I JOHN 1:7 - 9
l. Introduction
A. God's essential being is recognized in scripture by four statements
1. There are countless qualities of God's being, by that I mean - what God has
2. But Scripture only recognizes a few statements as to what God is
a. God is love
b. God is life
c. God is holy
d. God is light
B. It is this last one that we want to consider this morning
II. God is Light
A. The dictionary defines light as, "the essential condition of vision"
1. It is the reveler of that which we could not otherwise see
2. It is also an emanation from a light giving body
a. light requires a source
3. Light is also the sensation aroused by the stimulation of the visual centers
a. light then seeks to secure a response from the beholder
B. According to these three statements it is evident that:
1. Light is essential to spiritual life
2. Light must have its source outside of us
3. Light is meant to stimulate a response in us.
III. The Symbolism of Light
A. The properties of light are varied and many
B. Light is Pure
1. It suffers no admixture of anything foreign to it
a. it is incapable of adulteration and contamination
b. nothing extraneous can attach itself to it
c. what a picture of God incarnate - He manifested the purity of deity in His walk on earth
d. touching the unclean he was not defiled. He could eat with sinners and still emerge from thm sinless
2. What a revelation this is to those of us who are His followers
a. We too are meant to pass through this world as being in it and yet not of it
b. We are meant to be the light of the world
C. Light is Pervasive
1. It enters the least opening accessible to it
a. It penetrates darkness leaving it no other alternative other than to flee from it
2. We are meant to take the message of life and light as a torch in our hand, dispelling the moral and spiritual darkness around us
D. Light Reveals - In thy light shall we see light
1. Sensitiveness to sin is the sign of this illuminating presence
a. that's why the most godly people have characterized themselves as being sinners beyond their fellows
b. that experience finds its validity in the life of that godly prophet Isaiah
2. When He "saw the Lord' in the light of His unblemished holiness - he decried any personal cleanness in himself
a. He cried, "Woe is me, I am undone, I am unclean"
b. He saw what he really was in the true light of God's presence
E. Light Cleanses (I John 1:7,9)
1. Twice the Apostle uses this word to assure us that our salvation not only reveals sins to us but rescues from it
2. Two things are recorded as being necessary to this cleansing
a. if we walk in the light - harboring nothing that savors of darkness, concealing nothing that light wants to search out
b. If we confess our sins = we are to be honest with God about the times we have failed
3. As we meet these two conditions - God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of sin
4. These two benefits can be claimed on the merits of Calvary's blood
F. Light Illuminates
1. Intellectually light is truth and darkness is ignorance or error
2. To prove this, let me give just two example to illustrate
a. God's self-revelation through the law and prophets is described in terms of light
b. thy commandment is a lamp and thy law is light (Prov. 6:23)
c. thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path (Ps. 119: 105)
d. the prophetic word is a lamp shining in a dark place (II Peter 1:19)
e. Jesus came to be a light to the Gentiles (Luke l: 78-79;2:32)
3. Second use of light in scripture is to symbolize righteousness
a. Is.5:20 - they call evil good and
b. they put darkness for light and light for darkness
G. The effect of light is not just to make men see but to enable them to walk
1. Right conduct, not just clear vision is the benefit which light bestows
2. Another important function of light is to give guidance
a. the road that is lit is the road that is plain
b. to say that God is light is to say that He offers guidance for the foot steps of His children
3. Light is the great Reveler
a. Flaws and stains which are hidden in the shade are obvious to the light
b. so the imperfections of life are seen in the presence of God
IV. The Symbolism of Darkness
A. Darkness stands for the Christ less life
1. Paul writes in Eph. 5:8, You were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord
2. Christians are not in darkness for they are children of the day I Thess. 5:4-5
a. those who follow Christ shall not walk in darkness but they have the light of life (John 8:12)
b. God has called us out of dankness into His marvelous light (I Peter 2:9)
B. Darkness is connected with lovelessness and hate
1. If a man hates his brother it is a sign that he walks in darkness (I John 2:9-11)
2. Love is sunshine and hatred is the dark
C. Spiritual Darkness may be defined in 3 ways:
1. It is a walk outside the Word of God (I John 2:4)
2. It is a walk outside the Way of God (John 14:6)
3. It is a walk outside the Will of God (II Cor. 6:14-17).
V. Darkness as Pictured in Scripture
A. Natural Darkness (Eph. 4:18)
1. Having the understanding darkness
a. this is true of all of us by natural birth
b. no one naturally loves holiness and purely
2. Have you noticed something about your children
a. You do not teach your children to tell lies but you have to teach them to tell the truth
b. you never teach them to lose their temper but we do have to teach them to control it.
c. why is this? Because we are naturally children of darkness;
B. Willful Darkness (John 3:21)
1. Light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light.
2. Every one that does evil hates the light.
a. we are responsible when we reject the right thing and do the wrong thing
b. this is the condemnation - willful darkness
C. Solemn Result of the Latter is Judicial Darkness
1. Jeremiah 13:16 Before He cause darkness
a. you mean God who is light sometimes is the cause of darkness.
b. Yes! if more deliberately and wilfully reject the light God Himself hardens them in their sin.
c. Pharaoh did this - He hardened himself against God; there we read, God hardened his heart
2. In ii thess 2:10 - 12 -- God warns against the rejection of the truth.
a. my friend if God has given you a measure of the light thank Him for it and seek grace to go on that light.
b. do not turn away from it, lest you be brought into judicial darkness.
D Final Result of Rejecting the Light == Eternal Darkness
1. Jude 13 - To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
2. God has reserved certain people for this darkness.
a. God want us to come to the light that we might cleansed from all our sin.
b. He desires fellowship with us.