The name of the message tonight
is God is light. God is light. But let's read
the whole first chapter, 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 show 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 she
also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is
with the father and with his son Jesus Christ these things
right 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. I was thinking of that as Brother
Tim was reading Proverbs. I was thinking of verse six and
next week we'll look at that, but oh my, it totally was fitting
with what he was reading. 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, cleanses 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. Last week we considered
verse 3 and 4, we considered the fellowship with the Father,
that the believer has in and through the Lord Jesus Christ
in Him alone. And that fellowship with the
Father is only through Christ. Only through Christ. No Christ,
no fellowship with the Father. No fellowship with the Father.
But in Christ, fellowship with the Father. We also consider
how our joy is full in and through Christ alone too. It always centers
on our King all the time. It always has to come back to
Him. Because He is the central theme of Scripture. He's the
central theme. and we consider it again how
our joy is full in Him and we consider how our salvation is
full in Christ it's in Christ alone nowhere else our redemption
is absolutely complete in Christ and the fact we also consider
the fact that we have all spiritual blessings in Christ they are
found nowhere else Nowhere else. This is why it's so vital and
so important that each time anyone gets an opportunity to teach
or preach, that we preach or teach Christ and Him crucified.
It's vital. He is the only way of salvation. There's no other way. No other
way. And it is in and through Christ
that we have joy in our hearts amidst the trials and sufferings
and tribulation of this world. It's only again through Christ.
It's only through Him. Before we went through trials
and tribulations, we were miserable before Christ. I was absolutely
miserable. Absolutely. But now, I can have
joy amidst the trials. Now, is there tears still? Absolutely.
Absolutely. We're human, aren't we? We have
emotions. Now, sometimes there's tears. Sometimes there's great
sorrow. But there's a joy and a peace that passes all understanding,
beloved, that keeps our hearts and minds in trusting and resting
on Christ and Christ alone. Remember the theme of this epistle
in this opening verses, namely fellowship with God, with the
apostles, and with fellow saints, how? Through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, again, Christ is brought forth so richly in the first
few verses of this epistle. And we'll see that it just continues
right through. It just continues. John keeps
your mind focused upon Christ, focused upon Him. And our fellowship
with the apostles and with the Father is only through the Lord
Jesus Christ, who the scripture declares is the Word of Life,
the Word of Life. And this is God incarnate in
the flesh, the Word of Life. The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us, the Word of Life. So I'd like us to consider verse
five tonight, look at this. 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. Note then this is the message,
beloved, just like the hymn we sing, tell me the story of Jesus.
Tell me the story of Jesus, right? Write on my heart every word.
Tell me the story most precious. And you know what? To every believer
in Christ, the story of Christ is precious, isn't it? It's precious. It's not precious to unbelievers,
but oh, it's precious. Tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever I heard. Is it not the sweetest story
you've ever heard? Christ dying for me, Christ dying
as my substitute. Just keep telling me that, just
keep telling me that. Now the from him clearly has
reference to the incarnate word. It says, 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. So which we have heard
of him is in reference to the incarnate word, beloved. He is
the principal person spoken of in the immediate context, and
he was, remember too, he's the sender of the apostles, isn't
he? He sent them out, go ye into the world, and what? Preach the
gospel. Who's the gospel all about? Christ.
It's all about Christ. It's all about him. So he's the
sender of the apostles, and he's the subject of the gospel too
that they're preaching. And ministers of the gospel,
what are we? We're messengers of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's all a preacher is. We declare the report. We declare the message that Christ
died for sinners. That Christ died for sinners.
And it's the preacher's business to communicate to the churches
and to the world what Paul writes about in Galatians chapter 1.
