Voddie Baucham - Walk in the Light

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You know, it's it's it's interesting, and I always love
it when we have a service that that sort of
seems as choreographed as this one may seem, just because
of all of the themes that have come together. And
it's interesting, especially for those of us who are aware
of what we do as a church sort of reading
systematically through the scriptures. We're reading systematically through the Gospel

(00:27):
of John, and we just happened to be right there
in John three today as we're looking at first John one,
five through ten and this light and darkness theme. It's
amazing how how God uses all of those aspects even
when we just commit to doing things in a systematic way,

(00:47):
and even through our commitment to reading through Exodus and
systematically reading through Exodus. And here we see this picture
of the law, and they're the Sabbath law, and this
punishment of death for the those who violate the Sabbath law.
It brings the reality of the law to bear. It
crushes any semblance of legalism. And that's why, you know,

(01:11):
that's why it's important because so many times you can
go to church for ten fifteen years and never read
through Exodus. But it's important for us to see the law,
to see how black and white the law is, to
see how serious God is about those who violate the law,
because it's only there that we understand appropriately and more

(01:34):
fully the grace of God that saves, and we understand
how foolish it is for us to try to attach
any legalistic tendencies to the grace of God. It makes
no sense whatsoever for us to try to keep the

(01:55):
law in a way that would appease God when we
understand the signals unificance of the law and the punishment required.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
For those who don't keep it.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
The other thing that is amazing as we look at
the law is, again, as we've talked about it before,
the active obedience of Christ. We talked about this before,
we talk about it again because it's significant for the day,
the active and passive obedience of Christ and our redemption.
We're so familiar with the passive obedience of Christ, we're
so familiar with the fact that Christ died for our sins,

(02:32):
he allowed himself to be killed.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
For our sins.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
But that active obedience of Christ, he as a man,
the god man, where he kept the whole law, and
because of that, this principle of imputed righteousness is made possible.
So we look at Exodus chapter thirty one, and it

(02:59):
said you should be put to death because of your
violations just of the Sabbath, and in Christ, because of
his active obedience.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
We can say, yes, that's true.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
But in Christ, his righteousness is imputed to me, and
God looks at me as one who has kept that perfectly. Amen,
that's just good news, says It's also horrible news for
anyone expecting to stand before God and be justified for
having kept the law. It's horrible news because one of

(03:36):
the designs of the law, as we read in Galatians,
is to remind you time and time again that you
can't do what you're required to do. Somebody's got to
do it for you. And as we run up against
the law, that's what we run against. But here's the
other question. Do we then go toward Antinomianism business as

(04:02):
a result of our understanding of this imputed righteousness of Christ?
Do we send as Paul would say, so that grace.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
May abound all the more? His response, may it never be?

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Where did those two things come together? I'm so glad
you asked, look with me if you will. First John
chapter one. We finally reached this second paragraph here, verses
five through ten. And let's look here at first John
chapter one, verses five through ten. Let's look at the
marks of the Kingdom of Light. Verse five, This is

(04:43):
the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you.
And again you follow back, and this is what we
just read earlier about hearing this message and proclaiming this message.
And matter of fact, let's just go back verse one. That
which was from the which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon

(05:04):
and have touched with our hands. Concerning the Word of life,
the life was made manifest, and we have seen it
and testified to it, and proclaimed to you the eternal
life which was with the Father and was made manifest
to us. That which we have seen and heard, we
proclaim to you also so that you too may have
fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the
Father and with the Son Jesus Christ. And we are

(05:28):
writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Now he picks up the same thing. This is the
message we have heard from him, and proclaim to you
that God is light, and in him there is no
darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him,
while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not

(05:49):
practice the truth. But if we walk in the light
as he is in the light, we have fellowship with
one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses
us from all sin. If we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

(06:10):
If we say we have not sinned, we make him
a liar, and his word is not in us. These
marks of the Kingdom of Light. There are a couple
of things that are important to keep in mind as
we look at First John one five through ten. There
are a couple of things, a couple of rails, if
you will, some rails that will keep us from going

(06:32):
off the track as we look at First John, and
really as we look at all of this epistle of
First John, the first thing that we need to understand
is that John is speaking categorically here. That he's speaking
categorically here, he's talking about categories of individuals. That's very
important to remember that he's talking about categories of individuals.

