WEBVTT 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:06.500 I will just read the words of our Lord as recorded 00:00:06.500 --> 00:00:12.380 in 1 John 1 verse 5 to 7 where we read, This 00:00:12.380 --> 00:00:16.600 is the message we have heard from him and proclaim 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:22.219 to you that God is light and in him is no darkness 00:00:22.219 --> 00:00:26.760 at all. If we say we have fellowship with him 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:31.449 while we walk in darkness we lie. And do not 00:00:31.449 --> 00:00:35.090 practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, 00:00:35.670 --> 00:00:38.850 as he is in the light, we have fellowship with 00:00:38.850 --> 00:00:42.049 one another. And the blood of Jesus, his son, 00:00:42.450 --> 00:00:47.229 cleanses us from all sin. Thus, by God's word, 00:00:47.390 --> 00:01:00.840 over to Mark. Good morning, everyone. Let's turn 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:03.560 to our Lord in prayer and then we'll jump into 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:06.579 the passage that we have before us a very brief 00:01:06.579 --> 00:01:10.019 passage Just three verses. Let's pray Heavenly 00:01:10.019 --> 00:01:15.219 Father Lord Jesus and Holy Spirit, please Open 00:01:15.219 --> 00:01:18.340 our eyes help us to see help us to understand 00:01:18.340 --> 00:01:23.459 your truth Give the words That I would need to 00:01:23.459 --> 00:01:26.659 preach to help people to understand these things 00:01:26.659 --> 00:01:30.959 use what I say This morning to build up your 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:38.920 church in Jesus name. We pray Amen My family 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:42.540 and I we like Lego all of us love Lego now, this 00:01:42.540 --> 00:01:44.579 is Duplo I know it's a bit bigger, but it's hard 00:01:44.579 --> 00:01:46.739 to see the Lego from way in the back So I hold 00:01:46.739 --> 00:01:50.159 Duplo up. We love Lego now. We like to play with 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:54.920 Lego and My my little granddaughter when she 00:01:54.920 --> 00:02:00.219 was about 18 months old She would love, when 00:02:00.219 --> 00:02:03.659 you built a tower and put it together, she would 00:02:03.659 --> 00:02:06.920 love to just knock it over. That was her favorite 00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:09.139 thing to do and she giggled while she knocked 00:02:09.139 --> 00:02:12.159 over your tower. It was terrible. It was terrible. 00:02:13.099 --> 00:02:15.340 But now that she's a big girl, she likes to take 00:02:15.340 --> 00:02:16.919 the Lego, now that I've dumped it all over the 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:20.639 place. She likes to take the Lego and she builds 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:23.900 her own towers. She builds her own towers and 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:28.340 it's lovely. to see somebody go from a destroyer 00:02:28.340 --> 00:02:32.800 of worlds to a builder of her own little house 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:39.120 and little villages. In John's letter, he connects 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:42.860 the crucial Lego pieces of the Christian life. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:47.699 He connects them together so that we might understand 00:02:47.699 --> 00:02:54.060 how to live. Truths like God is light. truths 00:02:54.060 --> 00:02:59.319 like God is love. And concepts that we have in 00:02:59.319 --> 00:03:02.599 the Word of God, and particularly in John's letters 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:09.780 here, truths like fellowship, truth, sin, cleansing, 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:14.479 all of these things show us how the pieces fit 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:18.020 together. And this is what John is doing for 00:03:18.020 --> 00:03:23.780 us in the book of 1 John. Today, as we go through 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:27.680 1 John, the challenge he often sets before us 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:32.379 is how well do you connect the biblical truths 00:03:32.379 --> 00:03:37.840 of life together to live life together? Now last 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:41.680 week we heard that our fellowship and joy center 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:45.180 on the witness and