Series: The Three Misconceptions of Man (1John 1:6-2:2)
Misconception One: Man Can Fellowship With God and Still Walk in Sin (1John 1:6-7)
Introduction: The Son of God has come to earth. This is the great testimony of John the Apostle. He came to earth so that man can have fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ.
“But wait,” man shouts. “We already have fellowship with God. We do not need someone else to show us how to become acceptable to God. We can reach God on our own; we can secure His approval by ourselves. We don’t need someone telling us how to approach and worship God.”
This is the subject of this particular section(John 1:6-2:2). Man objects to the idea that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He is truly God’s very own son. Man objects to the idea that – the way he worships is wrong
- that he has no merit with God
- that he is unacceptable to God
This is the reason why many men reject John’s declaration: “The Son of God has come to earth.” Jesus Christ came so that man can have true fellowship with God but, man objects to the idea that he needs help in reaching God. Man feels sufficient within himself. He rejects the idea that he cannot reach God on his own. This passage strikes these objections and exposes their fallacies. There are basically three misconceptions of man.
1. Man can fellowship with God and still walk in sin.
2. Man is not totally sinful and depraved.
3. Man can become righteous and sinless on his own.
The first misconception is the subject of the present passage. The other two misconceptions will be discussed in the next two studies. Note that the first misconception strikes at the belief that is held by most people on earth. Most people believe that they can fellowship with God even when they walk in darkness and sin. The belief that we can fellowship with God and walk in darkness is a lie. Verse six tells us, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” The truth is that we must walk in the light. Verse seven goes on to say, “But 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.” So when we walk in the light…then we have fellowship. Then we are cleansed from sin!
*****(1:6)Why does man object to the deity of Jesus Christ? Why does man object the Son of God coming to earth? That it was necessary for Him to come? They believe that man can fellowship with God and walk in darkness at the same time. What does it mean to walk in darkness?
- It means that the world is in the dark about God. Man cannot see God nor talk face to face with God. Man cannot hear God nor touch God. How then can man know that God really exsists?
Note four significant facts;
1. Man can not see nor talk with God. He can’t even be absolutely sure God exists. Why? Because man’s physical senses and flesh (sinful nature) can know only the things of the physical and material world. If there is a God, if there is a spiritual world, man has absolutely no way to penetrate it. Man can take all his technology and science, all his intellectual and creative reasoning, and he will never be able to penetrate the spiritual world, not with his physical and material nature. The physical and material world will never be able to cross over into the spiritual world. Man and his world are completely in the dark about God. No matter what any person claims or how religious and spiritual the person may be, no person from the physical world can cross over and enter into the spiritual world to find out if God exists, much less fellowship with God.
2. Second, how then can man ever know God and fellowship with Him? There is only one way. God has to leave the spiritual world and enter the physical world. God has to come to earth and reveal Himself to us. This is the only conceivable way that man could ever fellowship with God. This is the glorious gospel, this is exactly what John declares; the Son of God has come to earth. He came to reveal God to us.
3. Third, note the foolishness of man. Man declares, “We can have fellowship with God yet walk in darkness!”
- Man declares that he can find God on his own, that he can relate to God and be good enough to fellowship with God and secure God’s approval by himself.
- Man believes that he can use his own mind and reasoning and find out enough about God to become acceptable to Him and to fellowship with Him.
- Man believes that he can use his own hands and energy and do enough to please God and to receive His approval.
- Man thinks that if he believes in God and does half-way right, then his belief and good deeds will put God in debt to him. We start to reason with God. Man concluded that he can reject Jesus Christ as the Son of God. He concludes that he can fellowship and become acceptable to God by believing that God exists and by doing enough good to please God.
4. Fourth, note what scripture tells any of us who say these things, “we lie and do not live by the truth.” No matter how great our minds and thoughts imagine God to be, no matter how many good works we do, we are not living by the truth. If we are ever to know God, God Himself has to come to us. The only way we can ever hope to know God and know Him accurately is for God Himself to come to earth. Therefore to profess that “we can fellowship with God yet walk in darkness” is a lie. Whatever we do, all the approaches to God men use, they are not the truth. By taking any approach to God other than by the Son of God, Jesus Christ, we do not take the true approach.
