Alright, brethren, if you will,
turn to the book of 1 John. 1 John. The title of my message today
is, This then is the message. This then is the message. I feel
unworthy and ill-equipped every time I stand in a pulpit. That's not lip service. And especially
today. It's no different than the other
day. The message hasn't changed. But whenever we look at, I start
looking at the Lord's holiness. No man can describe that. But
John gives us a message here. Whenever I tell you I labor in
the Word, I labor for a message, I'm not looking for a message.
I'm not looking for something new to tell you. I'm not looking
for what to say, I'm looking for how to say it. I want to
put it in an order that's logical. Let's look here at a text. John
will help us with that today. First John chapter 1, look in
verse 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. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. 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. We're going
to look at these three verses today and I have three points. God is light. He is holy. He is perfect. Man's nature,
our heart, is darkness. It's evil. And Christ's blood
is what saves us and gives us our righteousness. He gives us
life. He gives us the ability to have
fellowship with the Father. God's holy. Man isn't. And Christ
is what brings the two together. John begins this letter there
in verse 1 speaking of Christ the Word of Life. He says he's
heard Christ. He saw Christ. He handled Him. He touched Him. Because this
experience, because Christ was manifested to John, Christ was
revealed. He revealed Himself to John.
Now John's a witness. He saw something. in the flesh
and he can tell us about it. He can tell what he saw. And
he writes this general letter, this general epistle to declare
Christ. But for what reasons? Why does
John declare Christ to us? Look here in verse 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 and these things write we unto
you that your joy may be full." John declares these things that
we can have fellowship with our brethren. We can truly have fellowship
with one another. That we can have true fellowship
with the Father. We have true fellowship with
Christ Jesus our Lord. And then what does he finish
with? Through that fellowship, through
that reconciliation of what Christ accomplished, we can truly have
joy. Now we have joy. We didn't before. Now we can. But I want you to have joy. I want to have joy and I want
you to have joy. I want true fellowship with Christ. I don't want to say I have fellowship
with Him. I want to have fellowship with Him. I want to have fellowship
with my brethren. True fellowship. I want to be
reconciled to the God that I offended. That's what we need. But to get
those things, we need a message. We need to be taught of these
things. If a man comes up with a message by themselves, if I
come up with something new to tell you, I come up with an interesting
way of approaching things that's different, I'm in trouble and
you're in trouble. But if the Lord sends a message,
His message, through a broken clay pot, a worthless vessel. If He sends it, He applies it.
He makes it effectual. And I pray that every day. I
pray the Lord will make His Word effectual to His people. And
He will. He said it will not return unto
me void. So what's John's message? What's any true preacher's message? A lot of people this morning
have messages. What does God's true servants have as a message? What's the message of these holy
scriptures? Look there in verse 5, 1 John 1 verse 5. This then
is the message. This is the message. John didn't
tell us it's a message. This is the message of the gospel,
the message of the scriptures. I want to hear about that. I
wish everybody would hear about that. I wish I could get the
ear of every person in this county. But what's the source of this
message, of the message that John's telling us? Did a seminary
professor develop this after years of study? Did man come
up with it? Is this a doctrine? Is it a systematic theology that
deductive reasoning has come up with and a bunch of other
big words? Do we have to have a thesaurus to hear this message?
What's the source there in verse five? This then is the message
which we have heard of Him. Christ is the source of the message
which we have heard of Him. The message comes from Christ
our Lord. Do we alter it? Do we change
it so it's more palatable to men, so it's easier to hear,
so we don't offend? Look over verse five. This then
is the message which we have heard of Him, we got it from
Christ, and declare unto you. John received the message from
the Christ in the flesh. And that's what he's declared
to us. Didn't change it at all, did he? 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. This three word
statement there, God is light. Our whole gospel hangs on that. What is light? Light in the scriptures
is God's holiness. God is holy. All the aspects of His character
are sustained and defined by His holiness. God is sovereign. He's the ruler and sustainer
of all things. God is just. He will in no means
clear the guilty. God is love. It says, herein
is love, not that we loved Him, but He loved us, gave His Son
to be a propitiation for our sins. God is truth. He cannot
lie. But all these things are true
of the character and the person of God, but they hinge on His
holiness. What do I mean by that? If He
were like a man, there would be no comfort in His sovereignty,
only fear. There's a short feller on the
other side of that ocean that's sovereign over that nation. I
wouldn't want to live underneath him, would you? He controls everything.
That would be a rough state of affairs. There would be no comfort
in the Lord's love, only heartache if He wasn't holy. There'd be
no hope in His promise. We would just doubt. But He's
holy. Brethren, God is not like us.
