1 John 1:5-2:2

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. 1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 1:5-2:2, NIV).

John captures a pastor’s heart when he said these words, We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3, NIV).

This verse gives the reason for testimony. This verse gives the reason for preaching. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.

If there is one desire I have out of preaching, it is that people will come into fellowship with us and in their fellowship with us, be in fellowship with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.

Count Zinzendorf, the father of the Moravians and the man who influenced William Carey, the father of modern missions, to be involved in missions, said these words, “I have one passion. It is He, only He” speaking of Jesus.

This church exists to promote Jesus. You look around the building and you will see no Williams gym, no Kibbe corner, no Hatch kitchen. This body of believers meets and works together to bring people closer to Jesus. Fellowship with God and with his Son Jesus is the goal.

So how do we have fellowship with God?

John starts by giving us a theological proposition. “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.” (vs. 5) Stated another way, God doesn’t do anything wrong. Everything God does is right.

Have you notice how quick people are to ask the “why” question of God when bad things happen? For example, “God, why did you let me lose my job?” “God, why did my husband or wife get sick or die?” “God, why am I stuck in traffic?”

These are posed as questions, but so often come across as statements. Implied in many people’s words is this, “God, you did something wrong.”

God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. Everything God does is right. He is light. There is nothing that God does that is wrong. He has no darkness at all.

This flew in the face of Roman and Greek gods. They could be nasty gods. “Zeus was the king of the gods. He was the god of the thunderbolt, the sky, guests/strangers, hospitality and oaths. He was married to his sister Hera although mythological stories say that he had many wives in the guise of mistresses. He overthrew his father Kronos with the help of his siblings. Kronos had heard a prophecy telling him that he would one day be overthrown by one of his children so each time his wife Rhea gave birth, he would eat the child. Zeus was hidden from Kronos and managed to grow up unnoticed by his father. When he was old enough he challenged his father with the help of the goddess Metis (who by this state was pregnant with Athene). Metis, the goddess of wisdom gave Kronos a potion that made him regurgitate his children. Once they were freed they helped Zeus fight his father. Zeus finally overthrew Kronos and forced him to leave the heavens.”

Not a pretty site. The Greek and Roman gods were very sinful. The Jewish people did not see them as light, but as darkness.

Which means that we need to look at other sources for our problems. Why do people get sick and die? The Bible says it is because of the presence of sin in the world. Why do people lose their jobs? In some cases it is because greed or some other sin has caused a business to get in trouble. How many people were affected by the greed in banks that caused the stock market to crash? Let’ give credit where credit is due. The Lord is good. But not everything else in the universe is.

If God is so good, how can we have fellowship with him? What do people like you and I have in common with a perfect God?

John makes three statements about this.

First, he tells us that if we are walking in darkness, we do not have fellowship with God.

If we are living in deliberate sin and we say we are in fellowship with God, we are lying and are not living the truth.

We use the word “feel” a lot. We feel that God is ok with what we are doing. We feel close to God. But if we disobey what the Bible clearly teaches, that statement, that feeling, is wrong. Sin separates; it does not bring us close to God.

What about the false teachers who left the church? We are not sure, but if, as I said last week, John was writing to some of the same churches found in Revelation, we have a clue.

First, at Ephesus he says, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. “(Revelation 2:2, NIV).

Second, at Ephesus he says, “But you have this in your favour: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” (Revelation 2:6, NIV).

We don’t know much about the Nicolaitans, but this we do know. The root word here is the same one as the Nike brand, it means victory. The idea may have been that as a method of evangelism, they advocated joining the world in eating food offered to idols and in immorality.

Third, at Smyrna there were a group of Jews who were not true Jewish people. They were of the synagogue of Satan because they opposed Jesus Christ. The conflict between Christians and Jews was heating up.

Fourth, the church at Thyatira had a Jezebel. This woman is a reference to an Old Testament woman who had great influence and encouraged compromise with the world in the areas of sexual immorality.

So the false teachers in the area were promoting sexual immorality and other behaviors that were clearly wrong.

If you come and tell me that you are close to God, but are involved in immorality or promotes practices that are out of tune with the Bible, if you say that you are in fellowship with God and are walking in darkness, you are lying and are not doing what is right, what is true.

“How can you say that?” you ask. I didn’t say that. Verse six does. Because I believe the Bible, I believe verse 6, even if you might not.

God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we claim to be in fellowship with God and walk in darkness, we are lying.

We meet people all the time that say they love God, are close to God and love Jesus. But they are living with someone outside of marriage. They are addicted to alcohol or drugs. They are cheating the government or are dishonest in their business dealings. They say they are in fellowship with God, but they are walking in darkness. Their claim, no matter how loudly spoken or how sincere it may come, is false. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Light and darkness have nothing in common.

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

This is a second lie. If you say that you don’t sin anymore, you are lying. There are groups that tell us that if we live for God and come close to him, we can arrive at a place where we do not sin. They tell us that it is possible to be so spiritual that we eradicate sin in our lives. They lie. They deceived themselves and the truth is not in them.