And Paul writes this, he says, but I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel, which is all about Christ and all about what
he's done, which was preached of me is not after man. No man
taught him that gospel. Just like for every believer,
no man taught us the gospel, did he? Now, a man may have preached
it, right? But God makes it effectual. We're
taught of God, just like what we looked at on Sunday. We're
taught of God. And then he goes on, for I neither
received it of man. So it's not like, walk the aisle,
come on up the aisle, you know how they used to do those? They
still do it. Walk the aisle, pray a prayer, have someone pray
with you. Like that guy told me across the road, I couldn't
believe it. Well, you gotta do more. No, I don't. I preach about the
one who's done it all, Christ. It's finished, the work's done.
He says, for neither I received it of man, neither was I taught
it, meaning by man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Galatians
chapter one, verses 11 and 12. So what Paul's saying is the
gospel has to be revealed to you. Christ has to be revealed
to you. And it's a revelation to God. If you know the gospel,
if you know Christ, it's been revealed to you. It's a revelation
of God to you. It's wonderful when you think
about that. Because there's no other way we'd know it, is there?
There's no other way we'd know it. And Christ came here to declare
and reveal the true and living God. And John has summarized,
and Christ is the true and living God. John is summarizing his
teaching in this text by saying this this is the message which
we have heard from him and declare unto you that God is light look
at again this is then the message which we have heard of him and
declared you that God is light and in him is no darkness at
all so John's bringing forth here that this is a message that
God is light he's holy He's holy. That's what it means. He's holy.
He's holy. And preachers preach Christ and
Him crucified. And John is telling us about
the Lord Jesus Christ and how, again, He's the sweetest thing
that can ever be told. That can ever be told. Let's
look at our text again. 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. So John has been bringing forth
before the readers of this epistle, again, the humanity of Christ,
the humanity of Christ. And we're gonna see in verse
six, what Tim was bringing up, that verse six is actually against
antinomianism. It's against antinomianism, where
people say you can go out and live however you want. And there
was trouble, there was trouble in that time, where there was
antinomians that were saying you can live however you want.
They were in sexual immorality, sharing, I'm not gonna get into
it, it was awful, what they were doing. in all in the name of
being Christians. And so they're battling that
too. So think of this, think of how the gospel's under attack
during the times of these writings, right? They're battling the Gnostic
era, but the humanity of Christ, where they deny the humanity
of Christ. They're battling antinomianism. They're battling all kinds of
different things. And what do they do? How do they combat all
these errors? They just preach Christ and Him
crucified. Just keep preaching Christ, Christ
alone. All the preacher does, we just
bring Christ. So John's been bringing forth
before the readers of this epistle again, the humanity of Christ. And he's brought forth again
the fact that the apostles have seen He who is the Word of Life. They've seen Him. They've seen
Him. They've heard Him. They've touched Him, beloved.
They've touched Him who is the Word of Life. And we know that
is the Lord Jesus Christ. God incarnate in the flesh. And
this is the message. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter
2. Luke chapter 2. This is the message that the
Word of Life was manifested. That He came forth from the Father.
That He came forth from the Father. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
was sent to the Father, wasn't He? The Father sent the Son to
be the Savior of His people. He came forth from the Father
into this world, and do you know that angels declared His glory
at His birth? They declared his glory. Look
at this in Luke chapter 2 verses 8 to 14. And there were in the
same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over
their flock by night. So they're just doing their job.
They're in the field. Imagine that. They're just sitting in
the field. They're watching their sheep, protecting their sheep. And lo,
the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord
shone around about them. And they were so afraid. They were
probably terrified. That would be a bit, right? They were terrified.
Wouldn't we be? We'd be absolutely terrified.
All of a sudden, you've got an angel in front of you? You'd
be terrified. I know I would be. They were
afraid, beloved. And the angel said unto them,
Look at this. Look at this. Wonderful words. Fear not. Remember what
David said to Mephibosheth? Fear not. Fear not. What does God say to his people?
Fear not. We're in Christ. Fear not. And
the angel said unto them, Fear not. For behold, I bring you
good tidings of what? Great joy, great joy, which shall
be to all people. And we know God's elect are spread
all through every tribe, kindred, tongue and nation, aren't they?
for unto you is born in this day, born this day in the city
of David, a savior. That means a rescuer. What does
Christ do? He rescues us from our sins,
doesn't he? He's rescued us from the law of God, which had a demand
upon us. He's rescued us from the justice
of God, beloved, which had a claim upon us. He's paid it all. He's a savior. He's a rescuer.
