Chapter one, we're going to read
the first, or just the first chapter in its entirety. And I've taken the title for
my message from verse seven. The blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanseth us from all sin. A long title, but worth every
word. Verse one, 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 you
also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is
with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and 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. 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. 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. And what could
be a greater sin than that? to make Him a liar and not have
His Word in us by saying, we have not sinned. The title of
this message is taken from verse 7, the blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanses us from all sin. The words, to cleanse from
all sin, thinking about those words has really I captivated
my thoughts this last week, and it was that that led me to these
verses of scripture, and led me to want to bring this message
to you from 1 John, the first chapter here. In verses one through
two, he says, 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.
It's the Son of God. who is the Word of Life. He is
God the Son. And this book of 1 John is intended
to correct several errors, one of which was the denial that
Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. To say that Jesus Christ
came in the flesh means that He who is God took on our human
nature in order to do the will of God, in order to fulfill that
will, and in our human nature as God Himself to overcome our
sin and to raise from the dead and to reign again in heaven
on the throne of God as God and man. And so the book of verse
John is meant to correct the error of denying that Jesus Christ
came in the flesh and accomplished what God sent Him to do and that
He is, in fact, the Son of God, the eternal Word of God, God
Himself. And you see that in verse one,
that which was from the beginning, that's the Word of God. That's
the eternal Lord Jesus Christ. that which we have heard, which
we have seen with our eyes. You see, the Son of God is the
Chosen One of God. He is the Anointed of God. He
is the Christ of God. And throughout the Old Testament,
when God spoke of the coming Messiah, He was speaking about
this One who was from the beginning. The One who is Christ is the
One who is from the beginning. The Jews And when the Lord Jesus
Christ came, they could not accept the fact that Jesus Christ, the
one who stood before them, was God the Son, God Himself, the
heir of all things, the one who created the universe and the
earth and them and who was master and Lord, and He Himself was
the truth. They couldn't accept that, and
they especially couldn't accept the fact that He was the only
High Priest, the only mediator between God and man. And so 1
John is meant to correct these errors. And the Lord Jesus Christ
is not only God Himself, but He's the seed of David. As it
says in Romans 4, He was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh, but He was declared to be the Son of God with power
by the resurrection from the dead according to the spirit
of holiness. So God has revealed Christ to be God, but he was
actually born as man. And so he was declared to be
what he already was and is now and has always been. But he was
actually, in time, he came to be the Lord Jesus Christ. John
says in verse 1 that he has seen him, we've heard him, we've seen
him, we've looked upon him, we've handled him. We did see him,
he says. We saw this one who is God in
man. And we looked upon him with our
physical eyes and touched him with our physical hands. And
we ate with him. We heard him speak. John said,
he would have said, I laid in his bosom right next to his breast. And we heard his groanings. We
saw his judgment taken away. We witnessed his submission under
the accusations, the false accusations. We saw him not defend himself.
Because he could not seek and save his own life, he came to
seek and save the lives of his people. We saw that. We saw his
pain. We watched him die. We saw Joseph
and Nicodemus lay him in the tomb. And we saw the place where
they laid him. And we saw him after he was raised
to life again. And then we saw him ascend to
glory. That's what John is saying here.
