Are you pure enough to stand in God's presence? Are you clean, so clean from sin that you can say that you have fellowship with a holy God? As we return to the beginning of John's letter here, 1 John, the apostle confronts his readers with the holiness and the purity of God. And this is captured in the concept of light. It's a relatively simple matter for us to understand the concept of light. If we turn the switches off here in the sanctuary, it would be dark in the sanctuary. It is light in the sanctuary, it is dark outside, and we understand that. If you get up in the morning, on a workday perhaps it's before the sun rises it's dark outside so you turn on the light when you get up and you turn on the light to go and make a cup of coffee but then the sun rises and you can see you no longer need the lights because the power of the sun lights up the whole world A couple years ago, Ella and I were out in Nevada, and out in the desert, there are no trees out there. Occasionally, there'd be a little scrubby Joshua tree, but there's nowhere to escape from the sun. The sun is bright, and it's everywhere, and there's nowhere to escape from it. This light is powerful. And John says here, this is the message. God is light. There is no darkness. So we can understand that the picture that he's using, that he's giving us of light. This is really a fascinating way to describe God, isn't it? Here he's just affirmed that Jesus Christ is the eternal son of God. He's the word, the life, the eternal one who is with the father from the beginning. And he says that he came in the flesh and he's affirming that he is an eyewitness, John himself, an authority, an eyewitness. This is as sure as anything can be sure. So He explains who He's preaching. And He says that He wants them to have fellowship. He wants you as His readers to have fellowship, not just with fellow believers, but with God Himself, with the Father and with the Son. And now he gets to the message. So he said who he's preaching. He said why he's preaching. No, he's saying what? This is the message. What message did he hear from this eternal one? The word of life, the word made flesh. What did Jesus preach? And he condenses it down to this. This is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. It's a fascinating way that John brings this to us. You almost question, is this really what Jesus taught? I don't remember him saying quite this. It seems a little odd, but what he's doing here is he's bringing God's holiness into focus and showing you what the whole scripture has been teaching. that this isn't about us. We are not the center of the universe. We as individuals aren't the center. The gospel, what is it centered around? It's God. God is the center of the gospel. The very basis of the gospel message isn't just our needs, it's God's holiness. God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. So this is what he's saying is God is entirely holy. And for you to belong to God, for you to be in union with Christ, you must be holy. Isn't that the message of the old Testament? All of those ceremonial laws, what did God say to them? You must be holy as I am holy. And so, for you to be his people, you must be holy. And John is going to develop this as he goes through, and he's going to chase this idea and really, really clarify it for us as he goes through. And he's going to develop this as he goes through the letter. But this is what he brings to us, is the message of Christ. This is central to Christ's message, is that God is light. And in Him, there is no darkness at all. This is God's holiness. God is pure. He is good. There is no evil. There is no sin. There is no darkness in Him. This is not what Satan was trying to do as we looked this morning at the temptations of Christ. Satan was trying to introduce darkness. He was trying to corrupt the light and bring darkness into the light of Christ. We often have a tendency to think only in terms of ourselves and think of the gospel only in terms of ourselves. I've done wrong. I feel guilty. I don't want to go to hell. I don't want God's judgment. So what do I need? What can God do for me? And we think often only of what God is able to give us. and we put ourselves as individuals at the center of our own universe rather than putting God at the center of the gospel. This is something that really happens from infancy. We're self-absorbed, naturally. You can watch a baby that her mother will feed her and take care of her and give her everything she needs and then mother puts her down in the crib and walks away and the baby starts crying. And then, well, check to see, make sure that everything's done and all the needs are met, yeah. Then set the baby down again and she starts screaming and it becomes more urgent. And well, it turns out that all the baby wants is for the mother to just hold her and not do anything else. Just make the world revolve. So from infancy, we have this idea that we are the center of everything, that everything revolves around us. But John turns us, in the Gospel message, to the centrality of God himself and his holiness. It's not just something... it's really sort of an unnatural way to look at things for us, because we've been born in sin. So, here we are We need to remember, as John chides us, what he's trying to do. As John begins to develop this gospel message in this way, what is his goal? His goal is fellowship, right? He wants everyone to believe in Jesus Christ. He wants you to have fellowship with the Father and the Son. He wants you to have fellowship with the saints. So he's bringing you this gospel message so that you can have fellowship with God. So this is what you need to know in order to have fellowship with