Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And today, if you'd like to follow
along in the message, follow the message along in your Bibles,
I'm going to be preaching from a passage I began last week,
1 John chapter one, if you'd like to turn there. And I'm going
to begin in verse six. And the title of today's message
is Walking in the Light. walking in the light. Now, last
week I did the fellowship of light. I urge you to get that
message or listen to it. You can go to our website and
find it or to Sermon Audio, places like that. But we're talking
about believers, sinners saved by grace, who have been brought
into the fellowship of God in Christ. That's what John said
in verse, three on chapter one, that when we're brought into
fellowship with one another, that bond of union that binds
true believers, sinners saved by grace together, in separation
from the world and the world of darkness, they're brought
into that fellowship of light, and he says, truly, our fellowship
is with the Father, God the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. And
that's the work of God. You see, here's what people I
think don't understand today a lot of times. They don't understand
that it's not you or me or any sinner who brings ourselves into
the fellowship of light, into the fellowship of faith, into
the family of God. It's God who brings us there
by His grace. And if you'll look with me over
in John chapter 6, before we get to our text in 1 John 1,
let me show you this. This is John 6 and verse 44,
the gospel of John. And listen to what he says here
in verse 44. He says, no man can come to me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last
day. Now, what he's describing there is the natural man, who
I speak of all the time on this program, that's 1 Corinthians
2, 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, neither can he know them, they're spiritually discerned.
The natural man is the fallen, sinful, unregenerate man, man
or woman, who we fell in Adam, and we fell into a state of sin
and death and were born into this world spiritually dead with
no ability and no desire to believe God's way, to glorify God, to
follow Him, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. To the point,
the Bible teaches now, that if left to ourselves, we will not
choose Christ. It's not a matter of your free
will. Somebody says, well, you've got
the choice. Yes, you've got the choice, but if left to yourself,
you'll make the wrong choice. I'll make the wrong choice. That's
what the Bible teaches. Why? Because no man can come
to me, Christ says, except the Father which has sent me draw
him. Now that word draws an interesting
word. It's the same, you remember there's
a, Christ spoke a parable of the dragnet where he talked about
throwing the net over and drawing in the fishes with the net, dragnet. Well that's the same word. And
so you could honestly say it that no man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me dragging. Now that doesn't mean,
as one false preacher said, that God doesn't drag His people into
the kingdom kicking and screaming, or He doesn't drag them against
their will. No, what God does, He drags them or draws them by
changing their will. Psalm says, He makes us willing
in the day of His power to come to Him. The Bible says in the
Old Testament that God says in salvation, He'll give us a new
heart, He'll give us a new will. He'll give us a new spirit and
we will come to him. And that's what he's saying here.
No man can come to me except the father which has sent me
draw him and I will raise him up at the last day. Well now
how does the father draw his people? Well look at verse 45
of John six. He says, it is written in the
prophets. Now this is back in Isaiah 54. And they shall be all taught
of God. God teaches them. He teaches
them. And he does it through the preaching
of the gospel. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. And this is a revelation from
God. I can tell you the truth, but I cannot make you believe
the truth. I cannot convince you to believe
it. Only God can do that. So that if I'm the poor excuse
for a preacher whom God uses to preach the truth to you, I'm
not the one who got you to believe it, if you do, but God is. So
they shall be all taught of God, even though he uses human instruments.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them to
believe. And that's what he says. And
so he says, they shall be all taught of God. Look at the next
one. Every man therefore that hath heard. Now, you remember
when the disciples asked the Lord why he spoke in parables
over in Matthew 13? He said it's a judgment against
those who shut their ears to the gospel. They don't have ears
to hear. They've got physical ears and
they can hear what I'm saying, but they don't believe it. They
don't receive it. They don't heed it. But he told the disciples,
but blessed are your ears for they hear. Now, did the disciples
hear because they were better people than those who wouldn't
hear? No. We're all sinners who would turn our thumbs down on
Christ if left to ourselves. But God gave them the gift of
hearing in the new birth, and faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. God revealed himself. He said,
you have eyes and you see. So hearing, that's what he's
talking about. Every man therefore that hath
heard, that's by the power of God, and hath learned of the
Father. Through the preaching of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, know how God is just to justify
the ungodly based upon the glorious person and finished work of Christ
cometh unto me. Now that's how it happens, you
see. And that's how we're brought
into the fellowship of light. Well, when we're brought into
the fellowship of light, what do we do? We walk in the light.