(06:54):
Because if you don't remember that, then as we go
through first John, here's what will happen. He'll say, if
you're like this, you're in the kingdom. If you're like that,
you're not well. If you catch any one of us
on a bad day, guess what. Ooh, I'm out. If
you catch any one of us on the bad day.

(07:15):
Matter of fact, truth be told, you catch any one
of us on a good day, Amen, somebody, and we're going, oh,
I'm out. He's speaking categorically. He's talking about categories of individuals. Remember,
what he's doing is in part this polemic, if you will,
and apologetic for those within and without who've been influenced

(07:38):
by many different doctrinal heresies, perhaps the most prominent of
which is gnosticism. So what he's doing here is he's
drawing a line in the sand, and he's basically saying,
these individuals are teaching false doctrine, and here's why. Here's
their category, here's our category.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
So he's speaking category.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
Okay, that's very important to keep in mind that he's
speaking categorically, and because of that, it's important to keep
in mind that he's talking about our character our character.
Remember that he's talking about our character. That's the issue here.
One of the verbs that's used here, you know, in

(08:21):
John this Greek verb petipateo.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
To walk around.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
The way that we walk, is what he's talking about.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
So he's talking about our character.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
He's talking about who we are as individuals, not what
can sometimes happen in our lives, but who we are
as individuals. And here's the way that I like to
sort of explain that for people. I mean, imagine, if
you will, if we're talking about a child and an
obedient child versus a disobedient child. All children disobey, there

(08:58):
should have been a whole bunch of little voices in
the room going amen, pastor body.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
All children disobey.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
But the difference between what we would call an obedient
child and what we would call a disobedient child. Again,
we're characterizing that child. Are they characterized generally by obedience
or are they characterized by disobedience. So here's the difference.
When a child that's characterized by obedience disobeys, because all
children disobey, it's different than when a child who's characterized

(09:28):
by disobedience disobeys. For example, if there's a child who's
characterized by obedience, and that child disobeys.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
But let's just say, you know what one of my children.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
You look at one of my children and you say,
this particular child is characterized by obedience. When that child,
that child of pastor votes characterized by obedience, and all
of a sudden one day you see that child fangs out,
veins in the neck, pointing the finger at me, just
going off.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Well, if that child's characterized by obedience.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
Normally, if they're characterized by disobedience, your response would be
there they go again. But if they're characterized by obedience,
your response will probably be, Lord, whatever demon that is
that just possessed that child, would you deliver them from
it quickly because it would be terrible to see them die. Today,

(10:27):
it's important to understand that that's what we're talking about here,
talking about the way we walk, the way we walk,
who we are as individuals. And again, this will make
more sense as we go along, and you'll see why
it's important that we take time dealing with this. But
as we look at this with those rails to kind

(10:48):
of keep us on the track, look here at verse five.
This is the message we have heard from him, and
proclaim to you that God is light and in him
is no darkness at all. So when we talk about
this Kingdom of light, the first thing that we recognize
in this kingdom of light is that the King is light.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
In the Kingdom of Light is light.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Here's the message that we proclaim to you that God
is light and in him there is no darkness at all.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
First of all, God is.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
There's an apologetic here for God himself, for the existence
of God, and for the character of God. God is.
First of all, there is a God. Amen, there is
a God. So anyone who would come forth with an
idea of righteousness apart from God is already running up
against the argument here in first John, chapter one, verse five.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
God is.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
So that's where we start. We start with the existence
of God. When we start talking about character and what
righteousness looks like, we start with God, who is the
very definition of character, the very definition of righteousness.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
God is.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
So we don't measure ourselves against the standard of other people.
We measure ourselves against the standard of the word. Amen,
we measure ourselves against the standard of God. Don't we
tell our children this all the time? Let pastor vote
do something that your mom and daddy do all the time. Kids,
Your mom and daddy tell you all this all the time,

(12:25):
and you think it's just them. But let me just
tell you so that you'll know it's not just them.
They didn't just make it up. And here it is.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
Because you think you're a good kid. And oftentimes sometimes.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Those of you who get a little bit older, you
have a tendency to say, yeah, but I'm not like
so and so.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
You just mean because I'm not like them, look at
what they do.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
Newsflash, we are neither governed nor judged by the standard
of those people. If you can't say amen, you ought
to say ouch. We're governed by the standard of the
Word of God. That's where we measure ourselves. We're governed

(13:11):
by the standard of the Word of God. Is not
is my attitude and are my actions better than most
people out there? But the question is do they measure
up to the standard that we find in the Word
of God.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
God is and God is light. He's light.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
This idea of purity, this idea of holiness. That's who
our God is. By the way we see this through
out scripture. You know, I've written down several verses here
that I just wanted to read. Listen to this and
Psal I'm thirty six nine. For with you is the
fountain of life, and your light do we see light?

