September 14, 2025 • 33 mins
Walking with God means walking in the light—but what does that really look like in our daily lives? This powerful examination of 1 John 1:5-10 challenges our tendency to compartmentalize faith from practice.
When John declares "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all," he establishes an absolute standard of moral purity that should transform how we live. Yet many of us claim fellowship with God while walking paths that look suspiciously like the world's. As the sermon powerfully states, "The world cannot hear what you're saying over how loud your life is."
The good news isn't about trying harder to be perfect. Rather, John reveals that authentic faith creates a natural family resemblance between our lives and Christ's character. We're not called to fill the entire spotlight of God's holiness—we simply need to stand within it, allowing His light to transform us from the inside out.
This message tackles the uncomfortable truth about our ongoing struggle with sin while offering the beautiful promise of cleansing. When we confess—simply agreeing with God about our moral failures—He is "faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This cleansing covers even the sins we've forgotten to confess.
Perhaps most challenging is the reminder that true Christianity cannot exist in isolation. Fellowship with God naturally creates fellowship with His people, forming a community where accountability and growth flourish. As you listen, consider: what areas of your life remain outside God's light? The path forward isn't about working harder but loving Christ more deeply.
Where is God calling you to move from darkness into light today? Share your thoughts and subscribe to join us on this journey of authentic faith.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning.
Good morning, go ahead and turnwith me in your Bibles to the
book of 1 John.
1 John is in the waybackity-back of your Bible, on
the far right.
It's one of three letters thatwe have in the New Testament
that the Apostle John wrotespecifically for God's people,
(00:21):
for their instruction, for theirbuilding up, for their
encouragement.
We began by just understandingthe first four verses and, like
I said before, the good news isI don't have to be creative
anymore, because every weekyou'll know what the sermon's on
the next week, because it'll bethe next couple of verses.
You'll never be worried,concerned, and you'll never have
(00:42):
to worry about me coming upwith some sort of cheesy title
for a sermon again, becauseit'll just be the next portion.
In light of that, as wepractice expository preaching
here, we're going to go verse byverse through verses 5 through
10 today of 1 John.
Last week we learned about theword of life and this week what
(01:03):
we're going to get into now iswhat does it look like to be in
relationship with this word oflife?
What does that mean?
What does that entail?
We live in a day and age wheretruth seems to be becoming
trendy and relative.
At the same time.
It's your truth, it's my truth,it's our truth, it's your truth
(01:24):
, it's my truth, it's our truth,it's their truth, etc.
And yet God's word has to bethe standard upon which we
measure truth.
If there is truth of any kind,if truth truly does exist, then
the creator and sustainer andender of all things must be the
judge of truth.
In light of that, what does itlook like to be in relationship
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with the word of life?
Well, it's not a pick your ownadventure.
It's not an.
All paths lead to heaven.
Jesus meant it when he said inJohn, chapter 14, that I am the
way, the truth and the life, andthat no one comes to the Father
but by me.
There is no other way.
There is no other name uponwhich people will be saved.
(02:10):
So, in light of our flimsy andfickle culture, today's message
will go very much against thegrain.
Please read with me God's holyword.
Please read with me God's holyword.
This is the message we haveheard from him and proclaim to
you that God is light and in himis no darkness at all.
(02:36):
If we say we have fellowshipwith him while we walk in
darkness, we lie and do notpractice the truth.
But if we walk in the light, ashe is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, andthe blood of Jesus, his Son,
cleanses us from all sin.
(02:57):
If we say we have no sin, wedeceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us
(03:19):
our sins.
Our text will break down intothe following outline Verse 5
will be the light, verses 6 and7 will be the link and verses 8,
9, and 10 will be the lens.
We begin with the light inverse 5.
John is expounding.
He's explaining further thismessage.
He says this is the message wehave heard from him and
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proclaimed to you.
Who is the him, why it is theword of life himself.
It is Jesus Christ.
This is a firsthand basis.
This is a eyewitness account.
There is no in-between.
This is not like googlingsomething and trusting the AI
response at the top of yourscreen.
Please stop doing that.
This is directly from God.
(04:06):
What is this message?
We're proclaiming to you thatGod is light.
And if you're anything like me,the first time I read through
the Bible I was like that was aletdown.
This is the message.
You're like I'm ready.
You're like God is light andYou're like I'm ready.
You're like God is light andyou're like cool, is there
(04:31):
anything else with that?
Is there a bigger?
I missed the confetti.
Like there had to have been amoment where this is bigger than
what I'm currently reading,because just saying God is light
is okay, cool.
Like now I don't have to worryabout being scared of the dark
because God is light.
This makes sense.
Like in heaven there is no sunbecause Jesus is the light.
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Okay, is that what the text issaying?
And what I want you tounderstand is that when John is
describing God as light, what heis primarily focusing on is
God's perfect more attribute,that he is perfectly pure, which
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is why the negative is thenstated again here, because
that's very typical in Hebrewcommunication is to state a
positive and then to make sureyou get it to state the negative
that reinforces the positive.
What is he saying?
He's saying God is light and inhim is no darkness at all.
Now you and I have no concepteven of this.
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You see, in this room there arelights everywhere.
You might even say it's welllit, maybe too lit.
At some point in time it'll getdark outside and it'll feel
even brighter in here, becauseperspective is based off of
whatever we're looking at at thetime and not reality itself.
God is perfectly light.
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Comes to us and we say, cool,like the sun.
And it's like no, no, no, youdon't understand.
You see, the sun is so brightthat if you and I stare at it
for long enough, we will loseour vision.
And that is a created thing.
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It is so minuscule incomparison to God, who created
it, but not only it millions andbillions of other stars just
like it, some of them even morespectacular.
This is God.
God is perfectly light andthere is no darkness in him at
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all.
Here's one of the greatestproblems we have.