He's rescued us from our sins. He's rescued us from ourselves.
from ourselves, which is Christ the Lord. There, he's identified
by the angels. And this shall be a sign unto
you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of the heavenly host. What are they doing? Praising
God and saying, glory to God in the highest. Glory to God
in the highest. And on earth, peace, goodwill
toward man. Oh, so the angels declared his
glory, beloved. at His birth. He declared His
glory. Let's go back to our text. The Word of God. The Word of
Life. The second person of the Trinity
became a man and bled and died on Calvary's cross as a substitute
of God's people and he finished the work of redemption, beloved.
He finished the work and salvation has been accomplished. Notice
in our text, 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. How was this message obtained,
beloved? Well, we have heard it and declare it unto you. Again, they heard it. They heard
the word of life, beloved. They heard the word of life.
Note two, note two. It's not a debate, is it? This
message is not up for debate. This then is the message. It's
not debatable. This is the message. It's not
up for debate. It's not to be argued over. The
gospel, beloved, is to be declared. It's to be declared. This, then,
is the message which we have heard of Him and declare unto
you. The gospel's declared, beloved.
It's declared. And gospel preachers won't compromise
on this message. They will not soften the message,
no matter who the hearers are. They will not alter or conceal
this message. No, we declare it unto you. Declare
it unto you. Unto those whom God has providentially
bought to hear the message, or who will hear it as it goes out
over the internet. That salvation is in Christ,
in Christ alone. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. And that God is light, and He's
holy, and in Him is no darkness at all, no sin. He's perfect. He's holy. And that to be in
his presence, to be in the presence of this God that's spoken of
in our text, the God, to be in his presence, you must be in
fellowship with him. You must be united to Christ.
You must be united to Christ. You must believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. You must. So who had John heard
this blessed message from? Unquestionably, he heard it from
the Lord Jesus Christ. In him alone. The faithful witness
of God. That's what Christ is. The great
teacher sent from God. Who is the Word of Life. Spoken
of. In the verses preceding this.
The Word of Life. God incarnate in the flesh. That's
who they heard this message from. And remember this, it's all according
to God's will and purpose that this message should be published
to the world. What a merciful God. It's all according to God's will
and purpose. And it is God himself incarnate
in the flesh who gives this message to his people. I can say that. I did not know
this message until Christ revealed himself to me. And this is the message that
God has sent me to proclaim. Salvation is in Christ and Christ
alone. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. The one who sent His people to proclaim this message
is the one who has all power. The one who will make the message
effectual. And if you're a believer, He's
made it effectual in your life. Because it pleased Him to do
so. Because it pleased Him to do so. The one who is righteous
is the one who sent them. The one who is absolutely perfect.
Absolutely sinless. The one who is holy, think of
this, the one who governs the world is the one who sends this
message forth. Do you think it'll ever fail?
Never. Now you listen to religion, it
fails all the time because it's not the message. It's not the
message Christ sent. We preach a successful savior
who redeemed his people from their sin. and who is seated
at the right hand of the Father right now, ruling and reigning
over this whole world and everything you can see and everything you
cannot see. That's the God of the Bible.
That's the one who sent this message, the King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords. And the message is all about
Him, all about Him. Christ, who has declared the
Father that He is light without any mixture of darkness, He's
absolutely holy, beloved, with no sin, no sin. And communion
with him only comes through the Lord Jesus Christ, who we worship
and adore. And we worship our great God
in spirit and truth, don't we? In spirit and truth. It is he
who has delivered this message to his disciples, and they to
others. What is the message they declared?
Our text brings us forth that God is light, And in Him is no
darkness at all. John will bring forth also in
contrast the fact that God is light opposed to the darkness.
