I will just read the words of our Lord as recorded
in 1 John 1 verse 5 to 7 where we read, This
is the message we have heard from him and proclaim
to you that God is light and in him is no darkness
at all. If we say we have fellowship with him
while we walk in darkness we lie. And do not
practice the truth. 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,
cleanses us from all sin. Thus, by God's word,
over to Mark. Good morning, everyone. Let's turn
to our Lord in prayer and then we'll jump into
the passage that we have before us a very brief
passage Just three verses. Let's pray Heavenly
Father Lord Jesus and Holy Spirit, please Open
our eyes help us to see help us to understand
your truth Give the words That I would need to
preach to help people to understand these things
use what I say This morning to build up your
church in Jesus name. We pray Amen My family
and I we like Lego all of us love Lego now, this
is Duplo I know it's a bit bigger, but it's hard
to see the Lego from way in the back So I hold
Duplo up. We love Lego now. We like to play with
Lego and My my little granddaughter when she
was about 18 months old She would love, when
you built a tower and put it together, she would
love to just knock it over. That was her favorite
thing to do and she giggled while she knocked
over your tower. It was terrible. It was terrible.
But now that she's a big girl, she likes to take
the Lego, now that I've dumped it all over the
place. She likes to take the Lego and she builds
her own towers. She builds her own towers and
it's lovely. to see somebody go from a destroyer
of worlds to a builder of her own little house
and little villages. In John's letter, he connects
the crucial Lego pieces of the Christian life.
He connects them together so that we might understand
how to live. Truths like God is light. truths
like God is love. And concepts that we have in
the Word of God, and particularly in John's letters
here, truths like fellowship, truth, sin, cleansing,
all of these things show us how the pieces fit
together. And this is what John is doing for
us in the book of 1 John. Today, as we go through
1 John, the challenge he often sets before us
is how well do you connect the biblical truths
of life together to live life together? Now last
week we heard that our fellowship and joy center
on the witness and on the message that Jesus
and his apostles proclaimed. Last and this week
we're gonna see a bit more about what John reveals
to us and In short, we're told that Jesus disciples
welcome God's light To drive out darkness to
promote fellowship and to promote cleansing So
to walk through these verses this morning what
we're gonna do is we're gonna look at the truth
the test the life those are our three points
the truth the test and the life the truth is
what we see in verse 5 God is light the truth
that God is light it's it's monumental it's life
-changing if this truth is really active in your
life your life will change John says that the
biblical truth actually came from Jesus own lips
look at verse 5 He says, this is the message
that we have heard from him and proclaim to you.
And these trustworthy witnesses, these apostles,
they heard the truth and then they passed the
truth on. And the truth is this, God is light
and in him is no darkness at all. So connecting
God to light is not difficult for most of us.
We understand God is light. It's it's pure It's
it's beautiful. It's it illuminates things we
can understand that very simple truth. God is
light. It's not difficult But John does not only
say that God is light In John's gospel, so we're
thinking between two books the epistle that we're
in now first John and John's gospel that he wrote
as well In John's gospel he tells us that Jesus
is God's light come into the world. Now we didn't
read that passage this morning, but we have read
it before last week when we looked at John 1.
And it says in verse 4 of John 1, in him, that
is in Jesus, was life. And the life was the light
of men. The light shines in the darkness, and
the darkness has not overcome it. There was a
man sent from God whose name was John. Yes, there's
another John to keep track of here John the Baptist
He came as a witness to bear witness about the
light that all might believe through him He was
not the light. So John the Baptist was not the
light He was pointing to Jesus to bear witness
about the light the true light which gives life
to everyone, was coming into our world. That's
what John's message was, the light is coming.
So when we take John's gospel together with John's
first letter, we connect God to light, but we
also connect Jesus to God. That's what John is
doing there, connecting Jesus to... connecting
God to Jesus, who is God's true light. And he
too, like God, is without darkness. God, Jesus,
both light, both connected to each other. So
if this is true, and as Christians, right, we
believe this is true, this is true. This will
change how we follow. This will change how we
live. It will change us to know that God is light
and Jesus is light and we need to follow them.
Okay. Now, genuine Lego blocks. They connect
well with other genuine Lego blocks. I've had
the cheaper versions of Lego and they don't connect
as well to the other Lego blocks. Genuine Lego
blocks In order to ensure that I can connect
them well, I need to look at them and say, are
these really genuine Lego blocks? And yes, when
you look at the genuine Lego box, you can find
the Lego logo. And when you see the Lego logo
on the genuine Lego block, then you know that
it is a authentic piece of Lego, and it will
connect well with other authentic pieces of Lego.