We actually saw this one who is God and man. And then he says
in verse 2, For the life was manifested, and we have seen
it and bear witness and shown to you that eternal life which
was with the Father and was manifested unto us. As Paul says in Acts
17, 23, Him declare we unto you. In the book of Acts, in chapter
5, it says the apostles spent their time doing nothing but
preaching and teaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So
that was what they did. And so John is now the oldest
remaining apostle. And he's writing a general epistle
to the church of God. And he writes to them in this
way. He says, be assured of this, we actually saw the one. We handled
the one. We heard him. And John could
have said, I felt his breath. I not only heard his words, but
I felt the breath of God on my face. And I looked into his eyes
and I saw him hanging there and crucified, dying, and doing all
these things for his people. Be assured that this one that
we declare to you is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
God in the flesh." And so he says in 1 John 5, 20, he is that
eternal life. He's the true God and eternal
life. Life is in Christ. John 1, 4
says that that in Him was life, and the
life was the light of men. He gives life to us when He saves
us and gives us a look at Himself. When we look and see Christ hanging
and crucified for His people, bearing the curse of God for
their sins, and we look to Him savingly, depending upon Him,
we have light. And that light gives us an understanding
of the words of Scripture. It explains to us how God saves
sinners by Jesus Christ to His glory. This is the message of
Scripture. The Bible is the revelation of
the saving purpose and the saving work of the one, holy, true,
and gracious God. He delivers a handful of believers
from the flood. He delivers Lot from the flames
of Sodom. He delivers Israel from bondage
in Egypt. He delivers David from his enemies
in the Psalms. He delivered Hezekiah from the
threats of Sennacherib and the Jews from Babylon. All of these
Old Testament deliverances point forward to that one culminating
deliverance which the Lord Jesus Christ did in His act of righteousness
when God the Son came to earth in the flesh and person of Jesus
Christ, and delivered his people from their sins by his sinless
life and obedience unto death, and his victorious resurrection
over death, over sin and the devil, and rising again and reigning
as the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ, that one mediator between
God and men." That's who we're declaring, John says. And he
says in 1 John 5, 11, he says, this is the record that God has
given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son hath not life. Do you see this?
The life is what was manifested. The life is what we've seen.
And the life in Christ is what we bear witness and show to you.
That is the eternal life. He was with the Father and He
was manifested to us. And then in verse 3, He says,
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you
also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is
with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Fellowship
is a wonderful thing. People who have fellowship with
one another think alike. And they talk about things they
both like. And they do things together that
they like to do. They have fellowship with one
another. Believers have fellowship with one another because we believe
the same things. We believe that even though we're
sinners, and we are, that God has had mercy upon us in Christ,
and He has, for Christ's sake has forgiven us all our sins.
And this is the rejoicing of our heart. Not only that, but
that the Lord Jesus Christ earned for us a perfect righteousness
and an eternal inheritance. And we rejoice in these things.
We talk about it. It marvels us. It causes us great
amazement. and it delights our soul. And
so we have fellowship with the Father and with His Son. Because
when we have fellowship in the Gospel, we are saying and believing
and rejoicing in the things that God delights in. And that gives
us fellowship with the Father. We come to God on the basis of
how He accepts us. Isn't that Isn't that, when I
was studying in engineering, one of the terms we used was
resonance. And resonance is a good thing and a bad thing. But there's
a resonance in fellowship when you say the same things. When
there's a perfect harmony between the truth of God and the truth
you believe. When there's a perfect harmony
in how God accepts us and how we come to Him, that's fellowship.
And that fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, and
with those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 4,
And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. That your joy may be full. I
want to have full joy, and I want it to be complete. And it's not
the kind of joy that causes us to do handsprings, and jump,
and shout, and do all sorts of gyrations with our body. It does
give us an uplifted energy level in our body, but it's a joy that
settles us. and causes us to have confidence
in the face of adversity because we're confident that God is for
us. God is with us and He, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is Emmanuel, God with us, and He came to be with
His people forever and He joined Himself to them in that eternal
covenant and saved them because He's in union with us. So that's
the joy that gives us joy, the strength The joy of the Lord
is my strength, and what gives God joy rejoices my heart, because
it teaches us how He saved us all by Himself. 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."
You see that word, the message? That's the gospel message. What
is the gospel message? Well, it's right here in a nutshell.
God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. It declares
to us who God is in the gospel. And how do we know that gospel
is, that that message is the message from God? Well, he says,
this is the message which we have heard of Him. We've heard
this from Christ Himself, the God-man, Jesus Christ, the one
who we saw hanging there and rising from the dead and reigning
in glory on heaven's throne. He is the one who is light. God
is light. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit is light. And God is light. It means that
He's light as opposed to the darkness of sin. Sin is darkness. Lie is darkness. But He's light
as the truth is opposed to lies. God is truth. and God is light. There's no darkness in God. He
is light as the gospel is the only way that God saves sinners,
opposed to the false doctrine of how men somehow contribute
to their salvation. God is that light. God is light,
how He can be just and the justifier of the ungodly. God is light. And I was thinking about this
even this morning. Can you imagine what it would
be like if God never created light in the world? Imagine what
that would be like. As soon as you start to imagine
it, you realize there would be no world without light. How could
you find anything? You couldn't see it. You might
feel, but how would you have a mental image of what it was
by simply touching it? You wouldn't know what it looked
like. You couldn't see your spouse. You wouldn't have a spouse. You
couldn't find one. You couldn't have any children.
