead, we are admitted to that circle. We do not become perfect. Sometimes we wander to the circumference and temporarily step into darkness. But all is not lost! There is a way back to the center of the circle.
1 John 1:6-7 MSG If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.