INTRO.- ILL. The 23rd Channel
The TV is my shepherd, I shall not want.
It maketh me to lie down on the sofa;
It leadeth me away from faith;
It destroys my soul;
It leadeth me into the paths of sex and violence for the
sponsors sake.
Yea, though I walk through the shadow of my Christian
responsibilities,
there is no interruption, for the TV is with me;
Its cables and remote control, they comfort me.
It prepareth a commercial for me in the presence of my
worldliness.
It annointeth my head with humanism and consumerism; my
coveting runneth over.
Surely, laziness and ignorance shall follow me all the days
of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house, just watching TV all the
time.
DOES THIS SOUND ACCURATE? It is or could be for some people.
Ephesians 5:15-17 "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."
Instead of contributing to the world's evil, we should be doing whatever we can for the Lord! Far too many Christian people like to run with the world and contribute little to the kingdom of God.
This is one reason why I feel I need to do some work for the Lord every day. Otherwise, I feel like I'm stealing from God and giving in to the world.
The message that the world is declaring is many things. It is: enjoy life, take it easy, watch all the TV you want, etc. It is eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. Meaning enjoy yourself to the hilt, because when we die, that's all she wrote!
The world's message is many things but we must not be taken in by the world!
Ephesians 5:8-11 "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them."
ILL.- Someone wrote: Several years ago I read of a terrible accident in which several youth were killed when their car was struck by a train. At the trial the watchman was questioned: “Were you at the crossing the night of the accident?”
“Yes, your Honor.”
“Were you waving your lantern to warn of the danger.”
“Yes, your Honor,” the man told the judge.
But after the trial had ended, the watchman walked away mumbling to himself, “I’m glad they didn’t ask me about the light in the lantern, because the light had gone out.”
Has your light gone out? We all have our days when our light is not shining at all. And God sees when our light has gone out.
We must not be taken in by the world. Instead we need to declare the message of God about Jesus and as contained in scripture: Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God!
PROP.- Let's take note of the message that John declared.
1- The message is: There is no darkness in God
2- The message is: Claiming to know God doesn't mean you do
3- The message is: Confession and walking in the light go hand-in-hand
I. THE MESSAGE IS: THERE IS NO DARKNESS IN GOD
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. No darkness. No sin. No error. Nothing evil in God.
ILL.- One soldier said: In basic training, our first sergeant made things very clear. He told us, “Don’t question anything I say or tell you to do. Don’t worry—I hardly ever make mistakes. Matter of fact, I’ve made only one mistake in my life. I once thought I was wrong about something. It turned out I wasn’t.”
Is that the way it is? Well, there might be some people who actually feel that way about themselves but more than likely, we may feel a whole lot less than perfect. THIS IS MORE LIKE IT:
ILL.- A lady named Donna Ulrey said: The wheel of my grocery cart was making a horrible scraping sound as I rolled it through the supermarket. Nevertheless, when I finished my shopping and saw a cartless woman, I offered it to her, explaining, "It makes an awful noise, but it works."
"That's okay," she said, taking it. "I have a husband at home just like that."
Guess what? WE ALL ARE LIKE THAT! We work but we often make an awful noise because of sin in our lives! BUT NOT GOD! THERE IS NO DARKNESS IN HIM!
II Cor. 5:21 "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." There was no sin in Jesus. If there's no sin in Jesus then there is no sin in God the Father!
Hebrews 4:15 "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin."
I Peter 2:21-23 21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22"He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." 23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
These scriptures declare that Jesus never once sinned. Our message is this: There is no darkness in God or Jesus! We have a perfect God and Savior!
However, one of our problems is understanding how anyone could be completely perfect. We've never seen it or heard of it. The only way we can ever understand it is through the life of Christ. Exam His life and ministry on earth. Can you find any darkness, any sin in Him? I don't think so. This is why when people outside of Christ accuse us of wrongdoing, we must always point to Christ. HE IS OUR MESSAGE, OUR HOPE, OUR SAVIOR.
People can slam us all they want, but they cannot accuse our Savior of being sinful.
II. THE MESSAGE IS: CLAIMING TO KNOW GOD DOESN'T MEAN YOU DO
6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But 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. 8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
ILL.- Interview with the actor, Brad Pitt, in Parade magazine. Pitt grew up in Springfield, MO, the oldest of three children in a conservative, Southern Baptist family. His mother was a school counselor; his father ran a trucking company. "My dad made sure our needs were met," he says. "I had a very loving family." When he speaks of his childhood, his voice softens with the accent of his youth.
"I always had a lot of questions about the world, even in kindergarten. A big question to me was fairness. If I'd grown up in some other religion, would I get the same shot at Heaven as a Christian has? My mom would come into my room and talk to me. I was very fortunate to have that dialogue with her, but in high school I started to realize that I felt differently from others."
Brad went to Springfield's Kickapoo High, excelling at school debates and sports. As he got older, his religious doubts increased.