Is we look at moral goodnesslike this and we say, okay,
god's perfectly morally good,and we're like what's the best
litmus test for this?
Is it, mother Teresa?
Like the moral goodness scalehere for humans?
Is it some sort of missionaryor monk, some do-gooder that
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gave away all their money tofeed poor people?
What is the standard upon whichyou and I look?
At a statement that says God islight, he is perfectly pure and
lacks any imperfection, and welook at a statement that says
God is light, he is perfectlypure and lacks any imperfection
and we look at that and say,yeah, I can understand that.
That makes sense, because thehuman mind actually cannot make
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sense of it.
How do I know that?
We'll come back to verse 5, butlook at verses 6 and 7 with me.
This is the link.
This is where things connect.
Okay, if we say we havefellowship with him while we
walk in darkness, we lie and donot practice the truth.
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Now, I don't know if you knowthis or not, but if you look
someone bold in the face and sayyou are a liar, that's about as
offensive as you can get.
We don't like being told we arethings, but if I were to get
just a general show of hands ofactually, let's get some
(08:18):
participation today, guys, hasanyone ever lied in your entire
life?
Go ahead and raise your hand.
You guys are a bunch of liars.
Oh, my goodness.
Okay, let's try something else.
Has anyone and you don't haveto raise your hand has anyone
ever taken the Lord's name invain?
You've misused God's name.
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Yeah, okay.
Has anyone ever taken anythingthat's not theirs, even a pencil
?
Maybe it was an hour on breakthat you were actually supposed
to be working?
Yeah, okay.
So you're a blaspheming,thieving, liar.
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You're like I came to church tofeel good.
Today, pastor, you're gettingabout a C-minus currently.
Why are we here?
What is your purpose?
Is it to never be called a liaragain?
Is it to never be called athief?
Or a blasphemer, an adulterer,an addict?
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For a blasphemer, an adulterer,an addict.
If we say we have fellowshipwith him, who is perfect, light,
perfect moral goodness, whilewe walk in darkness, you and I
lie and do not practice thetruth.
Because Jesus gave us a promise.
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He's in the upper room with hisdisciples and he says if you
love me, you will keep mycommandments.
And all the little miniinter-legalists in your mind
said that's a weight on you.
You better start obeying better, okay?
And we say no, no, no, no, no.
This is a promise, promise, aperfect promise from the Savior
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who says look, if you just loveme, everything else will work
out.
You look at the sin in yourlife and you say I can't win, I
can't do it.
And Jesus says exactly, if youjust love me, all of this will
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go away.
You see, I don't know if you'veever had like a weight loss
journey of some kind, but thereis this sense upon which you
almost kind of want to just likegrab some flab and just chop it
off and you're like ta-da, likewe did it.
Did you see that that wasawesome?
One fell swoop and it's gone.
And yet that's not reality.
What actually happens?
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Well, when you're disciplinedand you're consistent, you will
almost never see it until you'vebeen doing it for six months to
a year and you're like I'mstarting to see some change here
, like I feel a little different.
That's true, it's a littlelooser.
Don't look at mine, mine'stight, okay.
But we have this moment wherewe see, over time, the effects
of that consistency so muchgreater is walking in the truth,
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is loving God.
When you and I simply focus onour affections towards Christ,
everything else goes away.
You and I so often look at thecup of our life and it's full of
sin and ugliness, hatred,bitterness, lies, gossip,
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slander, and we say I just gotto get rid of this, lies, gossip
, slander, and we say I just gotto get rid of this.
But the problem we have is, ifyou pour the cup out and don't
put anything else in it, you andI don't drift towards holiness.
I don't know if you've evernoticed that or not.
If you put your life onautopilot, you're not like.
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The kids were so muchwell-behaved today because I
didn't do anything, that wasgreat.
Did you see that?
I was just like Jesus take thewheel and the kids were just
like I would love to obey.
That's never happened.
Why?
Because you and I don't drifttowards the light.
There's no natural cadencewhere we're like yes, I can't
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wait to do the right thing.
When we empty the cup of sin andidols things that we love more
than God we have to fill it backup with a greater affection,
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and that greater affection mustbe Christ.
The antidote to the sin in yourlife is not to beat yourself
down, greater to have someonecheck in on you all the time and
make sure you're keeping to.
You need a heart that lovesChrist more, and the only way
you and I ever get there is whenwe keep our heart and our mind
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fixed on Him.
But here's the issue.
We live in a day and age wheremajority of people still that
number's going down.
Majority of people still willcall themselves Christian by
name, so we'll call thatnominally.
They're nominally Christian.
They call themselves Christianby name, so we'll call that
nominally.
They're nominally Christian,they call themselves Christian
by name, and you'll hearwonderful people.
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I had a conversation once with aguy where I'm asking him about
his faith and he says, yeah, Ibelieve in God.
And you're like that's awesome.
And I'm like, what about Jesus?
And he's like, yeah, he's cooltoo.
And you're like, oh, he's cooltoo.
And you're like, oh, no, wemissed it, like we were kind of
going there and we completelylost it.
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If we say we have fellowshipwith him, which is what being a
Christian is, is being inrelationship with God's people
and, through that, being inrelationship with Jesus Christ
himself, who is life ineverything, and then we live a
life that doesn't line up withthat, at the very least, you and
I could agree the correct termwould be hypocrite.
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You say I believe this and withyour life, you say something
else.
I heard a non-Christian oncesay this really well, and I
think it might be a quote fromsomewhere else, but the idea
goes down to this that the worldcannot hear what you're saying
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over how loud your life is.
You see, if I say Jesus isfirst in everything, and the
world looks at me and saysyou're right, I can name three
things that you would probablydo rather than spend time with
God.
We're lying, we're not tellingthe truth.
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More importantly, we're notpracticing the truth.
We're not living the truth outverse 7 but on the other, we're
not living the truth out Verse7,.
