“Step into the Light”

(1 John 1:5 – 2:2)

Series: A Word for the Church [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

August 29, 2021

Passage: 

1 John 1:5 – 2:2

1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 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. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

2:1 My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. 2 He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

Introductory Comments

How many of you prefer the darkness over the light? Probably no one, right? [show picture on screen]When we’re children, we’re often afraid of the darkness. We put night lights in our rooms so it’s not too dark. When a hurricane comes through and we lose power, we try to find a way to prevent darkness. When you’re at the beach and a dark cloud rolls up, you know that your beach fun is going to be ruined. Once we get to a certain age, we don’t even like to drive when it is dark outside. There’s something about darkness that most of us don’t like.Well, we are continuing our series in 1 John called, “A Word for the Church.” Today, we’re going to hear what John has to say about darkness and light. This is a theme that he will continue beyond the passage that we are covering today, so be sure and pay attention. 

Before we go any further, let’s pray together and ask God to speak to us. 

(prayer)

Last week we learned that Jesus was real, that He came to the world, and He has made it possible for us to know God.

This week, John talks more about what it means for us to know God and walk with God. As John describes this, he’s going to speak of light and darkness.  So we’re going to look at four realities of this light that John is writing about.

First, . . . 

I. Light is who God is (1:5-6)[on screen]

John speaks really straightforwardly in these verses. I love that he writes that way: he gets right to the point.Let’s look at verses 5 and 6. 

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth.

John wants us to know that God is 100% light. John says that there is, “absolutely no darkness in him.”

Did you know that some food is not what you think it is? So often with food these days we have to read the label to find out if something is really what it’s supposed to be. Is it 100% juice? Is it 100% real cheese? Is it 100% maple syrup? Often when my wife asks me to get something special, I spend half my time at the grocery store just reading labels. Well, John has put it on the label for us: God is 100% light and there is no darkness in Him!

God is light in that He is 100% good. God is light in that He reveals all that we need to see! God is light in that there is only truth in Him! He is perfectly good, perfectly holy, perfectly powerful, and perfectly just. 

There is no darkness in God. There is nothing bad, nothing wrong, nothing that needs to be hidden, and no amount of evil. 

John goes on to say that God is so full of light and so absent of darkness, that if we claim that we are following God, and there is darkness