Check your walk | 1 John 1:5-7

I will just read the words of our Lord as recorded

in 1 John 1 verse 5 to 7 where we read, This

1 John 1:5–7

is the message we have heard from him and proclaim

to you that God is light and in him is no darkness

at all. If we say we have fellowship with him

while we walk in darkness we lie. And do not

practice the truth. 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,

cleanses us from all sin. Thus, by God's word,

over to Mark. Good morning, everyone. Let's turn

to our Lord in prayer and then we'll jump into

the passage that we have before us a very brief

passage Just three verses. Let's pray Heavenly

Father Lord Jesus and Holy Spirit, please Open

our eyes help us to see help us to understand

your truth Give the words That I would need to

preach to help people to understand these things

use what I say This morning to build up your

church in Jesus name. We pray Amen My family

and I we like Lego all of us love Lego now, this

is Duplo I know it's a bit bigger, but it's hard

to see the Lego from way in the back So I hold

Duplo up. We love Lego now. We like to play with

Lego and My my little granddaughter when she

was about 18 months old She would love, when

you built a tower and put it together, she would

love to just knock it over. That was her favorite

thing to do and she giggled while she knocked

over your tower. It was terrible. It was terrible.

But now that she's a big girl, she likes to take

the Lego, now that I've dumped it all over the

place. She likes to take the Lego and she builds

her own towers. She builds her own towers and

it's lovely. to see somebody go from a destroyer

of worlds to a builder of her own little house

and little villages. In John's letter, he connects

the crucial Lego pieces of the Christian life.

He connects them together so that we might understand

how to live. Truths like God is light. truths

like God is love. And concepts that we have in

the Word of God, and particularly in John's letters

here, truths like fellowship, truth, sin, cleansing,

all of these things show us how the pieces fit

together. And this is what John is doing for

us in the book of 1 John. Today, as we go through

1 John, the challenge he often sets before us

is how well do you connect the biblical truths

of life together to live life together? Now last

week we heard that our fellowship and joy center

on the witness and on the message that Jesus

and his apostles proclaimed. Last and this week

we're gonna see a bit more about what John reveals

to us and In short, we're told that Jesus disciples

welcome God's light To drive out darkness to

promote fellowship and to promote cleansing So

to walk through these verses this morning what

we're gonna do is we're gonna look at the truth

the test the life those are our three points

the truth the test and the life the truth is

what we see in verse 5 God is light the truth

that God is light it's it's monumental it's life

-changing if this truth is really active in your

life your life will change John says that the

biblical truth actually came from Jesus own lips

look at verse 5 He says, this is the message

that we have heard from him and proclaim to you.

And these trustworthy witnesses, these apostles,

they heard the truth and then they passed the

truth on. And the truth is this, God is light

and in him is no darkness at all. So connecting

God to light is not difficult for most of us.

We understand God is light. It's it's pure It's

it's beautiful. It's it illuminates things we

can understand that very simple truth. God is

light. It's not difficult But John does not only

say that God is light In John's gospel, so we're

thinking between two books the epistle that we're

in now first John and John's gospel that he wrote

as well In John's gospel he tells us that Jesus

is God's light come into the world. Now we didn't

read that passage this morning, but we have read

it before last week when we looked at John 1.

And it says in verse 4 of John 1, in him, that

is in Jesus, was life. And the life was the light

of men. The light shines in the darkness, and

the darkness has not overcome it. There was a

man sent from God whose name was John. Yes, there's

another John to keep track of here John the Baptist

He came as a witness to bear witness about the

light that all might believe through him He was

not the light. So John the Baptist was not the

light He was pointing to Jesus to bear witness

about the light the true light which gives life

to everyone, was coming into our world. That's

what John's message was, the light is coming.

So when we take John's gospel together with John's

first letter, we connect God to light, but we

also connect Jesus to God. That's what John is

doing there, connecting Jesus to... connecting

God to Jesus, who is God's true light. And he

too, like God, is without darkness. God, Jesus,

both light, both connected to each other. So

if this is true, and as Christians, right, we

believe this is true, this is true. This will

change how we follow. This will change how we

live. It will change us to know that God is light

and Jesus is light and we need to follow them.

Okay. Now, genuine Lego blocks. They connect

well with other genuine Lego blocks. I've had

the cheaper versions of Lego and they don't connect

as well to the other Lego blocks. Genuine Lego

blocks In order to ensure that I can connect

them well, I need to look at them and say, are

these really genuine Lego blocks? And yes, when

you look at the genuine Lego box, you can find

the Lego logo. And when you see the Lego logo

on the genuine Lego block, then you know that

it is a authentic piece of Lego, and it will

connect well with other authentic pieces of Lego.