- The word of God is strong. It says this, “If a person says that he is saved, and then lives in the darkness of this world, he lies. God is light. Therefore if a person walks in darkness, he does not know God. He is not fellowshipping with God. Light and darkness cannot dwell together. A person has to choose in which he wants to live. He has to choose either to live in the light of God or in the darkness of the world.
- John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”
- John 3:19, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”
- Psalm 82:5, “They know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.”
*****(1:7)Light; Man cannot fellowship with God and walk in darkness. The truth is the man must walk in the light if he is to fellowship with God. What is the light of God?
- The light of God is the revelation of God Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ came to earth to reveal God. Jesus Christ has the very nature of God. Therefore, He was able to show us exactly what God is like.
- The light of God is the revelation of just how God wants us to live while upon earth. When the Son of God came to earth He told s and showed us exactly how to live, exactly what God expects of us.
Therefore, to walk in the light means to believe in the Son of God who came to earth and to follow Him! If we walk upon the earth believing in Jesus Christ and doing exactly what He told us to do than we are in the light. This is exactly what this verse says, “walk in the light, as He is in the light.” This means two wonderful things.
1. If we walk in the light of Christ, then we fellowship with Christ and with God and with all other believers. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Therefore, we He was upon earth, He was in constant fellowship with God. He is the One who shows us how to relate and fellowship with God. So, when we walk in the light of Christ, we do what Christ did. We approach God through Christ and fellowship with God just as Christ showed us. The result is glorious. It means that we have true fellowship, that we actually know God and fellowship with God, we actually know and fellowship with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and with all who believe and walk in His light.
- God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Therefore, if we walk in darkness, we are not walking and fellowshipping with God. It is impossible.
- John 14:6, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
- John 17:3, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
2. If we walk in the light of Christ, then the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. This is a critical point to note. It was not enough for God’s Son to come to earth and reveal God to man. Man is sinful. He has violated God’s law. Man has chosen to live how he wants to live on earth. He has chosen to “do his own thing.” Man has ignored God, disbelieved God, disobeyed God and even cursed God. Man is guilty of offending God and of transgressing His law. Therefore, just as with any other law, when a law is broken the penalty has to be paid. The lawbreaker has to pay or else someone else must step forward and pay the price for him. This is just what Jesus Christ did. He not only came to reveal God to us, but He also came to take our sins and transgressions upon Himself. Jesus Christ died for our sins. He faced judgment for us. He suffered the punishment for us. He bore the condemnation for us. The blood of Jesus Christ was shed upon the cross for us. Walking in the light means that we walk believing that Christ died for us. It means we believe His blood cleanses us. It “purifies us” from sin. He actually paid the penalty for our sins. That means we are freed from the guilt of sin. When we walk in the light, God sees our sins covered in the blood of Jesus Christ. He accepts us in Christ. Our sins are forgiven by the blood of God’s Son. Note that the word “purifies” or “cleanses” is in the present form. Thus meaning the blood of Christ continually purifies us from sin. If we are walking in the light than the blood of Jesus Christ is always cleansing us of our sins.
- The believer is to walk in fellowship with God all day every day. He is to acknowledge God in all his ways, praying, praising, and confessing his sins all day long. The believer who walks like this is constantly being cleansed by the blood of Christ.
- This is the point so often missed by man. He cannot erase the sins of his past. He has no way to pay the penalty and judgment of his sins. The payment has to be mad by someone who is perfect. Only perfect sacrifices can be acceptable to God. This is the problem that man faces. Who is perfect other that God? No man is. Only the Son of God is perfect. This is the reason He had to come to earth…to sacrifice Himself for man..to become the substitute in death. He had to die for man. No person is ever acceptable to God unless his sins are forgiven and purified by the blood of Christ.
- Matthew 26:28, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
- Ephesians 1:7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance of God’s grace.”
- 1Peter 1:18-19, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
