The Light of God (1 John 1:5-7)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:03.839 Let's turn to God's word. Turn our attention to God's word in First John, 2 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:12.550 First John Five, chapter one, verses five through seven. These verses, 3 00:00:12.589 --> 00:00:17.230 John tells us something very, very, very important about God and what 4 00:00:17.350 --> 00:00:23.620 it means for those who have fellowship with him. First John One, versus 5 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:33.939 five through seven. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed 6 00:00:34.020 --> 00:00:40.810 to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. 7 00:00:40.890 --> 00:00:46.009 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, 8 00:00:47.009 --> 00:00:52.359 we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the 9 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:56.079 light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, 10 00:00:56.679 --> 00:01:00.640 and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. 11 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:11.590 You may be seated. May God bless his word to us. Well. 12 00:01:11.629 --> 00:01:17.030 The Apostle John doesn't Delia, dilly dally, a raw a Lah around 13 00:01:17.150 --> 00:01:22.700 with a long introduction, so I am not going to either. There is 14 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:26.500 a message, he says, a message to be delivered, a message that 15 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:33.010 you need, a message you need to receive. He says it's been given 16 00:01:33.129 --> 00:01:38.849 by Jesus himself and it's coming to you. This is the message he says 17 00:01:38.890 --> 00:01:42.730 in Verse Five. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed 18 00:01:42.810 --> 00:01:53.159 to you. And it's this three simple words. God is light. That's 19 00:01:53.239 --> 00:02:00.359 Jesus's message. God is light in him. There is no darkness at all. 20 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:07.030 It's the apostolic message that is proclaimed. It's my message this morning and 21 00:02:07.189 --> 00:02:13.710 the message of every Christian preacher that God is light. That message is we 22 00:02:13.789 --> 00:02:20.099 will see in versus six and seven, has implications for US humans, for 23 00:02:20.219 --> 00:02:24.819 those who walk in the light and for those that don't. So, Michael, 24 00:02:24.900 --> 00:02:30.490 this morning is to help you understand the message, what it means that 25 00:02:30.650 --> 00:02:34.770 God is light, the message of verse five and the implications of that message 26 00:02:34.770 --> 00:02:40.129 that are described and versus six and seven. My if I'm successful, you 27 00:02:40.169 --> 00:02:46.240 will leave this morning knowing what it means that God is light and what that 28 00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:52.879 ought to mean for you. So let's start with that message. God is 29 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:58.710 light. Here God tells us something about him. That is true. He 30 00:02:58.830 --> 00:03:05.629 tells us something about himself. But when we meditate on who God is, 31 00:03:07.430 --> 00:03:12.590 and honest essence in particular, we have to be very careful for a few 32 00:03:12.669 --> 00:03:19.099 reasons. One is that we're sinners and we're apt to exchange the truth about 33 00:03:19.219 --> 00:03:23.860 God for a lie. That's what we do. So we have to be 34 00:03:23.939 --> 00:03:27.060 careful when we think about God, when we think about the things that he's 35 00:03:27.099 --> 00:03:30.289 told us, we have to be careful that we stick very close to scripture 36 00:03:31.009 --> 00:03:38.129 and not our assumptions or our imaginations. The second thing that we have to 37 00:03:38.250 --> 00:03:46.520 remember is that we're finite, created people incapable of comprehending the infinite, uncreated 38 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:53.039 God. These are things that just don't match up. A finite thing cannot 39 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:59.990 create our comprehend an infinite thing. We might apprehend it in a way, 40 00:04:00.550 --> 00:04:05.430 we might understand it in part or as God gives it to us, but 41 00:04:05.550 --> 00:04:11.219 we can't comprehend it, we can't own it, we can't possess the knowledge 42 00:04:11.259 --> 00:04:21.420 of God as he possesses it of himself. To help us avoid these things, 43 00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:27.129 there's a few things that I can mention that I think will be helpful. 