Likewise, biblical truth. is verified by witnesses

to assure that we are building our life on the

truth of God's word. According to John 1, the

truth was that Jesus is God's light that has

come into the world. And that was verified by

John the Baptist who was sent from God to bear

witness. That's what John has told us in the

first chapter of John. And John the Baptist was

a witness to the truth, a burning lamp is what

he's called a little bit later in John's gospel

in John chapter five. He's also called a prophet

of God in Matthew chapter 11 where Jesus says

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

John is a prophet and yet and even more than

a prophet. And in Luke chapter one, Zachariah,

John's father, when he's praying, he prays for

his son because he knows his son is a prophet

sent from God. You see, all of that shows us

who John is. He can authenticate the word of

God. In addition, John, the apostle, tells us

along with all the other apostles, the other

11 apostles, that they heard and that they saw

and that they handled. They lived with Jesus

for three years on this earth. So when all these

witnesses give testimony, Who Jesus is it's like

that hundred point check ID check that you do

when you go to the driver's license office You

have to provide all this ID to show that you

really are who you say you are Well when the

Apostles and the prophets say who Jesus is that

is authentication That he is really who he says

he is See anyone can claim to be the light from

God can be the true light of God anyone can claim

that But when an authentic prophet of God, someone

who speaks for God says, Jesus is the light,

you should believe him. Additionally, when a

dozen other people, a dozen men, a dozen apostles,

when they heard and they lived with Jesus for

three years, when they say that he's the real

deal, you can believe him. You can believe him.

You have further verification that he is who

he says he is. Lastly, in John chapter 9, if

John 9 · chapter mention

that wasn't enough, in John chapter 9, Jesus

John 9 · chapter mention

verifies his own claim when he says in verse

5 of chapter 9, he says, as long as I'm in the

world, I'm the light of the world. How does he

verify that he really is? He heals a man born

blind, a man who his whole life had never seen

light when Jesus met him. He gave him eyes to

see. And that proves that Jesus is who he says

he is. The miracle not only backs up Jesus' claim,

but it reveals that Jesus' power is like God's

power. He can create. He can restore. He can

help you to see light. God and Jesus are connected.

Both are light. Okay, so now we've seen the truth,

right? We've seen the truth, we've had it verified,

and that sets us up for the test. Here's your

test. See, none of us in this room are fully

mature or fully like Jesus, right? If I asked

you right now, is anyone perfect? There'd be

no one to raise their hand, right? Put your hand

down. Karen just raised her, no, just kidding.

So difficulties in our fellowship with Jesus

and difficulties in our fellowship with one another

arise because of the sin and immaturity still

in our hearts, right? Any one of us can act like

that 18 month old little granddaughter. giggling,

or maybe raging, knocking over other people's

towers and refusing to build with them. See,

those sinful, immature acts are confronted by

the truth that we just examined, that God is

light. Our sinful immaturity breaks fellowship

with God and breaks fellowship with one another.

Look at verse six. Here's what it says. If we

say we have fellowship with him while we walk

in darkness, we lie and we do not practice the

truth. See, walking in darkness while claiming

that we walk with God reveals hypocrisy in our

hearts. We can say one thing, but then we walk

in evil. That's hypocrisy. And back in John's

gospel, Jesus talked with Nicodemus in John chapter

three. And in verse 19 of John chapter three,

this is what he said. And this is the judgment.

The light has come into the world and people

loved darkness. rather than light because their

works are evil. See Jesus, God's light, was unloved

and he was rejected by evildoers. Evil people

live in darkness, not in fellowship with God

and not in fellowship with one another. They

love evil. So there's this test that reveals

our heart, right? How's your walk? How do you

live your life? Do you walk in the light or do

you walk in darkness? Are you like God or are

you like evil? See, the test is binary. It's

a yes or no. Either the light is on or the light

is off. If it's on, you walk in the light. If

it's off, then you're stumbling in the dark.

The test is either pass fail. And right now if

you're like me, you're like, I hate pass fail

tests, especially when I'm failing. I realize

there's this monumental test and there's this

monumental truth and I'm falling short. And I

begin to feel hopeless. How about you? Now I

failed a lot of tests in my life. I don't say

that necessarily proudly, but I have failed a

lot of tests in my life. Academic tests, financial

tests, relational tests, moral tests. Likely

you have too. One thing I've learned. When you

fail, admit your failure. Go back, learn where

you went wrong. Seek God and ask him to help

you understand how to correct it. That's what

I've learned from failure. That's what I want

to encourage us all to learn from our failure.

What part will all of us get wrong in verse six?

If you look at verse 6, what part will always

trip us up, will always get us to do the wrong

thing? If we say we have fellowship with Him

while we walk in darkness. It's hypocrisy, isn't

it? Hypocrisy will always trip us up. Saying

one thing but doing another is evil. We must

repent. Otherwise, we walk in the dark. Hypocrisy

is a charge that's commonly leveled at Christians,

right? It's commonly one thing that the people

tell you if you're trying to share the Lord Jesus

with them, you're trying to tell them the gospel,

it's the one thing they always will say about

Christians. It's just a bunch of hypocrites.

The church is just a bunch of hypocrites, right?