Likewise, biblical truth. is verified by witnesses
to assure that we are building our life on the
truth of God's word. According to John 1, the
truth was that Jesus is God's light that has
come into the world. And that was verified by
John the Baptist who was sent from God to bear
witness. That's what John has told us in the
first chapter of John. And John the Baptist was
a witness to the truth, a burning lamp is what
he's called a little bit later in John's gospel
in John chapter five. He's also called a prophet
of God in Matthew chapter 11 where Jesus says
John is a prophet and yet and even more than
a prophet. And in Luke chapter one, Zachariah,
John's father, when he's praying, he prays for
his son because he knows his son is a prophet
sent from God. You see, all of that shows us
who John is. He can authenticate the word of
God. In addition, John, the apostle, tells us
along with all the other apostles, the other
11 apostles, that they heard and that they saw
and that they handled. They lived with Jesus
for three years on this earth. So when all these
witnesses give testimony, Who Jesus is it's like
that hundred point check ID check that you do
when you go to the driver's license office You
have to provide all this ID to show that you
really are who you say you are Well when the
Apostles and the prophets say who Jesus is that
is authentication That he is really who he says
he is See anyone can claim to be the light from
God can be the true light of God anyone can claim
that But when an authentic prophet of God, someone
who speaks for God says, Jesus is the light,
you should believe him. Additionally, when a
dozen other people, a dozen men, a dozen apostles,
when they heard and they lived with Jesus for
three years, when they say that he's the real
deal, you can believe him. You can believe him.
You have further verification that he is who
he says he is. Lastly, in John chapter 9, if
that wasn't enough, in John chapter 9, Jesus
verifies his own claim when he says in verse
5 of chapter 9, he says, as long as I'm in the
world, I'm the light of the world. How does he
verify that he really is? He heals a man born
blind, a man who his whole life had never seen
light when Jesus met him. He gave him eyes to
see. And that proves that Jesus is who he says
he is. The miracle not only backs up Jesus' claim,
but it reveals that Jesus' power is like God's
power. He can create. He can restore. He can
help you to see light. God and Jesus are connected.
Both are light. Okay, so now we've seen the truth,
right? We've seen the truth, we've had it verified,
and that sets us up for the test. Here's your
test. See, none of us in this room are fully
mature or fully like Jesus, right? If I asked
you right now, is anyone perfect? There'd be
no one to raise their hand, right? Put your hand
down. Karen just raised her, no, just kidding.
So difficulties in our fellowship with Jesus
and difficulties in our fellowship with one another
arise because of the sin and immaturity still
in our hearts, right? Any one of us can act like
that 18 month old little granddaughter. giggling,
or maybe raging, knocking over other people's
towers and refusing to build with them. See,
those sinful, immature acts are confronted by
the truth that we just examined, that God is
light. Our sinful immaturity breaks fellowship
with God and breaks fellowship with one another.
Look at verse six. Here's what it says. If we
say we have fellowship with him while we walk
in darkness, we lie and we do not practice the
truth. See, walking in darkness while claiming
that we walk with God reveals hypocrisy in our
hearts. We can say one thing, but then we walk
in evil. That's hypocrisy. And back in John's
gospel, Jesus talked with Nicodemus in John chapter
three. And in verse 19 of John chapter three,
this is what he said. And this is the judgment.
The light has come into the world and people
loved darkness. rather than light because their
works are evil. See Jesus, God's light, was unloved
and he was rejected by evildoers. Evil people
live in darkness, not in fellowship with God
and not in fellowship with one another. They
love evil. So there's this test that reveals
our heart, right? How's your walk? How do you
live your life? Do you walk in the light or do
you walk in darkness? Are you like God or are
you like evil? See, the test is binary. It's
a yes or no. Either the light is on or the light
is off. If it's on, you walk in the light. If
it's off, then you're stumbling in the dark.
The test is either pass fail. And right now if
you're like me, you're like, I hate pass fail
tests, especially when I'm failing. I realize
there's this monumental test and there's this
monumental truth and I'm falling short. And I
begin to feel hopeless. How about you? Now I
failed a lot of tests in my life. I don't say
that necessarily proudly, but I have failed a
lot of tests in my life. Academic tests, financial
tests, relational tests, moral tests. Likely
you have too. One thing I've learned. When you
fail, admit your failure. Go back, learn where
you went wrong. Seek God and ask him to help
you understand how to correct it. That's what
I've learned from failure. That's what I want
to encourage us all to learn from our failure.
What part will all of us get wrong in verse six?
If you look at verse 6, what part will always
trip us up, will always get us to do the wrong
thing? If we say we have fellowship with Him
while we walk in darkness. It's hypocrisy, isn't
it? Hypocrisy will always trip us up. Saying
one thing but doing another is evil. We must
repent. Otherwise, we walk in the dark. Hypocrisy
is a charge that's commonly leveled at Christians,
right? It's commonly one thing that the people
tell you if you're trying to share the Lord Jesus
with them, you're trying to tell them the gospel,
it's the one thing they always will say about
Christians. It's just a bunch of hypocrites.
The church is just a bunch of hypocrites, right?