God, that God is holy. It's the study of light and this whole concept of light is a very, it's a prominent theme in scripture. If you start studying it, it's a fascinating study, the theology of light in scripture. And really, if you start looking at it and you start seeing all these familiar passages that that really point to God as light, and the righteousness and holiness as light, and sin as darkness. You even look all the way back to Genesis, and what is God doing out of chaos? He brings what? He calls forth light. God says, let there be light. There was light. So there's, from the beginning, there's this chaos, this darkness, this nothing. and then God calls it to order, and one of the things that He does is brings light to it. And from the very beginning, God begins bringing light, His light, into the world. In Psalms, it says, in your light we see light, and Isaiah, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness. And that we could go on and on through scriptures concerning light and how this has developed. But I think one passage that really ties it all together from creation onward is 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 3 through 6. And he speaks of the people who have been blinded by the God of this world, by Satan. And he keeps them from seeing, as Paul says, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. So those who don't accept the gospel, who don't see it, they're blinded to the light of the gospel. Christ as the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And you see there, it's that gospel light, that we dwell in darkness, the darkness of sin, of rebellion against God. It's like we're dwelling in the night, creatures of the night, until God shines his light in our hearts. And then we can have fellowship with God. But isn't that what the preaching of the gospel is all about from John the Baptist? You think of him calling people to repentance, calling them out of sin, out of unrighteousness. Jesus calling people to repentance, telling the Pharisees, don't just do something that looks good to man. Don't do works that seem good to other people, but work on your heart. do things that are holy in God's sight, because that's where it counts. And so he was showing that the Pharisees, because they only did external deeds, just whatever would make them seem religious to other people, they didn't have true fellowship with God. They were creatures of darkness. Even with their seeming religious, their dedication to religious ways, they were still in darkness. Their hearts were dark. It's not enough to be moral people. It's not enough to try to be as good as we can. In order to have fellowship with God, you must be holy. You must be in the light as he is in the light. Be holy as he is holy. This light must characterize God's people. So if this light, this righteousness and holiness characterizes God, this absolute absence of evil, for his people to have fellowship with him, there must not be darkness in you. Isn't that what he's saying? Look at verse six here in 1 John. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. God is light. We cannot have fellowship with him and be in darkness. Because that would mean that his first statement is false. That God is light, in him there is no darkness at all. So if you want to be united to Christ and you're living in darkness, it's impossible for God to do that because then he would cease to be light. He would be united with the darkness. And so you see what he's saying here is you can't be in your sins, you can't be living in your sins and be united to God and have fellowship with God because he is not evil, there's no evil in him. Think of Isaiah, in Isaiah 6, where he comes before God, he stands in the throne room of God and he sees the holiness of God. What does he do? He doesn't just say, hey God, this is really great, I'm so glad. He's horrified. woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips. I come from a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen God." And so he's horrified that he is dirty, he's a sinner. He can't cleanse himself, there's nothing he can do until God then sends the angel with that burning coal from the altar and cleanses him. So for us to have fellowship with God, we must live in the light. We must have the light. So John here, he has no uncertain terms. If you do this, if you live in sin, if you are unrepentant in your sin and you say that you have fellowship with God, that you belong to God, you're a liar. He doesn't mince words at all. And as I think we pointed out, I pointed out last week that John says things in very stark contrast and so he's very loving and and he calls people he speaks to people gently but for the people that are hypocrites for the Pharisees for those who are lying he calls them what they are he calls a spade a spade he doesn't mince words he says this is a lie And it's not because he hates people, it's not because he's unloving. 