(14:01):
Look at Psalm eighty four eleven. For the Lord God
is a sun and shield Daniel two twenty two. He
reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what is in
the darkness, and the light dwells with him was in
a John one four. In him was life, and that
life was the light of men. The light shines in
the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Look

(14:24):
at John one six. There was a man sent from
God whose name was John. He came as a witness
to bear witness about the light, that all might believe
through him. He was not the light, but came to
bear witness about what the light. And then down in
verse nine, the true light, which enlightens everyone has it
was coming into the world John chapter eight and verse twelve.

(14:44):
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the Light
of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life. John ninety five.
As long as I am in the world, I am
the light of the world. For Timothy six fift, He
who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings,

(15:05):
the Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells
in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or
can see.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
To him, be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Every good gift and every perfect gift. Change one seventeen says,
is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights,
with whom there is no variation or shadow of change.
God is light, God is holy, God is righteous. God

(15:42):
is the standard by which we judge. Now, this is
very important when you look at gnosticism, especially for example,
when you look at modern day gnosticism, and for those
of you who haven't been with us, we talked about
the gnostics, and that word comes from the Greek word
for knowledge, gnosis. These individuals believed that there was the
spiritual immaterial world, and then there was the physical world,

(16:03):
and that spiritual immaterial world that's the world of the divine,
and that as individuals we have to get in touch
with that spiritual immaterial world. They believed this so much
that they believed that Jesus was not actually a physical being.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
He did not have a corporeal body.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
He was a spirit who sort of walked around among men,
and he looked like he had a physical being. But
because the physical world is evil and the spiritual world
is good, there's no way that God could possibly taken
on this physical body. Just a brief synopsis of their teachings.
Now you think, okay, we don't have modern da nacissism.

(16:42):
Of course we have modern da nasticism. Of course we
have these ideas. In fact, they take it even a
step further because the Gnostics had this idea of the
spark of the divine that was within us as individuals,
and as a result of that spark of the divine,
we were in part Deity.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Want to read you a couple of excerpts from a
couple of books. This is etkart Toley.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
Et cart Totley is a New York Times number one
best selling author. Let me read to your review from
his number one book. This is a review from Don Whitney.
Since I first heard of eckhart Tole during a medical
examination after learning that I was a professor of biblical spirituality,
the doctor asked, have you read etkhart Tole's The Power
of Now? This is one of Oprah's big book club books.

(17:35):
So everybody, airbody, not everybody. Everybody is reading Tola. Okay,
that's beyond everybody, all right, everybody's reading it. I said, no,
I had not a brilliant, multi talented man with a
Catholic background. The physician began to commend the book to
me as insightful and profound. Toley's work is insightful and profound, Oprah,

(17:59):
on a television programming on our radio program. It's got
millions upon millions upon multiplied millions of people reading the
works of e.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
Cartole.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
He became familiar with the book, and he leafed through
it and eventually had to read it and write a review.
Here's a couple of things that you find in Toley's
earlier book, The Divine Life Essence. Recognize it as one
with your own essence.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
Listen to this.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
There is only one absolute truth, and all other truths
emanate from it. Yes, you are the truth. If you
look for it elsewhere, you will be deceived every time.
The very being that you are is truth. Jesus tried
to convey that when he said I am the Way,
the Truth, and the Life. Jesus speaks of the innermost.

(18:49):
I am the essence, identity of every man and woman,
every life form. In fact, he speaks of the life
life that you are. Jesus was making a statement that
we all need to learn how to make. I could

(19:11):
read you more from Toty's other bestseller, but I won't.
Here's the other best seller, by the way, this is
the Secret. As far as hardback books on the New
York Times bestseller list, this is number two. This is
number two the hardbyt books. It's been on the New
York Times bestseller list for seventy six weeks. Seventy six

(19:31):
weeks and it's still number two. For a while, this
book was number one. Number two was the final installment
of the Harry Potter series, and number three was the
audio version of this book. It's huge and again everybody's
reading it, so what are they reading? Pray tell well,

