1 John 1:5-10 (Teaching)

[0:00] Morning. Good morning. That's John, Mr. Marnon. Last week we talked and we went through the first four verses.

[0:19] The first John talked about how John pretty much was telling his audience that they needed to listen to him, they needed to hear him, because of the fact that he had been with Jesus.

[0:39] He knew what he was talking about in other words. He exhorted his audience to take heed to him. As we covered briefly last week, we got to remember this was the first century church.

[0:53] There was still a lot going on. There was a lot of false teachings that were already infiltrating the church. One of the reasons that John was saying the things that he was, as far as listening to what I had to say, I spent time with the man.

[1:14] I've been with him. I spent three plus years with him. If anybody has a right to say anything about him, John was saying it in arrogance at all, but he was saying, you need to listen to me and not these other folks that are coming in with these false teachings.

[1:36] Of course, verse four, he said that he wrote these things to them. That their joy might be full. He gave us all kinds of what's there. In the first three verses, he gave them the why.

[1:48] He wrote them that their joy might be full. So that being said, we'll pick back up at first John, the first chapter. Verse five says, this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is live and in him is no darkness at all.

[2:09] And we need to stop here and consider what the first line of this. This then is the message. And he's saying, this is what I have to say to you.

[2:22] He says, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. This is a line out of scripture that I've quoted many times myself, both teaching and preaching.

[2:33] But he says, this is the message that we have heard of him. We have heard this message of Jesus, of this one that in the first four verses there, he was saying, my hands have handled the word of God.

[2:47] I've heard the word of God. I've seen him. I've looked upon him. In those first four verses, he said, this is the message that we heard of Jesus himself.

[3:01] Now folks, you can go through the New Testament and see the words of Jesus Christ. And he's not quoted directly saying this, but this was his message.

[3:12] This was the message of Jesus Christ, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. This would have been somewhat though if John's main audience had been Jewish and chances are that it was.

[3:26] This would have kind of been a foreign notion to them. It would have been something odd for them to hear because they were familiar with God of the Old Testament.

[3:38] The God that dwelt in darkness, the God that was up on Mount Sinai, and he was covered with the thick clouds and no one could see him. So this was a foreign notion to a Jewish audience that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

[3:56] But this was the message of Jesus Christ that God is light. So even though up on Mount Sinai, when Moses went up on the mountain and the whole mountain was cloaked with clouds and we know of the thunderings and the quakings.

[4:10] And even though Solomon himself in 1 Kings and chapter 8 said that God dwelt in the thick darkness, even though we know all these things, that did not change the fact that God is light.

[4:24] God was still light. Even before he spoke the words and let there be light, God was light then. So God has always been light. He is light now and he will continue to be light on into the future and in him is no darkness at all.

[4:40] This was the message of Jesus Christ. And this is the message that John is trying to portray to these people that he's writing to. God was somewhat hidden from the people and Scripture will back that up.

[4:56] He was hidden from the people but in Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ, God was revealed. And so now God is light and in him is no darkness at all. He's been completely revealed in God the Son, Jesus Christ.

[5:12] God is light and in him is no darkness at all. There's not even a hint of darkness in God. He is pure light. He's holy light.

[5:24] In him is no darkness at all. Verse 6, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

[5:37] Verse 7, 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. Back up to verse 6.

[5:49] We need to keep this in mind, reading the rest of this. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. In other words, he's saying if, if we say, now listen, that word we, that includes John.

[6:05] John's including himself in that statement. Remember what the first four verses were all about. John's saying, you need to hear me. I've been with Jesus Christ.

[6:16] And he goes on to say, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. He's saying, if we, or if anyone, says they have fellowship with God, but they walk in darkness, then they do not the truth.

[6:37] John's saying, look at the light that I live. Look at the way that I walk. I said he was defending himself in verses 1 through 3 in 1 John. Saying, this is, these are the reasons that you need to hear what I have to say.

[6:52] And he's saying, look at the light that I live. Once again, not in arrogance as he's saying these things. He's saying, I have been with Jesus Christ. I have been with this light. I have been with the light of the world. Jesus Christ made that statement himself that he is the light of the world.