As soon as they were born, they would be lost in the darkness.
Darkness is something that we can't live in darkness in our
physical world, can we? We wouldn't be able to create
anything, couldn't find food, couldn't find water, couldn't
dig in the ground for water, or food wouldn't grow. Everything would fail without
light in our physical world. How much more in the spiritual
world? God is light. And in him, it
says, as I quoted a minute ago from John 1.4, in him was... I'll read it again to make sure
I get it right here, because the words are not exactly as
you might expect them to be. In John 1.4, he says, "...in
him was life, and the life was the light of men. You know, I've
read that before and I've wondered, why would he say that? Why didn't
he say, and him was light and the light was the light of men?
or something like that. Well, that's true, but that's
not what he says. He said, in him was life, and
the life was the light of men. Because the light that we need
to live physically for there to be any existence on earth,
we can understand that. But what we naturally don't understand
is that we have no life. And therefore, we have no light
unless it comes to us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
God, it says in 2 Corinthians 4-6, God commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. And as God commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, He has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. The only way we can have light
is if God gives us life in a look at Christ and Him crucified. That's life. And to see Him ordained
of God, suffering according to God's will for us, and conquering
our sin, bringing us to God, reigning in heaven in order to
do all that. That gives us life. That's our
light and our life. But anyway, God is light. And in him is no darkness at
all. And it says that not only is he light in himself, but he
is the light. And so then he goes on here,
he says in verse 6, Another thing about light, too, is this. There's
lots of things about light that are curious, but in James, the
book of James, it says that every good gift and every perfect gift
comes down from the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness
or shadow of turning. Have you ever read that verse?
So light doesn't change. God is immutable, we say. He
doesn't change. He has no need to change. If
God changed, what would that mean? It would mean that He either
changed from something less than perfect to perfect, which would
mean He wasn't perfect before. He was darkness and He became
light. Or He changed from light to darkness
because He was perfect and became less than perfect. None of those
can be true. God is unchangeable because He's
perfection. Nothing can be improved. He doesn't
change. He doesn't improve. And He doesn't
cease to be God. There's no variableness in God.
He doesn't change. But anyway, verse 6, he says,
If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness,
we lie and do not the truth. So here he says, if we say this,
I have fellowship with God, and yet we walk in darkness, then
he says we're lying. We're lying to ourselves, we're
lying to others, and we do not the truth. Walking in darkness
is the key. If we walk in darkness, we do
not have fellowship with God, because God is light. If God
is light and there's no darkness in Him, and yet we walk in darkness,
then we do not have fellowship with God, and we do not the truth.
What does it mean to do the truth? Well, it means to believe the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says in 1 Peter, if you want
to turn there, 1 Peter chapter 1, A few pages back in verse
18, he says this, "...for as much as you know that you were
not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world but was manifest in these last times for you.
It was ordained by God before He created the world that Christ
would shed His blood that precious blood of Christ as a lamb without
blemish and without spot in order to redeem his people from sin,
from the grave, from Satan. That was what God put in place
before He ever created men, before man ever fell in the garden.
God foreordained from the foundation of the world that Christ would
be the Redeemer and would redeem His people. And then He says
in verse 21, "...who by Him," by Christ, "...you do believe
in God, that raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory,
that your faith and hope might be in God, seeing you have purified
your souls in obeying the truth. You see that? Through the spirit
unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another
with a pure heart fervently. Here we see in this one verse,
verse 22, that faith lays hold on Christ, what he's done, and
it's obedience to God, and we've purified our souls in obeying
the truth because we have come to know how God purified our
souls in Christ. And we rest on that and trust
God in that. And we come to God on the basis
of what Christ has done. And that causes us to have this
unsullied, this unspotted love for the brethren. Because we
realize that we were accepted, we were forgiven for nothing
in ourselves. And so we can accept and love
and forgive others who also believe these things because God has
given that to us by His Spirit. So that's the first thing. If
we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we
lie. We do not the truth. To do the truth is to look to
Christ only. We cannot have fellowship with
God If we come to Him on the basis of something we find in
us, something He expects to find from us or to take to Him, we
can't find fellowship with God that way. That's to do a lie.