The Word of Life who was manifested, He is light as opposed to the
darkness of sin. Think of the darkness that the
world was in before the Word of Life came. Before He who is
the Light came. Oh, what darkness! It was, think
of the darkness we were in. Each one of us who are His blood-bought
people, think of the darkness we were in before the Lord saved
us. Oh my. It was awful. And you know what? We didn't
even know we were in the darkness. How do you know you're in the
darkness? When the light comes on. Yeah. That's how you know you're in
the darkness. Oh, my. So John will bring forth here
the contrast, the fact that God is light opposed to darkness.
He is the pure, spotless. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
pure, spotless Lamb of God. Think of that. The Lamb of God.
He who was, who, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He
who is the light of man comes into the world. into this dark
world. Remember, Scripture says that
great light has sprung. That's Christ. That's Christ. My. Oh, he who is righteous and
truth, he is just and exact in his judgments and him the word
of life. It was him who was manifest and
there's no darkness at all in him. He's perfect, spotless. God, the father, think of this
God, the father requires absolute perfection, and he can accept
no less than pure holiness. Think of that. To be in his presence, you have
to be pure holy. You have to be as holy as God
is, as some of the old commentators say. Well, what's the believer
clothed in? The perfect spotless righteousness. what the old timers used to call
an alien righteousness, because it's not ours. Because it's not
ours. I'm a permanent resident here,
but I'm considered an alien. Because my country is Canada,
right, where I grew up and where I live. I want to become a citizen
of this country, but right now they consider me an alien, because
I'm not a citizen. Now this righteousness that we're
clothed in, it's an alien righteousness. It's the righteousness of Christ.
It's the wedding garment, beloved. And it's absolutely wonderful.
So God the Father will accept no one unless they're clothed
in the wedding garment. Unless they're clothed in the best robe.
Remember the Father? Bring out the best robe! To the
prodigal? That's the righteousness of Christ,
beloved. The best robe. And notice it's singular. The
best robe. Not robes. Just one. That pictures
the righteousness of Christ. And in Him, clothed in this righteousness,
we are accepted, beloved. We are accepted by God, clothed
in this perfect righteousness. And what else do we have? We
have fellowship with God in and through Christ and Christ alone.
It's wonderful. Turn to the Gospel of John. We're
gonna look at a few places here. And let us remember that John
penned this gospel by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. Let's
start in chapter one. He penned this gospel by the
inspiration of God. So what I want us to look at
is to see that this message of God is light is no new message. It's what Christ proclaimed.
And Christ proclaimed himself to be the light because he's
God. He's God. I'll read our text
again and then we'll look here. 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. Okay, look at John 1, verses
4 and 5. Him was life, and the life was
the light of man. And the light shineth in darkness,
and oh how dark it was. The darkness of sin. And the
darkness comprehended that not. He didn't know who he was. And
neither did we until he revealed himself to us. Now look at John
chapter three. John chapter three. John chapter three, verses 18
to 21. He that believeth on him, being
Christ, verse 18, look at this, is not condemned. Praise God. That's a wonderful portion of
scripture. But he that believeth not is condemned already. because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is condemnation, that light is come into the world,
and man loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. For everyone that doeth evil,
what? Hated the light. Hated the light. Neither cometh
to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved. You know,
a story I remember hearing a lot of grace preachers use is, imagine
a room that's full of cockroaches, but you go in there and it's
dark, you can't see any of them, can you? You flip that light
on, what happens? They just scatter. They just scatter, don't they?
Well, men don't like the light because it reproves them. But
he that doeth truth, what? Cometh to the light. that his
deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Now
turn over to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. And look what
our Master says in verse 12. John chapter 8. In verse 12. Then spake Jesus
again unto them, saying, what? I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. I am the light
of the world. Now remember what John wrote
over in 1 John, right? He said God's light, right? The
Lord's declaring who He is. He's declaring His deity, beloved. Now go over to John chapter 9.
