INTRODUCTION
SLIDE #1
• How many of us were afraid of the dark when we were little? How many of you still are?
• In interview, Stephen King, horror author, was asked about daily writing routine. Said only wrote in morning. When asked if ever wrote at night, replied, "Are you kidding? Not with the stuff I write!" Apparently even he knows the power of darkness. (Lanny Carpenter Sermon on 1 John from sermoncentral.com)
• How many times have you watched a scary movie at night, and as you were watching the movie something happened to make you jump out of your skin!
• How many of us have walked through a dark room and tripped over something we did not see?
• I have done that before, it is both frustrating and painful.
• How many times could we have avoided the problem if we would have just turned on the light?
• How many times have we tripped over something in our lives because we were walking alone in the dark?
• How many times in our spiritual lives could we have avoided tripping over some obstacle that caused us to stumble simply by shining the light of Jesus upon it?
• During John’s time there was a wide range of belief’s concerning how one should life in Christ.
• One of the false views John deals with in this letter is that moral behavior has no impact on one’s relationship with God. Another false view is that immoral conduct is not sin for the one who knows God. The final one is that knowledge of God removes sin as even a possibility in the life of the Christian.
• It is interesting to me that we still have these same thoughts floating around us today. WE may say them a bit different, but the practice is the same.
• There people who when they give their lives to Jesus make no effort to grow because they feel the one time act of submission covers them no matter what they do.
• Last week we looked at how John was a reliable witness to Jesus and therefore can be trusted.
• Today we are going to look at his message!
• We have a choice in life, do we walk in the light of Jesus, or do we allow ourselves to walk in darkness? Today we are going to see why we should make the conscious choice to walk in the light of Jesus.
SLIDE #2
SERMON
Walk in the light because:
I. GOD HAS NOTHING IN COMMON WITH THE DARK.
SLIDE #3
1. What is light?
• Light enables people to do their work. It produces growth in crops; it reveals beauty and provides safety. Light represents what is good, pure, true, holy, and reliable. Light reveals; light shines.
• Light also relates to truth because light exposes whatever exists, whether it is good or bad. In the dark, good and evil look alike; in the light, they can be clearly distinguished.
• If you want to see where you are going, we will walk in the light.
• In the Bible, light represents what is good. It represents enlightenment. When we are in the light, we are wise to what is before us, nothing is hidden. CLICK 3
2. God is light.
• God is light means that God is perfectly holy and true and that he alone can guide people out of the darkness of sin.
• God is of the character of light, it sums up the divine character on the intellectual side of God. God is love sums up His moral nature.
• God is the creator of light (Gen 1:3).
• Where ever God is, the light of His truth shines brightly, the light of His purity and Holiness shines brightly.
• John does not say God is A light, but God IS light. CLICK #3
3. What is darkness?
• In the Bible, darkness is used to represent ignorance, superstitions, and sin. If you are in darkness, you are in one of these areas. SLIDE #4
• Psalms 82:5 They do not know nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
• Satan and his servants are the rulers of the dark. Eph 6:12
• The heathen deities promoted immorality much of which took place during the dark of night.
• How do you feel when you have to walk around in the dark? It is hard to see things that are in your path. Have you ever sat in a class where you had no idea what was being taught? We would say that we are in the dark.
• Being in the dark is not something that you want to do. SLIDE #5
4. There is no darkness in God at all.
• When you see that darkness represents ignorance and sin, John emphatically states that God IS light. This means there is no darkness in God. This means there is not one spot of sin in God, there is not one spot of ignorance in God.
• God is perfectly Holy and perfectly just.
• God has NOTHING in common with the dark!
Walk in the light because: SLIDE #6
II. CHRISTIANS HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON WITH THE DARK.
SLIDE #7
1. If God has no darkness in Him, neither should we.
SLIDE #8
• Colossians 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
• For the Christian to walk in darkness would be like a person who has been saved from a burning building to decide they are going to run right back in the burning building to stay.
• We have been rescued from the darkness of sin and ignorance, why would we want any part of it?
