PT-4 "The Nature of God" (1 John 1:5)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/27/2024 11:17 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  PT-4 “The Nature of God”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  1 John 1:5

 

            Message of the verse:  “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

 

            We begin by looking at some more Scripture and first of all I want to look at John 8:12 “I am the Light of the World, he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life.”  Next we can compare this with John 12:45-46 “45 “He who sees Me sees

the One who sent Me. 46 "I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”  MacArthur adds “God, the source of true light, bestows it on believers in the form of eternal life through His Son, who was the light incarnate.”

 

            He goes on to write “Scripture reveal two fundamental principles that flow from the foundational truth that God is light.  First, light represents the truth of God, as embodied in His Word.  The psalmist wrote these familiar words: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path…The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple’ (Ps. 119:105, 130; cf. Prov. 6:23; 2 Peter 1:19).  The light and life of God are inherently connected to the characterized by truth.

 

            “Second, Scripture also links light with virtue and moral conduct.  The apostle Paul instructed the Ephesians, ‘You were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth)’ (Eph. 5:8-9; cf. Isa. 5:20; Rom. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:5-6).

 

            “Those two essential properties of divine light and life are crucial in distinguishing genuine faith from a counterfeit claim.  In one professes to prossess the Light and to dwell in it—to have received eternal life—he will show evidence of spiritual life by his devotion both to truth and to righteousness, as John writes later in this letter:

 

The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.  The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.  But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.  (2:9-11; cf Matt. 5:16; 25:34-40; Luke 1:6; 11:28; Rom. 6:17; 16:19; Phil. 1:11; Titus 2:7; James 2:14-20).

 

            “If truth and righteousness are absent from one’s life, that person, no matter what he or she says, does not possess eternal life (Matt. 7:17-18, 21-23; 25:41-46).  They cannot belong to God because in Him there is no darkness at all.  God is absolutely perfect in truth and holiness (Ex. 15:11; 1 Sam. 2:2; Ps. 22:3; 48:10; 71:19; 98:2; Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8; 15:4).  Obviously, believers fall far short of that perfection, but they manifest a godlike desire for and continual striving toward heavenly truth and righteousness (cf. Phil. 3:7-16).”

 

“7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11  in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

 

    “15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; 16  however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.”

 

8/27/2024 11:43 PM