John chapter nine, look at verses four and five, and this is in
no way exhaustive here. I just wanted us to look at a
few scriptures here. John chapter nine, look at this. I must work
the works of him that sent me, verse four. Well it is day, the
night cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in the
world, in the world, I am the light of the world. And now go
to John chapter 12, John chapter 12. We'll read verses 35 to 46. And then we'll go back to our
text in 1st John and we'll read it again. John chapter 12 verses
35 to 46. Then Jesus said unto them, Yet
a little while is the light with you. And he's talking about himself
there. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon
you. For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
You ever get up in the middle of the night and try to grope
around? It's awful, hey. Some of you walk right into a
door sometimes because you can't see. You can't. My. That's what he's talking
about. People walk around in the dark.
They stumble around in the dark. They don't know where they're
going. And think of this in spiritual aspects. Man is in total darkness
before the Lord saves us. We don't know where we go. We
just follow the lusts of our flesh or our nature, wherever
our dead nature takes us to. We just follow right along, don't
we? Man's will is bound. Bound up. Prisoner. to a dead
nature before the Lord saves us look it says in verse 36 well
you have the light believe in the light that she may be the
children of light these things spake Jesus and departed and
did hide themselves from them then go down verses 44 to 46 Jesus cried and said he that
believeth on me believeth not Jesus cried and said, he that
believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And we know he is son of the
father. We know he's son of the father. And he that seeth me,
seeth him that sent me. Why? Because they're one, aren't
they? I am come, a light into the world,
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. What a verse of hope. What a
verse of hope that is right there in verse 46. This is why we cry out, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Look at
that. I am come a light into the world that whosoever believeth
on me should not abide in darkness. Do you believe on Christ? If
you do, you don't abide in darkness. Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely
wonderful. Let's go back to our text in
1 John. Look at verse five. 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. We just saw where the Lord's
declaring himself to be the light, didn't he? He declares himself
to be God, my beloved, because he is God. He is God. And note again, John is contrasting
the fact that God is light, that he's holy, sinless, and perfect.
And he brings forth, let's read that again. 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. Now think of
that. Look at that statement right
there. In him is no darkness at all. If we had no other verse
that proves the sinlessness of Christ right there, doesn't it?
It does. It proves the absolute sinlessness
of Christ. Because he's God. He's God. In him is what no darkness at
all never Never When he was dying on that cross
he's sinless beloved And our sins were imputed to him Because
in God is no darkness at all none This is wonderful Our Savior,
our Redeemer is God Himself incarnated in the flesh, the sinless one,
in whom there is no darkness. He's the opposite of what we
are. In our natural state, all we are is darkness, beloved.
What a Savior! What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ,
our Lord! So John's contrasting the fact
that God is light, the fact that he's holy, he's sinless, he's
perfect, and he brings forth right here before us that there
is no darkness in him at all. John Gill writes this, I got
a little quote here, it's a little, it's not too lengthy, but it's
a little one. John Gill brings forth that John does bring forth
that God is light as opposed to the darkness of sin. He is
pure and holy in his nature. and his works, and of such pure
eyes as not to behold iniquity." He can't look upon sin. And when
they speak of His holiness, and His light is opposed, or He's
so perfect that angels cover their faces before Him, and when
they speak of His holiness, and His light is opposed to the darkness
of ignorance, He is wise and knowing, He knows Himself, His
own nature being and perfections, His Son and Spirit and their
distinct modes of subsisting. He sees clearly all things in
Himself. All things He could do or has
determined shall be done. He has perfect knowledge of all
creatures and things. He's absolutely perfect. That's who God is. That's the
God of the Bible. And our great and glorious God
is clothed with light and He dwells in it, beloved. He dwells
in holiness. He's clothed in holiness. That's
our God. He's the Father of lights. He's
the author and giver of what? All light and light. And He's also the giver of all
grace, isn't He? We who are His people have tasted
that. He's gracious. We've tasted it. Oh, He's so
gracious to us. And it's all in and through Christ
alone. Note the verse ends with, and in him is no darkness at
all. E.W. Prink brings forth that in the
Greek there's a double negative brought forth here. A double
negative. In him is no darkness at all.