on the message that Jesus 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:51.280 and his apostles proclaimed. Last and this week 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:55.080 we're gonna see a bit more about what John reveals 00:03:55.080 --> 00:04:00.780 to us and In short, we're told that Jesus disciples 00:04:00.780 --> 00:04:05.580 welcome God's light To drive out darkness to 00:04:05.580 --> 00:04:11.280 promote fellowship and to promote cleansing So 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:13.080 to walk through these verses this morning what 00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:15.539 we're gonna do is we're gonna look at the truth 00:04:15.539 --> 00:04:20.100 the test the life those are our three points 00:04:20.100 --> 00:04:24.319 the truth the test and the life the truth is 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:30.120 what we see in verse 5 God is light the truth 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:33.139 that God is light it's it's monumental it's life 00:04:33.139 --> 00:04:36.300 -changing if this truth is really active in your 00:04:36.300 --> 00:04:40.560 life your life will change John says that the 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:44.139 biblical truth actually came from Jesus own lips 00:04:44.139 --> 00:04:47.459 look at verse 5 He says, this is the message 00:04:47.459 --> 00:04:52.959 that we have heard from him and proclaim to you. 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:57.040 And these trustworthy witnesses, these apostles, 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:00.740 they heard the truth and then they passed the 00:05:00.740 --> 00:05:05.220 truth on. And the truth is this, God is light 00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:12.230 and in him is no darkness at all. So connecting 00:05:12.230 --> 00:05:14.970 God to light is not difficult for most of us. 00:05:14.970 --> 00:05:18.069 We understand God is light. It's it's pure It's 00:05:18.069 --> 00:05:20.870 it's beautiful. It's it illuminates things we 00:05:20.870 --> 00:05:23.490 can understand that very simple truth. God is 00:05:23.490 --> 00:05:27.970 light. It's not difficult But John does not only 00:05:27.970 --> 00:05:32.949 say that God is light In John's gospel, so we're 00:05:32.949 --> 00:05:35.649 thinking between two books the epistle that we're 00:05:35.649 --> 00:05:39.370 in now first John and John's gospel that he wrote 00:05:39.370 --> 00:05:43.930 as well In John's gospel he tells us that Jesus 00:05:43.930 --> 00:05:48.550 is God's light come into the world. Now we didn't 00:05:48.550 --> 00:05:50.730 read that passage this morning, but we have read 00:05:50.730 --> 00:05:54.089 it before last week when we looked at John 1. 00:05:54.269 --> 00:05:57.649 And it says in verse 4 of John 1, in him, that 00:05:57.649 --> 00:06:02.790 is in Jesus, was life. And the life was the light 00:06:02.790 --> 00:06:06.949 of men. The light shines in the darkness, and 00:06:06.949 --> 00:06:11.079 the darkness has not overcome it. There was a 00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:14.560 man sent from God whose name was John. Yes, there's 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:17.560 another John to keep track of here John the Baptist 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:23.000 He came as a witness to bear witness about the 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:28.279 light that all might believe through him He was 00:06:28.279 --> 00:06:31.079 not the light. So John the Baptist was not the 00:06:31.079 --> 00:06:34.540 light He was pointing to Jesus to bear witness 00:06:34.540 --> 00:06:39.100 about the light the true light which gives life 00:06:39.100 --> 00:06:43.279 to everyone, was coming into our world. That's 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:46.040 what John's message was, the light is coming. 00:06:46.939 --> 00:06:50.860 So when we take John's gospel together with John's 00:06:50.860 --> 00:06:55.980 first letter, we connect God to light, but we 00:06:55.980 --> 00:07:01.259 also connect Jesus to God. That's what John is 00:07:01.259 --> 00:07:05.180 doing there, connecting Jesus to... connecting 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:11.319 God to Jesus, who is God's true light. And he 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:17.800 too, like God, is without darkness. God, Jesus, 00:07:18.439 --> 00:07:22.279 both light, both connected to each other. So 00:07:22.279 --> 00:07:25.120 if this is true, and as Christians, right, we 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:28.360 believe this is true, this is true. This will 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:31.879 change how we follow. This will change how we 00:07:31.879 --> 00:07:35.860 live. It will change us to know that God is light 00:07:35.860 --> 00:07:40.199 and Jesus is light and we need to follow them. 