1 John is the place where that favorite verse is, God is love, right? God is love. But he's giving us what we need to know so that we can participate in God's love, so we can know God's love. We can't just Impose on it. We can't just come to God and remain in our sins He's giving us what you he's giving you what you need to know So that you can have fellowship with God You and I as Unbelievers prior to the regeneration of the Holy Spirit prior to coming to Christ We're living in darkness. We are children of darkness because we're born in Adam. In Adam, all sinned. So we're born into darkness and without outside help, we have no way of becoming creatures of light. Ephesians 5, I think it's worthwhile for us to look at Ephesians 5 for a minute. Ephesians 5, verse 6, And so Paul here is telling them, he goes through a list of sins. He says, let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partners with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. You were in darkness. You are saved now. Don't participate in those deeds. Because of Christ, you can become children of light. But once you become children of light, you must remain in the light. You must walk in the light. And he says in verse 9, For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it's shameful even to speak of things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light. And it continues. But you see there, he calls out to us. Paul calls out to the church. You're children of light. when you're saved, so you don't walk in darkness any longer. So, John here, he's presented Christ to you, now he's presented God in his holiness, and he's telling you, you must be in the light. You must be holy, because Christ has purchased you for himself. When I think of soldiers, perhaps during one illustration I thought of was soldiers during World War II, there were American soldiers of German descent. That wasn't extremely uncommon, where you'd have Americans fighting for America of German descent, and they had to fight Germans. They had sworn allegiance to the country, but what would we think if one of them said, well, I know I've sworn allegiance to the country, and I'm fighting for the United States, but I really enjoy my family. I have a lot of good friends, and I have good memories of Germany. So I think I'll go today and fight for Germany, and then tomorrow I'll come back to the United States, and I'll fight on that side. treacherous. He would be labeled a traitor if he did that. But we do the same thing sometimes with giving ourselves an opportunity for lust. We go and give ourselves a little bit of a leash to go and enjoy the lusts of the flesh and just depend on the mercy of God. But Paul agrees with John here that you, as believers, are called to live in a totally different way. You're called to shun the lusts of the flesh. You're called to live contramundum, against the world. And this is really something that you must have solidly in your mind. Because right now, this point is under attack. Not just from outside the world, it's always been under attack from outside the world, but from within the church right now. This is a point of deep contention. There are evangelical churches right now, entire denominations that are fighting over this. How far do you have to go and can you still be a Christian? Can you identify with your sins? Can you be identified by your sins? Can you participate in sin openly and unrepentantly and still be a Christian? And many of them are answering yes, you can. This really has come very clear with the question of the quote-unquote gay Christian. Is that something that can be Can we accept that? Should people identify with that sin, that particular lust? Can we be identified both with our sin and with Christ? Or is that a contradiction in terms? What does John say? If you're gonna walk in the light, if you're gonna have fellowship with God, You can't have fellowship with darkness as well. And this is really intensifying. I just read an article on, it was one of those that's partly restricted. You have to have a subscription. So I didn't get to read the whole thing, but it was an article that was saying that there was a politician who claimed to be a Christian and said that he, apparently had called homosexuality a sin. And they said, this person cannot be called decent in any way. He's insidious. And that, and we can't countenance this in our country that anyone would call that sin. Not that he was even calling for punishments or outlawing or any of that, but, and then I was able to read some of the comments and there were. people commenting on this and saying, how can we even live in the same country as someone who would call homosexuality a sin? And basically the gist of several of the comments were we need to get rid of them. We need to outlaw this thought pattern that calls this a sin. And so you see, it's, this is really, it seems so basic and it is. But it's really a point that we have to keep going over and over. As Christians, we have to leave our sin. God, because he is light, because he is holy, he calls believers to leave their sin and be holy as he is holy. So really, this is the point. If God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all, Can you claim to have union with Christ and live in the darkness of sin? John answers it unequivocally, no, you cannot. There can be no fellowship with God in darkness. This really comes up on a daily basis, but, and how many times have Christians been called judgmental for pointing out sin. How many times have they been called unloving or been chided that God is inclusive and he welcomes sinners just as they are, just as they are, not needing to change. Just, you name the name of Christ and you're fine without leaving your sin, but this isn't what the gospel teaches, is it? God saves you out of sin. He calls you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So there has to be a change. True Christianity includes a change of affection. If you love God, if you truly love God, then you love the light. Your affection changes. You don't want the darkness anymore. The darkness that you loved you begin to love the light. If it were up to us and we had to, if Jesus just paid for our sins up front and said, all right, now it's up to you to maintain this, we'd be hopeless, wouldn't we? Because this is a tall order to say no darkness at all. But praise be to God, that's not where he leaves us. John isn't trying to leave us in hopelessness and helplessness