That's to pretend to have fellowship. But it's not to have fellowship
with Him. To have fellowship with God is to keep His commandment,
which is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to do the
truth. This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom
He has sent. And then, this takes us right
now to the heart of where I wanted to focus our time this morning,
which is 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. What a wonderful verse that is.
There was a track I read several years ago, and I wish I could
find it again. I can't even remember the details. It's been so long.
But a woman lay dying, and she was fretful about eternity. Most
people are when they come to that point in their life where
they realize that this is the end of their life, and they're
fretful about eternity. And she was greatly concerned
about it. And a preacher came to her. And
he read these verses, 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. And it was that
verse that gave her peace with God, to hear the words that the
blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Now, this is
the message we've heard, isn't it? This is the message we've
heard from Him. God is light, and Him is no darkness
at all. And if we walk in the light of
what God has told us about the Lord Jesus Christ, if we walk
in that light, then we have fellowship with God, and the blood of Jesus
Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. I want to be cleansed
from all my sin. I want to know this. I want to
receive this. I want to have it as my possession. I want to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. I want to have fellowship with
Him, and I want to walk in the light. How is it that we can
walk in this light? And there's an excellent explanation
of this given in John chapter 8. If you want to turn there,
John chapter 8 and verse 12. He says this, John 8 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. Do you see
that? The light of life. The light
of life. Knowing Christ, following Him,
gives us that light. That's the light. Seeing Him
is having that light in the soul. And that light in the soul is
life. That's what He's saying here.
And Jesus said, I am that light. Now we can begin to see something
about what it means to walk in the light as He is in the light.
As it says in 1 John 1.7, if we walk in the light as He is
in the light, Christ is the light of the world. And he that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
But what preceded this verse, this declaration that the Lord
Jesus Christ made to be the light of the world? Well, it was the
first 11 verses of John chapter 8. And here we see how the Lord
Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He says, remember,
God commanded the light to shine in the darkness. What is darkness? It's sin. It's lies. It's the denial of everything
that's true about God himself. And here was a situation in John
chapter 8 verse 1 through 11. We're going to read through this.
And we're going to see a woman who was in darkness. We're going
to see men who were in darkness. And then we're going to see the
Lord Jesus Christ who is the light and how He is the light.
Look at this with me, John 8.1. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives
and early in the morning He came again to the temple and all the
people came to Him and He sat down and taught them. And this
lesson came out of his teaching. No doubt he arranged for this
lesson to come. It was a lesson not just in words,
but in actions. And the scribes and Pharisees
brought to him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had
set her in the midst, a guilty woman caught in the act, they
say to him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery. In the
very act, Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should
be stoned, but what sayest thou? Here we see the way God teaches
us. He sets before us an impossibility. God himself commanded that such
should be stoned in the law, and yet Christ is the one who
came not to condemn the world, but to save the world. How can
you do that? How can you have mercy? And how
can truth and righteousness and mercy and truth be reconciled
together and righteousness and peace kiss each other? This is
the question that they raise and it seems impossible. And
it's when we're faced with an impossible question about how
we can be just with God and the answer to that in scripture that
gives us the light of life in our souls. That's what he's saying
here. In verse 6 he says, "...they
said to him, this they said to him, tempting him, that they
might have to accuse him." So there's two things. Number one,
the question itself is the setting, the context from which the answer
springs. And the answer to that question
is how we have light. But it's always the answer to
this question that men hate. Men naturally hate, and they
use to accuse God. Men want to accuse God of an
injustice, and yet God sets before the open universe He says, "...sets
openly before the universe of intelligent creatures how He
can be just and justify the ungodly." So even though they said it temptingly,
and even though this question was raised for that reason, God
put it there in order that He might show His wisdom in the
Lord Jesus Christ and answer it. So Jesus stooped down and
with His finger wrote on the ground as though He heard them
not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and
said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him first
cast a stone at her. In Daniel chapter 6, there was
a hand that came forth and wrote on the wall. Remember that? And
when the son of Nebuchadnezzar saw that hand writing on the
wall, his knees knocked together, it says. And I always, you see
the picture in your mind. Here's a man who's ruling and
reigning over the largest kingdom on earth, and he sees this hand
riding on the wall. And he gets so petrified in fear
that his body begins to lose all strength, and his knees begin
to tremble. And the handwriting on the wall
was interpreted. It says, You have been weighed
in the balances and have been found wanting. The Lord Jesus
Christ now writes on the ground. No doubt he wrote what Moses
and the law wrote, which these men who brought the woman to
Jesus accused him of. They used the law of Moses to
accuse him and to try to put him over the impossible situation
of how you can receive this woman and not keep the law of Moses
and claim to be of God. How can you do that? And they
wanted the answer. But when he wrote down on the
ground, what he wrote proved that they had been weighed in
the balances and they had been found wanting because he wrote
to them what would accuse them before God on the day of judgment. And so when he had written this,
we don't know exactly what he wrote, but no doubt it had that
effect on them. Because it had that effect on
him, that's what he wrote. He says, verse 7, So when they
continued asking him, he lifted himself up, and he said to them,
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone
at her. You're not fit to judge the law.