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:48.120 Okay. Now, genuine Lego blocks. They connect 00:07:48.120 --> 00:07:50.779 well with other genuine Lego blocks. I've had 00:07:50.779 --> 00:07:52.879 the cheaper versions of Lego and they don't connect 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:55.959 as well to the other Lego blocks. Genuine Lego 00:07:55.959 --> 00:08:01.079 blocks In order to ensure that I can connect 00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:03.720 them well, I need to look at them and say, are 00:08:03.720 --> 00:08:05.939 these really genuine Lego blocks? And yes, when 00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:08.519 you look at the genuine Lego box, you can find 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:11.519 the Lego logo. And when you see the Lego logo 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:14.000 on the genuine Lego block, then you know that 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:18.519 it is a authentic piece of Lego, and it will 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:21.899 connect well with other authentic pieces of Lego. 00:08:24.019 --> 00:08:29.839 Likewise, biblical truth. is verified by witnesses 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:35.039 to assure that we are building our life on the 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:41.799 truth of God's word. According to John 1, the 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:46.080 truth was that Jesus is God's light that has 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:50.639 come into the world. And that was verified by 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:55.519 John the Baptist who was sent from God to bear 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:58.500 witness. That's what John has told us in the 00:08:58.500 --> 00:09:01.980 first chapter of John. And John the Baptist was 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:04.820 a witness to the truth, a burning lamp is what 00:09:04.820 --> 00:09:07.039 he's called a little bit later in John's gospel 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:11.000 in John chapter five. He's also called a prophet 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:14.500 of God in Matthew chapter 11 where Jesus says 00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:17.639 John is a prophet and yet and even more than 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:22.299 a prophet. And in Luke chapter one, Zachariah, 00:09:22.379 --> 00:09:25.360 John's father, when he's praying, he prays for 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:28.899 his son because he knows his son is a prophet 00:09:28.899 --> 00:09:35.860 sent from God. You see, all of that shows us 00:09:35.860 --> 00:09:39.919 who John is. He can authenticate the word of 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:44.549 God. In addition, John, the apostle, tells us 00:09:44.549 --> 00:09:47.450 along with all the other apostles, the other 00:09:47.450 --> 00:09:52.350 11 apostles, that they heard and that they saw 00:09:52.350 --> 00:09:55.549 and that they handled. They lived with Jesus 00:09:55.549 --> 00:10:01.669 for three years on this earth. So when all these 00:10:01.669 --> 00:10:06.950 witnesses give testimony, Who Jesus is it's like 00:10:06.950 --> 00:10:09.710 that hundred point check ID check that you do 00:10:09.710 --> 00:10:11.590 when you go to the driver's license office You 00:10:11.590 --> 00:10:14.330 have to provide all this ID to show that you 00:10:14.330 --> 00:10:17.529 really are who you say you are Well when the 00:10:17.529 --> 00:10:21.710 Apostles and the prophets say who Jesus is that 00:10:21.710 --> 00:10:25.370 is authentication That he is really who he says 00:10:25.370 --> 00:10:29.950 he is See anyone can claim to be the light from 00:10:29.950 --> 00:10:32.669 God can be the true light of God anyone can claim 00:10:32.669 --> 00:10:37.210 that But when an authentic prophet of God, someone 00:10:37.210 --> 00:10:41.409 who speaks for God says, Jesus is the light, 00:10:42.190 --> 00:10:46.070 you should believe