44 00:04:28.290 --> 00:04:31.889 First, when God says he is light, he doesn't mean that light 45 00:04:32.370 --> 00:04:41.560 is God. He's telling US something about himself that can't be reversed. Now, 46 00:04:41.639 --> 00:04:48.560 you know that sometimes the word is does mean, does equate two equivalent 47 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:53.829 things. Right, one plus one is too. You can flip that right 48 00:04:53.910 --> 00:04:57.629 around. Too is one plus one. Right, we can say them of 49 00:04:57.709 --> 00:05:03.230 each other. There's a kind of identification any an equal identification. That happens. 50 00:05:03.269 --> 00:05:08.220 So, for example, in John Five, Jesus says that he is 51 00:05:08.420 --> 00:05:12.459 the son of man, and that's equally true. The other way around, 52 00:05:12.459 --> 00:05:16.339 the son of man is Jesus. You can say it either way and it's 53 00:05:16.459 --> 00:05:20.730 equally true. But other times, as is the case here, the word 54 00:05:20.970 --> 00:05:26.810 is doesn't make things equivalent. So, for example, if I say a 55 00:05:26.970 --> 00:05:30.970 city is pleasant, that mean doesn't mean I can reverse those things and say 56 00:05:30.009 --> 00:05:36.000 that pleasantness is city. Right. Doesn't make a lot of sense, and 57 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:44.240 we also know that's not always true. It's true when we speak of Jesus 58 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:48.519 in this way as well. So we have to be careful here, because 59 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:53.910 usually when we think of light, we think about the thing that God created, 60 00:05:54.709 --> 00:05:58.029 the thing that we see, the thing or by which we see, 61 00:05:58.670 --> 00:06:01.790 the thing by which plants grow, the thing by which we can now communicate 62 00:06:01.829 --> 00:06:08.220 even but God is not a created thing. This is always our danger, 63 00:06:08.379 --> 00:06:12.339 and you should remember this whenever we think about God. There's a temptation to 64 00:06:12.379 --> 00:06:15.500 take what we know of creation and attribute it back to him, or what 65 00:06:15.660 --> 00:06:20.569 we know of ourselves and attribute it to him. But God is not a 66 00:06:20.689 --> 00:06:27.490 created thing. So I have to be careful. Light is not God. 67 00:06:28.529 --> 00:06:33.160 That's not true. We are not pantheists. We don't believe that the Creator 68 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:40.000 is the creation and that the creation is the creator. No, instead, 69 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:43.720 we make, according to scripture and according to the true nature of God, 70 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:48.790 a very clear distinction between the things that have been made, on the one 71 00:06:48.910 --> 00:06:54.790 hand, and the one who made them on the other hand. We, 72 00:06:55.069 --> 00:07:01.860 as Christians, refuse to exchange the glory of the immortal God for the secondary 73 00:07:01.980 --> 00:07:09.060 glory and reflective glory of the things that he has made. So when Jesus 74 00:07:09.139 --> 00:07:14.459 tells us that God is light, Jesus is not confusedly falling into idolatry. 75 00:07:15.180 --> 00:07:19.290 Do Jesus is not telling us that light is God. So what does Jesus 76 00:07:19.410 --> 00:07:26.490 mean? Instead of making light and God as two equivalent things, Jesus is 77 00:07:26.569 --> 00:07:30.439 saying something about God, just like he might say God is strong or God 78 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:36.800 is holy. But what about light? What does that really mean to say 79 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:45.149 that God is light? There's I want to address three main ways. Scripture 80 00:07:45.149 --> 00:07:51.069 talks about light. Scripture talks about light in terms of life, in terms 81 00:07:51.110 --> 00:07:59.899 of knowledge and also in terms of morality, and these things are all rightly 82 00:08:00.100 --> 00:08:05.699 predicated or attributed to God. Let's think of the first one in terms of 83 00:08:05.899 --> 00:08:09.860 life. Think of the way that John Speaks of Jesus in the opening verses 84 00:08:09.939 --> 00:08:16.689 of his Gospel. He says all things were made through him, and without 85 00:08:16.810 --> 00:08:20.569 him was not anything made. That was made in him was life, and 86 00:08:20.970 --> 00:08:28.199 that light was the light of men. Do you see what John Does there? 