(19:55):
it's the Secret and it's ultimately the secret to life.
Listen about Proctor, author, personal coach. The Secret gives you
anything you want happiness, health, wealth. Listen to this one
doctor Joe Vitalen, metaphysician, marketing specialist and author. You can have,
do or be anything you want. What kind of house

(20:18):
do you want to live in? Do you want to
be a millionaire? What kind of business do you want
to have? Do you want more success? What do you
really want? Here's the premise of this book. Everything out
there in the world operates on frequencies and vibrations. When
you think about those things, you tune yourself, like a
radio to their frequencies. So if you want it, think

(20:40):
about it. That'll tune you to the frequency and you'll
attract it to yourself. It's called the law of attraction. Now,
why pray tell? Does this law of attraction work the
way it does? Here's why listen to her. You are
God in a physical body. You are Spirit in the flesh.
You are eternal life expressing itself as you. You are

(21:03):
a cosmic being. You are all power. You are al wisdom,
You are all intelligence. You are perfection, You are magnificence.
You are the creator, and you are creating the creation
of you on this planet. Three of the most popular

(21:24):
books in the world today and its modern day gnosticism
directly and completely at odds with the Word of God,
Directly at odds and completely at odds with the Word

(21:46):
of God. It's another category all in its own. What
does John say to this kind of thinking. This is
the message that we have heard and proclaimed to you
that God is light and in him is no shadow
of darkness. There is no darkness in God at all.
God is light. There is a God.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
You know.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
There's one of my favorite lines from a movie, from
any movie. It is a line from the movie Rudy.
Those of you who love movies and love football, you
love the movie Rudy. And if you don't keep praying,
God will make you more spiritual and you'll get there.
But in the movie Rudy, there's this time when you know,

(22:32):
Rudy's trying to get into Notre Dame, and Rudy's just
working really hard to get in Notre Dame. He can't
get in Notre Dame. He goes and he talks to
the priest there, and he's trying to get some information
from this priest. And this priest looks at him and says,
you know, there are two things I know for sure.
One there is a God. Two I'm not him. That's
not what the modern day Gnostics say. The modern day

(22:55):
Gnostics say, your problem is you're God and you don't
know it. John says, here's where the message starts. God
is light in him. There is no darkness at all.
You are not God. You are not part of God.

(23:17):
God is God all by himself. And as we've said before,
God is not running for God.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
He was the only one around when the votes were cast.
There's never going to be a recount or a reelection.
God is God. He needs no help being God. He's God,
and there's no darkness in him. Why is this important, Well,
here's where we get to the distinction between these two kingdoms.

(23:47):
First of all, we see that this first kingdom, that
the king is light. Secondly, his subjects are characterized by light.
Look at the next part of this. There are five
if then statements that follow this first statement, three negative,
two positive, and they alternate negative positive, negative, positive negative.

(24:09):
These five if then statements, and here they are. Listen
to the first pair. If we have fellowship with Him
while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not
practice the truth. That's the first if then statement. The
then is assumed. Look at this if we have if

(24:30):
we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk
in darkness, then we lie and do not practice the truth.
If my mouth says I have fellowship with God, but
my life, my PETIPATEEO. My walk, my lifestyle says that
I walk in darkness. Then ultimately, the fact of the

(24:51):
matter is there is no light in me.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
I am a liar.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
If that's the case, I'm in darkness and I can't,
on the one hand, with my lips confess that I
belong to the Kingdom of light and I belong to
the King of light.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
And on the other hand, with my life, live.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
In a way that reflects darkness, because what's the truth?
What's the reality? The reality is the way that I live,
the way that I'm characterized. Hey man, didn't he just
say if you ever have a dark moment, that you're
not in the kingdom. That's not what he said. Okay,
But is that the way you're characterized? Is that who

(25:31):
you are? Is that the way you live? That's the question,
is that your walk? Is that how your life is defined?
If your lips say one thing and your life says another,
you are a liar.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
It's that simple. How are you walking? How are you living?
That's the question? How are you walking? Does your life
look like light or does your life look like darkness?
That's the question.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
Here's the other side of the coin, here's the positive
if then statement, But if we walk in the light
as he is in the light, we have fellowship with
one another first of all, and the blood of Jesus,
his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we walk
in the light as he is in the light. First
of all, we have fellowship with one another. We talked
about that last week, this fellowship within this body of believers.