But on the other side, if wewalk in the light, as he is in
the light, we have fellowshipwith one another, and the blood
of Jesus, his Son, cleanses usfrom all sin.
What's the link here?
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The link is your life, how youlive, shouts from the rooftops
greater than any Facebook post,any conversation, any trending
thing that can possibly happen.
Your life is on display If wewalk in the light as he is in
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the light.
I want you to be very awarethat language matters here.
So if the Bible had said if wewalk according to the light as
he is in the light, then itwould be the idea that we have
to measure up to something.
We have to hurry up and fill upall this light and be Jesus
here, otherwise we're not goingto make it.
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All this light and be Jesushere, otherwise we're not going
to make it.
However, when the text says,when we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we're able towalk freely, knowing much like a
giant spotlight.
If any part of the spotlight istouching me, you can see me.
I am not big enough to fill thewhole spotlight and I don't
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have to be so.
He says look at your life.
God is perfect.
And he's not saying so.
You go ahead and be perfect.
What he is saying is you shouldlook something like each other.
Like, can you imagine right forthose you don't know, I'm white
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and Hispanic mixed, so that'smy race.
And so can you imagine?
Like Bree and I, we say we haveanother baby and we bring him
out and he's like this, likefull-blooded Asian kid, and
we're like see, you'd say thatdidn't come out of Bree, like
there's no way.
And I'd be like what are youtalking about?
I told you that's my son.
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You're like you might haveadopted him, but you didn't have
him.
Why?
Because no one's going to lookat me and be like that dude's
Asian.
It's just not going to happen.
And yet, so much worse is youand I were like, yeah, I'm with
Jesus.
People were like you don't lookanything like him.
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What are you talking about?
Do you own a Bible that leavesyour car?
Like do you love anyone otherthan yourself?
Do you just sit there and thinkabout what will fulfill you
most in this moment?
Do you respond and react justlike the world does when they
wrong you?
How will they know that you'redifferent if you don't act
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different?
You don't act different.
Jesus does not gently welcomehimself into your life and say
as you allow me room, I willtake things over.
Jesus is both Savior and Lord.
He is master, he is ruler overyour life.
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To where, at the moment ofsalvation, we say my life is
yours, I have nothing to give, Ihave nothing to do.
That is not yours.
That is what the Christian lifeis supposed to look like.
You and I are meant to be littleChristians, right, christ
followers.
We're meant to be littleChristians, right, christ
followers.
We're meant to look like.
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That makes sense.
If we walk in the light, as heis in the light, what do we have
?
Again, what's the first thing?
It says we have fellowship withone another.
And if you're a Christian, thefirst thing you have is
fellowship with God's people.
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And you're like okay, look,I've grown up in America, okay,
and here I can do my own thing,I can start my own business.
I don't need no input fromnobody.
I can cut off family and nevertalk to them again.
I'm good, I can do thisChristian thing on my own, to
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which the Bible now, twice inthe last two weeks, has told you
no, you can't.
It is impossible to be ahealthy Christian outside of
God's given community in thechurch.
It is impossible to be ahealthy Christian outside of the
church.
We have fellowship with oneanother, but not only that.
The blood of Jesus, his son,cleanses us from all sin.
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Why is that put there?
Well, because, as we'repreaching through this, there's
again that little inner legalist.
He never goes away, by the way.
He's always there and he's inyour mind saying see, you better
start doing better.
You're on the rocks, you're onthin ice.
You better start performing.
You better giddy up, you betterpull up your bootstraps.
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And we're like no, no, no, weobey out of love and gratitude
for what christ has done for us,not out of a fearful obligation
of the damnation to come,because the payment for my
penalty for my sins, all of them, has already been paid it.
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It is done, it is finished.
I have nothing left to do withthat, and thank God, because I
could do nothing with it.
This leads us to the lens.
How are we to look at this?
Through what lens are we to seethe light and the link of our
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life?
Verse 8 says If we say we haveno sin, we deceive ourselves and
the truth is not in us.
Again, liar is a very offensiveword.
Sinner is also offensive.
See, the world will look atthings like.
This week.
Everyone knows that CharlieKirk was assassinated and I'm
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sure everyone in this room wouldsay the guy who killed him is a
bad person.
Right, that guy sinned, he dida terrible thing.
Do we ever talk about our ownsin that way?
Even when we do terrible things, when we cheat on someone, when
we betray someone, when we hatesomeone, throw things and yell,
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when we're bitter and don'tforgive, do we ever think that's
a terrible sin?
Or do we justify it and saymine's not that bad, my sins
aren't that bad?
The guy I work with, thoughthat dude's a piece of work.
Okay, Like he needs Jesus.
I'm like more of a half-calf.
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I need like half of Jesus, likehe's full-blown.
He needs the whole thing.
How often do we look at ourlives and admit our sin?
Because the world wishes to saywe have no sin.
But this first one and this isimportant because verse 8 and 10
will look redundant almost, ifyou don't know this from the
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greek.
The first one has to do withthis idea of guilt, shame and
penalty.
Well, the sin in verse 10 hasto do with this idea of habitual
, ongoing sin.
So the first one is just sayingI don't owe a penalty.
Okay, I'm not that bad.
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Actually, I'm pretty goodoverall.
I loved someone today, Isacrificed for somebody and we
say good, good, good, good.
The only reason you did thatand that the jackal down the
street didn't do the same thingis because that is not made in
God's image.
You are so that even the worstof us still does loving things,
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still gives, still hascompassion from time to time.
If we say we have no sin, whatare we doing?
We are deceiving ourselves andthe truth is not in us.
Verse 9,.
If we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us fromall unrighteousness.
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Us to forgive us our sins andto cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
Verse 9, the word confess meansto say the same as Okay, so you
and I can have like all theseweird thoughts of confession.
Confessing in the Bible meansto agree with God about your sin
.