[7:11] And John here is saying, I have been with that light. I have fellowship with him. And if we have fellowship with Jesus Christ, we cannot go on in darkness.

[7:23] Now listen, we can stray from Jesus Christ. We can go on our little merry way. We can be on the straight and narrow path and we can take a left turn or we can take a right turn.

[7:34] And we can go out where the darkness is. We can do that as Christians. But John here says, if we say we have fellowship, it's the fellowship with Jesus Christ.

[7:46] If we say we have fellowship with him, but we walk in darkness and we walk in darkness, then we lie and do not the truth. We lie and we do not the truth.

[7:58] If we say that we know Jesus Christ, I mean, you all know people like that. They say, well, I know Jesus. Me and God's got a top relationship. Me and God go way back.

[8:10] Me and Jesus go way back. I've heard people say this, but their life doesn't have any fruit of the matter. The life that they live says just the opposite of what they're proclaiming.

[8:21] They have no fellowship with Jesus Christ. They can't have fellowship with Jesus Christ because they're walking in darkness constantly. And you and I both know people like this.

[8:32] And I said, we as true, blue, born again saints of God, we can get off the path that God has set us on. And we can stray away from the light that folks, that light, that light, it doesn't mean that the light's not there anymore.

[8:48] That light will guide us right back to itself. It will guide us right back home where we need to be. If it was midnight here right now, and there wasn't a star or a moon in the sky, and there wasn't the one street lamp in all of Kingsport, everybody in Kingsport would be focused on that light.

[9:06] Why? Because that was the only source of it. Folks, if we as true, blue, born again Christians, as I just said, if we stray off the path that God has set us on, that same light, it will guide us back to Him and will guide us back to the light.

[9:24] And comparing God to light is actually quite a wonderful thing that John is doing here. I mean, if you think about light and you can trust it or compare it for that matter with darkness, I mean, what is darkness? It's nothing more than the absence of light.

[9:44] So if we're walking in darkness, it's because we want to be there. If we're walking in darkness, it's because we have something to hide. God is light. Once again, that speaks of His holiness, that speaks of His righteousness and His purity.

[10:01] And this light, at some point or another, if you're sitting here born again this morning, this light is shown in your heart one day, it's shown in your life. And it showed you the deep, dark sins that nobody else in your life may have known about.

[10:17] It showed you what you were, but it also showed you who God was and who God is. And this is the message that John is telling these people about.

[10:29] This is the message that we have heard from him, that God is light and in him there's no darkness at all. Jesus Christ is saying that He was the light of the world that had a twofold meaning.

[10:40] It had two purposes. It showed who God was and it showed what men were. It showed us that we were sinners and it showed us that we were the Saviour.

[10:51] It showed us that we preferred the darkness. Why? Because when that light shone, there was all kinds of scripture to back it up. You look at Jesus when He would talk to the Pharisees. He talked to the Proudful Pharisees. You look at them when they brought the woman to Him in adultery.

[11:07] And Jesus, there in John chapter 8, Jesus just simply knelt down and wrote in the sand. He wrote in the dirt, but when He finally looked up and He said, He who is without sand, let Him first cast a stone. What did they do? They left.

[11:21] One bound woman. Why was that? Because the light of the world was right there and they were running from the light because they preferred darkness. It exposed to them who they were and exposed to them what they were.

[11:35] And I said, those were Jesus's, or that was Jesus's twofold meaning when He said that He was the light of the world. He showed who God was. He revealed God.

[11:47] He was the express image of God according to the scriptures. So He revealed God and He revealed man in doing that. But if we say we have fellowship with Him in walking darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

[12:02] Folks, that's a serious statement. Why? How so? Because my Bible says that all liars will have their part in the lake of fire. If we say that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness, we lie and we do not the truth.

[12:16] In other words, we're not practicing the truth. We're not doing what we know that we're supposed to be doing. Every one of us has a conscience. Every one of us knows right from wrong.