He's not like man. He's perfect. He is righteous. He's holy. Moses wrote there
in Numbers 23, God is not like a man that he should lie. He's
not like us. David told us in Psalm 135 about
all the idols that men make. They have ears, but they can't
hear. They have mouths, they can't speak. They have hands,
but they can't touch nothing. And he says that they make idol
gods like unto themselves. That's our nature. We want a
God like us, something we can control, we can manipulate. We
can push on, push around, not lean on. But our God, the God
of this Bible, is holy. He is holy. My dad, about 25
years ago, I said, Dad, what's that mean? We was driving a truck
one day. He said, Son, God doesn't do what's right. What God does
is right. Holiness is a hard thing for
us to put into words because it's foreign to mankind. Talk about feeling unable. We
have no concept of holiness other than what the Lord tells us,
and we can't hardly enter into that unless He lets us. His light
shines on us. We can't have... God cannot have
an unclean thing in His presence. Hebrews 12 is pretty clear on
that. We must have a pure heart. We must have a holy heart to
enter into His presence. We don't have that. How is God's
holiness manifested to us? God Almighty's holiness is revealed
in His Son, Jesus Christ. So who is this light? Let's look
at that light for a minute. Let's see who and what this means. Turn over to John chapter 1.
We're going to be going back and forth quite a bit between
1 John and John, John's Gospel. So if you can, mark your place
in both. I have a sticky finger and I put John 1, 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men." Man's holiness comes
from Christ giving them life. If we have light in us, if we
have holiness in us, it's from Him. And the light shineth in
darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." There was a man sent
from God whose name was John, John the Baptist. The same came
for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through
him might believe. If any man believes, it is through
the light. It is through Christ. The light
of the gospel. There in verse 8 it says, he,
speaking of John, John was not that light, but he was sent to
bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. John the son
of Zebedee, the apostle here that's right in these, John the
Baptist, all the Lord's prophets, they do not preach themselves,
they preach Christ. They bear witness of the light.
God's holiness manifested in Christ His Son. Not man's holiness. His holiness. Not this little
light of mine. That holy light that He gives.
Turn over to John 8. There in verse 12. Then spake
Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." He is the
light. Christ is the light. He is the
holiness. He is the holy thing. Turn over
to John chapter 9, page 2. Do you remember that miracle
that Christ performed on the Sabbath? That man was in physical
darkness and our Master gave him sight? That's what we're
going to see. John chapter 9 and verse 1. And Jesus passed by
and he saw a man which was blind from his birth. He was blind
his whole life. He knew it, his parents knew
it, his next door neighbor knew it. He was born blind. Couldn't
see. And his disciples asked him,
saying, Master, who did sin? This man or his parents? That
he was born blind. I want to have a side note here.
We should never judge tribulation one of our brothers or sisters
has or is going through or any person on this earth. We should
never judge that tribulation as chastisement only. What's
that mean? Oh, so-and-so got cancer. What did they do? Uh-oh. We're so quick to point the finger
at others for what we see as evil or a correction. They must
have done something wrong. They had their leg broke. House
caught on fire. They did something wrong. God is not reactive. He is proactive. He doesn't act
after we do something. Boy, I wish I could get that
through my head. Everybody else's head. Our Lord
is proactive. What we mean for evil, He means
for good. But this man was blind. He had
never seen anything but darkness. This is me and you, brethren.
We are born spiritually blind. We are born in spiritual darkness. This is the state of every child
of Adam. We cannot comprehend light. We cannot comprehend holiness
because we are only wicked. Look at John 9 verse 3. Jesus
answered, neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents. This
blindness wasn't a punishment or a reaction to sin, so what
was the reason for it? But that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him
that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man
can work. As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat
on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed
the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him,
Go, wash in the pool of Silam, which is by interpretation sent.
He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. He was given sight. This man
was in darkness, knew nothing of the light of God's holiness
in Christ. And then what happened? Christ came to him. He revealed
himself to him. He shed his light abroad in him.
Now he physically gave this man sight, physically gave him eyes
to see. But the Master gave this blind
man spiritual light to reveal God's salvation in him. Darkness
is the absence of light. wicked and sinful. Our hearts
are the absence of holiness. We can do nothing for it. Why? Because we understand those things.
I've said a few times about planting seeds and growing trees and these
things the Lord puts in the Bible so we can understand them. Things
we can touch and see. We understand light and darkness,
don't we? If something's dark, It can't make light. You can't
see what's around you. You're unaware. We stumble. If
somebody turns the light on, we can't hug light, we can't
touch light, we can't see nothing, but it reveals. It shows us what's
around us. It illuminates everything around
us. But we're in darkness. Look back in 1 John 1 verse 6. First, God's holy. God is light. Second, man's not. Man's in darkness. 1 John 1.6, if we say that we
have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and
do not the truth. What is it to walk in darkness?
