Walking In Light
1 John 1:1-2:6.
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But 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.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
It has been said that the Christian life would be simple to live if it wasn’t for sin. It is easy to talk about being a Christian, but living the way a Christian should is completely different. God is Light and Satan is darkness. How does a person ‘walk in the light’? ‘Walking in light’ is how we should deal with sin in response to the light of God’s Word. In our text we find three ways of dealing with sin.
I COVER THEM UP
1 John 1:5-6, 8, 10; 2:4
1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. {a cover-up}.
1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. {a cover-up}.
1:10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. {a cover-up}.
2:4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. {a cover-up}.
When a person is saved they are called out of the darkness. They were children of the darkness, but are now children of the Light. Those who do wrong hate the Light and when Light shines in on our lives, it reveals everything - yes everything! Let’s not be negative, it shows the good as well as the bad.
In nature, light is invaluable; it aids growth, and does much more. It is an accepted fact that depression increases as the days get shorter, simply because of the lack of natural light. I believe that it has been stated that December the 20th is the worst day for depression, simply because it is the shortest day of the year, with the least natural light.
Light produces life, growth, and beauty; but sin is dark. Darkness and light cannot exist in the same place. If we are walking in light, the darkness is gone and if we hold onto sin the light is gone. I am not saying we lose our salvation. What we do lose is how we spiritually appear to the “lost”. There is no gray area when we are discussing sin. Our sin is the reason the Lord Jesus came to earth and died.
How do Christians cover up their sins? By lying. We begin by lying to other Christians because we want them to think that we are spiritual; and then we begin to lie to ourselves so that we think that we are not the problem. Once we have convinced ourselves, then we begin to lie to God. How do we lie to God? We act like we are perfect and when God tries to correct us through His Word, through a sermon, our daily reading, a study, etc… we act as if that was not for us. If we find that we are passing the fault to someone else, or criticizing instead of being convicted, then we are being controlled by sin, because criticism is sinful.
The result of covering up our sins is that the Word no longer helps us grow, therefore our relationship with God is damaged; which results in a loss of Christian character. When we shut out the Light, we can’t see properly. It ends up with a Christian looking, talking, and generally behaving like a lost person. - they are walking in the dark! It is a fact that if we are not walking in the light then we must be walking in the dark!
Compare this with John 3:19 - 21
The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light gladly, so everyone can see that they are doing what God wants.
We can try to cover up our sins but we know that God knows every move we make. What should we do with our sins?
II CONFESS THEM
1 John 1:7, 9; 2:1-2
1:7 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.
1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
John tells us that Jesus Christ is our Mediator, and the One that has died for our sins. We must look at these two things that Christ does.
God is holy and just and must punish sin; but through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice we can be justified. Jesus Christ is our Advocate if we allow Him first to be our Saviour.
Jesus also represents us in Heaven. When we sin Jesus is our Mediator. Because He paid the ultimate price for us, He has become the bridge to God the Father. This is why we can go into God’s Holy presence. Zechariah 3:1-7 is a excellent picture of mediation and what happens when we sin.
Zechariah 3:1-7
1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" 3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you." 5 Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by. 6 The angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua: 7 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.
Joshua, the high priest, was standing before God wearing filthy garments, symbolising that the Nation of Israel had sinned and were dirty. At the right hand side of Joshua was Satan standing to accuse the Nation of Israel of its sins. Satan had the upper-hand on Israel because of their sin, and yet Jesus became Joshua’s advocate. He had his dirty clothes removed and was given new, “rich - clean” garments. Notice this happened after his sins were taken away.
Since Jesus is in Heaven as our Advocate, there is only one thing we are asked to do with our sins. That is to confess them. What does it mean to confess our sins? It literally means to say the same thing about that sin as God does. When we do this, we are not just admitting sin, but we judging that sin in our lives. If you do that, then God forgives it and forgets it. He treats us as if we have never sinned. This does not mean that God condones sin.
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, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
We must take a special note of what that verse says, it is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that cleanses us - not our words - not our works - not our worship.
I want you to note that John is writing to believers, and he clearly gives an order of events. First we walk in the light of God’s Word, then as a result of the light shining, we may see that we have sinned, and then we confess our sin to the Lord, and as a result
I John 1:1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
This does not mean that God condones sin, in fact He condemns sin.
This brings us to the third way to deal with sin.
III CONQUER THEM
1 John 2:1-3, 5-6
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
5 If anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
It is clear that we do not have to sin. The secret of victory over sin is found in the phrase, “Walk in the light”. To walk in the light means to be honest with God, with ourselves, and with others. It means that when the Light reveals our sins to us that we immediately confess it to God and claim His promised forgiveness.
Walking in Light also means we must obey God’s Word. We learn how to live through the Word. Just consider these tremendous words by the Apostle Paul, found in Romans 6:10 - 14
10 When Christ died, he died for sin once and for all. But now he is alive, and he lives only for God. 11 In the same way, you must think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But Christ Jesus has given life to you, and you live for God.
12 Don’t let sin rule your body. After all, your body is bound to die, so don’t obey its desires 13 or let any part of it become a slave of evil. Give yourselves to God, as people who have been raised from death to life. Make every part of your body a slave that pleases God. 14 Don’t let sin keep ruling your lives. You are ruled by God’s kindness and not by the Law.
Through the Word we see how Christ lived on this earth. That is one reason why we should constantly read the Scriptures, and especially the Gospels, so that we can see how Jesus lived, and how he responded to the things that happened to Him. He lived on earth as a man, and had feelings just like we have, and He lived His life without sin, and we are to follow in His steps.
I John 4:17 Our love for Him grows more and more, filling us with complete confidence for the day when He shall judge all men - for we realize that our life in this world is actually His life lived in us. [JBP]
Are you walking in the Light, or the darkness?