That's all it means, god.
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I agree that when I did that itwas wrong according to your
word and I am sorry.
Will you please forgive me.
That's it.
That is a confession.
So if we confess our sins, whathappens?
Do you have to start workingreally hard now ends what
happens?
Do you have to start workingreally hard now?
Is that what happens?
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Like you better be faithful now.
You better work out somejustice here.
You better earn thatforgiveness back.
No, look at the wide open armsof Jesus as he says he is
faithful and just to forgive usour sins.
The weight of my sin at themoment I believe in Jesus is
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never put on me again, ever.
The moment I confess, themoment I agree with God, I am
free, I am alive.
Now why does that matter?
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Well, because if God was notfaithful, we would trust him
about as much as you trust yourneighbor, and if he was not,
just you and I would be fearfulof what was to come.
But because he is faithful andjust, I can rest.
And we look at the Christianlife all too often as work that
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needs to be done, that I need tomotivate myself to do as
opposed to a lazy river uponwhich God is pulling me through
and through and through and ishelping me to get to the next
level again and again.
Why?
Because he is faithful.
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Now, all of my anxiety.
Folks, please highlight thisverse, especially the end here.
Look at this.
And to cleanse us from allunrighteousness.
Okay, isn't he saying the samething here?
Right, he's faithful and justto forgive our sins.
And then he's just doing like aHebrew thing where he's
repeating himself no, have anyof you ever remembered every sin
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you've ever committed toconfess to God?
No, no hands, not even one.
Wow, how good is it that youand I don't have to remember
every sin, that we don't have tosit with anxiety in a room by
ourselves, like, okay, he'llforgive me, but I need to
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remember everything to confessit, otherwise it goes into the
bad pile.
Jesus cleanses us from allunrighteousness.
You don't confess all your sins, I'm here to tell you.
But Jesus is so faithful thathe cleanses you of everything,
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even the sins you don't knowabout.
And that is why we are saved bygrace through faith, because I
can't earn any of it.
And yet, when I understand thistruth, I acknowledge it and
then begin to trust it, thatfaith transforms my life to when
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now I'm cleansed.
But number two here for versenine is that the first aspect of
forgiveness here is more of ajudicial idea the penalty is
taken away.
The second idea has more to dowith the idea of not being icky
anymore, right, so there's onething to say like I was outside
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and I was working in mud and cowmuck and all this stuff and I'm
covered in everything, and forme to come home and my wife to
say I still love you andeverything's okay and I will
give you a hug, and me to sayyay, and then the next moment
for her to say, but I'm about tohose you off, and then you're
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getting a bath and you're goingto be clean from all of that and
then we'll do a real hug.
You see, there's a differencebetween being accepted where I'm
at and then being cleansed ofwhere I'm at.
The Christian life is not thiscome one, come all and stay as
you are.
It is come one, come all.
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Die as you are, give everythingof your life away, die as you
are, give everything of yourlife away and God will make you
a completely new person.
He will cleanse you and makeyou completely new, so that the
taint of sin from your past willgo away.
You and I are clean.
Verse 10.
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If we say we have not sinned,we make him a liar and his word
is not in us.
You see, the first one, like wesaid, has to do with this kind
of judicial idea.
This I owe a penalty for my sin.
The second one here is the ideaof being a sinner who sins and
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it's like no, I don't do badstuff, I do pretty good stuff
for the most part, like I'm.
I'm a pretty good person.
I'm the best pappy, you know.
I am the best daughter, youknow, I'm the best.
Whatever you know, I can tellyou of people that are much
worse than me.
Okay, I have a long list ofpeople much worse than me.
What does it say If you and Iaren't willing to agree with God
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about our sin, if we aren'twilling to agree that we
continue to sin in this life,even as Christians pause?
This letter was not written tonon-Christians.
It was written to Christians.
Christians struggle withconfessing sin.
Christians struggle withunderstanding their
justification.
Christians struggle withadmitting their ongoing sin and
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need for a Savior.
But what happens if we don'tadmit that sin?
We make God to be a liar andHis Word is not in us.
See, there are not two truthshere.
The Bible disagrees completelywith the idea that there's more
than one truth.
It says either you're lying oryou're making God out to be a
(30:23):
liar.
You choose.
You and I have to be a body ofbelievers who look at God's word
and admit I need a Savior andI've never needed Him more than
I do today.
And, dear friends, if we want tomake any lasting impact here,
(30:43):
we want to have a church thatmakes a difference for the
kingdom.
It begins right here, kingdom,it begins right here.
If we invite the community intosomething.
Where lives are not beingtransformed, where sin is not
being confessed, where we don'tlive our lives on display, we
(31:03):
are foolish and unable to doliterally anything positive for
the kingdom.
It begins and ends with thelight, and as soon as this
becomes about anything otherthan that, it's time to pack our
bags and do something else.
Jesus is the light of the world.
(31:24):
He is perfectly pure, and thechallenge today is not go into
your life and go be perfectlypure, but I do want you to go
(31:45):
home and to prayerfully considerwhat part of your life is the
light not shining into?
What part are you holding back?
Because I'm here to tell you,while you might not be aware of
all of the areas that that's inmyself included, the people
around you are, especially thewatching world, and you don't
want to be the person invitingpeople to church and saying you
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should come to church.
We got this new church, it'sgreat.
And then look at you and saybut you act just like me.
We have to be different, andyou and I won't get there by
working really hard.
You and I will get there byloving God.
Let us pray, father.
We come before you in adorationof the fact that you chose to
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die for us, that you, the lightof the world, the beginning and
the end, the Alpha and the Omega, chose to give everything away
for us, who were just indarkness.
We were separated from you, andrightfully so.
We had nothing to give you.
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We are not good on our own, andyet, by your grace, you saved
us.
You've made us new Lord.
