Greetings! Welcome to Lechem Panim. [One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?” The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t, dear,” she said. “I have to sleep in Daddy’s room.” A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: “The big sissy.”] Separated From Darkness-- What do you do when things...
Greetings! Welcome to Lechem Panim.
[One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?” The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t, dear,” she said. “I have to sleep in Daddy’s room.” A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: “The big sissy.”]
Separated From Darkness-- What do you do when things get stormy; when the lights go out? One night a few weeks ago it was particularly stormy; and I was having devotions with them in bed. And we read the story of Jesus’ quieting the storm and how we don’t have to be afraid because He is with us and He is bigger. (LONG PAUSE) He is the Light of the world; and being the Light of the World, darkness has no power over Him. And that applies to every physical storm we face; but it also applies to the spiritual storms as well. When we abide in Jesus; the darkness of sin need not have any power over us either. And that is one of the central themes we will discover as we continue our study of the epistle of 1 John. In Genesis 1:3-4 it says…
Genesis 1:3-4 (ESV)-- 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
And in this epistle we discover that through the Holy Spirit, God wants to do the same thing in our hearts that He did at the very beginning of creation. Just as God separated light from darkness at the beginning of creation, so also we as Christians are called to separate ourselves completely from darkness. John writes in his Gospel in…
John 8:12 (ESV)-- 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
And much of this epistle is an unpacking of that theme; what that actually looks like in the Christian’s life, starting with verse 5 of 1 John chapter 1.
1 John 1:5-7 (ESV) Walking in the Light-- 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 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 cleanses us from all sin.
A Focus on Sin— You know it is amazing to me as I look through the Old Testament to see just how much emphasis; How much focus the biblical writers give to the doctrine of sin. They come to it again and again and again. In fact, the very first chapters of Genesis can be very uncomfortable to read because we see in those stories just how deep into brokenness sin can carry us. It infects the world, infects agriculture, it infects society, and especially family relationships. And we see that immediately after Adam and Eve take that bite of the forbidden fruit. And we see from that moment onwards, in just about every family relationship that comes after that; each is marred by and filled with brokenness; with anger; with murder; with competing with one another; selling siblings into slavery. You know what I'm talking about. And you don't really get much of a glimmer of hope until you come to that place in the story of Joseph where Joseph, amazingly, is able to forgive his brothers because he has a sense of his own place in God's sovereign plan. That is really the first glimmer of hope we get after the fall. And we will come back to that. But all this to say is that before we can understand anything about salvation; we have to first have laid the foundation of an understanding of this thing called sin and what it has caused.
We don't like to talk about SIN-- Now we don't really like to talk about sin in our postmodern churches. It's unpleasant. We prefer to talk about the grace, the love, the mercy of God. We want nice messages. We don't want to talk about judgment and don't certainly don’t want to talk about hell; or the wrath of God being poured out on a world that has turned its back on God’s righteous revelation of Himself makes many people (even Christians) very uncomfortable. We want a loving God who overlooks our sin; not a holy God who must deal with and cleanse us of sin.
Where All Worship Must Begin-- But all true worship must begin with the recognition of what sin has done to us and our need for a Savior. Because until we understand the depth of our own sin, we will not understand our need for a Savior.
Sins’ Destruction-- The reason the biblical writers return to this subject over and over again is because they want us to recognize (through the Old Testament narrative) the destructive nature of sin; what sin has done to the human heart; how it damages the mind; how it infiltrates and destroys relationships; how it brings bondage; and, most importantly, how it separates us from the Holy One.
The Work of Christ-- Christ has come to mend that relationship; set us free from that bondage, transform our minds; heal our hearts, and give us new natures.
Umbrella Theology-- Now when I was growing up, I went to a Baptist school most of my life. And I had many teachers who you could tell really loved the Lord. And I appreciate the years of instruction they gave me. However, one of the things that I was taught there was umbrella theology; the idea that the blood of Jesus shed for me covers me like an umbrella. I was sinful before I got saved and am sinful afterwards. The only difference now is that whenever God looks at me, He can only see me through the umbrella of Christ’s blood; that my sinfulness has been covered by that blood and though I am still sinful, He sees me through the righteousness of Christ and therefore I am declared righteous, even though I’m not really; it is not until I get to heaven that I will actually be made righteous. Now they told me I ought to try to be good, but can’t really be holy until I get to heaven; I just need to try my best; and if I sin, just ask God to forgive me and He will automatically wipe the slate clean and I could have a fresh start.
Not Better, but Holy-- The problem with this is that God doesn’t command us to try our best; He tells us to be holy as He is holy. As John talks about in verses 5-7, we are called to be holy, to live in consistent victory over sin. We are to allow Christ to change our behaviors. But we can’t have victory over sin until we first acknowledge that there is a problem. And sin is the problem. But the false teachers who were influencing the Ephesian Church were claiming [that people had no natural tendency toward sin, that they had “no sin,” and that they were then incapable of sinning.] But the next verse says…
1 John 1:8 (ESV)-- 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Misinterpretation-- Now this is often misrepresented to mean that all of us have sin in us and to say that we can ever have victory over our sinful natures and live in consistent victory over sin this side of heaven is not Biblical. But that is not what this verse is saying at all. John is confronting specific beliefs that are being perpetuated by the false teachers who were influencing the Ephesian Church regarding the nature of sin. But he wasn’t saying for one minute that we have to be in bondage to it. Why? Because he has just said in verses 5-6 (and keep in mind we are talking about fellowship with God; abiding in Him): God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. And we see that he says later in…
1 John 3:6 (ESV)-- 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
So what John is saying here in verse 8 is that we need to confront the reality of our sin. And once we do, we can find complete freedom from that sin. And it starts with confession. He says in…
1 John 1:9 (ESV)-- 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confession-- Now confession is very interesting word in Greek. It is homologeo, which is a compound of two words: homo (meaning “the same”) and logeo (which means “to say”). So to homologeo (to confess) to God literally means “to say the same thing.” We are to say the same thing about our sin that God says about it. We are to look at it from God’s perspective and call it for what it is; sin. That is what the scriptures mean when it tells us to confess our sins.
Prophecy Fulfilled: Total Darkness-- Once a minister was preaching. [The Scripture reading was from the Book of Job and the minister had just read, “Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out,” when immediately the church was in total darkness. “Brethren,” said the minister with scarcely a moment’s pause, “in view of the sudden and startling fulfillment of this prophecy, we will spend a few minutes in silent prayer for the electric lighting company.”] Now they obviously didn’t want to admit that they could be the ones who had sin in their lives. And that is a conclusion we often seek to avoid as well. But John writes in…
1 John 1:10 (ESV)-- 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him {(God)} a liar, and his word is not in us.
Admission-- We have to admit (at some point in our lives) that we are sinners. Until we reach that point, we are incapable of receiving salvation. We can’t receive the cure until we first come to terms with our disease. But when we do, the Great Physician of our souls has license to come in and heal us. Do you want that healing today? If so, all you need to do is ask; and Christ will touch you, make you clean, and empower you to walk no longer in darkness, but in the Light of Life. Choose to walk in that Light today. Amen.