and unattainable holiness before God, but he's bringing us here because he shows us God's love, but he has to do it in an honest way. John isn't gonna let you get away with a lie, because he wants you to truly have fellowship with God. He doesn't want to leave you in some sort of a partial light. He doesn't want to leave you in a sort of a dusky light. He wants you in the light, having fellowship with God, full fellowship with fellow believers. And so he says, 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, cleanses us from all sin. Then he says in verse nine, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But then he reminds you once more, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar. His word is not in us. So we can't just come and say, well, I don't think I really need forgiveness. I don't think I've done anything that bad. He says, no, that would make him a liar. That doesn't work either. You have to come to God, acknowledging your sin. Come to God humbly, repenting of your sin. And he says he's merciful. He's faithful and just. He's promised that he will forgive your sins in Christ. That's the point of the gospel when it, when he comes with God is like, God is holy. And then Jesus Christ comes and he sacrifices himself so that you can have fellowship with him. because He is holy. And that's the only way for you to have fellowship with Him, is through His sacrifice. If you can be made holy and through Jesus Christ, through His cleansing blood, you can be made white. you are made white. And he calls you here not just to that one time repentance, but continually as we confess our sins, he's faithful and just, forgive us our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness because we continue to dabble in those deeds of darkness. As Paul pointed out in Romans, that he himself was prone to that. He did the things that he didn't want to do. There was remaining sin in the Apostle Paul, there's remaining sin in you, and there's remaining sin in me. And so we come continually to God, asking forgiveness, humbly, and leaning on Him in faith that He will do as He promised, that through confession of sin, coming to Him through Christ, He will forgive. He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He will wash away the darkness. God is long-suffering. There isn't any room for self-deception here. There's only room for humility, isn't there? John doesn't want you to be deceived about this. He wants you to be in full communion with God, in full fellowship with God. So don't try to sugarcoat the Gospel for people. Don't try to sidestep it because people, the really, really the loving thing to do to people who are living in their sins is to tell them the truth, isn't it? If someone were walking, going to walk across over the edge of a cliff, if a blind man were walking over the edge of a cliff and he really wanted to walk that direction, would the most loving thing to be to allow him to walk over the edge? or to tell him the truth of where he's at. And that's really what it comes down to, why John is being so strong in his language of calling these things lies, calling them out for what they are, because that's the true loving thing to do. Point them to the only place where there's true fellowship with God. Point them to the place where they will not be making God a liar, where they will not be believing. a lie. So John here has shown us the gospel in a striking way. He's pointed us to the holy character of God, that God's holiness is the center of the gospel. That's why we need to be holy. That's why we need to be saved. It's because God is holy, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Our deeds of darkness must be punished because God is light. He cannot abide the darkness. When God commands us, He gives us commands that flow out of His character. So when He tells us to obey His commands, when He tells us how to live. Those are things that flow out of His character when Jesus gives us the rules for life. When He gives us commands, He's telling us, this is how you live in the light. These are the deeds of the light. Loving God with all your heart, loving your neighbor as yourself. These are the deeds of light. But since you and I are incapable of getting rid of the darkness that is in us, we must flee to Christ. And that's what John is pointing us at every turn, to Christ. The truth of Christ. The love of Christ. The cleansing blood of Christ is what John points us to. The God who dwells in unapproachable light calls you to himself. He calls you to fellowship with himself. He tells you that he will not be joined to darkness. That you cannot continue in the darkness. But in Jesus Christ, he extends his love to you. If you will come to him in humble repentance, and he says he promises he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins. and to cleanse you from unrighteousness. So are you pure enough? Are you holy enough to be in God's presence? On your own, you'd have to say no. But in Christ Jesus, if you're in Christ Jesus, if you've been cleansed by his blood, you can say yes, I am holy. I am clean. I am in the light to dwell in God's presence because I have the righteousness of Christ. Let's pray. Lord our God, we thank you for Jesus Christ, for his obedience, for his suffering, for his sacrifice for us, and we thank you that he has risen again from the dead, that he is seated in glory at your right hand, and that His blood cleanses us from all sin, that in Him we have hope, in Him we have cleansing, in Him we can be in the light as You are in the light. Lord, we pray that You would help us to walk in the light, to shun the deeds of darkness. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.