87 00:08:28.279 --> 00:08:33.000 He equivalent, he makes equivalent light and life. He puts these two 88 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:39.679 things together. Perhaps you've learned kids about the sun. You've learned about the 89 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:45.710 way that the sun, the sun and the sky, gives light to our 90 00:08:45.870 --> 00:08:50.509 world. It passes light into the world and this by this energy which then 91 00:08:50.629 --> 00:08:54.940 plants take into themselves. And there are a lot of plants. We can 92 00:08:54.980 --> 00:09:00.419 see something right outside there. There they are actively taking in the light of 93 00:09:00.460 --> 00:09:03.860 the Sun. Animals eat those plants and other animals eat those animals, and 94 00:09:03.980 --> 00:09:09.860 on and on it goes. And by the sun the life of the world 95 00:09:09.129 --> 00:09:18.049 is sustained. God uses this analogy to help us understand him, but it 96 00:09:18.289 --> 00:09:24.720 is only in analogy, for whereas the greater light of the sun sustains all 97 00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:28.960 of the life on the earth, it's through the son of God, Jesus, 98 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:37.679 the Child of God, that the earthly Sun itself is created and upheld 99 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:43.590 again here John's words. He says that all things, including the sun, 100 00:09:43.389 --> 00:09:48.590 were made through Jesus, and without him was not anything made. That was 101 00:09:48.710 --> 00:09:52.980 made in him was life, and that light was the light of men. 102 00:09:54.700 --> 00:09:58.740 The creation of the world from the father through the sun, is taught in 103 00:09:58.820 --> 00:10:05.820 other scriptures, Colossians one six, for by him all things were created in 104 00:10:07.059 --> 00:10:11.570 heaven and on Earth, or Hebrews one too, for in these last days 105 00:10:11.610 --> 00:10:18.490 he has also spoken to us by his son, through whom he also created 106 00:10:18.610 --> 00:10:22.159 the world. God said in the beginning of the world, let there be 107 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:28.440 light, and there was light. He the author of the Hebrews saying is 108 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:33.519 that word that was spoken, that active word, let there be light, 109 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:39.750 was the son of God. Mysteriously, somehow, when God speaks, he 110 00:10:39.909 --> 00:10:46.110 speaks in the word of the son. He speaks to us through his son, 111 00:10:46.350 --> 00:10:50.700 through whom he is created the world. That's why John Calls Him the 112 00:10:50.899 --> 00:10:54.860 word. And the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, 113 00:10:54.259 --> 00:10:58.899 and the word was God. He was the life and the light of 114 00:10:58.019 --> 00:11:03.450 all men. This is highly, highly significant. It means that when Jesus 115 00:11:03.610 --> 00:11:09.370 reveals the message that God is light, this is the message we have heard 116 00:11:09.409 --> 00:11:13.529 from him and proclaimed to you. When this message is revealed to us, 117 00:11:16.330 --> 00:11:22.559 he is revealing something not just about the father, but about himself. The 118 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:28.720 light and the life that is in the father is also in him. Again, 119 00:11:28.919 --> 00:11:33.750 those same words from the beginning of John's Gospel. In him was life, 120 00:11:35.389 --> 00:11:41.629 or from John Twenty six. For as the father has life in himself, 121 00:11:41.909 --> 00:11:52.139 so he has granted the son also to have life in himself. This 122 00:11:52.340 --> 00:12:00.019 verse reminds us how attributing light and life to God is only an analogy, 123 00:12:01.490 --> 00:12:07.730 where our essence as human beings is not dependent on our lives. In other 124 00:12:07.769 --> 00:12:13.289 words, we may die and yet still exist. In a way, this 125 00:12:13.450 --> 00:12:20.080 is not true of God. Our life is something that is dependent upon God's 126 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:24.840 life. It is upheld by God's life, but God's life is upheld by 127 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:30.509 nothing, not because it's about to fall apart, but because it's infinite. 