You're not fit to judge anyone out of the law. There's only
one judge, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And God has committed
all judgment to Him. And a sinner is certainly in
no shape to judge a sinner. Because Paul says in Romans 2,
But when you judge others, you condemn yourself, because you
do the same things. And so, he says here in verse
8, it says here in verse 8, that after he rose up and said this
to them, he stooped down again and wrote on the ground, and
they which heard him speak this, being convicted by their own
conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even
to the last, and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing
in the midst. Can you imagine that? Their conscience
accused them. It wasn't the condemning, gracious
work of the Spirit of God that would cause them to confess that
they had no hope in themselves and look to Christ only. It was
the kind of condemnation that sends men out to depart from
Christ when they stand before Him. Remember Matthew 7? Many
will say in that day, Lord, Lord, haven't we done many wonderful
works in your name? We've cast out devils, we've
preached in your name, we've done many wonderful works. And
yet he will say to them, I never knew you. I never knew you. I
didn't love you. And then, and at one point in
time, because you can't love those you don't know. He never
knew you. I never knew you. And He says
to them, Depart, you workers of iniquity. And these men departed
from the Lord. It was that kind of judgment
that silenced their mouth and sent them out because it accused
them in their conscience. It was not the gracious work
of the Spirit of God. And they left the presence of
Christ as all unbelieving men will leave in the day of judgment.
And yet here this woman is standing here. He stoops down the second
time. He rises again. And they left, beginning at the
eldest, even to the last, and Jesus was left alone, and the
woman standing in the midst." Now when Jesus raised up the
second time, I'm sure that this stooping down twice has reference
to the fact that as God, the law giver, He gave the law that
accuses men. But as the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one who not only gave but fulfills the law, he stooped
down the second time that he himself would come under the
law and keep that law and satisfy God and fulfill all the law demands
for his people. So when he rises up the second
time, it shows that he's completed. the work He came to do, and He
stands there with this woman, and she and the Lord Jesus are
left there alone, and the woman standing in the midst, and everyone
is around hearing the wisdom of God, the wisdom of God from
the Lord Jesus Christ. How could He have solved this
insoluble problem of how God can be just and true to His Word,
stoning the adulterer, the adulteress, and yet not condemning her? When
Jesus had lifted Himself up, He saw none but the woman, and
He said to her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath
no man condemned thee? When God says He doesn't condemn,
there will be none left to condemn. When it says in Romans chapter
8, who is he that condemneth? It's God that justifieth. We
know that men cannot condemn those whom God justifies. If
God finds no fault, how is a man going to find fault? And how
can men not find fault? Remember we read this in Romans
chapter 3, 26 last week. In order that he might be just,
he set forth Christ as a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. God sets him forth to
all the universe in order to show that it is by the righteousness
of Christ that he can be just. and justify the ungodly. And
no one can find fault with that. No one can find fault with the
fact that God didn't spare his own son, but delivered him up
for us all, just as received its due when it received the
Lord Jesus Christ's loving, willing sacrifice of himself to God for
us. Justice received it. The law
was magnified when the Creator, the Lawgiver, gave His obedience
to His own law. All that God required was fully
met. So that God Himself is satisfied. And who can find fault with that?
