“Walking in Light”
1 John 1

January 23, 2005
by C.W. Powell

1 John 1

1 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;
2 (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;)
3 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.
4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
5 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.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
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 clean-seth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Proverbs 4:19 “The way of the wicked [is] as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.” One of the tragedies of the ungodly is this: they do not know what they stumble over, because their eyes are blind.

La 2:14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.

When men walk in darkness all sorts of theories of conspiracy arise. If you get hit in the dark your fears may assign all sorts of reasons for the blow.

When you don’t know what is going on, and your eyes are blind, you will have no idea what is causing your trouble, and will very often assign false reasons to it. There is no cure for this kind of blindness but light. Those who can see have a great advantage of those who cannot see.

But let us look at the text before us.

I. First of all we see how the light has come to the church.

A. Jesus Christ is the life of men and he was manifest in the flesh to the ones that he had chosen: The gospels were written by Matthew, one of the twelve; Mark, a close associate of Peter, one of the twelve; Luke, a close associate of Paul who was personally called by Christ after His resurrection; and John, the youngest of the twelve.

B. Vs. 2: Jesus Christ was with the Father and was manifested unto those who saw Him. In His Gospel, John says that “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in dark-ness and the darkness comprehendeth it not.” John 1:4,5 so Jesus is this life and this light spoken of in this chapter.

C. God has been pleased not to speak directly to the church or to reveal the Lord Jesus directly to them. As we read in Acts 10:41-42: "Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead."

1. God would humble us to have us receive His word from men like we are.
2. We have not seen with our eyes, nor have you and I looked upon Him, but we have heard and read the witnesses who did see.
3. Titus 1-3. "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior."

II. The reason for the coming of the Light: the Lord Jesus Christ. Why has the light come, and why is it preached?

A. Jesus came and called into fellowship with Himself a group of men and women, his disciples, and he ordained twelve as special witnesses of his resurrection; but also sent out seventy to preach the kingdom of God.
B. The light that they received, they declared to others, so that we might have fellowship with the Light, with Jesus Christ, as they had fellowship with Christ.
C. Note: Fellowship in the apostles doctrine is the way into fellowship with the Father and the Son It is all contained in the writings of the apostles and prophets which gave us the New Testament.
D. Walking in fellowship with the apostles and prophets in their writings brings fullness of Joy. Vs.4

III. Result of walking in the Light.

A. We do not walk in darkness. Vs. 5.6.

1. This is so because God is light and there is no darkness in Him. He cannot lie. He cannot do an unclean thing. He cannot do evil.
2. Three things, as I said the other day, represent darkness, and God is not the source of any of them: ignorance; unbelief, evil works. These are all said to be of the darkness and the night of sin and misery.

B. It is impossible to walk with Christ and to be in darkness: If we say we have fellowship with Christ and walk in darkness, we are liars and of the darkness.

C. Christ alone is the Mediator by whom we have fellowship with God and have the true light of God in our lives. It is impossible to walk with Christ, who is in the light of God, and be in darkness. It is ignorance, unbelief, and evil works that characterize the life of darkness, and the light cleanses us from these and they washed away.

D. The fellowship of verse 7 is the fellowship of the church with God, through Jesus Christ. This, of course also includes the fellowship of Christians with each other, but this is defined through our fellowship with God.

E. Walking in the light does not mean walking sinlessly, but walking so as to have continual forgive-ness and cleasings from sin.

IV. Sinlessness and the Light Vs. 8-11

A. The light reveals sin, it does not eradicate it. “Cleanse” means wash from guilt. God has begun and good work of forgiveness and renewal, and He will perform it unto the day of Christ. His grace is sufficient for us. This is certain as we walk with Christ in the light of God.

B. Where the truth or light reigns, there sin is exposed. Those who say they have no sin not only seek to deceive others, but are terribly deceived themselves.

C. People who are so deceived have no truth in them—no light in them. It is terrible to be so blind. The more light, the more sensitive we are to our owns sins and failures.

D. The true work of the light is to brings us to confession of sin. Confessing means that we allow the light to be turned on. Denying and hiding is the opposite of confession and acknowledgement.

1. Confess to whom? to God, of course, and first.
2. To others whom we have wronged.

E. What an affront to call God a liar. We flaunt our presumed perfection in the face of God? He knows nothing of any righteousness in man. All these doctrines of justification by man’s righteousness were not learned by walking in the light. They were learned elsewhere.

V. Application.

A. Let us strive to learn more of Christ and his ways, no matter how painful it is for us in the flesh to have our sins so exposed by His blinding light.
B. Let us confess freely our sin and misery, not pretending to be other than we are.
C. Let us seek Christ alone for forgiveness of sins and renewal in the life of Christ, for we have nothing of these in ourselves.
D. Let us make much of the Scripture, and little of our own works. It I in the Holy Scripture that we find the light, passed unto us, by those who heard and saw Him.

God bless you.