Walking in the Light
1 John 1:5-10
Before a person comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ the Bible says that that person is in total spiritual darkness. When one comes to Jesus that person no longer needs to be in darkness but in following Christ they have the light of life. As such they are instructed to no longer walk in darkness but "as children of light", to walk in the light – the light of Christ and His Word. Note that Christ says in John 8:12 “...I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Walking in the light is conditioned on following Christ. The Epistle of 1 John lays out several conditions for walking in the light.
I. In order to walk in the light we must be willing to see our sins as God sees them.
A. 1 John 1:8-10 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
B. We must recognize what sin is. F. F. Bruce described sin when he wrote that “There is something in man—even regenerate man—which objects to God and seeks to be independent of Him.”
C. Our sense of sin is in proportion to our nearness to God. -Thomas Bernard
D. Before an individual can be saved, he must realize that he is lost and that he cannot save himself. It is when he sees himself as a sinner in need of the Savior, confesses his sin to God and confesses Christ as his Lord, and receives Christ’s forgiveness and cleansing that he becomes a child of God.
E. As believers we have received Christ’s forgiveness and cleansing but as we go through our daily lives we soil our garments. We do not want to think of these actions and inactions as sin.
F. Far too many Christians don’t see their sin as the evil that it is. They believe that their sin is nothing more than mistakes, frailties, errors, being human – “anything but sin”.
G. Paul apple says that confession of sin for the believer means to say the same thing that God does about that sin, to agree with God as to all the implications of that sin as it relates to the Christian who commits it and to a holy God against whom it is committed.
H. Confessing sin includes two actions - saying and doing -- it is saying the same thing about our sins and it includes a forsaking of our sin.
I. The records of wars sometimes tell of officers who lost their rank and were dropped from the rolls of the regiment in disgrace, but afterward by heroic conduct won back their lost rank. There is always in the soul of the believer who has wandered that possibility of reclaiming and regaining the honors and the righteousness it has lost. No matter how deep into the far country the son has wandered, there is always a path that leads back to the Father's house. There is a robe kept in readiness for you, O wandering son! There is a ring that will never be put on any finger but yours, O wandering daughter! There is a welcome for you, O hardened sinner! Christ receives sinners! He likes to go out and meet them on the way back. He delights in remaking them and redeeming them.
J. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
K. 1 John 2:1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
II. In order to walk in the light we must be willing to listen to and obey God’s commands.
A. To walk in the light is to be obedient to God’s instruction just as Christ lived a life of perfect, absolute obedience to the Father
B. 1 John 2:3-6 “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keeps his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abides in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”
C. John 5:30 “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”
D. The light of truth is only reflected in the life of the believer when he or she walks obediently according to the commands and teachings of God’s Word.
E. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 15:1-2, "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart."
F. Amos wrote, "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" (Amos 3:3)
G. Agreement is shown by the way that we conduct our lives. When our conduct contradicts the mind of God we cease to walk in the light and our fellowship is broken.
H. If this be the case this can be corrected by at once — by obeying him in the first thing you can think of in which you are not obeying him. We must learn to obey him in everything, and so must begin somewhere. Let it be at once, and in the very next thing that lies at the door of our conscience!- adapted from G. MacDonald, Knowing the heart of God
I. 1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
J. Through United Press comes the report that termites have eaten through a large stack of pamphlets entitled, Control of Termites, in the mailing room of the University of California at Berkeley. Maintenance men made the discovery. One would naturally expect that university buildings would be free of termites, because at such a center of higher education so much is known of termites and the destruction they cause. But it is one thing to have in a pamphlet the information concerning the control of termites, and quite another thing to make a practical application of that information! On speaking to His disciples on one occasion, the Lord Jesus said regarding the things He taught them, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (John 13:7).—Now
III. In order to walk in the light we must be willing to love each other as Christ loves us.
A. 1 John 2:9-11 “He that saith he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and knows not whither he goes, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.”
B. A proof of our love for God can be seen in how we treat each other.
C. John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
D. Love for fellow believers manifests the difference between God's children and the devil's children (1 John 3:10)
E. We should love our brothers and sisters so much that we can’t wait until the Lord’s Day to see them.
F. 1 John 4:7-12 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God. He that loves not knows not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
G. I am told that in Albania, hospitality is evidently very common. It is part of their culture. It stems from the fact that before Communism, most Albanians were Moslems. A guest, even if he is a total stranger, is offered some tobacco to smoke and given a seat next to the hearth--a place of honor. If he has traveled far, the woman of the house will wash his feet. He is served coffee and after that invited to the table to eat. Every house is supposed to keep special food ready in case there are guests. The key to it all is an old Albanian saying--"an Albanian’s house belongs to God and His guests." – (copied) We who know and have been redeemed by the one true God demonstrate that we belong to God and are part of His body.
H. To Love is a commandment not an option.
I. 1 John 4:20-21 “If a man say, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loves God love his brother also.”
J. A profession of loving God that is not accompanied by a love of God's people is not a true one.
K. Have you ever been confronted with a message that changed your perspective? One church chose for its theme, "Forty Days of Love." Each week members of the congregation were encouraged to show their love and appreciation in different ways. The first week they were encouraged to send notes to people who had made positive contributions to their lives. After the first service a man in the congregation wanted to speak to his pastor. The pastor describes the man as "kind of macho, a former football player who loved to hunt and fish, a strong self-made man." The man told his pastor, "I love you and I love this church, but I'm not going to participate in this Forty Days of Love stuff. It's OK for some folks," he said, "but it's a little too sentimental and syrupy for me." A week went by. The next Sunday this man waited after church to see his pastor again. "I want to apologize for what I said last Sunday," he told him, "about the Forty Days of Love. I realized on Wednesday that I was wrong." "Wednesday?" his pastor repeated "What happened on Wednesday?" "I got one of those letters!" the man said. The letter came as a total surprise. It was from a person the man never expected to hear from. It touched him so deeply he now carries it around in his pocket all the time. "Every time I read it," he said, "I get tears in my eyes." It was a transforming moment in this man's life. Suddenly he realized he was loved by others in the church. This changed his entire outlook. "I was so moved by that letter," he said, "I sat down and wrote ten letters myself."
L. Hebrews 13:1 “Let brotherly love continue.”