[12:27] Whether we're saved or not, every one of us knows right from wrong. I knew right from wrong. I knew good and evil long before I was saved. I knew things that I should do and I knew things that I should not do.

[12:40] But these things, He says if we say that we have fellowship with Him in walking darkness, we lie and we do not the truth. We're not practicing the truth. What is the truth?

[12:52] Jesus is the truth, then. Jesus is the way of the truth in the life according to John chapter 14. But what is this book is true. This book gives us instructions.

[13:05] It tells us how to live. And if we're not doing the truth, or it says we lie and do not the truth, if we say that we have fellowship with God, but yet walk in darkness, verse 7, but if we walk in the lie as He is in the lie, we have fellowship one with another.

[13:24] And the blood of Jesus Christ is sung cleanseth us from all sin. This is a kind of sort of debated verse in the Scriptures. And I'll just up front tell you right now, there is nowhere, nowhere in the Bible where a second applying of the blood of Jesus Christ is necessary for a born again Christian.

[13:49] Nowhere is that necessary. When we're saved, when we're born again, when we're born and adopted into the family of God, what happens then?

[14:04] We're sanctified, we're consecrated, we're set aside for the purpose of God and for the service of God. What happened in the Old Testament? In the Old Testament, you turn to Leviticus chapter 8.

[14:16] You see, who were the ones in the service of God? It was the Levites, it was Aaron and his sons. They were the ones that were set aside, they were consecrated for the service of God.

[14:27] And how was that to take place? Well, in Exodus chapter 29, God gives instructions to the Moses. He says, you bring a ram, you slaughter the lamb, you take the blood of that ram, you put it on the tip of their ear, you put it on their right thumb, and you put it on the great toe of their right foot. The only time you read about that, other than a trespass offering, but that was not for, that's in Leviticus chapter 14, but that wasn't for the service of God, that wasn't for the Levites.

[14:55] I'm talking about consecrating the Levites for the service of God, and it was one time that that happened. The rest of the time that they cleansed, it was at the labor that was right there in the tabernacle.

[15:08] They would go to the labor which was full of water. They were cleansed by the water from that point on. But never again was blood on their person, on their being. Never again was that needed for their service to God.

[15:23] Here it says, but if we walk into light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Once again, we need to consider him, we need to keep in mind, he's talking about fellowship here.

[15:37] He's talking about fellowship with God and with one another. If we walk into light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. So if we're walking with God, we're going to have fellowship with other people that are walking along with God.

[15:51] Why? Because we're both in the light. We're not hiding, we're not hiding. We're not tucking ourselves in a closet so that the light can't get to us. God praised God for the light that the gospel shows to me, that I can walk closer to him.

[16:07] It wasn't just a one-time thing that God showed me the gospel and that was it. I think God that He shows me the gospel every day. Every time I open the pages of scripture, I can find the gospel somewhere in what I'm reading.

[16:20] And that gospel light shines into my heart, even now, and shows me what needs to be repented of. Why? So that I can be in fellowship with him and be in fellowship with other believers.

[16:34] Those of a locked faith, those of a locked mind, as I have. So if we walk into light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.

[16:45] This is basically an ongoing statement that he says. If we're walking in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.

[16:58] If the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed you from all sin, then you're walking in the light. And I can have fellowship with you and you can have fellowship with me.

[17:09] It's not saying, and this is the debate of this verse here, they're saying that if we get out of the light, which is not in this verse, but something that's been inserted in by certain groups, they're saying if we get out of the light, then in order to get back into the light, we're needing an extra application of the blood of Jesus Christ to do so.

[17:33] No folks, you're saying that the blood of Jesus Christ is weak. If that's the way that you're seeing this verse, Jesus Christ's blood is all powerful and is powerful enough to wash away all my sins.

[17:48] And that's backed up by the Scriptures. Once again, nowhere, nowhere in the New Testament will you find that the blood of Jesus Christ must be applied multiple times for the forgiveness of sin.

[18:01] Remember, we're talking about fellowship with God. We're talking about fellowship in this particular verse with one another. But how is that fellowship obtained? It's because we walk in the light as he is in the light and therefore we can have fellowship with one another.

