“Step into the Light”
(1 John 1:5 – 2:2)
Series: A Word for the Church [on screen]
Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD
First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida
August 29, 2021
Passage:
1 John 1:5 – 2:2
1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
2:1 My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. 2 He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
Introductory Comments
How many of you prefer the darkness over the light? Probably no one, right? [show picture on screen]When we’re children, we’re often afraid of the darkness. We put night lights in our rooms so it’s not too dark. When a hurricane comes through and we lose power, we try to find a way to prevent darkness. When you’re at the beach and a dark cloud rolls up, you know that your beach fun is going to be ruined. Once we get to a certain age, we don’t even like to drive when it is dark outside. There’s something about darkness that most of us don’t like.
Well, we are continuing our series in 1 John called, “A Word for the Church.” Today, we’re going to hear what John has to say about darkness and light. This is a theme that he will continue beyond the passage that we are covering today, so be sure and pay attention.
Before we go any further, let’s pray together and ask God to speak to us.
(prayer)
Last week we learned that Jesus was real, that He came to the world, and He has made it possible for us to know God.
This week, John talks more about what it means for us to know God and walk with God. As John describes this, he’s going to speak of light and darkness. So we’re going to look at four realities of this light that John is writing about.
First, . . .
I. Light is who God is (1:5-6)[on screen]
John speaks really straightforwardly in these verses. I love that he writes that way: he gets right to the point.
Let’s look at verses 5 and 6.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth.
John wants us to know that God is 100% light. John says that there is, “absolutely no darkness in him.”
Did you know that some food is not what you think it is? So often with food these days we have to read the label to find out if something is really what it’s supposed to be. Is it 100% juice? Is it 100% real cheese? Is it 100% maple syrup? Often when my wife asks me to get something special, I spend half my time at the grocery store just reading labels. Well, John has put it on the label for us: God is 100% light and there is no darkness in Him!
God is light in that He is 100% good. God is light in that He reveals all that we need to see! God is light in that there is only truth in Him! He is perfectly good, perfectly holy, perfectly powerful, and perfectly just.
There is no darkness in God. There is nothing bad, nothing wrong, nothing that needs to be hidden, and no amount of evil.
John goes on to say that God is so full of light and so absent of darkness, that if we claim that we are following God, and there is darkness in our lives, then we are lying.
Here’s John’s point: God is so absent of darkness that it’s easy to tell if we’re following Him: if we have darkness, we’re not following God because there is no darkness in Him at all!
We’ll talk about this more in just a moment. For now, remember that light is who God is.
Let’s look at this second aspect of light. Number two, . . .
II. Light is where fellowship is (1:6-7)[on screen]
Remember, we learned about fellowship last week. In case you weren’t here last week, or in case you weren’t paying attention, fellowship refers to a special relationship.
So, John is telling us that light is where a special relationship is found.
Look at verses 6 and 7:
6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
John is telling us that a special relationship, that fellowship, is not found by walking in darkness.
When we do the things that are against the ways of God, we will not find God there and we will not find a special relationship with God there. You won’t find an alligator in the desert, you won’t find grits on a Chinese buffet, you won’t find total agreement on social media, and you won’t find God in the darkness.
When we live in unholiness, unforgiveness, unkindness, and ungodliness, we will not find God there and we will not find a relationship with God there.
The special relationship that we need with God is found by walking in the light, with God.
Not only that, but the special relationship that we need with other people is found by walking in God’s ways, in the light.
John says in verse 7, “If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.”
If you want to experience the special relationship with other people that you are created to experience you must be walking in the ways of God, in the light.
In all of my ministry experience, when people have told me that they are not connected to other Christians, or they just don’t want to be part of the church any longer, I’ve never said to myself, “Wow, that’s so weird because that person is so godly. They are so close to Jesus but they just can’t connect with the people of Jesus.” That never happens! They usually are not connecting with people of the light because they are not walking in the light.
If you want to have fellowship with God and His people, you must walk in the light! Period!
Light is where fellowship is.
Next, . . .
III. Light is where cleansing is (1:7-10)[on screen]
Well, what happens if we’re walking in darkness and we want to get out? What happens if we are in sin and we want to get out of sin? We go to the light!
