Walk In The Light Series

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