The Message We Declare 1 John 1:5-10

Adapted from a Steve Shepherd sermon

http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-message-we-declare-steve-shepherd-sermon-on-christian-witness-144615.asp?page=2

1 John 1:5 NET Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and

announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we

have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all

sin.

8 If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make

him a liar and his word is not in us.

The 23rd ChannelThe TV is my shepherd,

I shall not want.It maketh me to lie down on the sofa;

It leadeth me away from faith;It destroys my soul;

It leadeth me into the paths of sex and violence for the

sponsors sake.

Yea, though I walk through the shadow of my Christian

responsibilities,there is no interruption, for the TV is with me;

Its cables and remote control, they comfort me.

It prepareth a commercial for me in the presence of my worldliness.

It annointeth my head with humanism and consumerism;

My coveting runneth over.Surely, laziness and ignorance shall follow

me all the days of my life,and I shall dwell in the house, just watching TV all the time.

DOES THIS SOUND ACCURATE? It is or could be for some people.

Ephesians 5:15 NET Therefore be very careful how you live — not as unwise but as

wise, 16 taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 For this reason do not be foolish, but be

wise by understanding what the Lord's will is.

Instead of contributing to the world's evil, we should be doing whatever we can for the Lord! Far too many Christian people like to run with the world and contribute little to the

kingdom of God.

This is one reason we need to do some work for the Lord every day. Otherwise, it’s as if we’re stealing from God and giving to

the world. How would your boss react when your

work isn’t done because you’ve been busy doing things for yourself instead of your

job? He has purchased your time & efforts with a paycheck. So if you’re using time &

effort he has paid for, to do your own things, are you not stealing from him?

Jesus shows us just what will happen.Matthew 24:46 NET Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he

comes. 47 I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that evil slave should say to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' 49 and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and

to eat and drink with drunkards,

50 then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, 51 and will cut him in two, and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping

and gnashing of teeth.

In another parable in the next chapter of Matthew He shows what will happen when we have been at work using what He gave

us.Matthew 25:21 NET His master answered, 'Well done, good and faithful slave! You

have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the

joy of your master.'

When the Lord returns what will He think of what you’ve been doing? Will you be

blessed & invited to “Enter into the joy of your master?” Or will you end up “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth?” The message that the world is

declaring is many things. It is: enjoy life, take it easy, indulge in all the entertainment you want, etc. It is eat, drink and be merry

for tomorrow we die. Meaning enjoy yourself to the hilt, because when we die,

that's all she wrote!

The world's messages are all these things but we must not be taken in by the world!

Ephesians 5:8 NET for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light — 9 for the fruit

of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth — 10 trying to

learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

Several years ago there was a terrible accident in which several youth were killed when their car was struck by a train. At the trial the watchman was questioned: “Were

you at the crossing the night of the accident?”

“Yes, your Honor.”“Were you waving your lantern to warn of

the danger.”“Yes, your Honor.”

But after the trial had ended, the watchman walked away mumbling to himself, “I’m glad

they didn’t ask me about the light in the lantern, because the light had gone out.”

Has your light gone out? We all have our days when our light is not shining at all. And

God sees when our light has gone out.

We must not be taken in by the world. Instead we need to declare the message of

God about Jesus and as contained in scripture: Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God! (Matthew 16:16; Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20)

Let's take note of the message that John declared.

The message is:

1- There is no darkness in God 2- Claiming to know God doesn't

mean you do 3- Confession and walking in the

light go hand-in-hand

THERE IS NO DARKNESS IN GOD

5 Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at

all.

One soldier said: In basic training, our first sergeant made things very clear. He told us, “Don’t question anything I say or tell you to

do.

Don’t worry, I’m never wrong. Matter of fact, I once thought I was wrong but was

mistaken.”

Is that the way it is? Well, there might be some people who actually think that way

about themselves but more than likely, we may feel a whole lot less than perfect.

THIS IS MORE LIKE IT:A ladies grocery cart was making a horrible scraping sound as she rolled it through the

supermarket. Nevertheless, when she finished her shopping and saw a woman

without a cart, she offered it to her, explaining, "It makes an awful noise, but it

works."

"That's okay," she said, "I have a husband at home just like that."

Guess what? WE ALL ARE LIKE THAT! We work but we often make an awful noise

because of sin in our lives! BUT NOT GOD! THERE IS NO DARKNESS IN HIM!

2 Corinthians 5:21 NET God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so

that in him we would become the righteousness of God.

There was no sin in Jesus. If there's no sin in Jesus then there is no sin in God the

Father!

1 Peter 2:21 NET For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving

an example for you to follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin nor was deceit

found in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9) 23 When he was maligned, he did not answer back;

when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God

who judges justly.

These scriptures declare that Jesus never once sinned. Our message is this:

There is no darkness in God or Jesus! We have a perfect God and Savior!

However, one of our problems is understanding how anyone could be

completely perfect. We've never seen it or heard of it. The only way we can ever

understand it is through the life of Christ.

Examine His life and ministry on earth. Can you find any darkness, any sin in Him? I don't think so. This is why when people

outside of Christ accuse us of wrongdoing, we must always point to Christ.

HE IS OUR MESSAGE, OUR HOPE, OUR SAVIOR.

People can slam us all they want, but they cannot accuse our Savior of being sinful.

CLAIMING TO KNOW GOD DOESN'T MEAN YOU DO

6 If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are

lying and not practicing the truth.

Let’s compare this verse to some we studied last year in James’ letter.

James 2:15 NET If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, 16 and

one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm and eat well," but you do not

give them what the body needs, what good is it? 17 So also faith, if it does not have

works, is dead being by itself. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith and I

have works." Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my

works.