Most people think that's, well, you're living in sin. Well, that's
true if you're willfully sinning. But while we are in this flesh,
we are nothing but sin. So what does that mean? Walking
in darkness is to look to ourselves and not look to Christ the light.
We look to this light that's in us that we come up with. Turn
over to John chapter 3. John 3 and verse 19. And this is the condemnation.
that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
are wrought in God. Light is holiness and darkness
is sin. Men love sin over holiness. Men love themselves over God. I've heard people say, I don't
love evil things, I love good things. We know that's not true. Worldly, we know that's not true. I would rather have a foot rub
than dig a ditch. I would rather eat carrot cake
than eat carrots. Those things are silly, but we know that. We prefer things that aren't
good for us. That's what we crave. But we
have joy in the things that are no profit. Spiritually, we're
the same. We want what will kill us. We have no interest in the things
that will profit. We desire what we want to do. We desire to work. We desire to do something, receive
the glory for it. We don't desire the things of
God. By nature, we don't desire that He gets all the glory. Turn over to John chapter 5,
verse 42. John 5, verse 42. The Master
speaks there and says, But I know you that ye have not the love
of God in you, I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive
me not. For if another shall come in
his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe? which receiveth
honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from
God only." Walking in darkness, our nature wants its own honor
from other men. We honor one another, not for
Christ to receive all the honor. Verse 45, Do not think that I
will accuse you to the Father There is one that accuses you,
even Moses, in whom ye trust." Coming to God in our own works
through the law, through Moses, is what our old nature trusts
in. We trust in our doing, and that will be the very thing which
will prove our uncleanness. That law that we love more than
the one that fulfilled it. We want the law, not the fulfiller
of the law. That will condemn you. Verse 46 says, For had ye
believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of
me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe
my words? Moses pointed us to Christ, didn't
he? By our sin-born nature, we want to do something. I want
to work. I want to have something to do.
We look to Moses and say, I've kept that law, or I'm trying
to keep that law, I'm trying to be a good person. We're looking
to Moses. That law of Moses only proves
we're helpless. That's our schoolmaster. It shows
us that we can't keep it. It shows us who did keep it.
It shows us our need of a substitute. It points us to Christ, the fulfiller
of the law. Solomon wrote, but the path of
the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto
the perfect day. But the way of the wicked is
as darkness. They know not at what they stumble. Man and darkness is the exact
pictures of us blinded by our sin. It's pitch black. We have no idea where we're going.
We don't even know what we're tripping over. You ever walk
through a room late at night and it's dark? Stump your toe?
That may be the bed, it may be the dresser, you don't know.
We don't know where we're going and we'll do it over and over,
won't we? Keep walking in a circle. Alright, back to our text here
in 1 John 1 verse 6. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. If we say we have fellowship
with Christ, the Light, with God Almighty, Man repeatedly
says they have fellowship with God. Almost anyone you speak
with, do you know God? Oh, I know Him. Do you believe
God? I believe there's a God. I believe
God. But they walk in darkness and
they lie. They're lying to themselves and
they're lying to God. They do not the truth. Notice
there that John wrote, he didn't write, they do not tell the truth.
It says they say they have fellowship and they lie, but they do not
tell the truth. No. He said they do not the truth. They do not believe God. We'll
see this again throughout 1 John. But do the truth in that doeth
righteousness. We'll see those things a few
times. That means believe Christ. Believe Christ. People that walk
in darkness do not walk in light. And saints that walk in light
do not walk in darkness. It's either or. You can't have
a little bit of both. There's no shading. It's light
or darkness. Sinners saved by God's grace,
they say they believe God, but they also believe Him. It's not
just lip service. They walk in the light that's
given to them. Believers say that Christ is all of our hope,
but He's who we actually hope in. Not ourselves. Believers say that Christ finished
the work, but they actually rest from working themselves. They
turn from their own works, bring all of our burdens to the Lord,
and we leave them there. Those first two points are rough,
aren't they? God's holy. There's a holy God on His throne
right now. And man's wicked. We're dark. Does that offend you? Does that
condemn you? If it does, that is wonderful.
You're paying attention. You're listening to me. But how
can an unholy man or woman approach God? If He's holy, we're unholy.
How can we have fellowship with Him? How can we have communion?
How can we be reconciled to God? Saints are cleansed through the
blood of Christ. He's our mediator. Here's the
good news. God provided Himself a land.
He provided a propitiation. He provided a substitute in His
Son. He provided our mediator. He
provided. If we do walk in light, if Christ
has performed a work in us, He gives us spiritual eyes to see
His light, His holiness, our wickedness, and what do we have? We have fellowship with one another.