128 00:12:31.750 --> 00:12:35.149 God is infinite. If another himself, he has life in himself. We 129 00:12:35.350 --> 00:12:39.710 do not have life in ourselves. Our life is given to us, our 130 00:12:39.789 --> 00:12:43.299 life is taken away from us. We can die, we can be raised 131 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:50.860 up. Not so with God. In him is life, and just as 132 00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:54.299 the father has life, Jesus says in John Five in himself. So he 133 00:12:54.500 --> 00:13:00.610 is granted the son to also have life in himself, and eternally. So 134 00:13:01.970 --> 00:13:07.370 God's life is not accidental to himself, and what's true of the father is 135 00:13:07.570 --> 00:13:11.769 true of Jesus. This, of course, speaks to the divinity of Jesus, 136 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:18.600 but it also tells us the reason for our salvation. So, again, 137 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:22.639 going back to the Gospel of John, John Twenty Five, Jesus says, 138 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:28.950 I am the resurrection and the life whoever believes in me, though he 139 00:13:30.269 --> 00:13:37.870 die, yet he shall live. Though you die, yet you shall live. 140 00:13:37.029 --> 00:13:43.139 How could such a thing be possible? It's possible because of our union 141 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:50.500 with the son, who is light, who is life, because of the 142 00:13:50.659 --> 00:13:54.730 revelation of the son and the flesh and because of his spirit working in us 143 00:13:54.850 --> 00:14:01.090 through that word, through that revelation, to redeem our flesh. Even we 144 00:14:01.409 --> 00:14:09.129 who die can share in the eternal life of God, not by becoming God, 145 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:16.600 but by God becoming us. When the father speaks through the son, 146 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:20.440 in the power of the spirit, he brings about light which gives light to 147 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:26.750 the world, both the created world and the plants and the things that have 148 00:14:26.870 --> 00:14:31.789 been made, but also in the world to come. As the author to 149 00:14:31.909 --> 00:14:37.779 Hebrew says, God has spoken a second time, a second time, and 150 00:14:37.940 --> 00:14:43.820 in this time God has created. He has spoken of word of grace so 151 00:14:43.980 --> 00:14:48.740 that the world and we who have fallen into sin can be lifted up, 152 00:14:48.539 --> 00:14:54.649 brought up into eternal life and live under the light of glory of the Sun 153 00:14:54.409 --> 00:15:00.330 in the age to come. We can say much more on this, but 154 00:15:01.009 --> 00:15:05.730 let it rest at that. For now. God is light, and that 155 00:15:05.929 --> 00:15:09.120 means that from the father, through the son and by the spirit, the 156 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:13.879 world has life. Light, it means life, and those who believe in 157 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:22.950 the sun, though they die, will have eternal life in him. This 158 00:15:22.110 --> 00:15:31.070 is why John says we have fellowship with God, to fellowship in the light, 159 00:15:31.269 --> 00:15:37.580 to walk in the light, as he himself is light. Okay, 160 00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:41.580 second thing, a second way we understand God is light is in terms of 161 00:15:41.860 --> 00:15:46.139 knowledge. Right in your bulletins. If you look at the prayer that comes 162 00:15:46.179 --> 00:15:52.889 right before the sermon, it's called the prayer of illumination. Right, it's 163 00:15:52.929 --> 00:15:56.769 a light term. You turn on the light, something happens so that you 164 00:15:58.129 --> 00:16:03.210 and see. Now this isn't just Greek metaphysics, it's biblical terminology as well. 165 00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:10.919 