“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” (1 JOHN 1:7).

WE WALK IN THE LIGHT BY WALKING

LIKE GOD.

• “If we walk in the light,” we have blessings.• The promises of God are often conditional.

• “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).

• “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9).

• God is light (1 Jn 1:5-6).• What do we mean when we say that God is light?• Notice what John says about darkness and light

• Darkness and light are opposites.• God is light and free of all darkness (1:5).• If we claim to have fellowship with God [who is in the light] while we walk in

darkness, “we lie and do not practice the truth” (1:6).• Darkness is temporary (it is passing away) and the true light is

already shining (2:8).• The one loving his brother is in the light; the one who hates his

brother is in darkness (2:9-11).• Darkness is sin and light is holiness (Jn 3:19-21).

• We have fellowship with one another.• Man needs fellowship.

• “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen 2:18).• The early church took fellowship very seriously.

• Act 2:42-47.• We’re helping each other get to heaven (Heb 10:24).

• When Christians persist in sin, that fellowship is necessarily broken (1 Cor 5:3-5).

• The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.• The verb “cleanses” refers to continual action.• “What if I commit a sin just before I die?”

• God has great grace!• Not a license to sin: “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By

no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom 6:1-2).• However, there is a huge difference between living in sin and committing a

sin.

WE WALK IN THE LIGHT BY WALKING

LIKE GOD.

• We must live like God.• “I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and

be holy, for I am holy” (Lev 11:44).• “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is

perfect” (Matt 5:48).• “Be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Eph 5:1).• “Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in

which he walked” (1 Jn 2:6).

• First: You need to understand who God is.• God revealed Himself to man in creation (Ps 19:1-6).

• His power, His orderliness, etc.• Creation itself teaches us about the moral character of God (Rom

1:18-20).• God revealed Himself to man in the Word (Ps 19:7-11).

• The revelation of God in Scripture is a light to help us walk in the light.• “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the

simple” (Ps 119:130).• “The commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light” (Prov 6:23).

• Search Scripture to see the character of God.

• Two: You need to examine yourself.• “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test

yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Cor 13:5).

• “Let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor” (Gal 6:4).

• Ask, “How much like God am I?”

• Three: You prepare yourself.• Christian growth does not just happen.

• You must count the cost of growth (Lk 14:28-32).• “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to

go to Jerusalem” (Lk 9:51).• When you set your face toward becoming more like God, what do

you see you need to do? • Do you need the prayers of your brethren? Simon did (Acts 8:24).• Do you need someone to bear your burden? Some in Galatia did (Gal

6:2).• Do you need to make new friends? Some in Corinth did (1 Cor 15:33).

• Four: You act.• God wants people who will keep their words.

• “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:62).

• “As the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead” (Js 2:26).

• How will you walk in the light this week?

DO YOU NEED TO WALK IN THE AISLE THIS MORNING TO

HELP YOU WALK IN THE LIGHT OF GOD?