[18:17] Keep all that in mind. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Well folks, that's pretty cut and dry. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

[18:36] The Bible and we've heard it quoted and preached and taught all of our lives. Romans 3, 23, all of sin and come short to the glory of God.

[18:47] All means all. That's everybody. That's everybody of sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. There's obviously some people in the first century church here and I can tell you some people right now that believe that when we get saved, we no longer sin.

[19:09] And folks, that's contrary to Scripture. That's contrary to what the Bible teaches. God, for whatever purpose and His divine purpose and His divine plan, God chose to allow us to continue on in our sinful flesh and our sinful nature even after we get saved.

[19:30] I still got a sinful nature. You still got a sinful nature. Even Paul himself, the man who wrote half of the New Testament, said, Oh, Richard, man that I am, who shall save me from this body of death?

[19:41] He said, Well, Richard, man that I am, that was present at that time. He was calling himself Richard. So if Paul could say that after he'd been born again, after he done had his encounter with Jesus Christ, what makes us think that we can't say that or that we shouldn't say that?

[19:59] We're all Richard and we're all weak and we're all in need of a Savior. I need Jesus just as much now as I needed him before I was born again. I still need Jesus Christ. But he says, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Don't let anybody convince you that once we're born again, once we're saved, that we no longer sin.

[20:20] If you think that, and anyone that does think that, they're not deceiving me. The Bible says they deceive themselves. We deceive ourselves. Not only that, he says, And the truth is not in us if we believe that. The truth of what? The truth of God's Word. The truth is, man is a sinner.

[20:40] Man is in a fallen state. Man was cast off by God. Man was cast from God by God. Why was that? Because he rebelled against God.

[20:52] But God, through Jesus Christ, made a way that mankind could be reconciled back unto him. Reconcile means you're made up. You're in good standing with one another again.

[21:05] I'm in good standing with God, but not because of my own works and certainly not because I don't sin, but it's because of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ shed the blood that cleanses us from all sin. And because of that, I can be in good relationship and I can be in good fellowship with God.

[21:24] And because of that, if you're born again, I can be in fellowship with you. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church, what communion has lot with darkness? Folks, we have no communion with darkness. We have no fellowship with darkness. Why? Because we are walking in the light. We walk in the light.

[21:44] If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful in just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[21:55] And for a child of God, this shouldn't be an issue. Now, what verse did he just come out of saying that? If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. The very next verse, the very next sentence that John wrote, if we confess our sins, this proves that we will have sins.

[22:16] This shows that we will have sins. If we confess our sins, he is faithful in just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is another one of them verses that I've quoted time and time again. And I praise God that this verse is in the Bible.

[22:33] If we confess our sins for a born again child of God, this should come natural to us. Why? If we're walking in the light, the light is going to show us our sin. And when the light shows us our sin and we've got the Holy Spirit dwelling on the inside of us, the Holy Spirit is going to point that sin out to us.

[22:50] And we as children of God will be compelled to confess that sin to God and to ask forgiveness for it. And he is faithful and he is just to cleanse us from that sin and from all unrighteousness. And I praise God for that.

[23:05] How do I look at that? We confess our sin, he is faithful and just. God is faithful and God is just. Not just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God is faithful and just in everything that he does.

[23:23] God is perfect. He is absolutely perfect. His faithfulness is perfect. His justness is perfect. His love is perfect. His life is perfect.

[23:35] On the opposite side of that coin, his justice is perfect. His wrath is perfect. His fury is perfect. His anger is perfect. And the Bible describes God as having all these attributes that we just listed that they are all perfect. He is faithful and he is just to forgive us our sins.

[23:54] Not because of who we are. This is something we need to keep in mind. Remember the verse 5, the first verse that we read this morning.

[24:05] This is the message that John is bringing that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. And Jesus Christ is the one that revealed God to us.

[24:16] Jesus Christ was God Almighty robed in flesh that came to this earth and showed man exactly whom God was. And he said, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. He exposed to the entire world during this day who God was.

