Being the light in a dark world
1 John 15-10
Prayer-
If you would turn to 1 John Chapter One.
Have you ever wondered if you have had or if you will make a difference in life?
When I was a kid I thought of all the cool jobs I would like to do, Jobs where you save someone’s life, protecting life, serving for those who can’t help themselves.
Superman, Batman, some kind of cape crusaders. SUPER HERO.
Then maybe Fireman, Policeman, Doctor or Nurse.
My mind wandered to jobs where everyone knows your name because you are famous.
Sports Athlete- For me catching in the big league or Movie Star Co-starring with another big name.
I thought that is the way you make a difference. But is it?
Is it?
I guess it would depend who you were asking-
The world would probably say yes- these are the ways that you make an impact and the way you get noticed by the world.
But if you ask the Lord what would He tell you?
Nothing wrong with any of those professions- I think the Lord would agree.
He would add that these are not the only way!
Doing what God called you to do.
Using what God has given you.
Being sensitive and open with your heart, willing to share your resources.
Not making everything all about you and caring for others.
That may not make the top 5 in the world but it would on God’s list.
1 John is about knowing who Jesus is, what Jesus has saved you from and what a believer would look like being active in any community in the world.
If you claim to know Jesus, live like you know Jesus.
If your life was on trial, would they have enough evidence to proof that you were a Christian?
Jesus went as far to say that if you have resources and you see your brother in need, but have no pity on them, how can the love of God be in you?
Preacher John Wesley preached a lot of sermons from 1 John.
One of his best was from 1 John 3:9- “Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God.”
It is possible to live a life without sinning on a daily basis- you would have to be walking with Jesus that close.
According to Wesley and based upon scripture the bible teaches that the new birth (born again) The Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us daily makes inward changes in our life. It changes the manner of our existence.
Before the new birth, we are separated from God and doing our own thing which is without spiritual senses and without the realization of spiritual consequences for our actions.
Separated from God and not hearing or listening to God.
In this state, we have no desire to serve God or hear His voice.
We are disconnected to the things of God and are too foolish to realize that in that state of being we are lost for eternity.
Now, let’s read the text
1 John 1:5-10 Read from Bible
There are three things that I want you to see from this passage-
Knowing the light
Walking in the light
Being the light
There are a lot of dualistic passages in our text-
Lies/truth
Light/darkness
Messiah coming/ Messiah coming back
Good/evil
Scripture shows us that everyone belongs to a family.
The question for eternity is what family do you belong too?
In our fallen state without Christ, we are born in sin and are broken and in need of a savior.
You must be born again, leave that spiritual family without Christ and be born spiritually in the family of God because of what Christ did for you.
You leave the Father of lies and born into the heavenly Father of Truth.
Once we are forgiven of our sins, we by choice walk with Christ and away from the things that are against God.
We abide in Christ.
We are linked to Christ and choose not to sin.
When we do sin, we quickly need to ask forgiveness and restore a right relationship with Him.
3:9:- “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he is born of God.”
We do not continue in known sin or displeasing acts against God.
We do not choose sin- we choose holiness and Christ-likeness.
(V1) “This is the message we have heard from him and declare unto you.”
I don’t know about you but I can tell if someone has been with Jesus!
There is something anointed about someone who has Christ all over them!
Knowing the light (recognizing the light of God)
Genesis 1: we are told the earth was void, empty, and dark!
The Spirit of God showed up and the darkness had to go because God dispelled the darkness and spoke light into existence!
He made the light day and the night darkness. He separated the two. You cannot have darkness when the light shows up. It is impossible. Wherever there is light, it can never be total darkness.
Wherever there is no light, you can have darkness because light has not been let in! Physical light and darkness is a principal that wherever God is darkness cannot dominate.
Psalm 104:2- God is clothed in light- it is His glory!
Some say they can’t know God-
I am here to tell you that not only can you know God but can have a relationship with Him and be in His presence and strengthened by Him every moment of every day!
God is light- he dispels darkness
God is love- He dispels hate-
God is never darkness and God is never hate- in Him is life and in Him His light shines in darkness
Light is an amazing thing that God created! If we were to take a car traveling at the normal speed limit, 65 miles an hour, it would take 157 years to get to the sun- Earths created light by God. If we were able to travel at the speed of light, it would take 8 minutes 20 seconds.
God dispels darkness spiritually in our lives also.
By His truth- God is truth and God’s truth is the light for a dying sinful world.
God is wisdom- it would be wise for a dying world to grab unto the wisdom of God to let us know how we can be saved from our sins and walk in his light and his truth.