Sadly, often it's a correct charge, right? I
mean, we do know people that are in the church,
not you of course, but we do know there are people
in the church that are hypocrites. We claim to
walk with Jesus, but we lie about our sin, trying
to cover our sin with self -justification. Or
like the Pharisees, we clothe ourselves in self
-righteousness. Acting as if God is just, you
know, it's just, God, you're so blessed to have
me in your family. You know, it's so wonderful
that you know it's so wonderful that I'm in the
family of God. See, either way, self -justification
or self -righteousness, either way it's untrue.
We're trapped in a lie. if we keep going on with
self -righteousness or self -justification. However,
as I said earlier at the start of this point,
none of us are fully mature or fully like Jesus.
Difficulties in our fellowship with Jesus and
with each other arise due to our sin and our
immaturity. The walk of a genuine follower of
Christ will be imperfect in this life. So, how
will you and I avoid hypocrisy? Don't tell lies
about your walk with Jesus. Don't lie. If you're
not doing well, if you've messed up, don't say
that you have done well and that everything's
perfect. Don't lie. Walk with Jesus and with
one another in the truth. Tell the truth. Admit
your sin to God. Admit your sin to others, those
that you might have wronged by doing sin. It
all makes sense, right? Simple truths that connect
together. This is how you live the Christian
life. Connect those truths together. Don't walk
in darkness. Don't lie. Walk in truth. Walk in
the light. And see, this is the life that we
live. And we don't walk this life alone. We walk
it together with Jesus, yes, with God in our
lives, working in our lives by his spirit, but
we walk together as the body of Christ as well.
The walk John encourages us to take is a walk
in the light. The reason we're able to take a
walk in the light is because Jesus himself, he
is the light. And this brings us into fellowship
with one another. Walking with Jesus together
allows us to have fellowship together with one
another. In other words, as we walk with Jesus,
we walk together with one another. Together,
we have life in our Savior. One of the most incredible,
one of the saddest outcomes of the worldwide
COVID pandemic was the incredible rise, statistically
speaking, the incredible rise of people feeling
isolated, anxious, depressed, alone. In the effort
to fight the spread of disease, our world came
face to face with the reality that humans are
not meant for isolation. God created us for community.
We thrive with healthy interactions with one
another, and we shrivel up when we're cut off
from one another. Not only are we created to
be in a healthy community with others, but we're
also created to live in a relationship with our
Creator God. But if He is light and we fail to
fully walk in that light, how are we able to
live with Him? How are we able to live with one
another? Well, The full solution will be covered
next week in Michael's sermon. So come back next
week for the full solution. But, for this week,
one thing. One thing in our verse, that last
verse, to take the heart in your walk with God.
He is light. He sees all. And He knows everything
about you. Now like that monumental test and
the monumental truth that can sound a bit scary.
He knows everything about me Oh, that's a terrible
that can be terrifying right? That could be scary
until you realize why God sent Jesus You see
he sent Jesus to deal with our sin Verse 7 verse
7 tells us the wonderful truth As we walk closely
with Jesus, what does it say at the end of verse
seven? You can read it with me. The blood of
Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Jesus'
blood, his life given to wash away all our sin
is the solution for our failure, for our sin.
and for our loss of truth in fellowship. Because
of Jesus, we do not ever have to leave the light
of God's presence. We should never fall away.
We should never walk away from God when we fail,
when we do wrong. Don't walk away from God. Instead,
we should turn to Him, admit our sin. Don't cover
it up. Jesus has washed it away. We don't need
to cover it up Besides God knows anyway, right?
It's not like we can really hide it from God
So today Again, we've seen these crucial Lego
truths biblical truths Christian truths so that
we might walk in the light First off God is light.
Here's one of the truths we've learned. God is
light and in him is no darkness at all. That's
a huge truth. And like I said, it should change
your life that we walk with the one who is light.
And Jesus is the light of the world is what we're
told in John's gospel. And that's good news for
everyone. Doesn't matter what your background
in or what you have done or not done. It doesn't
matter where you come from, whether you're high
or low, young or old, Jesus is the light of the
world. He is the light for all who will turn
to him. The other truth we've learned is that
fellowship requires truth, not hypocrisy, not
lying. So walk in truth so that fellowship is
promoted among us. And lastly, that big truth
that we just saw at the end, Jesus' blood cleanses
us from all sin, allowing us to fellowship with
one another and fellowship with our creator,
God. You see, Jesus gave us his word. He gave
his life for us. We can walk with him in the
light. as we connect the truths that we've seen
here in these verses and as we spend time with
one another and with our God in fellowship. Let's
pray. Heavenly Father, we are so pleased, so
thankful, so grateful that you have been so gracious
and merciful to each one here who's walking in
the light with you. Lord, we know that our sin
is dealt with. Your word has promised it in Jesus.
We know that you are at work in us, through us,
and you allow us to walk with you because of
what he has done. Lord, in all of this, we do
want to thank you. Lord, we do pray that we would
apply these truths to our walk with one another,
that we would admit our sin, but also be forgiving
of the sin of others toward us. That we would
be those who are tender -hearted and compassionate,
loving one another as we walk together in truth
and love. And we pray all this in Jesus' name.
Amen.