Sermon Outline: 1 John 1:5-7
1st John 1:5-7
Walking in the Light with Jesus
Pastor Jason Stewart
I. Introduction:
a. A Dangerous Light
CFL Story: Comparing the dangerous mercury-filled “Compact Fluorescent Lamp”, with that of our faith. The CFL is not a “safe-light” to rely on, and it is quite symbolic of our faith. We have to make sure that we are abiding in the correct light, God’s light.
We have to be careful of false light, like the “special knowledge” from Gnosticisms inner enlightenment, that was really mercury-filled spiritual death and darkness.
II. Revelation:
a. God is Light (1:5)
This is an UNCHANGING message from the beginning (1:5a). God is always light!
b. Light is used to illustrate two primary truths about God.
i. His Self-revelation (Psalm 19:1-14)
1. Through Creation (1-6)
It doesn’t matter what language you speak, when you look at creation, you can see that God has revealed Himself to us as the Creator.
2. Through His Word (7-14)
The benefits of God’s revelation to us through His word. His word converts us (19:7), His word brings joy (19:8a), His word brings enlightenment (19:8b). The rules to approaching God’s Word: 1) We must approach it with a pure and humble heart (19:12-13). 2) We much approach it with a heart that desires to obey God and please Him, not only in our words, but also in our heart of hearts (19:14)
3. In His Presence (Psalm 36:9)
We receive revelation from God by being in His presence.
4. From following His Word (Psalm 119:105)
In Psalm 119:105, the revelation that God gives to us is not a revelation of God’s character as much as it is a revelation of His will and guidance for our lives.
ii. His Perfect Holiness (1 Timothy 6:155-16)
1st Timothy 6:15-16 tells us that God dwells in “unapproachable light”, which is referring to His Presence in glory. Just as nobody can take a rocket ship and fly to the sun and live, neither can anyone stand in God’s presence and live.
1st Peter 2:9 tells us that even though God is dwelling in unapproachable light, He has invited us to enter into His marvelous light through faith in Jesus Christ.
Because we have been called out of darkness, and into His unapproachable, marvelous light, we now have a personal and approachable relationship with God. The Bible says that God calls us “chosen”, God considers us “Royalty”, God sees us as “Holy”, and God considers us “special”.
iii. Light is a term that is used to describe Jesus’ ministry on earth.
1. Jesus was the true Light (John 1:9)
2. Jesus was the light of men (John 1:4)
3. Jesus is the Light of the World (John 8:12).
Jesus came to enable us to never walk in darkness again. How do we do that? How do we not walk in darkness? How can we protect ourselves from allowing the mercury of a false light and a false hope poison our hearts? Jesus tells us how in John 8:12. He tells us, “I am the Light of the world”. “Follow Me!” If we follow Jesus we will never walk in darkness again.
The way that we follow Jesus into the light is by participating in our relationship with Him. We participate in a relationship with Him through faith, by reading our Bibles, and responding to what our Bibles say. Jesus calls us to follow Him, by imitating what He does, and to be lights in the world (Matthew 5:14-16).
The Bible says that God is the Father of Lights (James 1:17), and that we are Children of Light (Ephesians 5:8)
We are little lightbulbs for God. In fact, speaking of lightbulbs; have you ever heard the one about “how many Christians does it take to change a lightbulb? Well, it really depends what group of believers you ask!
* For example, did you know how many Catholics it takes to change a lightbulb? None, because they use Candles.
* Do you know how many Calvinists it take to change a lightbulb? NONE because God has predestined the Lights to go on and off at their appointed time.
* Do you know how many Arminians does it take to change a lightbulb? JUST ONE, but it has to be changed again and again.
* Do you know how many Evangelicals does it take to change a lightbulb? Evangelicals do not change lightbulbs. They simply read out the instructions and hope the lightbulb will decide to change itself.
* Do you know how many Charismatics does it take to change a lightbulb? Three, it takes one to cast it out and two to catch it when it falls!
c. A relationship with God is verified by which path we walk in life (1:6-7)
i. We are either walking in the light or we are walking in darkness (1:6a, 1:7a)
Walking in the light is referring to believing correct doctrine and living out our beliefs by letting our light shine before men. If we are not walking in obedience to God in beliefs and in our actions, then we are lying to ourselves about having a relationship with Jesus.
This means right now you have a faith-poisoning mercury that is flowing through your spiritual life, and God wants you to come to Him in truth and to begin living and walking in the true Light.
III. Conclusion:
We have learned some key things about all that surrounds this very important description of God being Light.
a. We have learned that God is always light, and there is no darkness in Him.
b. We learned that Light is used to illustrate two primary truths about God.
i. His Self-Revelation
ii. His Perfect Holiness
c. We learned that Light is a term that is used to describe Jesus’ ministry on earth.
i. He was the true light (John 1:9)
ii. He was the light of men (John 1:4)
iii. He was the light of the World (John 8:12)
d. We learned that Jesus called us as Children of Light to do the same thing He did in the world, which is SHINE as Lights.
e. Lastly, we learned that a relationship with God is verified by which path we choose to walk on in life.
