No Darkness At All

Temple Baptist Church - 2-26-2014

1 John 1:3-7

 

Introduction:

A. Last week, I preached on the subject of “The Basis of Fellowship.” Fellowship or getting along within the local church is essential to the well-being and work of the church. A house divided “against itself” cannot stand. Not divided by the world or Satan or doctrine, but by personality conflicts.

B. When speaking of our fellowship with the Lord, the bible describes God’s holiness in one short phrase: “In him is no darkness at all!”

1. Impeccability is also found in this verse: “no darkness at all.” This speaks of the absolute perfection of a thrice holy God. No fault, no sin, no possibility of sin is found in the God of this bible.

Revelation 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

2. Immutability is also found in this verse: “in him.” God is infinitely and immutably holy.

Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

C. The holiness of God is unequaled!

Isaiah 40:25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

1 Timothy 6:16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

D. One of the best ways to understand a portion of scripture is to find the truth God sets forth in the first mention of that subject or word.

Genesis 1:1-5 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (2) And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (3) And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (4) And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (5) And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

1. Darkness – to hide or obscurity

2. Light – luminous, clear or glorious, complete visibility

3. Divided – to sever or distinguish

4. We often use the axiom “as different as day and night.” These are opposites.

5. God saw the light and said that it was “good” and divided it from the darkness about which nothing was said. Thus giving the immediate impression that, if the two are opposites, then the day or “light” was good and the darkness or “night” was not.

E. I understand that the night, as far as the twenty four period is concerned, is not in itself evil but the spiritual application is different. Night in the bible is a time of sin and sorrow. The night comes in which man does not work (at least in years gone by) so man sleeps it away in order to rest for the following day.

F. In our text found in 1 John 1, we find that light is good and holy while darkness is bad and sinful. This is the proper interpretation of these verses; therefore, it is both good and holy to walk in the light while it is bad and sinful to walk in darkness. Darkness breaks fellowship with God and, therefore, with man.

G. Walking in light:

1. Light Discloses The Sin That Hinders Our Fellowship - 1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. (Sin always breaks our fellowship to some degree. When people begin to back off or become unfaithful, there is sinfulness in the background somewhere.)

2. Light Defines The Peace That Describes Our Fellowship – James 3:18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. (As righteousness prevails in our lives, it is sown in peace with our brethren. Peace produces peace.)

3. Light Directs The Path Of Our Fellowship - Psalms 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Missing the will of God is a matter of walking in darkness to some degree and causes the perpetrator to walk contrary to the brethren.)

4. Light Displays The Person Our Fellowship Is Established Upon - 2 Corinthians 4:5-6 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. (6) For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (The perspective that we have of Christ is of the utmost importance because as He is, so are we in this world. We cannot properly conform to Christ without a proper vision of Him nor can we fellowship with one another in light if we do not perceive the Light Himself.)

5. Therefore, Light Defines The Basis And Establishes The Parameters Of Our Fellowship - 1 John 1:6-7 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: (7) 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. (Fellowship has biblical boundaries which are uncompromisingly set in the Bible! To walk in the light is to walk circumspectly within the realm of God’s Word; therefore fellowship is established upon the basis of light.)