(26:31):
And secondly, the blood of Jesus washes us, cleanses us
from all sin if we walk in the light. Now,
notice here's what's not being said. We're not talking about
works based salvation here. Remember he's talking about in general,
these two categories of individual and he's talking about how
we're characterized, the individuals who are characterized by walking in

(26:53):
the light. He's not saying this, Well, if you're an
individual who's characterized by walking in the light, then the
blood of Jesus will cleanse you, because because you're walking
in the light has earned you cleansing.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
No, that's not the point at all.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
If you walk in the light, you walk in the
light because the blood of Jesus has cleansed you. By
the way, look at the passage we just read earlier today.
Look at the passage we just read earlier today. Look
at John chapter three, and look at beginning at verse nineteen.

(27:32):
Beginning verse nineteen of John chapter three, and this is
the judgment. The light has come into the world, and
people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and
does not come to the light.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
Lest his deeds should be exposed.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
But whoever does what is true comes to the light
so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds
have been carried out in God.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
Notice that.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
He comes to the light so that we can see
that his deeds have been carried out in God. In
other words, John is not saying in John chapter three,
if you walk in the light, you have earned forgiveness
from your sins.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Knows He's saying in first.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
John chapter one, if you walk in the light, you
have earned salvation from your sins.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
No, if you walk in.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
The light, you have evidenced salvation from your sins. That's
the only way you can walk in the light. We
see that in John three. By the way, look at
the look at the last part.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Of that chapter. Let me beginning verse thirty five.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
The Father loves the Son and has given all things
into his hands. Whoever believes in the sun has eternal life.
Whoever does not? Here stop, whoever believe and the Sun
has eternal life. Now, the next phrase ought to be
whoever does not believe? Right when that makes sense if
there's a parallel here, if there's a contrast, Whoever believes

(29:10):
in the sun has eternal life. Whoever does not believe
does not. But look at what he says verse thirty six.
Whoever believes in the sun has eternal life. Whoever does
not obey the sun shall not see life. But the
wrath of God remains on him. How do you know

(29:33):
if somebody believes, they walk in the light. That's how
you know. How do you know somebody is cleansed, is washed?
They walk in the light. If any man is in Christ,
Paul says in Second Corinthians five, if any man is
in Christ, his new creature. Old things have passed away,

(29:54):
the whole new things have come by the way. This
is from God. Amen, It's from God. So again the
legalist argument. Here's the legalist argument. The legalist argument says,
I must keep the law so that I can be
made right with God. That's the legalist argument. And if

(30:14):
we read this and don't understand that he's talking about
categories of individuals and he's talking about the character of
these individuals, it's easy for us to sort of fall
into that. But that's not what he's talking about. He's
talking about what we're characterized by. And those who walk
in the light are characterized by a couple of things. One,
these individuals are characterized by the unity that they have

(30:35):
with one another. Folks, when we're not walking in the light,
we don't have unity with people who are amen. As
a matter of fact, when you start inching over towards sin.
Have you noticed this, When you start inching over towards sin,
you don't want to be around godly people. Maybe that's

(30:56):
just me. Maybe you guys have never had that experience
before in your life. Maybe you've never been in a
situation where all of a sudden, a dark shadow is
coming over you because of some things that you've been about,
or you've been exposed to or whatever. And as this
dark shadow comes over you, last thing you want is
those light people. You can't say amen, You ought to
say ouch. That's the first thing that we're characterized by. Secondly,

(31:22):
we're characterized by the fact that we're washed in the
blood of Jesus. That's why, and that's how we walk
in the light. The blood of Jesus cleanses us. That's
how we walk in the light. That's why we walk
in the light.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Again, the imputed righteousness of Christ, the blood of Jesus
that cleanses us from all sin. Christ died for sin,
once for all, the just, for the unjust, in order
that he might bring us back to God. This washing,
this cleansing that is ours, is what brings us to
the light. Listen to this Isaiah chapter nine, verse two.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light,
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on
them has light shined? Anybody claiming that in here as me? Amen,
Listen to John twelve thirty five. So Jesus said to them,
the light is among you for a little while. Longer
walk while you have the light, let's darkness overtake you.

