But If We Walk in the Light

2014-10-27

Message Text:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:1-10)

This message will focus on 1 John 1:4-10, but I will also give a brief synopsis on the first three verses to give us the proper context.

First John is a letter written for the purpose to combat heresy that was prevalent at the time known as Gnosticism. John wrote these folks that “ye also may have fellowship with us” (1 John 1:3). There were people who were influencing believers, “seducing” them (see 1 John 2:26) to believe that it did not matter what they did with their lives, and that they could indulge in grotesque activities while God was indifferent. The apostle John wrote this letter in part to combat that heresy.

To establish his authority, he opens his letter by stating that he had seen the risen Christ. The doctrine he received did not come from the world, but rather from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The message he received from Christ is directly contrary to the worldly philosophy of these Gnostic folks.

It is important to state that this Gnostic philosophy was not limited to the early centuries A.D. On the contrary, this is a very common, though perhaps implicit, teaching today.

Beginning in verse 4, we see another one of John’s purposes in writing: “That your joy may be full.” This is not the only place we see this phrase in the Scriptures; we also see this in John 15:11; John 16:24; and 2 John 1:12. In the first two cases, Jesus is telling his disciples this. In John 15:11, this is in the immediate context of Jesus instructing his disciples to abide in him. In the context of 1 John, John’s phrase of “walking in the light” seems to mean the same thing. This abiding refers to continuing to trust in Christ, and not striving to serve God in our own strength.

Jesus’ illustration in the preceding verses gives us the picture we need. Jesus likens himself to a vine, and his disciples as branches. The branches do not bring forth fruit themselves; they only bring forth fruit when they are connected to the vine. The result is the life of Christ being manifested in us. The branches do not have their own life; they only have the life of the vine, and the branch without the vine can do nothing but die. It is true joy to have the life of Christ manifested in us.

In verse 5, we read, “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” The first thing we should think of when we see light and darkness contrasted is the first few chapters of the Bible:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:1-4)

What was the first thing that God did when he created it? He divided it from darkness. If God is likened to light, then it makes sense that he also is separated from darkness. There is no sin or wickedness in him. Light also gives us the ability to see, and by it, we can see everything else clearly. God enables us to see the truth clearly. Light also exposes darkness. In this sense, God exposes wickedness in our own lives.

Verse 6 reads, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” The first thing we ought to notice is the subject of this sentence is “we.” These are believers, which also includes the human author, the apostle John.

We are going to see a direct undermining of Gnostic philosophy, taught by those folks who believed that one’s actions as a Christian do not matter. But first, let us review some of the objective truths of Christianity.

By the blood of Christ, we have been forgiven of our sins (Ephesians 1:7). Moreover, when we believe on Jesus Christ, we also are identified with Him in his death and resurrection (Romans 6:4). If that were not enough, we are also made to sit with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). Despite all of this glory we own in Jesus Christ, we are left scratching our heads when we look at our personal lives. We see that sin is alive and well in the flesh, and do not “feel” like what we have been made by God.

These aforementioned truths are objective facts for every believer. However, if we do not believe daily in the finished work of Christ, we no longer abide in Christ: we no longer have fellowship with Him. We have begun to trust in our own resources, and are in sin (Romans 14:23). If we think we have fellowship with God in such circumstances, we are kidding ourselves. As we trust Christ, that he has accomplished these objective facts unilaterally on the cross and by rising again, His Holy Spirit subjectively works in our lives, and the life of Christ is lived through us. This is fellowship with God.

Verse 7 continues, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” So if “we walk in the light,” we see two results. First, we have fellowship with one another. There is harmony in our relationships with other believers, fostered as we walk in honesty and truth with one another. As a body of believers, we sharpen each other, and as we walk together in the truth, we learn from each other how to walk with Christ.

We also see that the blood of Christ “cleanseth us from all sin.” However, what do we think it means that we are already clean, as it says in John 15:3? We can turn to the illustration of footwashing in John 13:3-10, which takes place in the Upper Room before Jesus’ Passion:

“Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.” (John 13:3-10, emphasis mine)

You can see from the above, there is a sense that we are clean, but there is some washing necessary. We are positionally clean in Jesus Christ, which is unconditional for everyone born again, but as we abide in Him, we are also experientially clean. We are new creatures in Jesus Christ, but when we take our eyes off of him and live according to the flesh, then we sin, because we do not allow His life to be lived through us. It goes back to the vine illustration; when we as branches do not abide in the Vine, how can his life be lived through us? We will only sin and produce death apart from Jesus Christ.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). I cannot reiterate enough that nobody is perfect in the flesh. We are deceived when we think otherwise. When we trust in Christ, He does not improve us in the flesh. On the contrary, we are joined to him in death and in his resurrection (Romans 6:4). He has made us new creatures, because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 15:50).

When the Galatians felt that Paul was holding out on them, thinking that circumcision was somehow important in the Christian life, Paul strictly wrote the epistle that bears their name. Ritual and deed do not add anything to what Christ has wrought on the cross and from rising again. If Paul has not been made perfect in the flesh (Philippians 3:8-14), then who could be?

A popular verse is 1 John 1:9, where we read, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The promise of this verse is awesome, but it does beg the question: don’t we already have the forgiveness of sins? If we think the same way as we did with the cleansing in 1:7, then this will make it easier: position versus experience. However, let me give you an illustration that will help explain this a bit.

Think of a kingdom, where the king is surrounded by many hostile enemies. There is a decree that these enemies are to be captured and sentenced to the death. However, the king makes an announcement that anyone who comes forth and surrenders, will receive amnesty... they will receive forgiveness. This is what God does with us. He is saying, in essence, that whoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ shall receive amnesty.

Once we are born again, we are his children. For you fathers out there, your children are your children because they came from your body, and are genetically connected to you. They do not need to become your children again, however, there are times they do bad stuff and they need your forgiveness! This is the type of forgiveness that is seen here in 1 John 1:9. We do not need amnesty from the king when we sin as believers; on the contrary we need forgiveness from our Father.

He is also faithful to forgive us. It is a guaranteed thing if we confess our sins. He is also just to forgive us our sins, because they were already paid for on the cross. And he cleanses us, just as in verse 7... it is like hitting the reset button and starting over. The grace of God is a wonderful thing.

At this point, we receive a very strong admonition: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” We actually accuse God of being a liar in this case, because we are saying that have no need of the life found in His Son. Let me also give you an illustration from my own life, to which I am sure you can relate!

There have been times in my past when I have had personal revival in my life: victorious over sin, the Word is alive, and I am praying all the time. Spiritual things seem crystal clear. Life feels pretty good! However all of a sudden, most likely unconsciously, I am trusting in the feeling of being right with God, and not trusting God himself. Then I may take the next step and say to myself, “I’m okay now” and trust in myself. Then that is when I fall into an overt sin such as losing my temper or something like that. What happened? At some point, I decided to trust in emotions instead of Christ. When I did that, something other than Christ became my source of life, and I called him a liar. When we trust in something other than Christ, sin is at the door. Using the vine illustration once more, it is like the branch telling the vine, “I can produce fruit on my own.” It is a lie! The life is ONLY in the true Vine, and can be found nowhere else.

In the Vine is our joy completely full!