[24:35] And continually now, 2,000 years later, we know we can see who God is through the Scriptures. I've never seen Jesus Christ with my physical eyes.

[24:46] It's never happened and you haven't either. God is revealed through his word to the entire world. And Jesus Christ revealed God to the entire world through the words that he spoke.

[24:59] And this is, anyway, I'll stop there. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Praise God for that verse. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his truth is not in us.

[25:16] When I say just a little while ago, the Bible teaches that all liars will have their part in the lake of fire. I can assure you that God is not a liar. God cannot lie. He's not a man that he could lie, according to the Scriptures.

[25:32] God can't tell a lie. He cannot sin. But it says, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

[25:44] Compare or couple this, I should say, with verse 8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Go up to verse 6. If we say, notice all these verses, start with, if we say, if we as men, if we as women, if we as human beings say these things.

[26:04] Once again, verse 6. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. Verse 8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Verse 10. If we say that we have no sin, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

[26:22] If we say these things, why is this so condemning if we say these things? Because the Bible says otherwise to all of these things. That's why the condemnation is.

[26:37] That's why, in verse 10, once again, if we say we have no sin, we make him a liar. Why? Because God says that we are sinners. The Bible says that we are sinners. Jesus Christ said himself that he came out into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

[26:54] He said that he came to save sinners. Who is sinners? That's everybody. That's all of us. So if we say these things, in other words, we are rebelling against what the Word of God teaches.

[27:09] And it's not just New Testament. It's taught all over the Old Testament that man is in a wretched, corrupted state and he needs a Savior.

[27:20] And in the Old Testament, those Jews were looking forward to that Savior. They were looking forward to the Messiah to come. Jesus Christ comes to planet Earth and He's born as a baby. He grows up through his adolescence, through his teenage years.

[27:37] About the age of 30, he begins his ministry and for three plus years he ministered here on the earth. All of these things happen and in all of this that we're talking about here, Jesus Christ taught that man is a sinner and that God is a saint.

[27:54] So if we say that we have no sin, we make him a liar. We're going against what the Word of God says. And folks, that's a serious offense. It's a serious offense to call God a liar.

[28:07] I ain't saying that people that make the claim, well, I haven't committed sin and I've heard that, I don't know how many times. And evangelism efforts and family, people say, well, I really don't feel like I've done anything that I need to be forgiven of.

[28:22] That's calling God a liar because God says they have. God says they are sinful by nature. God says I am sinful by nature and you are sinful by nature.

[28:33] So we call God a liar and I can promise you that God will have no part in the lake of fire. He will not be there. His wrath and his fury and his anger and his indignation will all be there.

[28:48] God himself will be in heaven where he has been all alone. If we say that we have no sin, we make him a liar and his Word is not in us.

[29:00] In other words, we don't understand the Scriptures. We don't understand what the Bible is teaching about us all being sinners, about us all being the need of a Savior, about us all being a fallen state, about us all being cursed of God.

[29:15] And folks, that's a serious statement. It's a serious offense to say that God has cursed us, but that's exactly what happened. He not only cursed man in the garden, he cursed the earth. He cursed everything.

[29:31] He cursed all of creation in the garden. Why do you think that the Bible says the earth itself groans for her rebirth? You know, just as our souls groans for a rebirth, the earth itself groans for a rebirth.

[29:45] Why? Because it was cursed of God because the entire world had become corrupted. But if we say we have no sin, we make him a liar and his Word is not in us.

[29:57] That's a serious, serious statement that John makes there. Not only Colin Gottelard is saying that his Word is not in us. In other words, we don't understand the Scriptures and what they're teaching us about ourselves.

[30:13] Jesus Christ taught us, taught us and we have his Word and we have his teachings, we have his sermons. Not every word that the man ever spoke unpersuited of that is recorded in Scripture.

[30:24] But what God wanted us to know is more than enough to show us how needful we are of the Satan. That wraps up the first chapter of 1 John and I'm going to get into the second chapter as much as I would like to.

[30:41] Any other questions or comments on that?