We ask that Sovereign GraceBible Church would be a church
on fire for you, that we wouldbe different, that we would kill
the sin in our lives.
That we would live lives ofaccountability to each other,
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walking in community.
That you, lord, would beglorified and honored in this
place.
That your name would be highand lifted up.
And, lord, that as people lookin, they would see the light.
They would see the differenceIn this desperate and dark world
that we live in.
They would see the light.
They would see the differenceIn this desperate and dark world
that we live in.
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They would see hope.
They would see a future.
Lord, help us to be your handsand feet, help us to speak your
truth and to walk in the light,as you are in the light.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
Good morning.
Good morning, go ahead and turnwith me in your Bibles to the
book of 1 John.
1 John is in the waybackity-back of your Bible, on
the far right.
It's one of three letters thatwe have in the New Testament
that the Apostle John wrotespecifically for God's people,
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for their instruction, for theirbuilding up, for their
encouragement.
We began by just understandingthe first four verses and, like
I said before, the good news isI don't have to be creative
anymore, because every weekyou'll know what the sermon's on
the next week, because it'll bethe next couple of verses.
You'll never be worried,concerned, and you'll never have
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to worry about me coming upwith some sort of cheesy title
for a sermon again, becauseit'll just be the next portion.
In light of that, as wepractice expository preaching
here, we're going to go verse byverse through verses 5 through
10 today of 1 John.
Last week we learned about theword of life and this week what
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we're going to get into now iswhat does it look like to be in
relationship with this word oflife?
What does that mean?
What does that entail?
We live in a day and age wheretruth seems to be becoming
trendy and relative.
At the same time.
It's your truth, it's my truth,it's our truth, it's your truth
(01:24):
, it's my truth, it's our truth,it's their truth, etc.
And yet God's word has to bethe standard upon which we
measure truth.
If there is truth of any kind,if truth truly does exist, then
the creator and sustainer andender of all things must be the
judge of truth.
In light of that, what does itlook like to be in relationship
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with the word of life?
Well, it's not a pick your ownadventure.
It's not an.
All paths lead to heaven.
Jesus meant it when he said inJohn, chapter 14, that I am the
way, the truth and the life, andthat no one comes to the Father
but by me.
There is no other way.
There is no other name uponwhich people will be saved.
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So, in light of our flimsy andfickle culture, today's message
will go very much against thegrain.
Please read with me God's holyword.
Please read with me God's holyword.
This is the message we haveheard from him and proclaim to
you that God is light and in himis no darkness at all.
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If we say we have fellowshipwith him while we walk in
darkness, we lie and do notpractice the truth.
But if we walk in the light, ashe is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, andthe blood of Jesus, his Son,
cleanses us from all sin.
(02:57):
If we say we have no sin, wedeceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us
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our sins.
Our text will break down intothe following outline Verse 5
will be the light, verses 6 and7 will be the link and verses 8,
9, and 10 will be the lens.
We begin with the light inverse 5.
John is expounding.
He's explaining further thismessage.
He says this is the message wehave heard from him and
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proclaimed to you.
Who is the him, why it is theword of life himself.
It is Jesus Christ.
This is a firsthand basis.
This is a eyewitness account.
There is no in-between.
This is not like googlingsomething and trusting the AI
response at the top of yourscreen.
Please stop doing that.
This is directly from God.
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What is this message?
We're proclaiming to you thatGod is light.
And if you're anything like me,the first time I read through
the Bible I was like that was aletdown.
This is the message.
You're like I'm ready.
You're like God is light andYou're like I'm ready.
You're like God is light andyou're like cool, is there
(04:31):
anything else with that?
Is there a bigger?
I missed the confetti.
Like there had to have been amoment where this is bigger than
what I'm currently reading,because just saying God is light
is okay, cool.
Like now I don't have to worryabout being scared of the dark
because God is light.
This makes sense.
Like in heaven there is no sunbecause Jesus is the light.
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Okay, is that what the text issaying?
And what I want you tounderstand is that when John is
describing God as light, what heis primarily focusing on is
God's perfect more attribute,that he is perfectly pure, which
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is why the negative is thenstated again here, because
that's very typical in Hebrewcommunication is to state a
positive and then to make sureyou get it to state the negative
that reinforces the positive.
What is he saying?
He's saying God is light and inhim is no darkness at all.
Now you and I have no concepteven of this.
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You see, in this room there arelights everywhere.
You might even say it's welllit, maybe too lit.
At some point in time it'll getdark outside and it'll feel
even brighter in here, becauseperspective is based off of
whatever we're looking at at thetime and not reality itself.
God is perfectly light.
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Comes to us and we say, cool,like the sun.
And it's like no, no, no, youdon't understand.
You see, the sun is so brightthat if you and I stare at it
for long enough, we will loseour vision.
And that is a created thing.
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It is so minuscule incomparison to God, who created
it, but not only it millions andbillions of other stars just
like it, some of them even morespectacular.
This is God.
God is perfectly light andthere is no darkness in him at
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all.
Here's one of the greatestproblems we have.
Is we look at moral goodnesslike this and we say, okay,
god's perfectly morally good,and we're like what's the best
litmus test for this?
Is it, mother Teresa?
Like the moral goodness scalehere for humans?
Is it some sort of missionaryor monk, some do-gooder that
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gave away all their money tofeed poor people?
What is the standard upon whichyou and I look?
At a statement that says God islight, he is perfectly pure and
lacks any imperfection, and welook at a statement that says
God is light, he is perfectlypure and lacks any imperfection
and we look at that and say,yeah, I can understand that.
That makes sense, because thehuman mind actually cannot make
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sense of it.
How do I know that?
We'll come back to verse 5, butlook at verses 6 and 7 with me.
This is the link.
This is where things connect.
Okay, if we say we havefellowship with him while we
walk in darkness, we lie and donot practice the truth.