It means he's absolutely perfect. There's no blemish in him. There
is no blemish in him, no ignorance, no sin, no limitation, nothing
contrary to his perfection. Nothing. That's the God of the
Bible. Nothing to mar or dim the splendor
of his character. Isn't that wonderful? That's
our God. And this speaks of no darkness, no darkness of sin. Nothing is more contrary to God
than sin, because he's holy. He's holy. Remember, even think
of this. If a leopard came up and you
and I touched him, right? We'd be defiled, wouldn't we?
We'd be defiled. We'd probably catch leopards.
But the Lord touched that leopard and was never defiled. Never. Remember he said, I will,
and he touched him. And he was made clean. He never
defiled. Because he's perfect. He's sinless. He's holy. And in him is no darkness
at all. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing is more distant from
him than the darkness of sin. Because he's absolutely holy.
And think of this. We know the scripture says that
God is the same yesterday, today, and what? Forever. There's no darkness in Him ever.
Ever. He's unchanging. And then think
of that in light of our salvation. Think of that in light of the
grace we've received. He's unchanging. Therefore, our
salvation in Christ is unchanging. The grace that He's given us
is unchanging. Oh, it's wonderful, beloved.
It's absolutely wonderful. Think of the mercy we've received
in Christ. Think upon the fact that our
salvation is secure in Christ. It's unchanging. It's unchanging. Now this will bring great joy
to your soul. We ponder those things amidst
trials and tribulations. Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter
26. Acts chapter 26. And consider the contrast here
in this verse, right? This then is a message which
we have heard of Him and declare unto you that God is light and
in Him is no darkness at all. So there's a contrast there.
God's light. He's holy. There's no darkness. He's light. And darkness is what? The absence of light, right?
There's no light. Look at this. Acts chapter 26. And we know that we who are the
redeemed of the world were once in darkness, weren't we? We were
once in darkness. Acts chapter 26. We're going
to read verses 12 to 18. But we know that at one time
we were in darkness. But we turned from darkness to
light from the power of Satan unto God. Look at this. Acts
chapter 26, verses 12 to 18. Whereupon as I went to Damascus
with authority and commission from the chief priest, this is
Paul writing about he's on his way to Damascus. He's got a commission
from the high, from the chief priest. He's gonna go and he's
gonna grab Christians and he's gonna either have them murdered
or throw them into prison. That's what he set out to do. All in
the name of supposed his religion. God's got other plans though.
He's a chosen vessel of God. At midday, O King, I saw on the
way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining
round about me, and then which journeyed with me. And when we
were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto
me and saying in the Hebrew, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Now, I've mentioned this before,
and I'm going to mention it again. Right there we see the union
between Christ and the body. Between the head, right? Because
Christ is the head and we're the body. Who's Saul persecuting? He's persecuting Christians,
isn't he? He's going house to house and hauling Christians
out when he can. And what does the Lord say though? Why persecutest
thou me? I want us to think about that
union that we have in Christ. That's incredible. So when we're
persecuted, they're persecuting the head too. Because we're the
body. That's what he's bringing forth
here. He's bringing forth the vital union. The vital union
that the believer has in Christ. Just like if you hurt your hand,
right? I remember Matt saying that your
nerves send a signal up into your brain, and your brain right
away tells your hand to pull away if you're being burned.
And you feel it, don't you? You feel it. You feel it. Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? Is it hard for thee to kick against
the pricks? And I said, who art thou, Lord?
