Wednesday, August 21, 2024

PT-7 "The Nature of God" (1 John 1:5)

 

EVENING SERMON FOR 8/21/2024 11:00 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-7 “The Nature of God”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  1 John 1:5

 

            Message of the verse:  5 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.”

 

            What I have decided to do as I look at this verse is to quote from a sermon that John MacArthur gave in this section in 2002.  The important thing that I am trying to talk about is that God is Light.  I know that in the past that I looked at this subject, perhaps when I was studying the Gospel of John and remember that this is a very important truth for us to understand and that is why I chose to quote from this sermon mentioned above.  It will take us a  number of days to look at it as I do not want to put so much on these SD’s that will take a long time to read and may discourage people from reading it. 

 

“Now, that then poses the question: Who possesses this? Right? How can we be sure that we have this life? Well, it’s not just if we say we have it - verse 6 - it’s if we - verse 7 - walk in the light. And John then sets up a series of contrasts that we’re going to look at starting next week. John then goes on to discuss who is really a possessor of the light, who really has the life, as opposed to those who are still in the darkness. That basically sets up the rest of the book.

“You notice this theme comes back a few times. Turn to chapter 2 and verse 9 “The one who says he’s in the light,” that doesn’t do it. “You say you have the life, you say you’re in the light, you hate your brother? You’re in the darkness.” Verse 10, “The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there’s no cause for stumbling in him.” Verse 11, “The one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, doesn’t know where he’s going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

“So this is the way it goes through this epistle. It’s a contrast between who is in the light, who has the light and who does not. Even over in chapter 5, verses 11 and 12, the same thing is basically emphasized. “The witness is this, that God has given us eternal life. This life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have the life.” And remember, life and light are synonymous.

“So let’s go back to chapter 1, verse 5. When John starts, after the introduction of the first four verses, in which he affirms the reality of the incarnation and himself as a personal eyewitness, as he starts into the main emphasis of his epistle, it is critical to have a foundation, and the foundation is that God is light. That’s the foundation. God is the source of life, God has given that life through His Son to those who believe.

Then the question arises, how do we know who has received that light? How do we know who possesses the life, the eternal life of God? So John puts himself in a position - you could say he’s poised to reject claims by those who have no right to claim the light and to affirm the reality of salvation to those who do have a right to claim the light. Now remember, there is a polemic tone in all of this because John is trying to protect the churches to whom he writes from deceivers, false teachers, false prophets, liars. John’s passion is for the truth, and he wants to expose the liars.

“And so this whole epistle is at the very foundation of the safety of the church. It is being able to distinguish who really has eternal life, who really has the light, who is really in the fellowship and who is not because false teachers are successful because they claim to be in the light. They claim to know the truth. They claim to have the life of God, to be possessors of eternal life. And we’re going to see that the first test that John applies to determine whether somebody is really in the light, really possesses the life, really has received eternal life is their attitude toward sin - their attitude toward sin.

“And in the passage that is before us in this first chapter, John attacks the notion that someone can have eternal life who denies sin. It’s a rather simple test to know who possesses eternal life - they confess their sin. And so now you know where we’re going in the epistle, where John is going, and how important it is that he starts this section by saying, “And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you.” And he’s saying, “This is what I’m telling you because I heard it from Jesus. God is light. This is not my opinion, this is a message we heard from Him, from the incarnate One, the Word of life, light incarnate and we’re telling it to you. I’m telling you what God in human flesh told me.”

8/21/2024 11:08 PM

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