Light reveals things, it shows things, it uncovers things. Just as 166 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:15.679 the rays of the sun give energy to creation and life to the world, 167 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:23.350 they also bring revelation. The same is true for God. But we can't 168 00:16:23.389 --> 00:16:30.870 separate these things in him. It is because it is through the revelation that 169 00:16:30.070 --> 00:16:37.820 we have the energy of life. We come to know God in the revelation 170 00:16:37.220 --> 00:16:41.539 of Jesus Christ. In other words, there's no light or no life in 171 00:16:41.740 --> 00:16:48.809 God apart from the revelation of the message. Right, you can't access life 172 00:16:48.009 --> 00:16:57.370 in God apart from him revealing himself in the word. God is light because 173 00:16:57.529 --> 00:17:04.960 God reveals things, he shows things, he says things, he speaks things, 174 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:14.559 and in Christ he reveals his law and he reveals his Gospel and he 175 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:18.349 shows the relationship between the two. For those of us who would have eternal 176 00:17:18.390 --> 00:17:25.069 life in Christ, we come to see so clearly exactly how holy has law, 177 00:17:25.190 --> 00:17:30.339 law is, and the penalty for our sins. When we see Christ 178 00:17:30.660 --> 00:17:34.420 on the cross, we come to understand, we come to realize and be 179 00:17:34.500 --> 00:17:40.579 enlightened to the fact of how deep God's love goes, of how much we 180 00:17:40.740 --> 00:17:45.130 have failed in his love. And now he was lifted up on a cross 181 00:17:45.250 --> 00:17:52.009 to bleed and die under a curse that we deserved. That's knowledge, that's 182 00:17:52.170 --> 00:18:00.200 life saving giving knowledge, because not only is the law revealed there, but 183 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:03.920 the light, by the light of the Cross, the grace of God, 184 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:10.240 is also revealed. We come to see that there we have salvation. Now 185 00:18:10.359 --> 00:18:15.190 some people hate this light, this sort of revealing light. Jesus says to 186 00:18:15.230 --> 00:18:19.910 Nicodemus and John Twenty, for everyone who does wicked things hates the light and 187 00:18:21.069 --> 00:18:27.059 does not come to the light lest his works be exposed. Everyone who does 188 00:18:27.099 --> 00:18:32.779 wicked things hates the light, he doesn't come to the light lest his works 189 00:18:32.859 --> 00:18:37.619 be exposed. Now you might think that, based on this, that a 190 00:18:37.660 --> 00:18:41.690 kind of reverse thing would be true, in other words that those who love 191 00:18:41.890 --> 00:18:47.490 God are those who love the light and come into the light. That's not 192 00:18:47.730 --> 00:18:55.369 exactly what Jesus says. Let me read the next verse and will I'll read 193 00:18:55.450 --> 00:19:00.119 them together. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not 194 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:03.599 come to the light lest his works be exposed. But whoever does what is 195 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:08.599 true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works 196 00:19:10.630 --> 00:19:15.990 have been carried out in God. Isn't that fascinating? John doesn't say the 197 00:19:17.190 --> 00:19:19.349 wicked person hates the light, and so, like a rat, you know, 198 00:19:19.509 --> 00:19:23.269 scurries away from it, tries to keep away lest it be exposed. 199 00:19:23.619 --> 00:19:27.140 But the good person comes into the light so that all can be revealed and 200 00:19:27.259 --> 00:19:33.420 he can be declared justified. Now, he says, the person that loves 201 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:37.099 the light comes into the light so that it can be clearly seen that his 202 00:19:37.339 --> 00:19:47.890 works have been carried out in God, God who is light. By this 203 00:19:48.089 --> 00:19:57.359 we come to learn that walking in the light therefore requires enlightening and enlivening power 204 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:03.839 of God in us. Before we can be enlivened in Christ, though, 205 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:10.829 we must first die with Christ. Our justification