10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

This is a third lie. If we claim we have never sinned, we are not in fellowship with God. We are not in partnership with God. We are not in the light. I have not yet met a person who shares this lie, but I have heard that there are people who believe they have never sinned. They are wrong.

A fourth lie that is not stated here is the lie that we don’t need salvation. This lie tells us that everyone is in fellowship with God. This lie says that God accepts everyone. This lie says there is no hell, no judgment, no punishment for sin. This lie says that God loves everyone and will accept everyone. We call this universalism. It is prevalent in our society. It’s secular counterpart is the self-esteem movement which says that everyone is good, some just hide it better than others.

So this raises a real question. If we don’t have fellowship with God when we don’t walk in the light and if we sin, we are not walking in the light, how can anyone have fellowship with God?

These verses tell us how fellowship is possible.

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. … 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. … 1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

First, we walk in the light. This means that we follow the commands of God and live our lives according to his teachings. This brings us into fellowship with one another.

Have you ever sat down with a group of people and found that one of the people in the group was not interested in the discussion? They crack jokes, they try to lead the discussion in another direction, they hijack the meeting. How can people walk together if they are moving in two directions?

But if two people are moving in the same direction, they have fellowship. We meet together to help each other walk in the light. We want to please God with our words, our thoughts and our actions. Are we perfect at this? No! But that is our desire.

So if we are not perfect, how can we have fellowship with God? Our fellowship with one another comes as we walk in the light. Our fellowship with God comes when the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purifies or cleanses us from all sin.

Why doesn’t John say, “Jesus’ death purifies us from all sin?” Because the false teachers did not believe that Jesus had a body. He emphasizes the importance of the body by bringing in the blood. Also, the Old Testament tells us, “without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.”

This is the truth. When we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another. A sinning person who does not want to change will struggle in this congregation. You will not find fellowship here. Those who are interested in living the Christian life will find fellowship here with others who want the same thing.

As we walk in the light, something is happening behind the scenes. Something is going on that we cannot see. The blood of Jesus Christ is purifying us from all sin.

If we are purified from all sin, then we can have fellowship with God. If sin is what separates us from God, when the sin is taken away, we have fellowship with God. Nothing stands between God and us. That is why so many have the bumper sticker that says, “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.” The message on that bumper sticker could be taken the wrong way. It could be an excuse to sin and say, “God will forgive me.” But the other way it should be taken is this. As we walk in the light, as we seek to know the will of God and live it out in our lives, the blood of Jesus is cleansing us from all sin.

So look at verse 9. It picks up on the same theme with the second way we walk in the light. If we confess our sins. This is liberating. If the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, if God knows all the sins that we do, why not come to him and take responsibility for our sin? The word “confess” means “to agree with”. Who do we agree with? We agree with God that we have done wrong. The key to Christian growth is personal acceptance of our sin.

We go a step further than that. Many people take responsibility for sin. They suffer depression, anxiety, guilt because of it. But the Christian is different. The Christian confesses that sin because he or she knows that God will forgive that sin.

Let me be clear on this. There is no sin that cannot be forgiven by God. No sin. Paul was a Christian-killer. He not only killed people, he killed followers of Jesus Christ. Yet this same Jesus showed him mercy and saved him.

So what happens when you confess your sin and realize you are forgiven? You are cleansed from all unrighteousness.

The steps go something like this. Confess. Receive forgiveness. Experience cleansing from all unrighteousness.

So many people try to avoid sin. They stick their head in the sand, hoping if they ignore sin it will go away. It doesn’t. What is best is to take responsibility for it before God and through this you will receive forgiveness and cleansing from sin.

It’s good to feel clean. When we confess and forsake sin, that is what happens. It doesn’t say it in the text, but I would say that if you walk in the light, when you confess sin, you will leave it.

I have had people who have preplanned sin as they preplanned forgiveness. They say something like this. “I know what I am about to do is wrong, but God will forgive me, won’t he?” That is not the statement of someone walking in the light.

John is writing this so we won’t sin. 1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

When we do sin, Jesus Christ is our defense attorney. The third way we know we are walking in the light is when we trust our defense attorney. He stands in the courts of heaven and tells God this, “Yes, this person is guilty, but I paid for their sins on the cross.” God tells us that the wages of sin is death, but Jesus died for us so that we could live.

In the Old Testament a person would bring a lamb to the priest. That lamb would be sacrificed for the person’s sin. But before the lamb was killed the person would put their hands on the lamb. It was an outward way of identifying that they were responsible for their sin and that the lamb would die in their place. Jesus is our lamb of God, the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

This is why John, in verse 1 says, “This we proclaim concerning the word of life.” Jesus is the life. Through his death on the cross he cleanses us, he purifies us, he washes away our sin. He is our advocate who pleads our case with God.

This is my wish for you. I want you to fellowship with us. When we commit to walking in the light, we have fellowship one with another. I want you to fellowship with God. Fellowship with God comes when we trust Jesus, own up to our sin, and accept his payment for our sins on the cross.