Now that doesn't mean that we're always that were perfect people
in our walk, the only perfection, now listen to this, the only
perfection that a sinner saved by grace can truly claim honestly
before God is the imputed righteousness of Christ. Now I say that all
the time. If you don't know what that is,
study it, seek it, learn it. It's the heart of the gospel.
And what that means is that the merits of Christ's obedience
unto death, and how meritorious is it? Well, it brought life
from the dead. He was raised from the dead.
because he finished the work, he paid the penalty, he paid
the debt, he put away my sins, and he worked out a perfect righteousness
that enables God to be just and still save sinners like me. That's
what he did. That's the perfection of righteousness. So when we talk about walking
in the light, we're not talking about being perfect people in
ourselves as if my obedience measures up to the perfection
of law. It doesn't. My love, I can truly
say I love God. I didn't before he brought me
into the kingdom and showed me his glory. I can say I love my
neighbor, but not perfectly. The only perfection I can claim
is Christ perfection charged to my account. But having been
justified in God's sight and redeemed by the blood of Christ
and regenerated by the Spirit, born again by the Spirit, I now
walk in the light. I walk as a sinner saved by grace
in all my imperfection, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of my faith. And that's what he says in verse
six. If we say that we have fellowship
with him, fellowship with God, fellowship with Christ, and walk
in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. Over in the book of
John chapter three, it speaks of light. In verse 19. It says in John 3, 19, and this
is the condemnation, that light has come into the world. Well,
that's Christ. Christ has come into the world
and his truth, his doctrine, the doctrine, the teachings that
identify him as to who he is. God manifests in the flesh and
identifies what he accomplished in his obedience unto death to
save his people from their sins. Now that light has come into
the world, it says. And verse 19 says, now listen
to this, and men love darkness rather than light because their
deeds were evil. Now men, who's he talking about
there? Just a certain class of people?
Or is he talking about, well, there's the people that are worse
than I am? No, he's talking about all people by nature there. They
love darkness and hate the light. You say, well, I might not be
dedicated, I might not go to church every Sunday, but I don't
hate the light. Let me tell you something. The light exposes
what we naturally think and esteem as bringing us to salvation,
our works, our decisions. Do you believe that Christ died
for everybody and that salvation was conditioned on you making
the decision for him? My friend, that's evil deeds.
No, sir. It's not conditioned on me. And people today, they claim
to be Christian and they'll think of everything they can think
of other than the right thing to claim their salvation. I did
this, I did that, I stopped doing this, I stopped doing that. I
made this decision, I had this experience. That's evil deeds. And why is it evil? Because it
doesn't glorify God. It glorifies you. Why is it evil? Because it denies Christ, who
came to meet all the conditions. That's what the gospel is. The
gospel is the salvation of sinners, all conditioned on Christ, who
fulfilled all conditions to secure the salvation for all for whom
he died. And that's the righteousness
of God revealed in the gospel. Now, if you believe it's conditioned
on you, what you do, what you decide, what you try to do, that's
evil deeds because it denies what Christ did. That's a mark
of pride. So look back, this is John 3,
19. He says, men love darkness because their deeds were evil.
The light of Christ, the light of the gospel, the light of righteousness.
exposes everything that men and women hold in high esteem as
being salvation. Christ spoke of that in Luke
16, I believe it was, when he said, that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. And then he says in verse
20 of John 3, for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light.
