Reformed Baptist Church in O'Fallon, Missouri
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God is Light

1 John 1:1-5

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

Opening Prayer

All right, let’s pray. Lord, thank you for this opportunity to share your word today. Lord, you know all things. You know my weaknesses. You know my sins. You know my unworthiness to share your word today. I acknowledge that before you and before the church. I’m nothing; you are everything. And we ask today that you would reveal yourself a little bit more to us so we can know you better, love you deeper, and serve you more fervently. And we pray that in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Scripture Reading

Open your Bibles to 1 John, if you would, chapter 1. Oh, if you have a phone on, please make sure it’s muted.

A couple weeks ago, I shared with you on the text in John where it said that Jesus is spirit. And so today I want to talk about this text in 1 John where it says Jesus is light. And then next week we’re going to talk about the Scripture that says Jesus is love. And those are the three indicatives of the New Testament, where we get succinct descriptions of what God is like.

Here in 1 John chapter 1, starting in verse 1—oh, by the way, I’m reading a King James. You’re probably reading ESV, NIV, ASV, ABC, I don’t know. All kinds. There’s so many now, right? But you’ve got to be careful with your translations. I think I shared this in the past. You remember when they ran that ad where all these athletes were in the pictures, and they had a milk mustache? And what did it say? Got milk? Question mark. Well, it translated that into Spanish, and it came out, “Are you lactating?” So, not a good translation. And then Bic Pen had a problem because they had a little campaign where they had a motto for their pen that says, “Will not leak.” Now any man who’s, you know, over the years used a pen in the shirt pocket knows you can get ink stains in your pocket, right? So it doesn’t leak—which ended up being translated, “Will not get you pregnant.” So you never know. Okay, 1 John 1, verse 1:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us; that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

(1 John 1:1–5)

Some versions say “our joy may be full.” This then is the message—okay, this is the message from Jesus according to John—which we have heard of him and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

God Is Light

When John says God is light, he’s saying really many things. So I’m going to limit my comments to two or three of these things that are suggested by this metaphor of light, if you will. Two that I think are primary in his mind in the context of the rest of the passage here, or even the whole book of 1 John, which is really about fellowship with the Father. That’s what the book’s really about. So what does John mean when he says God is light?

God Is Holy

Well, one of the things he means is that God is holy, or God is moral purity, absolute purity. Now, when you hear the word God, you think of a perfect being, right? I mean, it’s kind of like in the definition. But, you know, that’s not always the way things were. Matter of fact, in some cultures still today, they hear the word God, and it’s not just a good being; it’s a mixed being. And if you read about the old mythologies, whether it’s Norse mythology, Greek, Roman mythology, the gods sinned, and they sinned egregiously. They were vengeful, they were spiteful, they were hateful, they committed adultery, they committed incest, they were disgusting and perverse gods, but they were called gods. So here comes John and says, oh, we have a different God. Our God is not only light, but there is no darkness in him.

I believe John has a target here, and the target is not only pagan mythology, but a burgeoning development of what’s called Gnosticism in the church. And according to the Gnostics, there were two equal and eternal powers in the universe. One was good and one was bad: light and dark. But according to the Scripture, according to John, the ultimate principle, the foundational principle, is simply light. It’s goodness. God is not only good. God is unsullied good. No evil, no wickedness at all, absolute moral purity.

So this concept of holiness has both a negative and a positive side. The negative is a lack of something. So if you say that God is light, or God is holy, what is he lacking? Sin. Any and all sin. Now some people hear the word holiness and it’s not necessarily all that exciting, because they have an idea of holiness that’s kind of like stainless steel that’s been sanitized. It’s something hard, something clean, but kind of clinical. Because you think of a clean environment, you think of something that’s pristine, but not necessarily something that is comfortable or warm or welcoming. So the absence of sin is the negative side of this concept of holiness, but there’s also a positive side. And the positive side is a possession of all good. When we say God is holy, we mean not only that he does not sin; we mean that at the core of his essence is goodness. Goodness. The center of the universe is goodness. Think about that for a while. That’s a radical idea when you go back and you look at the history of theology in both East and West, and all of the deities that were mixed beings. This is the God who’s not mixed. This is the God that is pure, pure light: the absence of sin, but also the possession of all that is good.

We’ve been teaching theology on Wednesday evenings, and Mike taught on the attributes of God. And when you study the attributes of God in theology books, doctrine books, they’ll categorize a bunch—and I think we should, because it helps us get a deeper understanding of the nature of God. But God isn’t a bunch of little pieces that are put together in a puzzle. He’s good, fundamentally good. That means he is gracious. That means he forgives the unworthy. He blesses the unworthy. We don’t deserve anything, do we? No, actually we do deserve one thing. What’s that, David? What? Yeah, the wrath of God. That’s what we deserve. But that’s not what God gives us, because of his great grace. Grace is God’s love for the undeserving. He’s merciful. God is compassionate. That is God’s goodness toward not just the undeserving, but toward the broken, the weak, the hurting. We’re told in the Psalms, the Lord draws near to those with a broken heart.