He calls him Lord right away. And he said, I am Jesus whom
thou persecutest. Look at this, but rise and stand
upon my feet for I have appeared to thee for this purpose to make
the minister in a witness both of these things which thou has
seen and things in which I which I will appear under the delivering
thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I
send thee. So he sent to the Gentiles, right? And we know
from reading the book of Acts that he's been delivered multiple
times, doesn't he? Look at this. To open their eyes
and to turn them from darkness to light. and from the power
of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that
is in me. Right there we see that every believer is turned
from darkness to light. And that's every believer this
happens to. Every believer is turned from
darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. that they may receive what? Forgiveness
of sins. Every believer has received forgiveness
of sins. Everyone who believes in the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is trusted and rested in him, and inheritance
among them, which are sanctified, that means to be made holy by
faith, by trusting in Christ, that is in me. And we know that,
beloved, this is a work of God and God alone. Salvation is of
the Lord. It's all his doing. It's all
His doing. So John brings forth in our verse,
let's go back to our verse. 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. John brings forth in our verse
that God is absolutely holy. In the Old Testament, prophets
declared the majestic holiness of God. And every, think of this,
every attribute of God, every attribute of God is marked by
the light of his holiness. Is marked by the light of his
holiness. Everyone. His power is a holy power. His
righteousness is a holy righteousness. Everything. Everything he does.
Everything he does. Because he's holy. He's holy. His power is holy. His wisdom
is holy. His justice is holy. He's holy
in mercy. He's holy in love. He's holy
in grace. And he's holy in sovereignty,
isn't he? In all things. Because he's a holy God. because
he's a holy God. Whatever God is and whatever
God does of this way, we may be sure God is light. He's holy. So consider this also that it
is the light of God's character, the holiness of our great God
that reveals the darkness of sin. When we contrast his holiness
to our sinfulness, it reveals what we are, doesn't it? And
that's what the Holy Spirit does, doesn't he? He reveals to us.
Our sinfulness. And we flee to Christ. We're
made willing in the day of His power. We flee right to Christ. Only when we're born again by
the Holy Spirit of God, only when God turns us from darkness
to light, like the verse said there in verse 18 of Acts 26,
and that's all through Christ alone, only then will we know
and be truly convicted of our sinfulness. Of our sinfulness. And the fact that we have sinned
against God and God alone. That's really who we've sinned
against. And His law must be satisfied and His justice must
be satisfied. So think of the contrast, beloved.
We are born sinners. We're nothing but darkness and
sin. And left in that state, we would
perish under the wrath of God. All of us. God is light, perfect, holy,
sinless, and no darkness in Him at all. Neither can there be.
In sin, darkness cannot be in this presence. And this is the
message that John and the other apostles heard of Christ our
Lord, our Savior, and declared this about God's holy character
that God is light. Absolutely holy. Again, He alone
is pure holy. He is the one in whom there is
no mixture of darkness. None. Not even a drop of it.
Not even a drop. Our great and gracious God is
the spirit of truth. And we who worship him must worship
him in spirit and truth. Just as our Lord revealed to
the apostles. And declared unto them. And what
did he declare unto them? That he is the true light. And
in doing so he proclaimed he was God. He's the true light. By which God has revealed to
man and woman. That's the only way. That's the only way. And
the gospel is a declaration of the person and character of God.
The person and character of God declares that the only way in
which fallen sinners like you and I can be received by God
is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone. There's
no other way. The only way we can stand before
God is to be clothed in the perfect, spotless righteousness of Christ.
Turn, if you would, the first Timothy chapter six. First Timothy
chapter six. We'll read verses 11 to 16, 1
Timothy chapter 6, verses 11 to 16. But thou, O man of God,
flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, patience, and meekness. Fight the good fight of faith,
lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast
professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge
in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ
Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession,
that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he
shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King
of kings and Lord of lords. Look at this. Who only hath immortality,
this is speaking of Christ, dwelling in the light, dwelling in holiness,
beloved. dwelling in the light, which
no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see,
to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. So the only way for us
to approach God is through Christ, beloved, through Christ, through
He who is the light. And this is a message which is
revealed to us, given to us by the Holy Spirit in the new birth,
that God is light. Our God's holy. He's holy. We
who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, when the light of the glory of
God shines in our hearts, we're made new creatures, aren't we?
