1 John 1:5-10 Series

1 John 1:5-10

Just a reminder of the context here, this is a letter to the church in Ephesus to correct their misguided beliefs and refute those who misguided them.

This letter of course is also to us the church today in the hope that all churches will correct their misguided beliefs and continue in their growth in the truth of scripture.

Walking in the Light

5 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.

John starts this section off by reminding the church that he was with Jesus and having been with Jesus and hearing from Jesus first hand that there can be little argument about what John is saying to them.

Those who are leading this church astray were not with Jesus, at least not in the intimate way John was, but most likely not at all. There is a good chance that these are wolfs in sheep's clothing really.

So what John is saying in verse 5 is that from the lips of Jesus Himself, he personally heard Jesus say that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness”.

What would be some examples of what darkness means? being evil, being a liar, being unjust, we could name many things that can describe darkness but in short darkness is sin.

6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

I see this taught unfortunately in very self righteous ways at times. Christians will battle the sin of the flesh and at times the mind to the day we die. But there is a constant battle going on against the flesh and mind and there is a true desire to live like Christ did.

So what is walking in darkness? It is surrendering to this battle that we fight and saying I'm a sinner and I'm OK with that. It's saying I give up, I surrender to the darkness and I will live a life of sin without regret or conviction. That is walking in darkness.

Being in this state means as John say's “we have no fellowship with him” if we are, and if we think we do we are liars. Being out of fellowship means we are not Christians at all, that is the lie.

We are lying to ourselves, we are lying to others and we are lying to God.

So what is the cure for this? What is the way of life we are called to?

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 cleanses us from all sin.

If we are aware of our sin and battle against our sin and feel conviction from our sin, Jesus' blood will cleanse us from all of our sin.

Conviction is a powerful thing and it is a sign of a believer. Unbelievers do not feel convicted for anything. They may feel sorrow or regret in a worldly way for doing some wrong but they do not feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

John is saying true spiritual fellowship can only be had by those who are truly believers.

There is a sense in which we may have some fellowship with unbelievers. You can have your fishing or golf buddies and you may fellowship with them about these things, but you will not have spiritual fellowship with them which includes God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit as well as other believers.

I don't believe a Christian can desire not to have fellowship with other believers. A Christian cannot live a life with only unbelievers for fellowship and say they don't want fellowship with other Christians and be a Christian.

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

This is a very powerful verse and let me tell you why. If we want to win souls for Jesus we must come from a place of humility and honesty.

If we explain the gospel biblically we will explain it in a way which tells the unbeliever there is hope and that our hope is in the fact that we are in need of Jesus every single day. Jesus is not needed just once at the moment of being reborn but needed always until they day God calls us home.

That means our sin must be front and center in our lives right behind Jesus. The moment we think we are all that and so righteous is the day we no longer need Jesus in our lives and are no longer a believer.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.