on the cross comes before the 206 00:20:10.950 --> 00:20:15.230 regeneration of our lives. Otherwise there'd be no way to come into the true 207 00:20:15.269 --> 00:20:21.390 light. This is extremely important and for understanding what John says here, in 208 00:20:21.500 --> 00:20:26.980 verses five through seven, he says if we walk in the light, as 209 00:20:26.059 --> 00:20:30.299 he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the 210 00:20:30.380 --> 00:20:33.500 blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. This is 211 00:20:33.700 --> 00:20:40.650 true, but it doesn't mean that we are cleansed from our sin because we 212 00:20:40.849 --> 00:20:45.450 have come into the light. What he says is that these things go together, 213 00:20:47.650 --> 00:20:51.279 that those who walk in the light are those who have fellowship with one 214 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:56.480 another, are those the blood of Jesus has cleansed. Our works, are 215 00:20:56.599 --> 00:21:03.680 those that have been carried out in God, Jesus says, because of our 216 00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:11.309 justification. Our relationships of the light changes because of what Jesus does on the 217 00:21:11.430 --> 00:21:17.670 Cross. Instead of hiding in the darkness, we come boldly into the light, 218 00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:22.500 not on the basis of our works or our great love of the lights 219 00:21:22.619 --> 00:21:26.819 and of knowledge and of God, but because of what Jesus has done, 220 00:21:26.779 --> 00:21:32.059 because of his works, his revelation, the word that has been spoken into 221 00:21:32.099 --> 00:21:37.930 the world. Or, to put it in this way, our relationship changes 222 00:21:37.049 --> 00:21:41.769 to the light, not because we're better people, but because of God's grace, 223 00:21:44.970 --> 00:21:47.839 which is, Paul says, in Second Timothy, one hundred and ten 224 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:55.680 God's grace has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior, Christ, Jesus, 225 00:21:56.160 --> 00:22:03.509 who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light. Through the Gospel 226 00:22:06.069 --> 00:22:11.670 reveals right, Jesus is the revelation of God. It's not a pure sort 227 00:22:11.670 --> 00:22:15.819 of knowledge thing, though. It's an enlivening thing, a change that happens 228 00:22:17.259 --> 00:22:25.420 as we trust and believe in him. Now this glorious revelation, this glorious 229 00:22:25.619 --> 00:22:33.210 revel revelatory light of Christ, does come in a veiled way. Under the 230 00:22:33.369 --> 00:22:40.849 cross, you don't see Jesus shining with the glorious light of God. Instead, 231 00:22:40.849 --> 00:22:47.079 dark clouds covered up the sun as he died. Indeed, in the 232 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:52.160 preaching of his word, as Jesus is being shined forth to you even this 233 00:22:52.400 --> 00:23:00.069 morning, this is me, this is just you and this place. In 234 00:23:00.269 --> 00:23:03.710 word and in sacrament, these things are veil. But one day, the 235 00:23:03.789 --> 00:23:10.789 Bible promises, this revelatory inlivening light will not be veiled but will shine on 236 00:23:10.869 --> 00:23:15.779 all things. Revelation Twenty One and twenty two tells us that in the consummated 237 00:23:15.940 --> 00:23:22.539 creation, in the age of glory, quote, the City of God will 238 00:23:22.619 --> 00:23:27.009 have no need for a son or moon, for the glory of God gives 239 00:23:27.049 --> 00:23:37.970 its light and it's lamp is the lamb in heaven. In the consummated creation 240 00:23:38.170 --> 00:23:44.559 there's no need for a son because we will have the son of God himself, 241 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:52.319 no longer veiled but shining forth with the radiance of God. We're told 242 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:56.710 in the scriptures that right now we live in a life where we see through 243 00:23:56.710 --> 00:24:02.390 a glass darkly. You know those glut glass things that people have in doorways. 244 00:24:02.430 --> 00:24:04.190 You know you can't quite see in it's veiled, you can't you sort 245 00:24:04.230 --> 00:24:08.109 of makeing out shapes. One day, says we will see face to face. 246 00:24:10.380 --> 00:24:14.259 He doesn't mean with the essence of God as he is in himself. 