(32:26):
The one who walks in the darkness does not know
where he is going. While you have the light. Believe
in the light that you may become sons of light.
Believe in the light that you may become sons of life,
tons of light. How by believing, placing your faith in
Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
We talk about it all the time.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
Repentance, faith, That's how you become these children of light.
You don't walk in light so that you can become
a child of light. You become a child of light
by being adopted into the family of the Father who
is light.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
And the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing you thereby allowing
you and propelling you into walking in light.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
Don't we see this as well? In Ephesians.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
Look with me if you will turn the Ephesians chapter two.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And
this is not of your own doing. It is the

(33:35):
gift of God, not as a result of works, so
that no one may boast. And then verse ten. For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Whatever good work I'm walking in, God prepared beforehand that
I should walk in it.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
It is He who works in me, both to will
and to do his good pleasure. I walk in the
light because of the cleansing power of Jesus Christ. I'm
characterized by walking in the light because and because I'm
characterized by that. When darkness comes, that darkness is not
who I am. That darkness comes, that's when I know

(34:16):
I got a problem. Amen, When I sin, the reason
that that sin doesn't sit well with me is because
that's not who I am. And as we walk and
as we are sanctified, we have less and less of

(34:39):
an appetite for those things that we.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
Used to feast on. And that's good news. That's good
news because of the blood of Jesus that washes us
and cleanses us, that propels us to walking in the light.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
Look at this revelation in twenty one twenty three, and
the city has no need of sun or moon to
shine on it, for the Glory of God gives it light,
and its lamp is the lamb. And again revelation in
twenty two and five, night will be no more. They
will need no light of a lamp or sun, for

(35:20):
the Lord God will be their light, and they will
reign forever and ever.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
Amen, here's another thing we're characterized by. We confess in
we forsake darkness. Look at the next part of our
passage here in first John.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
Look at verse eight.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Verses eight through ten kind of make a sandwich. Eight
and ten are almost direct repeats of one another.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
He just says it were forcefully in verse ten. But
look at verse eight.

Speaker 1 (35:50):
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
Is not in us.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
Now you may be asking yourself, okay, who would say that? Well,
first of all, those modern day gnostics would say that
these books here, these books that I just read for
you from early earlier, these books would say that these
books would not acknowledge any sin in you. Your only
problem is you don't recognize your divinity. Your only problem

(36:19):
is you're not thinking on the right wavelength, and therefore
you're not attracting to yourself the right things. That's your problem.
Your problem's not sin. But you know, the Gnostics also
taught this. Listen to this. Sin salvation is not dependent
upon faith or works, but upon the knowledge of one's
true nature.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
Sound like king just out of here. These are the Gnostics.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
Some Gnostics indulged deliberately in licentious behavior. Carpocrates, for example,
urged his followers to sin, and his son Epiphanes taught
that promiscuity was God's law. Aw think at what John says,

(37:06):
if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. There are also
those who teach perfectionism. Now, perfectionism is the idea that
believers come to a place of sinlessness, that sanctification is
completed here on earth, and that believers come to a

(37:28):
place of sinlessness, to which John says as well, if
we say we have no sin, we've deceived ourselves and
the truth is not in us.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
We do have sin. Here's the other side of it.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just
to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us for
all unrighteousness. Two categories of people sin deniers and sin confessors.
One category of people is a category of people who
say that they're not sinful or.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Not sinful enough to matter.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
The other category of people is a group of people
who confess that that word, literally in the Greek means
to say the same thing as they say about their sin,
what God says about their sin. They acknowledge, they announce,
and they forsake their sin because it's displeasing to God.
And in verse ten, he comes back and closes the
door on it. If we say we have not sinned,

(38:22):
we make him a liar and his word is not
in us. I want to spend a couple of minutes
on this from a theological perspective, because here's how we
have a tendency to look at this. Listen to this
by from Charles Rray in Ryley's Study Bible. His point
about first time one nine forgiveness and fellowship within the
family of God is restored when we confess. Conversely, if

(38:44):
it's restored when we confess, it's taken away when we sin.
Our forgiveness is taken away when we sin, our fellowship
is taken away when we sin. I don't believe Rary
means this in the way he says it, because the
way he says it makes it sound almost like the
Catholic concept of forgiveness. For example, why do people have

(39:09):
such a problem with the idea of suicide? Again, I
have such a problem with it. Probably not the best
way to phrase it, but why do people struggle so
much with the idea of what happens to a believer
who is a believer for real, who committed suicide.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Here's why they have a problem.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Your last act was a sin for which you could
not confess, and if you couldn't confess, you couldn't receive forgiveness.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Just like that, it's over.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
Because you got to confess it in order to be
forgiven of it, right, I mean, it would seem like
that's what we're reading here. If it hadn't been confessed,
you haven't been forgiven of it, and forgiveness is removed
and fellowship is removed because you didn't confess. There's a
couple of problems with that idea. And again I'm not
saying that this is what Rary is trying to communicate.

