Recap

We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

1 John 1:1–4

God is Light

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.

1 John 1:5

The connection between the previous paragraph, the introduction, and this is the message that was delivered by Jesus, the one that he needs his children/grandchildren in the faith to understand so that they will have complete fellowship with Him, and with God—Father, Son, and Spirit.

Throughout Scripture, God uses light both as a description of who he is and a physical representation of his presence.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the very first words God says in the Bible are…

Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Genesis 1:3

Mysterious Science of Light

With all of our scientific knowledge, light is still something that is a vast mystery. There’s more here than meets the eye!

The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness
rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

John 3:19

A. Light penetrates

That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

John 1:5

B. Light illuminates

C. Light Warms

D. Light is omnipresent

Walking in the Light

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.

If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:5–10

There are 3 if statements, contrasts.

Fellowship

If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:7

You’d think it would be “fellowship with God”, but it’s actually “fellowship with one another.”

You can’t have close fellowship with honesty about what’s going on, and you won’t have the courage to be honest unless you’re walking in His light, and are secure in the fact that Jesus’ blood covers you from all

God Sees & Knows…

Man invents fictions, but God creates facts. We conceive of things as they appear, but God sees them as they exist.

Charles Spurgeon

Him exposing your dark places is actually his grace. (passive wrath)

If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:9

…so come to him honestly…

Our only safe course—and may the Spirit of God grant us grace to follow it—is to come to God as we actually are, and ask him to deal with us, in Christ Jesus, according to our actual condition.

Charles Spurgeon

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

…and walk in the light.

The effect of the light is not just to make people see, but to enable them to walk. Right conduct, not just clear vision, is the benefit which light bestows.

John Stott

Conclusion/Invitation

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there.

Revelation 21:23–25