247 00:24:14.299 --> 00:24:19.500 He means with the glory of his revelation in Christ, not through word and 248 00:24:19.740 --> 00:24:30.329 sacrament, but immediately there will Jesus be shining intensely and giving you all light 249 00:24:30.210 --> 00:24:41.359 and salvation and immortality forever. But Dear Christians, know that the same glorious 250 00:24:41.480 --> 00:24:47.519 light which will shine in the consummation shines right here, right now, on 251 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:52.910 Earth, wherever Christ is preached, the word shines forth, wherever he is 252 00:24:53.069 --> 00:25:00.309 offered in baptism, the word shines forth, wherever the Lord Supper is received, 253 00:25:00.390 --> 00:25:07.029 the word shines forth. And not only here, outwardly in the means 254 00:25:07.069 --> 00:25:11.539 of grace, but inwardly in us, inside, as he lives in us. 255 00:25:12.700 --> 00:25:18.339 Listen to what Paul says in Second Corinthians four six. For God, 256 00:25:18.460 --> 00:25:22.769 who said, speaking of creation, let light shine out of darkness. For 257 00:25:22.930 --> 00:25:27.569 God who said let light shoune out of darkness, has shown in our hearts 258 00:25:29.210 --> 00:25:33.009 to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face 259 00:25:33.210 --> 00:25:37.440 of Jesus Christ. This is one of my favorite verses, so I'm going 260 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:42.279 to read it again. Second Corinthians for six. For God, who said 261 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:49.750 let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the 262 00:25:49.990 --> 00:25:57.950 light of the knowledge of the glory of God where in the face of Jesus 263 00:25:59.029 --> 00:26:03.579 Christ? Well, this takes us, then, to the final thing I'll 264 00:26:03.579 --> 00:26:11.460 mention today concerning this message that God is light. Light not only refers to 265 00:26:11.579 --> 00:26:15.940 the life that is in God and the revelation that is from God, but 266 00:26:17.140 --> 00:26:22.690 also to a way of living that is an accord with the enlivening knowledge that 267 00:26:22.809 --> 00:26:26.730 we have received in Christ, and I hope you're already seeing the connection. 268 00:26:27.529 --> 00:26:32.730 Let me go back and read from first John. This is the message that 269 00:26:32.809 --> 00:26:37.079 we have from him and have proclaimed to you, that God is light and 270 00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:41.720 in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship 271 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:51.630 with him while we walk and the darkness, we lie and do not practice 272 00:26:51.670 --> 00:26:56.670 the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in 273 00:26:56.750 --> 00:27:00.579 the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, 274 00:27:00.740 --> 00:27:11.339 his son, cleanses us from all sin. The Light of God and 275 00:27:11.539 --> 00:27:17.490 the message and the fact that God is light. Is Not this that not 276 00:27:17.769 --> 00:27:22.890 only this grand truth, as I've been trying to say. It comes into 277 00:27:22.930 --> 00:27:32.200 this world in a way that changes us, it affects us, unites us 278 00:27:32.519 --> 00:27:38.599 with God. He has shone in our hearts, he has revealed himself and 279 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:44.309 done so in a saving way. The one, in other words, who 280 00:27:44.349 --> 00:27:49.069 has been enlightened and therefore enlivened by God is the one who has fellowship with 281 00:27:49.309 --> 00:27:55.710 God. He no longer walks in the darkness, he comes into the light 282 00:27:55.950 --> 00:28:02.619 so the world may see the work of God in Him. Christians therefore walk 283 00:28:02.819 --> 00:28:07.900 in a very different way then the world, which is covered in darkness. 