If you’re stuck in a dark cave and you are looking for a way to get out, you look for the light and you walk towards the light! [show picture on screen]
Listen to what John says. Look at verses 7-10:
7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
If you’re in darkness, go to Jesus the Light! If you’re dirty and stained by sin in your heart, in your mind, and in your life, go to Jesus for cleansing.
Rather than saying, “if,” I should say, “when.” As a matter of fact, John says that if we say that we have no sin we are lying to ourselves and the truth is not in us.
John is saying that we have sinned and that we will sin. When we do, we should go to Jesus!
Verse 9 is so beautiful! What happens when we go to Jesus, the Light, with our sin? John says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
You better believe this: Jesus is faithful! If you go to Him for forgiveness of your sins, He will not only forgive you, but He will make you clean!
God will not only wipe away the guilt of your sin, but He will wipe away the mess of your sin. When you go to Jesus, God then looks at you and He doesn’t see the guilt of your sin; He sees Jesus!
When you go to the light and walk in the light, God looks at you and sees the light!
Light is where cleansing is.
Finally, . . .
VI. Light is where Jesus is (2:1-2)[on screen]
John wants to focus us on Jesus again. Look at verses 1 and 2 of chapter 2:
2:1 My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. 2 He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
John doesn’t want us to sin. He’s writing his letter so that we won’t sin. He’s writing his letter so that we will walk in the light.
However, John also knows that we are still wrestling with the effects of sin in our lives. John knows that the residue of sin still clings to us.
So, John says that if we do sin, we have an advocate. Aren’t you glad that we have an advocate, church?
We need an advocate because God the Father is 100% light! If we have any darkness in us, we cannot have fellowship with God. We need someone to help us! We need someone to advocate for us!
An advocate is someone who helps us or supports us. Jesus is our advocate! He cleanses us and He says to the Father, “This one is with me!”
Jesus Christ the righteous one is our advocate!
John then tells us the primary way that Jesus helps us, or advocates for us. Look again at verse 2: John says, “He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Atonement means “payment.” Jesus is the payment for our sins. There is a payment due for sin.
The Bible says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [on screen]
Death is the payment and Jesus paid the payment when He gave His life on the cross.
Jesus paid for our sins: past, present, and future. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
So, let us be grateful, let us be changed, and let us walk in the light.
John also says that Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for the whole world.
It’s worth pointing out that John doesn’t mean that everyone’s sins in the world are automatically paid for. That would be what we call universalism, meaning everyone would go to heaven no matter what. That’s a heresy that the Bible does not teach.
What John means is that the forgiveness of Jesus is available for the entire world. As we read in Romans 10:13, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” [on screen]
So, think of it this way, forgiveness is available to all but not automatic for all.
So, we need to go to Jesus! We need to go to the light and we need to take others to the light!
Light is where Jesus is.
Concluding Thoughts:
So, let’s go back to where we started: God is light! So, let us be people of the light.
That takes us to our bottom line:
Bottom Line: God is light and we are to be people of the light. [on screen]
(repeat)
Listen, church: we should despise the darkness. We should not want anything to do with the darkness. Of course, when I speak of darkness, I’m talking about spiritual darkness: evil, sin, the ways of the world!
Instead, we should be people of the light! We should be people of God! We should walk in the light!
Here are two ways that you can live out this passage this week. Challenge yourself in these ways:
Weekly Challenge: [on screen]
1. Determine if you are in the light or in the darkness. [on screen]
You know what that means, right? Are you following the ways of God or your own ways?
Here are some questions to ask: Do I ever pray? Do I ever read God’s Word? Do I love other people? Do I forgive? Am I patient and kind? Am I holy?
Ask yourself these questions and more to determine if you are in the light or in the darkness.
2. Step into the light. [on screen]
The place that we need to be is in fellowship with God and with His people. We need to be in the light.
Just like when you’re hesitant to jump into that swimming pool and someone reassures you that the water is wonderful; John is reassuring us that walking in the light is where we need to be.
So, go ahead, step into the light.
Make a decision this week to walk in the light and to live a life of godliness. You’ll never regret it.
Closing:
This world is full of darkness, but God is full of light. Give yourself to God. Give yourself to the light.
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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