• SLIDE #9 There are too many of us who are trying to walk in the light yet still stay in the dark. We need to realize that our God is pure and holy, therefore we are called to be the same way. 1 Peter 1:16
• We need to avoid every APPEARANCE of evil in our lives.
• I believe a lot of the problems we have in our lives come about because we are trying to walk too close to the line of sin, we walk too close to the edge of the cliff, trying to do as much as we can without sinning.
• Why not stay as far away from the edge as possible? SLIDE #10
2. Our walk should match our talk.
• To claim to belong to God but then to go out and live in sin is hypocritical.
• Here John was confronting the first of three claims (see also 1:8 and 1:10) of the false teachers: that people can have fellowship with God and still walk in sin.
• John uses some very strong words to describe the one who claims fellowship yet walks in the dark.
• Remember that fellowship means, “a partnership, joint participation.
• Since there is no darkness in God at all, what partnership can we have with Him if we walk in darkness?
• Once again, there is a difference with struggling with your faith and walking in darkness. What John is speaking of here is people who habitually walk in darkness.
• There are times as we struggle with our faith, as we are growing in Christ that we will walk down a few dark alleys.
• SLIDE #11 Ephesians 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light
• Truth properly held always exhibits itself in obedience.
• A test of truth is not merely belief; it is action, deeds and conduct.
• SLIDE #12 We have been called out of the darkness to perform a special ministry for God! 1 Pet 2:9
Walk in the light because: SLIDE #13
III. WALKING IN THE LIGHT HAS ETERNAL BENEFITS!
SLIDE #14
1. We will have continual fellowship with other Christians and with Jesus.
• The verb tense of “walk” means to KEEP walking in the light and we will have CONTINUAL fellowship with God.
• Our fellowship is conditional; it is conditioned on us habitually, continually walking in the light.
• I do not want to infer that at every stumble we experience we are in and out of fellowship with God, but that if we are not habitually walking with God, there should be some room for concern on our part.
• When you think about it, this makes sense.
• Since God is light and there is no darkness in Him, He cannot have me bringing darkness to Him because I refuse to walk in the light.
• If my agenda and focus on life is not the same as God’s, what do we have in common? Me wanting to go to heaven is not enough to tie us together.
• As I stated before, we all walk down some dark alleys at times, but that is where God’s grace shine upon us.
• If the element of our daily walk is the same as God’s, we have fellowship with one another.
• A positive test of knowing God is to live as to walk in the light.
• When we walk in the light, we have fellowship with God and His people! CLICK #14
2. The blood of Jesus continually cleanses us from ALL sin.
• By walking in the light we have two things that result, first, we are in fellowship with Jesus and others, secondly, the blood of Jesus CONTINUALLY cleanses us from ALL sin!
• Cleanse is a present tense verb which means it si a constant process. It is conditioned on our walking in the light.
• As we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus operates to keep us constantly cleansed from the stain of sin and the condemnation which follows.
• The reason we have fellowship is because of the blood of Jesus.
• The great thing about the blood of Jesus is that it cleanses us from ALL sin; there is no uncovered sin with Jesus.
• The vehicle of our cleansing is the blood. It is not belief in the blood, the example of Jesus death, nor is it mere contemplation about Jesus death; it is the blood that washes away my sin! SLIDE #14
3. Only the cleansed will be able to see God.
• This makes sense when you think about it. God is light; there is no darkness in Him.
• Can I come into God’s house full of darkness? Can I live my life without the cleansing blood of Jesus then expect God to let me in?
• Since the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin, and only the blood of Jesus, then how can I be cleansed from my sin without the blood?
• This is why Jesus can say He is the only way to God, the only way to get to heaven.
• No matter how good a person is, they are still stained with sin, it takes the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from that sin!
CONCLUSION
• If we claim Jesus as our savior, if we have been immersed into the kingdom of God, then we are called to walk in the light!
• We called to be in fellowship with Jesus.
• Our life should be about what He wants us to do, what His mission and calling is for our lives.
• Today if you are walking alone in the dark, there is a savoir who wants to light your path and light your life.
• Will you come in from the dark and step into the light this morning as we sing Amazing Love. Listen to the words of this song as we sing it!