No one can. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
stands with her. Not only that, but it says in Romans 8, I'm trying to remember exactly
what it does say there. Let me turn there. Romans chapter
8. It's so wonderful. These verses should ever be on
our minds. It says in Romans 8 verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? Isn't that the question Jesus
asked this woman? Who? Where are your accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? Who
is he? The only one left to condemn
her is Christ. And what does the verse say then
next? It is Christ that died. And so he says to her, she says,
no man, Lord. And Jesus said, neither do I
condemn thee. What is he saying? I don't condemn
you. I died for you. Isn't that what
he's saying because of Romans 8.34? Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Christ himself gave himself
as the high priest. He offered himself to God, the
Lamb of God, and he gave himself for this woman. That's how God
That's the light. That's how Christ is the light
of the world. That's how He reveals how God
gives life to the dead. How He gives light and life to
sinners. And following Him in this means
that we have the light of life in our souls. So back to 1 John
chapter 1. He says, If we walk in the light
of how God saves sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ, That's where
God is, isn't it? Isn't that the knowledge of the
glory of God? Isn't it seen in the face of
Jesus Christ? That's the light of the world.
That's the light from God to men that we might see, that we
might have life, that we might have any existence at all. It's
Christ that died, and so he says, If we walk in that light as He
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, with each other,
but mostly with the Lord God Himself. How can you have fellowship
with God if you do not come to Him on the basis of what He's
done for us in Christ? When God says He set forth Christ
to be the propitiation for our sins, it means that we come to
God based on the fact that God took the initiative, provided
Christ, offered Christ, and received from Christ everything He required
for His people. And He is totally satisfied with
that. God did everything. We were at
enmity, hostile to God. And God did everything to remove
that hostility. His law was against us. His justice required our damnation. offered His Son from the foundation
of the world, so that from the foundation of the world He could
treat His people in Christ, loved by Him, accepted by Him. That's
the light. And when we walk in that light,
we have fellowship with God, and we have fellowship with one
another, don't we? When we treat each other as if we have to be
somebody special, or that some people are more special than
others in the church, or in life, or anything, then we're treating
one another like a Pharisee. Remember what the Pharisee prayed
in Luke 18? Jesus said, There were two men
that went up to the temple. The one was a Pharisee, and he
stood and prayed thus with himself. But he says, and it's worth a
look at this. Look at Luke chapter 18. I just
remember these words. They always set me back. It says, In verse 9, he says
in Luke 18, he spake this parable about the Pharisee and the Publican
unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous
and despised others. When we despise others, It's
an evidence that we're trusting in ourselves that we are righteous,
isn't it? When we despise others, it's
simply saying we think ourselves to be capable of judging others
and despising them because we're better than they are. That's
what it's saying. And that's what Pharisees do. That's what
our heart, which is naturally hypocritical and Pharisaical,
does. We do that. But walking in the light is walking
in the light of who we truly are before God, and what Christ
has done, and that He is all of our acceptance before God.
And then notice these words here, the next ones. If we do this,
if we walk in this light, it says the blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." Denise and I were talking
about this. Since you guys aren't there,
I only have Denise to talk to about these things, which is
just fine. But I wouldn't mind it if there
were more people to talk about these things during the week
together. The blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. How does blood clean things. Have you ever wondered that?
When I was a kid, not a kid, I was a young person, I worked
for my dad. He sold cars and he had me detail
the cars. And they had this stuff, it was
pink in color, and it was for cleaning the white walls on tires. And I considered it to be magic
soap. Because you know what tires are
like. They're really dirty, oily, dirty. They have this rubbery
black smeared tar on everything. But there's nothing that looks
nicer, at least to me as a young person, a nice shiny wheel and
a nice clean set of white walls. So this stuff was called white
wall cleaner, and you put it on the tire, and you take your
brush, just a few strokes, and wash it off, and all that grime
and grease and black would just rinse right off the tire, and
that tire would sparkle clean. It was magic. It seemed to me. And the stuff was pink, so it
reminded me of that as I was reading this. How does blood
cleanse things? Have you ever tried it? Have
you ever gotten something out and dipped it in blood to clean
it? It's the last thing you would do, isn't it? You would never
think of... It'd be like taking wine and spilling it on your
white shirt and expecting it to come out white again. But,
you know, Scripture often uses this reference to being cleaned
by the blood of Christ, doesn't it? In Isaiah 1.18, he says,
Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be white as wool, though they be
red like crimson. I'm not quoting it exactly right,
but he's speaking about the fact that God can make us clean through
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Zechariah 13.1 it says, that
in that day there will be a fountain opened to the house of Israel
to the house of Judah for sin and for uncleanness a fountain
that's the fountain of Christ's blood for sin and for uncleanness
and then it says in Revelation 1 5 it says unto him who loved
us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." That's the
cry. That's the song that the redeemed
will sing in glory unto Him that loved us. God loved us. Christ loved us. God gave His
Son, and the Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself. He gave Himself
for our sins. out of love. He didn't love us
because He died for us. He loves us and therefore gave
Himself for us. And because He loved us, He washed
us from our sins in His own blood. All whom God loves, He washes
in the blood of Christ. All of them. And if we're not
washed in His blood, then we are filthy. That's the other
thing sin leaves us, is filthy. So how do these things work?