"I had crises of faith," he says. "I thought you had to experience things if you want to know right from wrong. I'd go to Christian revivals and be moved by the Holy Spirit, and I'd go to rock concerts and feel the same fervor. Then I'd be told, 'That's the Devil's music! Don't partake in that!' I wanted to experience things religion said not to experience."
By the time he entered college, Pitt had scuttled his fundamentalist beliefs. "When I got untethered from the comfort of religion, it wasn't a loss of faith for me, it was a discovery of self," he says. "I had faith that I'm capable enough to handle any situation. There's peace in understanding that I have only one life, here and now, and I'm responsible."
I think Brad Pitt has a serious problem. Somehow or other, he has gotten off track in regard to Christ and Christianity. I would say that the Hollywood crowd has something to do with it. Someone or something has convinced him that what God says in His Word doesn't count!
I'm not suggesting that Brad Pitt isn't a decent person but he certainly has a clouded idea of what it means to be a Christian. I think he has bought into that theology that as long as you're a good and decent person and give something to society then that's all that counts as far as God is concerned. BUT WE KNOW THERE IS MORE TO IT THAN THIS.
6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
ILL.- Brad Pitt says that when America allows all gay couples to get married then he and Angelina will get married. Something or someone has dimmed Pitts' vision of what is right and wrong. And doing good deeds (as in the housing project in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is good) but it's not a tradeoff for being godly in Christ Jesus!
I'm not suggesting that there isn't darkness in our lives, because there will always be SOME darkness in our lives. Why? Because we live in a world of sin and because we all have a sin nature as long as we live in the flesh.
Does this mean we will always be tempted to sin? Probably. But it doesn't mean that we have to give in.
6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
THE WORD OF GOD STANDS TRUE. Claiming to know God doesn’t mean a person does.
III. THE MESSAGE IS: CONFESSION AND WALKING IN THE LIGHT GO HAND-IN-HAND
7But 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. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
ILL.- A lady named Amy Carpenter said: Stuck in rush-hour traffic, I couldn't help but stare when a burly biker wearing a black leather jacket and chaps pulled up next to me on a shocking pink Harley-Davidson. My first thoughts were, "Is that really a pink Harley? I wonder if he's..."
Just then the traffic cleared and he pulled in front of me. On the back of his helmet were stenciled the words "Yes, it is. No, I'm not."
ILL.- A man named Chris said: I got stuck in a traffic jam while commuting into Los Angeles one day. The woman in the SUV in front of me took full advantage of the slowdown.
She whipped out her eyebrow pencil, lip gloss and a mirror, applying the finishing touches on her face in the ten minutes it took us to creep through the Cahuenga Pass. Finally, the traffic broke up and as she zoomed away, I caught a glimpse of her vehicle's license plate: NTRL BTY. (natural beauty)
I would say that was not NATURAL BEAUTY. But there is something far worse than having a hypocritical license plate and that's being a hypocrite!
ILL.- The pastor decides to use one rich parishioner to set an example. "John," he says, "you're a successful businessman; surely you could contribute more to the building fund." John replies, "But my mother is in a nursing home, my daughter just lost her job, and my son is starting college … If I can say no to them, I can say no to you too."
Whenever you say "no" to a needy family member and have the means, you are not walking in the light.
ILL.- My son-in-law’s mother is 55 years old and is dying of cancer. Last week Chris drove two hours one way to Virginia Beach to take his mother to the doctor on three different days. She hasn’t been the best of mothers, but Chris is being a good son. I am so very thankful.
There are many other things that may indicate that a person is not walking in the light as they may claim to be doing.
ILL.- Jim Bakker of the PTL Club (and Assembly of God church) failed in the lust department and greed department and ended up in jail. After he got out of prison in 1994 he wrote a book (1996) entitled, "I Was Wrong." And he was.
- Jimmy Swaggart, famed evangelist from Louisiana, (also Assembly of God church) was caught with a prostitute more than once.
I am not happy about these incidents, because, obviously, they damage the message of the gospel of Christ. They hurt the witness of Christ in this world. BUT...we all do things that hurt Christ and our witness for Him.
But the good of all this is: We can repent and change. We can confess our sins (no matter how large or small) and He will forgive us. We can walk with Him. We can return to a walk with Him!
We all need to walk in the light as best we can and that means walking with Him. Walking daily with Him is the only way to walk in the light and let our light shine! We get our goodness from Him, not us! We become better by rubbing shoulders with Him! PRAISE HIS NAME!
CONCLUSION---------------
I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day. I'd rather one would walk with me than merely tell the way. The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear. Fine counseling is confusing but example's always clear.
You may not remember any of the sermons that I preach but you will remember who I am and what I am. True for you as well.
We have a message to declare and speak, we must. And live it, we must. And then some in this world may come to believe and be saved in Jesus.