him. Additionally, when a 00:10:46.070 --> 00:10:49.610 dozen other people, a dozen men, a dozen apostles, 00:10:49.909 --> 00:10:51.970 when they heard and they lived with Jesus for 00:10:51.970 --> 00:10:54.429 three years, when they say that he's the real 00:10:54.429 --> 00:10:58.750 deal, you can believe him. You can believe him. 00:10:58.789 --> 00:11:02.110 You have further verification that he is who 00:11:02.110 --> 00:11:07.139 he says he is. Lastly, in John chapter 9, if 00:11:07.139 --> 00:11:11.220 that wasn't enough, in John chapter 9, Jesus 00:11:11.220 --> 00:11:14.019 verifies his own claim when he says in verse 00:11:14.019 --> 00:11:17.100 5 of chapter 9, he says, as long as I'm in the 00:11:17.100 --> 00:11:21.620 world, I'm the light of the world. How does he 00:11:21.620 --> 00:11:25.139 verify that he really is? He heals a man born 00:11:25.139 --> 00:11:30.419 blind, a man who his whole life had never seen 00:11:30.419 --> 00:11:36.259 light when Jesus met him. He gave him eyes to 00:11:36.259 --> 00:11:44.220 see. And that proves that Jesus is who he says 00:11:44.220 --> 00:11:49.100 he is. The miracle not only backs up Jesus' claim, 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:53.080 but it reveals that Jesus' power is like God's 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:59.019 power. He can create. He can restore. He can 00:11:59.019 --> 00:12:06.070 help you to see light. God and Jesus are connected. 00:12:06.629 --> 00:12:12.389 Both are light. Okay, so now we've seen the truth, 00:12:12.610 --> 00:12:15.809 right? We've seen the truth, we've had it verified, 00:12:16.450 --> 00:12:21.129 and that sets us up for the test. Here's your 00:12:21.129 --> 00:12:25.929 test. See, none of us in this room are fully 00:12:25.929 --> 00:12:30.169 mature or fully like Jesus, right? If I asked 00:12:30.169 --> 00:12:32.370 you right now, is anyone perfect? There'd be 00:12:32.370 --> 00:12:34.669 no one to raise their hand, right? Put your hand 00:12:34.669 --> 00:12:37.870 down. Karen just raised her, no, just kidding. 00:12:40.009 --> 00:12:42.950 So difficulties in our fellowship with Jesus 00:12:42.950 --> 00:12:46.149 and difficulties in our fellowship with one another 00:12:46.149 --> 00:12:50.049 arise because of the sin and immaturity still 00:12:50.049 --> 00:12:55.909 in our hearts, right? Any one of us can act like 00:12:55.909 --> 00:13:00.259 that 18 month old little granddaughter. giggling, 00:13:01.340 --> 00:13:04.700 or maybe raging, knocking over other people's 00:13:04.700 --> 00:13:10.299 towers and refusing to build with them. See, 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:16.299 those sinful, immature acts are confronted by 00:13:16.299 --> 00:13:20.679 the truth that we just examined, that God is 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:26.700 light. Our sinful immaturity breaks fellowship 00:13:26.700 --> 00:13:30.190 with God and breaks fellowship with one another. 00:13:31.649 --> 00:13:35.450 Look at verse six. Here's what it says. If we 00:13:35.450 --> 00:13:39.309 say we have fellowship with him while we walk 00:13:39.309 --> 00:13:44.389 in darkness, we lie and we do not practice the 00:13:44.389 --> 00:13:49.570 truth. See, walking in darkness while claiming 00:13:49.570 --> 00:13:55.610 that we walk with God reveals hypocrisy in our 00:13:55.610 --> 00:14:00.769 hearts. We can say one thing, but then we walk 00:14:00.769 --> 00:14:06.490 in evil. That's hypocrisy. And back in John's 00:14:06.490 --> 00:14:10.870 gospel, Jesus talked with Nicodemus in John chapter 00:14:10.870 --> 00:14:16.029 three. And in verse 19 of John chapter three, 00:14:16.029 --> 00:14:19.309 this is what he said. And this is the judgment. 00:14:20.629 --> 00:14:24.049 The light has come into the world and people 00:14:24.049 --> 00:14:27.769 loved darkness. rather than light because their 00:14:27.769 --> 00:14:37.090 works are evil. See Jesus, God's light, was unloved 00:14:37.090 --> 00:14:42.950 and he was rejected by evildoers. Evil people 00:14:42.950 --> 00:14:47.129 live in darkness, not in fellowship with God 00:14:47.129 --> 00:14:50.289 and not in fellowship with one another. They 00:14:50.289 --> 00:14:55.860 love evil. So there's this test that reveals 00:14:55.860 --> 00:15:00.220 our heart, right? How's your walk? How do you 00:15:00.220 --> 00:15:04.179 live your life? Do you walk in the light or do 00:15:04.179 --> 00:15:08.899 you walk in darkness? Are you like God or are 00:15:08.899 --> 00:15:12.879 you like evil? See, the test is binary. It's 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:16.940 