Now the doing evil there is not just immorality, it's talking
about religious efforts, like the Pharisees. And he says, they
hate the light, neither cometh the light, lest his deeds should
be reproved or discovered. Unless what we think is good
is really exposed as being evil. And verse 21, he makes this statement.
Now look at this. But he that doeth truth, doing
truth, what is that? That's believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ as your whole salvation. Pleading his blood alone. as
your only ground of forgiveness, pleading his righteousness imputed
alone as your only ground of justification. He that doeth
truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that
they are wrought of God." They're the work of God. Whatever I do,
that is good in God's sight is not my work at all, but it's
God's work in me. And the way that we can explain
that is by going to the scripture, Ephesians two and verse 10, which
says, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, not because of good works, unto good works which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." You
see that? That's the work of God. So back
here in 1 John 1, if we say we have fellowship with God in Christ
and walk in darkness, in false gospels, false doctrine, conditional
salvation, freewillism, We lie and do not the truth. We don't
believe in Christ. Verse seven, it says, but if
we walk in the light as he is in the light, we walk in the
light as Christ is revealed in his light, in his truth. We know
Christ. Do you know there are counterfeit
Christ? How do you know the difference between the true Christ and a
counterfeit? Walk in the light. The light
of truth, what does the Bible say about him? You know there's
denominations who call themselves Christian who deny the deity
of Christ. They're not walking in the light.
They're walking in a lie. There are denominations who deny
the humanity of Christ, that he was a real human being. There
are people who say that in his humanity he became a sinner.
They're not walking in the light. They're walking in a lie, they're
walking in darkness. There are those who say that
Christ only attempted to save people from their sins if they
would let him, and that he didn't actually save anyone by his own,
by his obedience unto death alone and his resurrection. They're
walking in a lie, they're walking in darkness. So if we say we
have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie. But
if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another. We have fellowship with everyone
who's walking in the light, And the blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanses us from all sin. That's a testimony. If I'm walking
in the light, that's an evidence that the blood of Jesus Christ
has cleansed me from all my sin. Again, my tears. Listen, should
we be sorry for our sins? Most definitely. I should be
a lot sorrier than I am. I should shed tears of remorse
and sorrow over my sins, but my tears will not wash away even
one sin. A river of tears, an ocean of
tears would not wash away even one sin. It takes the blood of
Jesus Christ. And let me say this before I
move on, because you're gonna see several if clauses, I-F,
in this passage. if we say we have fellowship,
if we walk in the light, if we say this, if we confess this,
if we say this. An if clause under the gospel
dispensation, the new covenant, is not a condition that sinners
must meet in order to attain or maintain the blessing that
is related to that. The if clause under the gospel
is an evidence of having already attained it by the grace and
power of God. Now, how do you know the difference?
The gospel is the gospel of grace, all conditioned on Christ. So,
he says, if we walk in the light, this is evidence, he says. We
have fellowship one with another. And that evidences that the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, has cleansed us and is continually
cleansing. It's a continual thing from all
sin. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. That's
the hymn, you know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. And so he
goes on, now verse eight. He says, if we say that we have
no sin, now there are people who say that, if we say that,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We sing another
hymn in our church, it's called Only a Sinner. Only a sinner
saved by grace, only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story
to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
What he's talking about here is our state here on earth as
sinners saved by the grace of God. You know, one of the things
that helps us understand the Bible is to understand the difference
between our standing before God in Christ and our state here
on this earth as believers, sinners saved by grace. Our standing
before God in Christ is a legal matter in which we stand before
God having our sins put away, washed by the blood, washed away,
purged away, pardoned, okay? No record of them. God said He'll
remember them no more. No record. No, in other words,
when I stand before God, He will not bring them up again because
there's no record. My slate has been wiped clean
by the blood, not by my works, not by my tears, but by the blood.