(40:15):
But here's the first problem with that idea. Look at
the scripture again contextually. Look at verse nine and what
verse nine says, if we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse
us from all unrighteousness, all unrighteousness. This is a reference

(40:37):
to what Christ does in salvation. This is a reference
to that category of people who are confessors of sins,
who are born again because they acknowledge their sin before
God and they are cleansed and they are forgiven for
their sins in toto. Here's the second problem. If we

(41:00):
hold to this idea, If we confess our sins. Here,
faithful and Justine give us our sins and cleanses of
all and righteousness. The other side of that, of course,
is if we commit a sin and that particular sin
is not confessed, then we don't have forgiveness for that
particular sin, and we don't have any cleansing from that
particular sin. What does that do to the context of
the rest of this paragraph? Look at what he says.

(41:23):
If we say we have fellowship with Him while we
walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
If I do an act of darkness, does that mean
that I'm no longer part of the Kingdom of light?
Are we losing and regaining our salvation over and over
and over again? Is that the case. No, that's not

(41:45):
the case. That's not the case here. That's not what's
being spoken of here. Let me give you three three
comments on this passage of scripture to help.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
Us, and I think it's very important.

Speaker 1 (41:55):
Normally I don't like to sort of draw out a
lot of different comments from different commentators on this sort
of subjet, but I think it's very important that we
understand the nuances here versus scripture so that we can
be freed up.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
In this area.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Listen to this one first from Daniel Aachin. The claim
to be without sin probably arose from John's opponents understanding
that fellowship with a holy God required one to be sinless.
Verses eight and ten are essentially parallel. The heretics argued
that the condition for fellowship with the Father is sinlessness.
Therefore they claimed to be sinless. Yet in this very

(42:34):
claim they rejected God's word, deceived themselves, and made God
out to be a liar. Sinlessness is theirs by virtue
of life in Christ alone. It cannot be located merely
within themselves. Fellowship with God requires sinlessness, Therefore we're sinless.
No fellowship with God requires sinlessness, and the only way

(42:58):
you get that is through the puted righteousness of Christ.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Otherwise you know, I die, and.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
I face God and he goes, I'm gonna what's that
is at the list of my sins that are under
the blood. Now, these are the ones that you forgot
to confess. This is why you can't come into my kingdom,
because you forgot to confess these right here. And every
last one of us has millions upon millions upon multiplied

(43:28):
millions of sins that we forgot to confess. If that's
the meaning of this verse, we're in trouble. Well, here's
how some people deal with it. Lord, forgive me for
my sins and all those that I've forgotten. Listen to

(43:52):
this one from Calvin. He again promises to the faithful
that God will be propitious to them, provided they acknowledge
themselves to be sinners. I love that Calvin says, provided
they acknowledge themselves to be sinners. It is of great
moment to be fully persuaded that when we have sinned,

(44:14):
there is reconciliation with God ready and prepared for us.
We shall otherwise carry always a hell within us. Few indeed,
consider how miserable and wretched is a doubting conscience. But
the truth is that hell reigns where there is no
peace with God. There more than it becomes us to
receive with the whole heart this promise, which offers free

(44:36):
pardon to all who confess their sins. Again, Calvin is
talking about this in the broader sense, you confess your sinfulness.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
In other words, this is what salvation is. We come
to a place of repentance and faith, We become sin confessors.
We acknowledge who we are.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
Yes, all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God God, and I'm part of all. Amen, Hallelujah,
Praise the Lord. I agree with God that I am
a sinner and that the only answer for my sin
problem is Jesus Christ, the righteous One. He must wash
me and I must have his righteousness. He must take
on him my sinfulness. And one final one from John

(45:20):
guil and this I believe puts perhaps the finest press,
the finest point on it, and helps us grapple with this.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
Forgiveness of sin.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
Here intends not the act of forgiveness as in God
proceeding upon the bloodshed and sacrifice of Christ, which is
done at once and includes all sin past, present and
to come.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
That's very important.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
At salvation, we're forgiven at once for all sin, past,
present and future.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
That's what salvation is.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
We have eternal life as a present possession, and it's
not contingent upon anything that I do or have done.
So we got to read first John, chapter one and
verse nine in light of that overall theological reality. Okay,
but he says it's not that but an application of