a yes or no. Either the light is on or the light 00:15:16.940 --> 00:15:24.000 is off. If it's on, you walk in the light. If 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:27.320 it's off, then you're stumbling in the dark. 00:15:29.299 --> 00:15:33.639 The test is either pass fail. And right now if 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:37.379 you're like me, you're like, I hate pass fail 00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:45.559 tests, especially when I'm failing. I realize 00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:47.919 there's this monumental test and there's this 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:54.700 monumental truth and I'm falling short. And I 00:15:54.700 --> 00:16:01.620 begin to feel hopeless. How about you? Now I 00:16:01.620 --> 00:16:03.720 failed a lot of tests in my life. I don't say 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:05.879 that necessarily proudly, but I have failed a 00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:09.500 lot of tests in my life. Academic tests, financial 00:16:09.500 --> 00:16:15.480 tests, relational tests, moral tests. Likely 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:21.259 you have too. One thing I've learned. When you 00:16:21.259 --> 00:16:29.309 fail, admit your failure. Go back, learn where 00:16:29.309 --> 00:16:34.990 you went wrong. Seek God and ask him to help 00:16:34.990 --> 00:16:39.629 you understand how to correct it. That's what 00:16:39.629 --> 00:16:43.470 I've learned from failure. That's what I want 00:16:43.470 --> 00:16:46.470 to encourage us all to learn from our failure. 00:16:48.129 --> 00:16:51.830 What part will all of us get wrong in verse six? 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:54.860 If you look at verse 6, what part will always 00:16:54.860 --> 00:16:57.460 trip us up, will always get us to do the wrong 00:16:57.460 --> 00:17:02.919 thing? If we say we have fellowship with Him 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:09.160 while we walk in darkness. It's hypocrisy, isn't 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:14.039 it? Hypocrisy will always trip us up. Saying 00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:19.140 one thing but doing another is evil. We must 00:17:19.140 --> 00:17:27.079 repent. Otherwise, we walk in the dark. Hypocrisy 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:29.900 is a charge that's commonly leveled at Christians, 00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:33.599 right? It's commonly one thing that the people 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:36.019 tell you if you're trying to share the Lord Jesus 00:17:36.019 --> 00:17:37.680 with them, you're trying to tell them the gospel, 00:17:37.960 --> 00:17:40.059 it's the one thing they always will say about 00:17:40.059 --> 00:17:42.000 Christians. It's just a bunch of hypocrites. 00:17:42.519 --> 00:17:44.400 The church is just a bunch of hypocrites, right? 00:17:45.690 --> 00:17:48.710 Sadly, often it's a correct charge, right? I 00:17:48.710 --> 00:17:50.869 mean, we do know people that are in the church, 00:17:50.950 --> 00:17:53.109 not you of course, but we do know there are people 00:17:53.109 --> 00:17:59.750 in the church that are hypocrites. We claim to 00:17:59.750 --> 00:18:03.549 walk with Jesus, but we lie about our sin, trying 00:18:03.549 --> 00:18:07.849 to cover our sin with self -justification. Or 00:18:07.849 --> 00:18:11.690 like the Pharisees, we clothe ourselves in self 00:18:11.690 --> 00:18:16.119 -righteousness. Acting as if God is just, you 00:18:16.119 --> 00:18:18.400 know, it's just, God, you're so blessed to have 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:20.599 me in your family. You know, it's so wonderful 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:23.240 that you know it's so wonderful that I'm in the 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:33.200 family of God. See, either way, self -justification 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:38.279 or self -righteousness, either way it's untrue. 00:18:39.740 --> 00:18:44.099 We're trapped in a lie. if we keep going on with 00:18:44.099 --> 00:18:49.039 self -righteousness or self -justification. However, 00:18:49.819 --> 00:18:52.559 as I said earlier at the start of this point, 00:18:52.940 --> 00:18:57.559 none of us are fully mature or fully like Jesus. 