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Now, I don't know if you knowthis or not, but if you look
someone bold in the face and sayyou are a liar, that's about as
offensive as you can get.
We don't like being told we arethings, but if I were to get
just a general show of hands ofactually, let's get some
(08:18):
participation today, guys, hasanyone ever lied in your entire
life?
Go ahead and raise your hand.
You guys are a bunch of liars.
Oh, my goodness.
Okay, let's try something else.
Has anyone and you don't haveto raise your hand has anyone
ever taken the Lord's name invain?
You've misused God's name.
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Yeah, okay.
Has anyone ever taken anythingthat's not theirs, even a pencil
?
Maybe it was an hour on breakthat you were actually supposed
to be working?
Yeah, okay.
So you're a blaspheming,thieving, liar.
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You're like I came to church tofeel good.
Today, pastor, you're gettingabout a C-minus currently.
Why are we here?
What is your purpose?
Is it to never be called a liaragain?
Is it to never be called athief?
Or a blasphemer, an adulterer,an addict?
(09:24):
For a blasphemer, an adulterer,an addict.
If we say we have fellowshipwith him, who is perfect, light,
perfect moral goodness, whilewe walk in darkness, you and I
lie and do not practice thetruth.
Because Jesus gave us a promise.
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He's in the upper room with hisdisciples and he says if you
love me, you will keep mycommandments.
And all the little miniinter-legalists in your mind
said that's a weight on you.
You better start obeying better, okay?
And we say no, no, no, no, no.
This is a promise, promise, aperfect promise from the Savior
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who says look, if you just loveme, everything else will work
out.
You look at the sin in yourlife and you say I can't win, I
can't do it.
And Jesus says exactly, if youjust love me, all of this will
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go away.
You see, I don't know if you'veever had like a weight loss
journey of some kind, but thereis this sense upon which you
almost kind of want to just likegrab some flab and just chop it
off and you're like ta-da, likewe did it.
Did you see that that wasawesome?
One fell swoop and it's gone.
And yet that's not reality.
What actually happens?
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Well, when you're disciplinedand you're consistent, you will
almost never see it until you'vebeen doing it for six months to
a year and you're like I'mstarting to see some change here
, like I feel a little different.
That's true, it's a littlelooser.
Don't look at mine, mine'stight, okay.
But we have this moment wherewe see, over time, the effects
of that consistency so muchgreater is walking in the truth,
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is loving God.
When you and I simply focus onour affections towards Christ,
everything else goes away.
You and I so often look at thecup of our life and it's full of
sin and ugliness, hatred,bitterness, lies, gossip,
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slander, and we say I just gotto get rid of this, lies, gossip
, slander, and we say I just gotto get rid of this.
But the problem we have is, ifyou pour the cup out and don't
put anything else in it, you andI don't drift towards holiness.
I don't know if you've evernoticed that or not.
If you put your life onautopilot, you're not like.
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The kids were so muchwell-behaved today because I
didn't do anything, that wasgreat.
Did you see that?
I was just like Jesus take thewheel and the kids were just
like I would love to obey.
That's never happened.
Why?
Because you and I don't drifttowards the light.
There's no natural cadencewhere we're like yes, I can't
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wait to do the right thing.
When we empty the cup of sin andidols things that we love more
than God we have to fill it backup with a greater affection,
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and that greater affection mustbe Christ.
The antidote to the sin in yourlife is not to beat yourself
down, greater to have someonecheck in on you all the time and
make sure you're keeping to.
You need a heart that lovesChrist more, and the only way
you and I ever get there is whenwe keep our heart and our mind
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fixed on Him.
But here's the issue.
We live in a day and age wheremajority of people still that
number's going down.
Majority of people still willcall themselves Christian by
name, so we'll call thatnominally.
They're nominally Christian.
They call themselves Christianby name, so we'll call that
nominally.
They're nominally Christian,they call themselves Christian
by name, and you'll hearwonderful people.
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I had a conversation once with aguy where I'm asking him about
his faith and he says, yeah, Ibelieve in God.
And you're like that's awesome.
And I'm like, what about Jesus?
And he's like, yeah, he's cooltoo.
And you're like, oh, he's cooltoo.
And you're like, oh, no, wemissed it, like we were kind of
going there and we completelylost it.
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If we say we have fellowshipwith him, which is what being a
Christian is, is being inrelationship with God's people
and, through that, being inrelationship with Jesus Christ
himself, who is life ineverything, and then we live a
life that doesn't line up withthat, at the very least, you and
I could agree the correct termwould be hypocrite.
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You say I believe this and withyour life, you say something
else.
I heard a non-Christian oncesay this really well, and I
think it might be a quote fromsomewhere else, but the idea
goes down to this that the worldcannot hear what you're saying
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over how loud your life is.
You see, if I say Jesus isfirst in everything, and the
world looks at me and saysyou're right, I can name three
things that you would probablydo rather than spend time with
God.
We're lying, we're not tellingthe truth.
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More importantly, we're notpracticing the truth.
We're not living the truth outverse 7 but on the other, we're
not living the truth out Verse7,.
But on the other side, if wewalk in the light, as he is in
the light, we have fellowshipwith one another, and the blood
of Jesus, his Son, cleanses usfrom all sin.
What's the link here?
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The link is your life, how youlive, shouts from the rooftops
greater than any Facebook post,any conversation, any trending
thing that can possibly happen.
Your life is on display If wewalk in the light as he is in
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the light.
I want you to be very awarethat language matters here.
So if the Bible had said if wewalk according to the light as
he is in the light, then itwould be the idea that we have
to measure up to something.
We have to hurry up and fill upall this light and be Jesus
here, otherwise we're not goingto make it.
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All this light and be Jesushere, otherwise we're not going
to make it.
However, when the text says,when we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we're able towalk freely, knowing much like a
giant spotlight.