Sadly, often it's a correct charge, right? I

mean, we do know people that are in the church,

not you of course, but we do know there are people

in the church that are hypocrites. We claim to

walk with Jesus, but we lie about our sin, trying

to cover our sin with self -justification. Or

like the Pharisees, we clothe ourselves in self

-righteousness. Acting as if God is just, you

know, it's just, God, you're so blessed to have

me in your family. You know, it's so wonderful

that you know it's so wonderful that I'm in the

family of God. See, either way, self -justification

or self -righteousness, either way it's untrue.

We're trapped in a lie. if we keep going on with

self -righteousness or self -justification. However,

as I said earlier at the start of this point,

none of us are fully mature or fully like Jesus.

Difficulties in our fellowship with Jesus and

with each other arise due to our sin and our

immaturity. The walk of a genuine follower of

Christ will be imperfect in this life. So, how

will you and I avoid hypocrisy? Don't tell lies

about your walk with Jesus. Don't lie. If you're

not doing well, if you've messed up, don't say

that you have done well and that everything's

perfect. Don't lie. Walk with Jesus and with

one another in the truth. Tell the truth. Admit

your sin to God. Admit your sin to others, those

that you might have wronged by doing sin. It

all makes sense, right? Simple truths that connect

together. This is how you live the Christian

life. Connect those truths together. Don't walk

in darkness. Don't lie. Walk in truth. Walk in

the light. And see, this is the life that we

live. And we don't walk this life alone. We walk

it together with Jesus, yes, with God in our

lives, working in our lives by his spirit, but

we walk together as the body of Christ as well.

The walk John encourages us to take is a walk

in the light. The reason we're able to take a

walk in the light is because Jesus himself, he

is the light. And this brings us into fellowship

with one another. Walking with Jesus together

allows us to have fellowship together with one

another. In other words, as we walk with Jesus,

we walk together with one another. Together,

we have life in our Savior. One of the most incredible,

one of the saddest outcomes of the worldwide

COVID pandemic was the incredible rise, statistically

speaking, the incredible rise of people feeling

isolated, anxious, depressed, alone. In the effort

to fight the spread of disease, our world came

face to face with the reality that humans are

not meant for isolation. God created us for community.

We thrive with healthy interactions with one

another, and we shrivel up when we're cut off

from one another. Not only are we created to

be in a healthy community with others, but we're

also created to live in a relationship with our

Creator God. But if He is light and we fail to

fully walk in that light, how are we able to

live with Him? How are we able to live with one

another? Well, The full solution will be covered

next week in Michael's sermon. So come back next

week for the full solution. But, for this week,

one thing. One thing in our verse, that last

verse, to take the heart in your walk with God.

He is light. He sees all. And He knows everything

about you. Now like that monumental test and

the monumental truth that can sound a bit scary.

He knows everything about me Oh, that's a terrible

that can be terrifying right? That could be scary

until you realize why God sent Jesus You see

he sent Jesus to deal with our sin Verse 7 verse

7 tells us the wonderful truth As we walk closely

with Jesus, what does it say at the end of verse

seven? You can read it with me. The blood of

Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Jesus'

blood, his life given to wash away all our sin

is the solution for our failure, for our sin.

and for our loss of truth in fellowship. Because

of Jesus, we do not ever have to leave the light

of God's presence. We should never fall away.

We should never walk away from God when we fail,

when we do wrong. Don't walk away from God. Instead,

we should turn to Him, admit our sin. Don't cover

it up. Jesus has washed it away. We don't need

to cover it up Besides God knows anyway, right?

It's not like we can really hide it from God

So today Again, we've seen these crucial Lego

truths biblical truths Christian truths so that

we might walk in the light First off God is light.

Here's one of the truths we've learned. God is

light and in him is no darkness at all. That's

a huge truth. And like I said, it should change

your life that we walk with the one who is light.

And Jesus is the light of the world is what we're

told in John's gospel. And that's good news for

everyone. Doesn't matter what your background

in or what you have done or not done. It doesn't

matter where you come from, whether you're high

or low, young or old, Jesus is the light of the

world. He is the light for all who will turn

to him. The other truth we've learned is that

fellowship requires truth, not hypocrisy, not

lying. So walk in truth so that fellowship is

promoted among us. And lastly, that big truth

that we just saw at the end, Jesus' blood cleanses

us from all sin, allowing us to fellowship with

one another and fellowship with our creator,

God. You see, Jesus gave us his word. He gave

his life for us. We can walk with him in the

light. as we connect the truths that we've seen

here in these verses and as we spend time with

one another and with our God in fellowship. Let's

pray. Heavenly Father, we are so pleased, so

thankful, so grateful that you have been so gracious

and merciful to each one here who's walking in

the light with you. Lord, we know that our sin

is dealt with. Your word has promised it in Jesus.

We know that you are at work in us, through us,

and you allow us to walk with you because of

what he has done. Lord, in all of this, we do

want to thank you. Lord, we do pray that we would

apply these truths to our walk with one another,

that we would admit our sin, but also be forgiving

of the sin of others toward us. That we would

be those who are tender -hearted and compassionate,

loving one another as we walk together in truth

and love. And we pray all this in Jesus' name.

Amen.