And I stand before God perfectly righteous in Christ based on
His righteousness imputed without one flaw. That's my legal standing
before God. But while on this earth, my state,
my present state here on earth is this, I'm only a sinner saved
by grace. So that if I claim that I have
no sin or that I'm not a sinner, what's he say here? We deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. There are people today
who claim to be Christian who say they have no sin, that they're
not sinners. Let me tell you something. The
infirmities of the flesh, this body, your body, is in the process
of dying, decaying, and that's a consequence of sin. The Bible
says in Romans 8, 10, the body is dead because of sin. That's the reason we die physical
deaths. It's the consequence of sin.
But the reason that we don't have to die eternal death, eternal
damnation, is the consequence of righteousness. Romans 8.10
says the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit, is life because of righteousness. So even though my body is dying,
I have diseases, I'm 68 years old and I have several terminal
illnesses that eventually will rack this body if God doesn't
take me out in some other way. But this body is dead because
of sin. That's the consequence of being born in sin, fallen
in Adam, ruined by the fall. But the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. But the reason I have eternal
life, spiritual life, and that I will live forever in the fellowship
of God is because of righteousness. Now, where did I get righteousness?
It's not in me. It doesn't come from me. It's
not worked out by me. It's the righteousness of God
in the person and work of Christ imputed to me. But I'm still
a sinner while here on earth, and I will be until I die, or
until Christ comes back again, which I will experience the equivalent
of physical death, because this body This corruptible must put
on incorruption. Now, if I go through this life
and say, now I'm a believer, I'm saved by the grace of God,
now I'm no longer a sinner, I lie and deceive myself, and the truth
is not in me. The Holy Spirit who resides within
me is a continual spirit of conviction, showing me my sins and the fact
that I deserve nothing but death and hell. I've earned nothing
but death and hell, but He drives me to Christ for joy and peace
and believing, looking to Christ. Who is my hope? Christ is my
hope. Christ is my peace. Christ is
my assurance. Christ is my joy. You see that? Not in me, it's Christ. And that's,
I'm a sinner. And I've said it so many times
on this program, and I say it all the time to the congregation
to whom I pastor and preach to every Sunday, that if God were
to judge me right now, sitting here with a Bible open, preaching,
if God were to judge me right now based upon my works, I would
get nothing but death and hell. But you see, God doesn't judge
me that way. He's already judged my sins when
Christ died on the cross as my surety, my substitute, my redeemer. And therefore my sins are washed
away. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? Your sins are taken away. That's
what they are, they're all taken away. As far as the East is from
the West, the Bible says, God's thrown him behind his back, you'll
never see him again. He will not hold him against
us. So we're sinners and if we say we're not, that's evidence
that we walk in a lie and darkness and truth's not this. Verse nine
says, if we confess our sins, Now confession of sin is not
the ground or cause of forgiveness, it's the evidence of forgiveness. And so if we confess our sins,
God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. The confession of sin is not
the cost of forgiveness. Repentance is not the cost of
forgiveness. Whatever is the cost or the ground
or the cause of forgiveness has to be able to make God both faithful
and just. And the only thing that can do
that is the blood of Jesus Christ, which is His righteousness imputed. So if we confess our sins, that
I'm only a sinner saved by grace, that I deserve and have earned
nothing but death and hell, that's an evidence that God has been
faithful to His promise to justify me from all my sins based on
the blood of Jesus Christ and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.
God's forgiven me, He's cleansed me. I'm clean in His sight. I'm still a sinner and I'm in
need of continual cleansing and forgiveness. And that's what
He does as I look to Christ. And then in verse 10, listen
to this. He says, if we say we have not sinned, we make him
a liar and his word is not in us. I heard a preacher say one
time that if I'm in Christ, that means I have never sinned. No,
if we say we've not sinned in any given situation or that we've
worked up to the perfection of righteousness, we make God a
liar and his word is not in us. We're not walking in the light.
We know and understand that this is the truth. Walking in the
light shows us the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
and it shows us our sinfulness, but our hope is in Him. I hope
you'll join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2-3. Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia
31707. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterrofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.