If any part of the spotlight istouching me, you can see me.
I am not big enough to fill thewhole spotlight and I don't
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have to be so.
He says look at your life.
God is perfect.
And he's not saying so.
You go ahead and be perfect.
What he is saying is you shouldlook something like each other.
Like, can you imagine right forthose you don't know, I'm white
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and Hispanic mixed, so that'smy race.
And so can you imagine?
Like Bree and I, we say we haveanother baby and we bring him
out and he's like this, likefull-blooded Asian kid, and
we're like see, you'd say thatdidn't come out of Bree, like
there's no way.
And I'd be like what are youtalking about?
I told you that's my son.
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You're like you might haveadopted him, but you didn't have
him.
Why?
Because no one's going to lookat me and be like that dude's
Asian.
It's just not going to happen.
And yet, so much worse is youand I were like, yeah, I'm with
Jesus.
People were like you don't lookanything like him.
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What are you talking about?
Do you own a Bible that leavesyour car?
Like do you love anyone otherthan yourself?
Do you just sit there and thinkabout what will fulfill you
most in this moment?
Do you respond and react justlike the world does when they
wrong you?
How will they know that you'redifferent if you don't act
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different?
You don't act different.
Jesus does not gently welcomehimself into your life and say
as you allow me room, I willtake things over.
Jesus is both Savior and Lord.
He is master, he is ruler overyour life.
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To where, at the moment ofsalvation, we say my life is
yours, I have nothing to give, Ihave nothing to do.
That is not yours.
That is what the Christian lifeis supposed to look like.
You and I are meant to be littleChristians, right, christ
followers.
We're meant to be littleChristians, right, christ
followers.
We're meant to look like.
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That makes sense.
If we walk in the light, as heis in the light, what do we have
?
Again, what's the first thing?
It says we have fellowship withone another.
And if you're a Christian, thefirst thing you have is
fellowship with God's people.
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And you're like okay, look,I've grown up in America, okay,
and here I can do my own thing,I can start my own business.
I don't need no input fromnobody.
I can cut off family and nevertalk to them again.
I'm good, I can do thisChristian thing on my own, to
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which the Bible now, twice inthe last two weeks, has told you
no, you can't.
It is impossible to be ahealthy Christian outside of
God's given community in thechurch.
It is impossible to be ahealthy Christian outside of the
church.
We have fellowship with oneanother, but not only that.
The blood of Jesus, his son,cleanses us from all sin.
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Why is that put there?
Well, because, as we'repreaching through this, there's
again that little inner legalist.
He never goes away, by the way.
He's always there and he's inyour mind saying see, you better
start doing better.
You're on the rocks, you're onthin ice.
You better start performing.
You better giddy up, you betterpull up your bootstraps.
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And we're like no, no, no, weobey out of love and gratitude
for what christ has done for us,not out of a fearful obligation
of the damnation to come,because the payment for my
penalty for my sins, all of them, has already been paid it.
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It is done, it is finished.
I have nothing left to do withthat, and thank God, because I
could do nothing with it.
This leads us to the lens.
How are we to look at this?
Through what lens are we to seethe light and the link of our
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life?
Verse 8 says If we say we haveno sin, we deceive ourselves and
the truth is not in us.
Again, liar is a very offensiveword.
Sinner is also offensive.
See, the world will look atthings like.
This week.
Everyone knows that CharlieKirk was assassinated and I'm
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sure everyone in this room wouldsay the guy who killed him is a
bad person.
Right, that guy sinned, he dida terrible thing.
Do we ever talk about our ownsin that way?
Even when we do terrible things, when we cheat on someone, when
we betray someone, when we hatesomeone, throw things and yell,
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when we're bitter and don'tforgive, do we ever think that's
a terrible sin?
Or do we justify it and saymine's not that bad, my sins
aren't that bad?
The guy I work with, thoughthat dude's a piece of work.
Okay, Like he needs Jesus.
I'm like more of a half-calf.
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I need like half of Jesus, likehe's full-blown.
He needs the whole thing.
How often do we look at ourlives and admit our sin?
Because the world wishes to saywe have no sin.
But this first one and this isimportant because verse 8 and 10
will look redundant almost, ifyou don't know this from the
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greek.
The first one has to do withthis idea of guilt, shame and
penalty.
Well, the sin in verse 10 hasto do with this idea of habitual
, ongoing sin.
So the first one is just sayingI don't owe a penalty.
Okay, I'm not that bad.
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Actually, I'm pretty goodoverall.
I loved someone today, Isacrificed for somebody and we
say good, good, good, good.
The only reason you did thatand that the jackal down the
street didn't do the same thingis because that is not made in
God's image.
You are so that even the worstof us still does loving things,
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still gives, still hascompassion from time to time.
If we say we have no sin, whatare we doing?
We are deceiving ourselves andthe truth is not in us.
Verse 9,.
If we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us fromall unrighteousness.
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Us to forgive us our sins andto cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
Verse 9, the word confess meansto say the same as Okay, so you
and I can have like all theseweird thoughts of confession.
Confessing in the Bible meansto agree with God about your sin
.
That's all it means, god.
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I agree that when I did that itwas wrong according to your
word and I am sorry.
Will you please forgive me.
That's it.
That is a confession.
So if we confess our sins, whathappens?
Do you have to start workingreally hard now ends what
happens?
Do you have to start workingreally hard now?
Is that what happens?
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Like you better be faithful now.
You better work out somejustice here.
You better earn thatforgiveness back.
No, look at the wide open armsof Jesus as he says he is
faithful and just to forgive usour sins.
The weight of my sin at themoment I believe in Jesus is
(24:41):
never put on me again, ever.
The moment I confess, themoment I agree with God, I am
free, I am alive.
Now why does that matter?
(25:02):
Well, because if God was notfaithful, we would trust him
about as much as you trust yourneighbor, and if he was not,
just you and I would be fearfulof what was to come.