When we're born again in the Spirit. We're given a new heart,
which hungers and thirsts after righteousness. Turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We're given a new heart. One that hungers and thirsts
after righteousness. We who were spiritually dead are now made
alive by the power of God, all by his mighty working. 2 Corinthians
chapter 4, we'll read verses 3 to 6. Excuse me. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost. Now remember this. There was
a time when the gospel was hid to us, wasn't there? is hid to
those who are lost. It's hid to them, just like it
was hid to us. It has to be revealed. Look at this. And whom the God
of this world hath blinded, that's Satan, and blinded the minds
of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants, for Christ's sake. Look at this. Oh, I love this. Who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. My goodness. For God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
This is the message that gospel preachers preach, which we declare
the message To all men that God is light, He's holy and in Him
is no darkness, no sin at all. None. God's people are taught
this of God. This is what we declare unto
men, the holiness of our great God. The fact that you by your
own works and I by my own works could never appear in the presence
of God. Must be clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. Must be. And we declare to men
the holiness of our great God, His majesty and sovereignty. He is an absolute King with absolute
majesty and absolute sovereignty. And we declare the excellency
of His being, the excellency of who He is, God over all who
rules and reigns. How holy is our God, beloved?
How holy is our God? The heavens are not pure in His
sight. The heavens are not pure in His sight. He charges His
angels with folly. Our God is so perfectly holy that the angels themselves, the
seraphims themselves cover themselves in His presence. Sinless beings. The holy beings
covering themselves in the presence of our great God. One cried unto another, speaking
to the seraphims before God's throne, and said, Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. My, our God is clothed with majesty. He's clothed with majesty. He's
clothed with holiness. And the true proclamation of
the gospel exposes the utter sinfulness of man in contrast
to God's utter holiness. Perfect holiness. And the holy, pure, spotless
God of light will never emit any darkness in His presence. Therefore, let us take some lessons
from this declaration before us tonight. God is light and
in Him is no darkness at all. We should learn to reverence
and worship our great God, for He is holy. This should lead us to reverence
our God even more. We should learn to fear Him as
He is holy. is a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God for our God is a consuming fire.
And I don't mean fear him. I mean, just be in awe of his
holiness. We have a healthy fear of the
Lord, don't we? Of who he is. He's God. Praise God, he said, mercy on
his people. In Christ, praise God, praise God. But we should
be in awe of who He is. And we should learn to look at
sin in light of God's holy character. We should learn the foolishness
of trying to deceive God or hide anything from Him as He is light.
Penetrating, discerning, consuming light. Oh you saints of God. Fall down and worship. Our great
God who is light, who is holy, holy. It's He alone who saved
you if you're saved. It's He alone who has saved you. It's He alone who has redeemed
you because Jesus Christ is God incarnate in the flesh. He is
the word of life, our scriptures tell us, don't they? This book
tells us in verse 1, our hands have handled the word of life.
For this life was manifested, we have seen it and hear it. And show unto you the eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifest unto us. Worship
our great God. Give Him praise for revealing
Christ to you. And give the Lord Jesus Christ
praise and glory for becoming flesh and dying as your substitute
on Calvary's cross. What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this wonderful scripture.
Oh, Lord, we saw in the book of John how you declared who
you were. You're the light. We know that
God is light. You declared yourself to be God. And we know from the scriptures
that you are God. The Word incarnates. And we glorify thy name and praise
your name. We who are your blood-bought
people, we who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, We
praise you and thank you for leaving heaven to redeem us. For coming into this world of
darkness, you who are the light. And then for revealing yourself
to us. Revealing that you redeemed us on Calvary's cross, that you
paid everything that God demanded and that our salvation is complete
and finished in the glory to you in heaven. honor and praise
and blessing. May we who are your people leave
here rejoicing and carry this through the week. Close to our
hearts. Close to our hearts. That God himself, you Lord Jesus,
has redeemed us from all our sins. It's in your name we pray. Amen.