00:18:58.539 --> 00:19:00.900 Difficulties in our fellowship with Jesus and 00:19:00.900 --> 00:19:05.640 with each other arise due to our sin and our 00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:10.420 immaturity. The walk of a genuine follower of 00:19:10.420 --> 00:19:17.829 Christ will be imperfect in this life. So, how 00:19:17.829 --> 00:19:24.309 will you and I avoid hypocrisy? Don't tell lies 00:19:24.309 --> 00:19:29.849 about your walk with Jesus. Don't lie. If you're 00:19:29.849 --> 00:19:33.650 not doing well, if you've messed up, don't say 00:19:33.650 --> 00:19:36.009 that you have done well and that everything's 00:19:36.009 --> 00:19:41.799 perfect. Don't lie. Walk with Jesus and with 00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:47.839 one another in the truth. Tell the truth. Admit 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:52.539 your sin to God. Admit your sin to others, those 00:19:52.539 --> 00:19:58.920 that you might have wronged by doing sin. It 00:19:58.920 --> 00:20:02.140 all makes sense, right? Simple truths that connect 00:20:02.140 --> 00:20:05.660 together. This is how you live the Christian 00:20:05.660 --> 00:20:09.339 life. Connect those truths together. Don't walk 00:20:09.339 --> 00:20:14.279 in darkness. Don't lie. Walk in truth. Walk in 00:20:14.279 --> 00:20:18.380 the light. And see, this is the life that we 00:20:18.380 --> 00:20:21.900 live. And we don't walk this life alone. We walk 00:20:21.900 --> 00:20:25.380 it together with Jesus, yes, with God in our 00:20:25.380 --> 00:20:28.059 lives, working in our lives by his spirit, but 00:20:28.059 --> 00:20:32.799 we walk together as the body of Christ as well. 00:20:34.200 --> 00:20:37.400 The walk John encourages us to take is a walk 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:41.039 in the light. The reason we're able to take a 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:45.640 walk in the light is because Jesus himself, he 00:20:45.640 --> 00:20:50.440 is the light. And this brings us into fellowship 00:20:50.440 --> 00:20:53.940 with one another. Walking with Jesus together 00:20:53.940 --> 00:20:57.640 allows us to have fellowship together with one 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:00.819 another. In other words, as we walk with Jesus, 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:04.440 we walk together with one another. Together, 00:21:05.059 --> 00:21:11.559 we have life in our Savior. One of the most incredible, 00:21:11.900 --> 00:21:15.339 one of the saddest outcomes of the worldwide 00:21:15.339 --> 00:21:21.019 COVID pandemic was the incredible rise, statistically 00:21:21.019 --> 00:21:24.619 speaking, the incredible rise of people feeling 00:21:24.619 --> 00:21:33.049 isolated, anxious, depressed, alone. In the effort 00:21:33.049 --> 00:21:36.950 to fight the spread of disease, our world came 00:21:36.950 --> 00:21:40.930 face to face with the reality that humans are 00:21:40.930 --> 00:21:46.730 not meant for isolation. God created us for community. 00:21:48.210 --> 00:21:51.490 We thrive with healthy interactions with one 00:21:51.490 --> 00:21:56.190 another, and we shrivel up when we're cut off 00:21:56.190 --> 00:22:00.579 from one another. Not only are we created to 00:22:00.579 --> 00:22:03.220 be in a healthy community with others, but we're 00:22:03.220 --> 00:22:06.700 also created to live in a relationship with our 00:22:06.700 --> 00:22:13.380 Creator God. But if He is light and we fail to 00:22:13.380 --> 00:22:17.240 fully walk in that light, how are we able to 00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:20.180 live with Him? How are we able to live with one 00:22:20.180 --> 00:22:25.269 another? Well, The full solution will be covered 00:22:25.269 --> 00:22:27.769 next week in Michael's sermon. So come back next 00:22:27.769 --> 00:22:31.970 week for the full solution. But, for this week, 00:22:32.710 --> 00:22:36.470 one thing. One thing in our verse, that last 00:22:36.470 --> 00:22:39.450 verse, to take the heart in your walk with God. 00:22:40.789 --> 00:22:47.089 He is light. He sees all. And He knows everything 00:22:47.089 --> 00:22:51.440 about you. Now like that monumental test and 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:54.299 the monumental truth that can sound a bit scary. 