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

(Psalm 34:18)

All of Grace

How many of us think, or have thought at times, we just have to get our act together, to read our Bible, to get our act together for Jesus to love me? We have a profound need to justify ourselves. You know what I’m saying? It’s like a human reflex action. I find myself even—I’ve known the Lord for 50 years—I still find sometimes I’ll be praying, and I’ll be saying things that imply some kind of merit on my part. Like, God is supposed to hear me because I’m such a great guy. Or I made this sacrifice, or I did this, so you should do that. No. It’s all grace. It’s all mercy. It is all unmerited.

This is the key to heaven, let me tell you. You know, people ask me all the time, do you think Catholics can go to heaven? I’m like, well, some, because I think some Protestants can go to heaven too. What is it? They have a very arcane works system. You know, how many average Catholics understand the teaching of the Catholic Church? Very few. They just trust the institution. But there are people in the Catholic Church and in the Protestant churches and in all kinds of churches who believe one fundamental thing: they are sinners, and they need Jesus Christ to save them. And they put no confidence in the flesh. No confidence in what you have done, no confidence in what you’re doing, no confidence in what you’re going to do. You stand before God on the day of judgment, and when he says, why should I let you into my perfect heaven, you say, because I have a perfect Savior, Jesus Christ. That’s it. And I know some people who are Catholic, and that’s actually what they believe, regardless of the arcane system. And I know Protestants who are still trying to work their way to heaven.

Listen, I spoke at a church in Illinois years ago. I don’t really remember how I connected to the church and how I got asked to be there. But I went to this church, spent a weekend talking to the youth group, preached there. And it was a really nice church. It was a Methodist church, a conservative church. And it was a three-generation church. You had grandparents, parents, and kids, right? So it’d be like your family here, three generations. And you know, everybody’s saved. They’ve been saved their whole life, right? A Christian church, a Christian community, kind of out there in the country, isolated. Well, after I preached—I don’t remember what I preached on—but I gave them an invitation to come to Jesus. I mean, really come to Jesus, really accept Jesus. And you know what? Out of an audience of maybe 200, over 20 responded. And it was amazing how many of them were the grandparents. The grandparents had been sitting in that church for 50 or 60 years, thinking they were saved, and they weren’t. It’s a real thing. It’s a real thing.

That’s why Scripture tells us we need to evaluate ourselves, whether we’re in the faith. Some of you I don’t know at all. I don’t know your spiritual condition. But I know this: that if you are leaning on your own works at all, then you’re disqualified from entering the kingdom of God. It is by God’s great grace, mercy, and love only. It’s based upon the finished work of Jesus Christ on that cross and his resurrection from the dead. Amen? That’s the heart of the gospel. That’s what we need to embrace.

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.

(2 Corinthians 13:5)

So back to John—sorry I kind of drifted there. God’s good, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, faithful. Think of any positive moral quality in a person, and that is in God; that is part of his holiness.

God Is Truth

Secondly, I think when John’s talking about light, God is light, he’s talking about God being truth, being truth. Like the idea of holiness, there’s a positive and a negative element here. The positive element of truth is that God has knowledge, okay? Now when we say God has knowledge, we understand he has all knowledge, right? He’s omniscient. Have you ever really meditated on what that means? He knows everything. He’s never surprised. I’m like, isn’t it boring to be God? There’s no surprises. He knows everything. But then the more you think about it, he’s got everything to govern the world. Everything, all knowledge, resides in him because he’s omniscient. And being omniscient, that means of course that he is wise. And being wise, God never makes mistakes. He can’t do anything wrong. He can’t decide to do something and have good intentions and then mess it up. Because he knows. He knows the right path at all times. So that omniscience translates into practical wisdom in all that he does in the universe and in our lives.

But it also implies something else about God positively, and that is the notion of revelation. There’s one thing you think about when you think about light: you think of revealing, right? That’s what light does. It illuminates and dispels the darkness. You can see because we have light. You can see your Bible because we have lights here, shining on the page, and you can read it. If all the lights were off and it was nighttime, you’d have no light.