284 00:28:10.259 --> 00:28:15.170 I had a friend once who got stuck in a one of the lava tube 285 00:28:15.170 --> 00:28:19.250 upon flagstaff, this long underground cave. It's about a mile long. He 286 00:28:19.369 --> 00:28:22.490 got left a sad story. You got left behind. He made it out 287 00:28:22.529 --> 00:28:26.799 eventually, but he got left behind and he didn't have a flashlight. There 288 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:30.519 was a kind of miscount at the numbers of you were in. He spent 289 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:36.440 the rest of the day, hours and hours, crawling through this cave, 290 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:41.589 hurting himself, getting bumped on his shins, just trying to feel his way 291 00:28:41.589 --> 00:28:45.150 along the walls until he finally made it out. And of course he didn't 292 00:28:45.190 --> 00:28:47.950 make it out into the light of the day. It was now night and 293 00:28:48.150 --> 00:28:51.549 darkness, and then he had to wander through the forest until he finally found 294 00:28:51.549 --> 00:28:56.259 the highway. This is what it is like to walk in darkness. It's 295 00:28:56.339 --> 00:29:00.259 to be constantly getting hurt, to not walk according to wisdom, to constantly 296 00:29:00.299 --> 00:29:07.420 be bumping into things, making a fool of yourself, getting hurt. The 297 00:29:07.500 --> 00:29:11.289 person who walks in the light, however, walks a clear path. They 298 00:29:11.369 --> 00:29:17.009 navigate, they move easily. This is true when we walk in the light 299 00:29:17.170 --> 00:29:22.730 that has been given to us. Christians, therefore, are honest people. 300 00:29:23.960 --> 00:29:30.359 They walk confidently and with integrity. Just doesn't mean that they do not sin. 301 00:29:30.519 --> 00:29:33.440 But John goes on to say that even when they do, since they 302 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:37.910 walk and act as though in the light, like the rat, they don't 303 00:29:37.950 --> 00:29:45.390 skarry away away from the darkness, they come into the light. The Christian 304 00:29:45.589 --> 00:29:52.829 who has been enlivened and enlightened and by the light of God, freely admits, 305 00:29:52.900 --> 00:29:57.779 confesses their faults, repents to the Lord. Those who have fellowship with 306 00:29:57.940 --> 00:30:03.180 God walk in the light. They don't hide their sins. They don't cower 307 00:30:03.299 --> 00:30:08.769 away. They know the truth, but they don't just walk or am sorry, 308 00:30:08.769 --> 00:30:14.450 they don't just know the truth, as John says here. They do 309 00:30:14.809 --> 00:30:26.559 the truth. In certain ways of Western thought we often separate sort of knowledge 310 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:36.029 and obedience. They are separate categories and of course, but in Christianity they 311 00:30:36.029 --> 00:30:41.470 always go together, and this is one phrase that expresses that. Do the 312 00:30:41.630 --> 00:30:47.309 truth right you can't. To really know the truth is not simply to have 313 00:30:47.470 --> 00:30:52.460 an intellectual knowledge of it and then to walk in blindness. That's not knowing. 314 00:30:53.660 --> 00:31:03.299 We do in the same way, or rather that is because we don't 315 00:31:03.339 --> 00:31:11.529 merely know Christ. We know Christ, we just don't we don't just know 316 00:31:11.690 --> 00:31:18.319 about him. We know him because he's been revealed to us in this saving 317 00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:33.190 way. Here's the thing. If you hear John's statement and you recognize yourself 318 00:31:33.589 --> 00:31:42.029 as someone who cowers in the darkness, someone who hides, someone who's afraid, 319 00:31:44.789 --> 00:31:53.460 someone who walks according to darkness, know that in hearing this message that 320 00:31:53.619 --> 00:32:01.210 God is light, your deeds are already exposed. Your deeds are not hidden 321 00:32:01.369 --> 00:32:08.089 to God. The open secrets of your soul are open to God. He 322 00:32:08.289 --> 00:32:17.720 knows you. But in revealing these things, in bringing conviction for our sins. 323 00:32:20.359 --> 00:32:27.480 He has shown to you, not only in harsh judgment, but also 324 00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:35.589 in the happiness of hope, in shining to you in the message and in 325 00:32:35.670 --> 00:32:40.829 the knowledge of Jesus Christ, instead of scampering like a rat back into the 326 00:32:40.990 --> 00:32:47.380 life, he promises us that when you trust in him as he has been 327 00:32:47.460 --> 00:32:55.220 revealed to you, you can walk out boldly and know that everything's going to 328 00:32:55.259 --> 00:33:08.450 be okay, because he is light and we have fellowship in him, not 329 00:33:08.609 --> 00:33:17.279 as a rat but as a child, as an image bearer, as a 330 00:33:17.400 --> 00:33:22.119 lovely one. Let us pray