But because he is faithful andjust, I can rest.
And we look at the Christianlife all too often as work that
(25:27):
needs to be done, that I need tomotivate myself to do as
opposed to a lazy river uponwhich God is pulling me through
and through and through and ishelping me to get to the next
level again and again.
Why?
Because he is faithful.
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Now, all of my anxiety.
Folks, please highlight thisverse, especially the end here.
Look at this.
And to cleanse us from allunrighteousness.
Okay, isn't he saying the samething here?
Right, he's faithful and justto forgive our sins.
And then he's just doing like aHebrew thing where he's
repeating himself no, have anyof you ever remembered every sin
(26:13):
you've ever committed toconfess to God?
No, no hands, not even one.
Wow, how good is it that youand I don't have to remember
every sin, that we don't have tosit with anxiety in a room by
ourselves, like, okay, he'llforgive me, but I need to
(26:33):
remember everything to confessit, otherwise it goes into the
bad pile.
Jesus cleanses us from allunrighteousness.
You don't confess all your sins, I'm here to tell you.
But Jesus is so faithful thathe cleanses you of everything,
(26:56):
even the sins you don't knowabout.
And that is why we are saved bygrace through faith, because I
can't earn any of it.
And yet, when I understand thistruth, I acknowledge it and
then begin to trust it, thatfaith transforms my life to when
(27:18):
now I'm cleansed.
But number two here for versenine is that the first aspect of
forgiveness here is more of ajudicial idea the penalty is
taken away.
The second idea has more to dowith the idea of not being icky
anymore, right, so there's onething to say like I was outside
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and I was working in mud and cowmuck and all this stuff and I'm
covered in everything, and forme to come home and my wife to
say I still love you andeverything's okay and I will
give you a hug, and me to sayyay, and then the next moment
for her to say, but I'm about tohose you off, and then you're
(28:04):
getting a bath and you're goingto be clean from all of that and
then we'll do a real hug.
You see, there's a differencebetween being accepted where I'm
at and then being cleansed ofwhere I'm at.
The Christian life is not thiscome one, come all and stay as
you are.
It is come one, come all.
(28:26):
Die as you are, give everythingof your life away, die as you
are, give everything of yourlife away and God will make you
a completely new person.
He will cleanse you and makeyou completely new, so that the
taint of sin from your past willgo away.
You and I are clean.
Verse 10.
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If we say we have not sinned,we make him a liar and his word
is not in us.
You see, the first one, like wesaid, has to do with this kind
of judicial idea.
This I owe a penalty for my sin.
The second one here is the ideaof being a sinner who sins and
(29:08):
it's like no, I don't do badstuff, I do pretty good stuff
for the most part, like I'm.
I'm a pretty good person.
I'm the best pappy, you know.
I am the best daughter, youknow, I'm the best.
Whatever you know, I can tellyou of people that are much
worse than me.
Okay, I have a long list ofpeople much worse than me.
What does it say If you and Iaren't willing to agree with God
(29:33):
about our sin, if we aren'twilling to agree that we
continue to sin in this life,even as Christians pause?
This letter was not written tonon-Christians.
It was written to Christians.
Christians struggle withconfessing sin.
Christians struggle withunderstanding their
justification.
Christians struggle withadmitting their ongoing sin and
(29:58):
need for a Savior.
But what happens if we don'tadmit that sin?
We make God to be a liar andHis Word is not in us.
See, there are not two truthshere.
The Bible disagrees completelywith the idea that there's more
than one truth.
It says either you're lying oryou're making God out to be a
(30:23):
liar.
You choose.
You and I have to be a body ofbelievers who look at God's word
and admit I need a Savior andI've never needed Him more than
I do today.
And, dear friends, if we want tomake any lasting impact here,
(30:43):
we want to have a church thatmakes a difference for the
kingdom.
It begins right here, kingdom,it begins right here.
If we invite the community intosomething.
Where lives are not beingtransformed, where sin is not
being confessed, where we don'tlive our lives on display, we
(31:03):
are foolish and unable to doliterally anything positive for
the kingdom.
It begins and ends with thelight, and as soon as this
becomes about anything otherthan that, it's time to pack our
bags and do something else.
Jesus is the light of the world.
(31:24):
He is perfectly pure, and thechallenge today is not go into
your life and go be perfectlypure, but I do want you to go
(31:45):
home and to prayerfully considerwhat part of your life is the
light not shining into?
What part are you holding back?
Because I'm here to tell you,while you might not be aware of
all of the areas that that's inmyself included, the people
around you are, especially thewatching world, and you don't
want to be the person invitingpeople to church and saying you
(32:08):
should come to church.
We got this new church, it'sgreat.
And then look at you and saybut you act just like me.
We have to be different, andyou and I won't get there by
working really hard.
You and I will get there byloving God.
Let us pray, father.
We come before you in adorationof the fact that you chose to
(32:31):
die for us, that you, the lightof the world, the beginning and
the end, the Alpha and the Omega, chose to give everything away
for us, who were just indarkness.
We were separated from you, andrightfully so.
We had nothing to give you.
(32:54):
We are not good on our own, andyet, by your grace, you saved
us.
You've made us new Lord.
We ask that Sovereign GraceBible Church would be a church
on fire for you, that we wouldbe different, that we would kill
the sin in our lives.
That we would live lives ofaccountability to each other,
(33:15):
walking in community.
That you, lord, would beglorified and honored in this
place.
That your name would be highand lifted up.
And, lord, that as people lookin, they would see the light.
They would see the differenceIn this desperate and dark world
that we live in.
They would see the light.
They would see the differenceIn this desperate and dark world
that we live in.
(33:35):
They would see hope.
They would see a future.
Lord, help us to be your handsand feet, help us to speak your
truth and to walk in the light,as you are in the light.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
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