Let me read to you a couple more verses, and you can turn to these
if you want to. In fact, you might as well turn
back to the Old Testament, because we'll be there. Numbers, chapter
23. I want to read these. They're
not unfamiliar to you, but I like looking at them again. There's
nothing like looking at these verses time and time again. Numbers,
chapter 23, in verse 19, Balaam is trying to to do what he can do to get some
money from the king, Balak, who hired him to curse Israel. And
he says, I can't, because God won't let me, even though he
wanted to. Verse 19, he says, God is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. In other words,
that he should change his mind and do things differently than
he intended to do. That's not the way God is. He's
not a man like that. Men do that. Men change their
mind. Men change their course. God doesn't. God is not a man
that he should lie, or that he's the son of man that he should
repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken,
and shall he not make it good?" Whatever God says, that's what
he's going to do to the very last word. Not one jot or tittle
from the law will fail. Heaven and earth can pass away,
Jesus said, but my words can never pass away. That's power, isn't it? It's
one thing for us to say things like, be warmed and filled. It
doesn't do any good, but if God says it, you're warmed and you're
filled. Verse 20, Behold, I have received commandment to bless,
and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld
iniquity in Jacob. neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel the Lord his God is with him and the shout of a king
is among them you see that verse he hasn't seen perverseness in
Israel he hasn't seen iniquity in Jacob that's what he's saying
because God doesn't see these things in his people how does
he not see them we'll look at Leviticus chapter 16 The blood
of Jesus Christ, that's how, cleanses us from all sin. Leviticus 16.30. On that day
shall the priest make an atonement for you. The priest makes an
atonement for certain people. It was Israel in those days.
And here is the Lord Jesus Christ that we're speaking of who makes
an atonement for His people. And when He makes that atonement,
it says, when he makes an atonement for you to cleanse you that you
may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. Do you see that? Clean from all your sins before
the Lord. So to be clean means to be clean
before the Lord and it means to be clean from all your sins. He hasn't beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. How? Because God made Him to be sin
for us. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Look at Jeremiah
chapter 50. I don't know if you have these
verses circled or underlined or something in your Bible. I
do, because I love to see them. Jeremiah chapter 50, verse 20,
he says, In those days and in that time, this is speaking about
Babylon would be destroyed. And he's speaking about spiritual
Babylon. sin, and the devil, the flesh, and the world, all
put down by the Lord Jesus Christ for spiritual Israel. In those
days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel,
the promised seed, the elect of God, the iniquity of Israel,
shall be sought for, and there shall be none. And the sins of
Judah, and they shall not be found, for I will pardon them
whom I reserve." God will look when the Lord Jesus Christ has
paid for our sins, and he will find nothing." Look at Romans
chapter 4. These verses thrill my soul. Romans chapter 4, he says in
verse 6, David also describes the blessedness
of the man, and the next words are very important, unto whom
God imputes righteousness without works." God credits a man with
pure obedience, holy obedience, righteousness without his own
works. Because it's the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 7, and he says this, David,
quoting from Psalm 32, blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. God imputes no sin because He
imputes the righteousness of His Son to them. They're justified. They're purified in His eyes.