Another thing I realized as I was studying this passage: in our day, some of us have never really experienced total darkness. Some people call it light pollution, right? There’s artificial light everywhere all the time. One time I went to California—well, more than one time. One of my trips to California, but this is back in the days when there were hippies. Remember that? It was dinosaurs, hippies—no. Long time ago. I hitchhiked there, of course. No one would think of doing that today, right? So I got picked up, and I got this great lift. But I ended up in the middle of the desert, New Mexico, alone at night. I could not see my hand in front of my face. I am not exaggerating. That’s how dark it really is in nature. I mean, there was no light pollution anywhere. We’re talking about the boonies, nothing. There I am, I’m like, okay. As far as I know, bobcats sneaking up on me, you know. Some creature I can’t see at night is going to kill me any minute. It’s terrifying, actually. That’s what we’re dealing with here. We’re dealing with a light versus an utter darkness. That’s why John says, with God, he’s not only light, but there’s no darkness in him. No shade of darkness in him. So light reveals.

Light Reveals

It’s another time I was actually hitchhiking home. And I got in the same situation. I got dropped off outside of the city. And this guy says, I’m stopping here. I’m like, there’s nothing here. It’s like, I’m getting off on this little side road here. Okay. So he left me off, and I watched his car disappear into the darkness. Nothing. And I just stood there hoping somebody would drive by, and stuck my thumb out, you know. And when the light finally came up, I looked behind me, and I was only a couple feet away from falling down a gully. I had no idea it was there. The darkness blinded me to the danger I was in. Well, the light revealed—right, when the sun came up, the light revealed the danger. That’s what light does: it is revelation. Revelation. I’m going to come back to that in a minute.

But negatively, when we say God is light, when we say God is truth, meaning there is no error in God, as we said before. He can’t be wrong because he’s omniscient. No mistakes. He is infallible. You know, you can challenge God, you can argue with God, but you do know you’re wrong, right? I mean, I’ve been there. We all are. If anybody, if you never have an argument with God, then you’re just not being honest. There’s times I grumble, and then I think of myself, what are you doing? You’re fighting a losing battle. God doesn’t make mistakes. But not only is there no error, there’s no deceit in God. No deceit. The Scripture tells us that God cannot lie. And in the Greek, the way it reads is, the unlying God, the not-lying God. In Greek mythology, those guys lied. Not this God. This God—it’s absolute purity, absolute truth.

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.

(Titus 1:2)

The Glory of God

Last thing: when you think of light, as I said, there’s many things we can talk about. I think another thing lurking in the back of John’s mind is the idea of light as glory. Glory, glory. And really, glory has several different emphases, if you will. But when we say glory, or God is glorious, that means that God is praiseworthy. He’s praiseworthy. Scripture tells us to give him glory, right? We’re commanded, give him glory. Well, can you really add to God’s glory? No. So when you give him glory, what are you doing? You’re acknowledging his glory. You know, we’re supposed to ascribe to the Lord glory, meaning publish it, pronounce it, declare it, sing it, sing that he’s glorious, because he is glorious, and our confession of that, our profession of that, is an affirmation. One of the things that the glory of God means, especially this idea of giving God glory, is recognize him for who he is. Make him famous.

You know, I mean, anybody here likes sports? Mike, raise your hand. Never get excited in the game and clap, like especially if you’re at the park or at the arena, right? Yes, it’s just spontaneous, you know. Well, what are you doing there? You’re acknowledging the excellence of the team or the player, right? It’s an affirmation. It’s giving them glory for what they’re doing. And that’s what we do with the Lord when we worship him. We give him glory. We acknowledge his intrinsic goodness. But we’re also acknowledging his intrinsic beauty. We don’t hear much about the beauty of God, but I believe the beauty, as Scripture says, it refers in the Psalms to the beauty of holiness. I think God’s beauty is his moral beauty, of course, which is really the sum of all his perfections. We need to see God more, amen? More clearly, more deeply, and the more we see him as he is, we will glorify him.

Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

(Psalm 29:2)

Walk in the Light

Okay, now let’s get down to an application here. I’m running out of time. What’s the application? Well, here’s what John says, back in 1 John. He says, verse 5: this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. That’s the message. Well, okay. How do we respond to that? What’s the application?

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

(1 John 1:6–10)

You notice, as you look again in John, this emphasis on light and truth all throughout the book. My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not, or that you might not sin. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation, the satisfaction and substitution for our sins—the one that removes the wrath of God—and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

(1 John 2:1–3)

So the simple application of the nature of God being light is that we as his children are to walk in the light, right? He is light; walk in the light. Now, it’s very easy to read passages like this. Like he goes on and he says in chapter 2 and verse 3, hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. So that sounds kind of worksy, you know what I mean? Seriously—wait, you’re like, wait, I thought this was all about grace. It sounds like I have to obey. And then even in John 14, where Jesus says, if you love me, what are you going to do? You’ll keep my commandments. What’s going on here?