Walking in the light
John records that what they seen and what they heard so that we may know the truth and the truth of God lights our path to walk with God.
He tells us that though we may walk in the shadow of death that we can have peace and presence with Almighty God. To walk with Him is to have a path that is light and guided by his words and examples.
(3) Says they have told us so that we may know and we may walk with Him as they have walked with Him.
Then they reveal to us what I believe a good portion of the world today has not grab unto believers and unbelievers- it is that when you walk in the light of God that you cannot hide out in darkness!
You cannot play hide and seek where you are living in both light and darkness. You cannot walk in light and darkness because light will reveal darkness and the things that God wants out of our life.
We must step into the light and dispel the things that don’t line up with God’s word and God’s truth.
If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not have the truth.
What is he saying? To walk with Him the way it is intended, we must as God reveals the dark in our lives immediately get rid of it with God help. Presence matters most!
For a good amount of Christians we are not enjoying full fellowship with God as intended because we are not allowing the Holy Spirit of God to work when He reveals things in our life.
We are holding onto them instead of releasing them. We are lying to ourselves which is the most dangerous sin because we believe the lies we tell ourselves. We acknowledge it wrong but we do nothing about it.
Some of us know that our relationship is not right- the Lord has revealed it and we have had our conscious pricked but we have not responded.
Some of us know that because of our relationship loss with the Lord, it has affected other relationships that we are in.
We are not in fellowship with God’s people.
We are not comfortable being in God’s house or hearing God’s word on a regular basis because we have allowed the lies we created to cloud the word and the examples that Jesus has shown us because they do not line up with what we want to do right now.
We have set our future on what we want instead of what God has shown us or directed us.
Why was Adam and Eve uncomfortable when God called out to them in the garden?
Because the fellowship had been broken and they realized it was not God who broke it, it was them.
In their broken state, God didn’t abandon them, He called for them but they had to stop hiding and again walk with Him.
“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.”
Fellowship is restored when we walk with Him, talk with Him, and get into His presence!
We begin to see God work in our lives instead of us struggling to find purpose without Him.
What does it mean to walk with Him?
It means walking in His presence and allowing the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
All things are possible when you are walking and empowered by Him.
All things that are in His will for your life and my life.
We can endure trials and situations unimaginable without Him. Because of the resurrection power of Christ.
We can overcome all things and allow the light of Christ to shine in a dark world that needs Jesus and needs to know that there is a God that cares for them and reaches out to them and desires to walk with them also.
The world don’t experience that kind of relationship so they think it impossible and we have a mandate to walk in that light and tell others that it is not only possible but desirable and beneficial.
There are a lot of reasons to listen to Christ
He said so! Am I the only one that grew up hearing an answer of because I said so? I am glad that it is true because He said so- Because He is Lord!
But I am also glad that He chose to give us other reasons to also walk in His light and truth.
We can avoid a lot of struggles in life-
Because in Him we find help- in the light is where help comes, not when we are hiding and running from him.
Walking with God makes all things possible and at the very least all things bearable.
Being the light
We have to know the light-Jesus
We have to walk in the light- Jesus
We have to be the light to others- show them Jesus
False claims prevent us from being who we are supposed to be.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us- that is a sermon in itself.
If we do not call sin sin and walk in his light as we are shown his light, then how can we show others which is a mandate for every believer.
Churches should be full! And people should be repenting and walking toward the things of God. Because they are not is not because the message is wrong or bad, it is because people – God’s people and unbelievers are not listening!
Be the light as we walk in the light of God!
The second false claim is this (9) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
We want God to forgive our sins without confessing our sins to him and repenting of our sins which means we are turning away from that sin and not doing any more-
We have done a poor job of showing this world that there is a better way because we struggle to live the better way ourselves.
We are more afraid of the Coronavirus than we are of sinning against a holy God!
We go and cover up when we think we could catch the virus but openly and unprotected do things that displease God and then want Him to keep us safe.
Close-
This morning as we close, I am going to give you a chance to ask the Lord to speak into your life.
Lord I want to know your light
Lord I want to walk in your light
Lord I want to be your light to a dying world that needs Jesus!
If you want to know him this morning, he is a confession away- confessing your sins and confessing him as Lord of your life! You can do that this moring.
If you are saved and on your way to heaven, you can speak with the Lord about your relationship- if it is not where it needs to be, you can speak to that this morning as you decide that you will walk in the light and no more in darkness doing things that displease the Lord.
Deciding today- that you will use the opportunities given you to show Christ to a dying world and invite them to know the Jesus you know and love- he has spoken to each of us today!
Prayer-
