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