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

(John 14:15)

I think the key to understanding this concept is this: that when Scripture is talking about obedience to the Christian, it’s not a matter of earning anything. It’s not merit. It is rather conformity. Scripture itself says, can two walk together unless they be agreed? The obvious answer is no. So that’s why Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that the pure in heart will—what?—see God. Because there’s a congruence, or an agreement, if you will, between their condition and God’s condition. Now, it will never be totally pure light, but the more we walk in the light, the more we will be able to fellowship with the light.

Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

(Amos 3:3)

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

(Matthew 5:8)

Think of it as like a window, which you’re supposed to look through, right? That window doesn’t do you any good if it’s just slopped over with mud. That’s where our souls are. Our souls are meant to receive the light of God, to be even nourished by the light of God. But if sin is mucking us up on the inside—mucking up our brains, our souls, our desire, all of that—we can’t see it. So obedience is not earning the right to fellowship with God; it is satisfying a fundamental condition of that fellowship. Okay? A fundamental condition.

Confession and Fellowship

And so one of the things that happens as you draw near to God, because God is light, that’s what you get to see. You get to see your sin. Isn’t that enjoyable? No. Not at all. I remember one time—you’ve heard the illustration many times—you put on a suit coat and you go outside and you see the sunshine, you see the lint all over your coat, right? I remember one day I was in a hurry and I ran out, and as I’m walking to my car, I look down and I’ve got two different kinds of socks on, different colors. So God being light, you draw near to the light, what happens? It exposes these areas of your life that need to be repented of, need to be transformed and changed. God will do that for you, but you have to acknowledge them.

I’ve counseled hundreds and hundreds of people over the years, and you know this: one kind of person you can’t help is the person that doesn’t think he has any problems. They’re fine; they don’t need help. So we think we’re fine, but we’re not. Because Scripture tells us that our nature that we inherit from Adam—and depravity is a theological word that comes from Latin, which means crooked—we are crooked now. Instead of being straight and straight on to God, we’re crooked. So when we’re crooked, we’re not in alignment with God. So we have to confess our sins. Confession is a condition, or should I say, it’s a means of this fellowship.

Now I can’t tell you how important this topic is, but John says of all the things he heard from the Word and the Light, this is it: fellowship. The goal of all of God’s dealings with mankind has ultimately been to bring people into relationship with him. That’s the ultimate goal. To know him, to know the Father—Jesus says to know the Father and the Son, this is eternal life. That’s it. And our sin, if it’s unconfessed, is hindering that fellowship. It’s hindering the ultimate purpose of God in your life.

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

(John 17:3)

Now, don’t mishear me. Don’t think I’m saying, okay, you’ve got to turn over a new leaf. No, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying just the opposite. I’m saying, quit trying to make yourself worthy, because you can never be worthy in yourself, in your own works. The only way we can be worthy in God’s eyes is for God to impute to us the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And so when we put our faith in Christ, Jesus Christ gets our sin and we get his righteousness. And so that’s why John stresses here in this epistle the importance of confession, but also the guarantee of forgiveness. Let me just read this again. He says in verse 9, in chapter 1: if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to do what? Forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Well, if I’m cleansed of all unrighteousness, then I can have fellowship with the light.

So when you see sin in your heart, sin in your mind, sin in your life, don’t be discouraged; be thankful. It means the Lord is cleansing you. Let him reveal things to you. Don’t run away. Don’t hide your sins from God, because you know what, that’s folly. He knows all things. God knows not only our thoughts, but the word says he knows the thoughts and intents of our heart. He knows what we’re thinking. He knows why we’re thinking it. He knows hidden motives that we can never fathom. And he’s cleaning us so that when we pass into glory, we shall be like him. That’s the goal: to be like him and to be with him. The closer you get to the Lord, the light gets more intense, shines on your sin, but we have a Savior, a propitiation for our sins, and the condition is simple confession. It is not rituals of penance. And fellowship with Jesus Christ and the Father is the ultimate goal of all of God’s redemptive work in the world, and that is eternal life for humanity. Let’s stand and pray.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

(Hebrews 4:12)

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, your goodness and purity is really beyond our comprehension. I know we’ve talked about it this morning and meditated on it, but Lord, we need much, much, much deeper revelation from you. I pray that each one of us will spend time in your word and in prayer, going close to you, even if that means that you are revealing to us areas of our life that are out of order, things that need to change. We thank you that you not only humble us, but you humble us in hope. That is the hope of the glory of God, the affirmation of God on us through your work in us. So I pray for all here, Lord, to truly know you, truly walk in your light. I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.