John said there in verse 3. We have true fellowship with
Christ because we're made one with Him. And we have fellowship
with the Father. We have atonement with the Father. Christ made atonement. That word
means at-one-ment. We've been made one with Christ.
We've been made at-one-ment with our brethren because we are one
with Christ and you are one with Christ. If you're one with Christ
and I'm one with Christ, we're fellows in the same boat, ain't
we? Verse 7 there says, but if we walk in the light as He is
in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And through
the preaching of the gospel, the Spirit enters into a man
and woman's heart and gives them life. Christ dwells in them.
He dwells in you. Then and only then can people
have true fellowship in Christ. That word's abused in our generation. So many are. People ask me, are
you a Christian? What do you mean by that? They
ask me that question, I ask them a question back. Let's turn over
to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. When the holy God, who is light,
who is holy, makes reconciliation between a sinner and himself
through Christ, a new creature is born in him, And they no longer
have fellowship with darkness. Now we may have love for unbelievers. We may have friendship with unbelievers. But we cannot have fellowship
with unbelievers. Why? We're not in the same boat. We're not fellows in the same
ship. We are in the light of Christ's holiness and they are
still in the darkness in their own attempts at holiness. That's
hard. That's the truth. Here in 2 Corinthians
6 and verse 14. Be ye not equally yoked together
with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord. And touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you. and will be a father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." I've
heard several people respond to that text and they say, see,
we have to separate ourselves. Paul tells us we have to sanctify
ourselves, we have to set ourselves apart. A true believer will. Why? It's natural. That's their
new nature. The true child of God cannot
stand the darkness of self-righteousness, the darkness of man's works,
the darkness of man's glory. If you don't believe me, if you
believe this gospel, if the Lord's done a work in you, can you listen
to false preaching? Can you listen to someone lie
about your God, about the true God? You can't tolerate it, can
you? It's poison. Just a foul taste in my mouth
and I spit thee out. Believers want no part or attempted
fellowship with those that look for their own way, that don't
believe in the same God they believe in. Many say, well, that's
my Arminian brother. That's my Catholic brother. Not
so. If they don't believe in the
God of the Bible, We don't have the same father. Can't be brothers.
If a believer stands solely on Christ alone, and another person
stands on anything else, they can't stand next to each other.
We understand those things, don't we? If I'm standing on Christ's
solid rock, and you're standing somewhere else, we're not standing
shoulder to shoulder. We're not in the same place.
A friend of mine always told me, he said, we're going to the
same place, we're just taking different roads. No, we're not. We either
have fellowship in Christ or we don't. It's black and white. It's light and dark. Total opposites. I stand on the effectual blood
of Christ, on his completed work of my salvation, on his completed
work of my sanctification. Listen to this. I stand on Christ's
completed work of my preservation. My preservation's already been
performed. All right, back here in our text,
1 John. God is light. He's perfect and
holy. Man's dead in darkness. And Christ
is our high priest made the intercession for his elect people, reconciling
us to the God that we offended. Now, after Christ has performed
that, we have fellowship with our brethren. We have fellowship
with Christ, our Savior, and with the God, our Father. There
in verse 7, 1 John 1, 7, "...but if we walk in light, as He is
in light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sins." That is the
message. God's holy, man's dead in darkness,
and Christ's blood is what gives us life. We're robed in His righteousness,
not our own. Who's the only one that can get
glory in that? He's holy, we're dead, Christ
did it all. Who gets the glory? Christ does. Those that's never
heard the message of Scriptures, God's just and the justifier
through His Son, believe on Him. Hear the message, hear His Word.
I pray that God gives you the eyes to see His holiness and
man's wickedness. I pray that you're given a new
heart that completely and truly trusts Christ alone for the cleansing
of our sins. I pray you can rest on what Christ
has already accomplished. If you trust in yourself for
anything, you will be ashamed and it will result in damnation.
If you trust in Christ for all things, you'll never be ashamed. Never. Trust in Him. Trust in Him alone. That's the
message in it. Heavenly Father, we thank You
today for Your message. Lord, give us ears to hear it.
Allow us to get an understanding of Your glory, Your holiness. Allow us to understand what wretches
we are, Lord. and allow us to see Christ to
span that great divide. What an unimaginable work He's
accomplished. Lord, let us praise Him. Let
us give Him all the glory for it. Be with our brethren as they
suffer through trials, Lord. Allow us to see that You are
working in them, to manifest Your light in them, Allow us
to comfort them. Lord, let them see that. Let
them be comforted through their trial, knowing that at the end
of it, they'll grow in that light and the knowledge of Christ.
Grow them in wisdom and patience of waiting on You. It's in Christ's
name that we ask it. Amen.