Look at Revelation chapter 14. I think it's Revelation 14. In Revelation 14.5, speaking
of those who are redeemed, it says in
Revelation 14.5, "...and in their mouth, in the mouth of the redeemed,
was found no guile, for they are without fault before the
throne of God." No fault, no sin. Righteousness imputed. Look
at Colossians chapter 1. And verse 21, Colossians 121, and you that
were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind and by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled. How do you reconcile? How did
God reconcile his people? By the propitiation. Christ offered
himself to God, God satisfied his wrath, took away the anger
his justice demanded him to expend on his people, and instead he
made peace and gave them his favor and grace for what he received
from Christ. That's propitiation. That's how
God reconciled us. God reconciled us to himself. He, in his justice, was against
us, but in his grace and mercy he found a way to propitiate
his wrath and to reconcile us to himself. So he says, having,
in verse 21, you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death. to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight." Do you see that? How are we holy
and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight? By the body and
flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ in death. This salvation is entirely
outside of us, isn't it? It's what God did. That's what
cleanses us. You see, to be clean from our
sins means that before God, He sees nothing. No, no. When God talks about cleanness,
He's not talking about dirt on your hands or dirt on your body. He's talking about the defilement
that comes from our heart has been done away because our sins
have been removed. Look at one more verse. Hebrews
chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. He says this, in verse 26. In fact, I'll read. There's enough of these things
that we should read more of them, but let me just read from verse
24 through 26. He says, "...for Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the
figures of the true, but into heaven itself." now to appear
in the presence of God for us." You see, what is our righteousness? It's Christ in heaven appearing
for us. Verse 25, "...nor yet that he
should offer himself often as the high priest entereth into
the holy place every year with blood of others. For then must
he often have suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now, once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself." You see that? Where
is our sin? It's put away. How? By the blood
of Christ. And if sin is put away, then
the defilement is gone. There's no Filth of sin. God sees no iniquity or perverseness
in Israel. The sins of Judah will be sought
for, but there will be none. Because they're unblameable and
holy and unreprovable in the sight of God by the death of
Christ. This is how the blood of Jesus
Christ cleanses us from all sin. This is the way, this is the
way he's, what he's speaking about. And this cleansing, if
you go back to 1 John chapter 1-7, This cleansing, it says,
He cleanseth us. It's an ongoing cleansing that
we experience in our life. When we walk in the light, trusting
God, coming to God openly, confessing our sins, relying on what God
has done for us in Christ, daily, moment by moment, saying what
we are and saying what God has done as what we believe truly
in our souls, Is it hard for us to admit what we are? It is
hard, but it's true, and when we admit it, we know it's true.
Is it hard for us to believe that God could be so gracious
to offer his son for us? It is very hard to believe that.
It's impossible. But when God teaches us the light
of who Christ is, that he has received a full compensation,
for his people from his son. We can understand that, can't
we, by faith? And it rejoices our soul to the very low bottom. And we can confess our sins,
and we can understand now how God is faithful to His promises,
faithful to His eternal love, faithful to His Word, faithful
to His Son, and forgive us on the basis of justice satisfied,
and receive us for Christ's sake. And in this, we have fellowship
with God. We receive this cleansing. Over
and over, I heard someone say once, David prayed in Psalm 51,
Lord, and confessed his sins because Christ hadn't yet come.
But we don't ask for God to forgive us our sins anymore now that
Christ has come. But that's not true. The blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses us. He cleanses us. We receive, how
much more, it says in Hebrews 9.14, how much more shall the
blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God. He cleanses us because he removes
sin from our conscience. When we come to God, if you come
with sin, God is light, in Him is no darkness. He cannot receive
a sinner. But when we come to Him, looking to Christ, we see
that in Christ our sins have been removed. We're justified
before God. And coming on those grounds,
and those grounds only, we have fellowship with God. Let's pray.
Lord, we thank You that You have purged our sins by Yourself.
The Lord Jesus Christ did it. And then, when atonement had
been made, and our sins had been purged, and we were cleansed
before the Lord, then He ascended and sat on the right hand of
God, justified, we were justified in His rising again. You received
from Him all that you demanded from us, and received it from
Him as if from us, received it from Him in our name, that we
might know that our sins are forgiven us for His namesake.
Lord, we pray that as David was faithful in showing grace to
Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake, that we would know the Lord our
God is faithful in showing grace to us for Christ's sake, and
we would trust Him, and we would rejoice, and our joy would be
full knowing we have fellowship with God on the basis of sins
put away in the death of Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.