Isn’t this the same concept? You say you’re living in the light, a Christian, but you’re living in the darkness of sin that nullifies

your claim to Christianity. Likewise, if you claim to have faith in Christ,

but you are not doing the things Jesus commanded, that nullifies your claim of

Christian faith.

I'm not suggesting that there isn't darkness in our lives, because there will always be

SOME darkness in our lives. Why? Because we live in a world of sin and

because we all have a sin nature as long as we live in the flesh.

Does this mean we will always be tempted to sin? Probably, but it doesn't mean that

we have to give in.6 If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are

lying and not practicing the truth.THE WORD OF GOD STANDS TRUE. Claiming to know God doesn’t mean a

person does.

CONFESSION AND WALKING IN THE LIGHT GO

HAND-IN-HAND7 But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have

fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves

and the truth is not in us.

9 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and

cleansing us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a

liar and his word is not in us.

A lady stuck in rush-hour traffic said:, I couldn't help but stare when a burly biker wearing a black leather jacket and chaps pulled up next to me on a shocking pink

Harley-Davidson. My first thoughts were, “Is that really a pink Harley? I wonder if

he's...”Just then the traffic cleared and he pulled in front of me. On the back of his

helmet were stenciled the words “Yes, it is. No, I'm not.”

A man said: I got stuck in a traffic jam while commuting into Los Angeles one day. The woman in the SUV in front of me took full advantage of the slowdown. She whipped

out her eyebrow pencil, lip gloss and a mirror, applying the finishing touches on her face in the ten minutes it took us to creep

through the traffic jam.

Finally, the traffic broke up and as she zoomed away, I caught a glimpse of her

vehicle's license plate: NTRL BTY. (natural beauty)

I would say that was not NATURAL BEAUTY. But there is something far worse than having a hypocritical license plate and

that's being a hypocrite!

The preacher decides to use one rich church member to set an example. "John," he says, "you're a successful businessman;

surely you could contribute more to the building fund." John replies, "But my mother is in a nursing home, my daughter just lost

her job, and my son is starting college … If I can say no to them, I can say no to you

too." Whenever you say "no" to a needy family member and have the means, you are not

walking in the light.

1 Timothy 5:8 NET But if someone does not provide for his own, especially his own

family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

A son’s mother is 55 years old and is dying of cancer. One week, on three different

days, he drove two hours one way to his mother’s home to take her to the doctor.

She hasn’t been the best of mothers, but he is being a good son.

There are many other things that may indicate that a person is not walking in the light as they may claim to be doing. Jim Bakker of the PTL Club failed in the lust department and greed department and

ended up in jail. After he got out of prison (1994) he wrote a book (1996) entitled, "I

Was Wrong." And he was. Jimmy Swaggart, famed evangelist from

Louisiana was caught with a prostitute more than once.

I am not happy about these incidents, because, obviously, they damage the

message of the gospel of Christ. They hurt the witness of Christ in this world. BUT...we all do things that hurt Christ and our witness

for Him.But the good of all this is: We can repent, confess our sins and return to a walk with

Him! 9 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

Just to say you haven’t sinned suggest you understand what sin is & know the

difference between right & wrong. I think John might be using the Hebrew parallelism type of writing when we compare this verse to 8 If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is

not in us.

In the 8th verse he says, “we are deceiving ourselves.” That’s not such a big deal to fool ourselves, or is it? Then two verses later he says, “we make him a liar.” Now we’re really getting in hot water! Calling God the Father,

and Jesus, liars! Then also by extension calling the Holy Spirit a liar because it was He who inspired Paul to write; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23 NET

I fear by doing this we’re getting in a very serious, damned forever, situation.

Matthew 12:32 NET Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the

age to come.I looked at the definitions for the words, “speaks against” & could not come to a

definitive answer as to what exactly had to be said to board this express train to eternal

damnation.

Guzik’s commentary reads;The Holy Spirit's main ministry is to testify

of Jesus. John 15:26 NET When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from

the Father — the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father — he will testify about

me,When that testimony of Jesus is fully and finally rejected, one has truly blasphemed

the Holy Spirit, essentially calling Him a liar in respect to His testimony about Jesus.

I don’t think this was the Holy Spirit’s intent when He inspired John to write “saying we do not bear the guilt of sin,” & “saying we

have not sinned” results in; “the truth is not in us,” & “his word is not in us.” There are two ways of looking at these statements,

but I think they are one in the same.1. The “truth” & “word” are the Good News, the Gospel, about Jesus.2. The “truth” & “word” are Jesus, God the Son, in the flesh.

John records in his gospel;John 1:1 NET In the beginning was the

Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.

John 1:14 NET Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory — the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the

Father.John 14:6 NET Jesus replied, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to

the Father except through me.

We must own up to the fact we’re sinners by confessing them so God will forgive us. It is an essential part of His plan. Remember God created us to have freewill so we could

make our own decisions. We can decide not to sin when temptation knocks at our

door. We can’t say no to Satan by our own resources, it takes strength & power

provided by God.

In fact God the Spirit is providing some of what we need to stand against temptation through God’s servant John in this letter. In

the very next verse, chapter 2 verse 1, (remember, it was written without chapters

& verses) he tells us why he’s writing all this. We’ll examine that next Sunday.

We all need to walk in the light as best we can and that means walking with Him.

Walking daily with Him is the only way to walk in the light and let our light shine!

We get our goodness from Him, not us! We become better by rubbing shoulders with

Him!

ALL PRAISE & GLORY TO HIS NAME!

I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day.

I'd rather one would walk with me than merely tell the way.

The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear.

Fine counseling is confusing but example's always clear.

You may not remember any of the sermons that I preach but you will remember who I am

and what I am. True for you as well.

We have a message to declare and speak, we must. And live it, we must.

And then some in this world may come to believe and be saved in Jesus.