00:22:54.299 --> 00:22:57.200 He knows everything about me Oh, that's a terrible 00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:00.579 that can be terrifying right? That could be scary 00:23:00.579 --> 00:23:08.200 until you realize why God sent Jesus You see 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:14.619 he sent Jesus to deal with our sin Verse 7 verse 00:23:14.619 --> 00:23:19.869 7 tells us the wonderful truth As we walk closely 00:23:19.869 --> 00:23:21.730 with Jesus, what does it say at the end of verse 00:23:21.730 --> 00:23:24.930 seven? You can read it with me. The blood of 00:23:24.930 --> 00:23:34.049 Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Jesus' 00:23:34.069 --> 00:23:40.829 blood, his life given to wash away all our sin 00:23:40.829 --> 00:23:45.650 is the solution for our failure, for our sin. 00:23:46.440 --> 00:23:51.759 and for our loss of truth in fellowship. Because 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:56.119 of Jesus, we do not ever have to leave the light 00:23:56.119 --> 00:24:01.960 of God's presence. We should never fall away. 00:24:02.059 --> 00:24:05.980 We should never walk away from God when we fail, 00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:10.180 when we do wrong. Don't walk away from God. Instead, 00:24:10.259 --> 00:24:15.829 we should turn to Him, admit our sin. Don't cover 00:24:15.829 --> 00:24:18.490 it up. Jesus has washed it away. We don't need 00:24:18.490 --> 00:24:22.230 to cover it up Besides God knows anyway, right? 00:24:22.269 --> 00:24:25.150 It's not like we can really hide it from God 00:24:25.150 --> 00:24:31.970 So today Again, we've seen these crucial Lego 00:24:31.970 --> 00:24:37.710 truths biblical truths Christian truths so that 00:24:37.710 --> 00:24:42.940 we might walk in the light First off God is light. 00:24:43.019 --> 00:24:45.299 Here's one of the truths we've learned. God is 00:24:45.299 --> 00:24:50.220 light and in him is no darkness at all. That's 00:24:50.220 --> 00:24:52.599 a huge truth. And like I said, it should change 00:24:52.599 --> 00:24:56.619 your life that we walk with the one who is light. 00:24:58.019 --> 00:25:02.200 And Jesus is the light of the world is what we're 00:25:02.200 --> 00:25:05.680 told in John's gospel. And that's good news for 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:08.039 everyone. Doesn't matter what your background 00:25:08.039 --> 00:25:11.359 in or what you have done or not done. It doesn't 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:13.299 matter where you come from, whether you're high 00:25:13.299 --> 00:25:17.339 or low, young or old, Jesus is the light of the 00:25:17.339 --> 00:25:21.539 world. He is the light for all who will turn 00:25:21.539 --> 00:25:26.700 to him. The other truth we've learned is that 00:25:26.700 --> 00:25:32.039 fellowship requires truth, not hypocrisy, not 00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:37.640 lying. So walk in truth so that fellowship is 00:25:37.640 --> 00:25:42.089 promoted among us. And lastly, that big truth 00:25:42.089 --> 00:25:45.650 that we just saw at the end, Jesus' blood cleanses 00:25:45.650 --> 00:25:50.910 us from all sin, allowing us to fellowship with 00:25:50.910 --> 00:25:53.869 one another and fellowship with our creator, 00:25:54.390 --> 00:26:00.769 God. You see, Jesus gave us his word. He gave 00:26:00.769 --> 00:26:06.150 his life for us. We can walk with him in the 00:26:06.150 --> 00:26:10.660 light. as we connect the truths that we've seen 00:26:10.660 --> 00:26:16.680 here in these verses and as we spend time with 00:26:16.680 --> 00:26:21.440 one another and with our God in fellowship. Let's 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:31.819 pray. Heavenly Father, we are so pleased, so 00:26:31.819 --> 00:26:35.859 thankful, so grateful that you have been so gracious 00:26:35.859 --> 00:26:40.190 and merciful to each one here who's walking in 00:26:40.190 --> 00:26:43.470 the light with you. Lord, we know that our sin 00:26:43.470 --> 00:26:46.990 is dealt with. Your word has promised it in Jesus. 00:26:47.910 --> 00:26:51.769 We know that you are at work in us, through us, 00:26:51.829 --> 00:26:56.690 and you allow us to walk with you because of 00:26:56.690 --> 00:26:59.549 what he has done. Lord, in all of this, we do 00:26:59.549 --> 00:27:02.210 want to thank you. Lord, we do pray that we would 00:27:02.210 --> 00:27:05.069 apply these truths to our walk with one another, 00:27:05.829 --> 00:27:09.700 that we would admit our sin, but also be forgiving 00:27:09.700 --> 00:27:13.640 of the sin of others toward us. That we would 00:27:13.640 --> 00:27:16.039 be those who are tender -hearted and compassionate, 00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:20.940 loving one another as we walk together in truth 00:27:20.940 --> 00:27:25.059 and love. And we pray all this in Jesus' name. 00:27:25.579 --> 00:27:25.880 Amen.