(46:16):
pardoning grace to a poor sensible sinner, humbled under a
sense of sin and confessing it before the Lord. And
confession of sin is not the cause or condition of pardon,
nor of the manifestation of it, but is descriptive of
the person and points him out to whom God will

(46:36):
and does make known his forgiveness and love.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Please don't miss that, Gil.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
Says, this active confession is not what brings about the pardon.
This active confession is evidence of the party. He confesses
his sin because of who he is. He confesses his sin.
He knows God, and it grieves him. For to whomever

(47:07):
he grants repentance, he gives the remission of sin and
doing of which he is faithful to his word of promise.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
So here's here's what First John one nine doesn't say.
First John one nine does not teach that, first of all,
a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ one who is
born again, one is truly regenerate, one who is truly saved,
who has come to repentance in faith. First John one
nine does not teach that there's another step that you

(47:42):
have to go through in order to make sure you
get to heaven. And the other step is you have
to make sure that you do the work of confession,
because if you don't do the work of confession, then
the work of Christ on the cross it's snell and
void because it was not powerful enough to do that
part for you. That's not what teaches, nor does First

(48:02):
John one nine teach the Catholic view that somehow this
removal is there until we perform this act and then
it's sort of restored.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
That's not what First John one nine teaches. It doesn't.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
But it also doesn't teach that we never again confess.
Don't miss that part of Gil's statement either. It doesn't
teach that we never again confess. Listen again, let me
read again what Gil says. But an application of pardoning
grace to a poor, sensible sinner humbled under a sense

(48:38):
of sin and confessing it before the Lord, and confession
of sin is not the cause or condition of pardon,
nor of the manifestation of it, but is descriptive of
the person and points him out. If you are truly converted,
and you are truly born again, and Jesus Christ has

(49:01):
cleansed you and made you whole, and He's washed away
your sins, past, president and future, you know one of
the things that will characterize you when you sin and
become aware of it, you'll confess it. Amen, sin grieves you.
You're washed in the blood of Christ, and sin grieves you.

(49:26):
And one of the marks of those individuals is the
confession of sin. God, that was sin. I agree with
you that that was sin. I know that grieves you.
It's one of the things for which Christ had died.
I plead his blood and forgiveness right now, and thank.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
You that He has provided for that. We are perpetual
confessors of sin. It is the part of what marks us.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
But we've got to make sure that we're careful and
that we don't run off the reservation to this place
that has us shackled to what is, in essence a
work added to salvation. The confession of sin is not
a work added to salvation. Being a sin confessor is

(50:23):
part of what characterizes us as us and not them,
And being a sin confessor is part and parcel of
who we are and the way we live, just like
walking in the light. So we don't claim sinlessness on

(50:44):
the one hand, so we don't look at our actions
and say our actions weren't sinful and Secondly, we aren't
characterized by callousness. We sin, and all of a sudden
we j oh, yeah, is under the blood? No, absolutely not.

(51:06):
Jesus Christ purchased my pardon with his blood. When I sin,
that must grieve me. It must. So as we look

(51:27):
here at this first test, ask yourself the pertinent questions.
Which of these characterizes you? Are you one who walks
in light or are you one who walks in darkness?
Which one is your way of life? Are you a

(51:48):
light liver or a darkness dweller? Which is you? Where
are you at home and the light are in the dark?
And secondly, what's your attitude towards sin? Are you a
sin denier or a sin confessor? Which is you?

Speaker 2 (52:10):
Does sin delight you or does it grieve you? Which
is you?

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Because the way we answer these questions is indicative of
whose we are. But notice in both instances. I want
you to see this in both instances. First of all,
look at verse seven. We walk in the light as
he is in the light. We have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus's son cleanses us from all sin.

(52:39):
How we cleansed the blood of Jesus. And then look
verse Look at verse nine. We confess our sins. He
is faithful and justin forgive us as our sins and
cleanse us of all unrighteousness. The only way to not
be a darkness dweller is through the cleansing work.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
Of the Son of God.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
The only way to be a seen confessor instead of
a sin denier is through the cleansing work of Jesus Christ,
the son of the Living God. That's our only answer.
So here's what one John one five through ten is
not teaching.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
You.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
Better work harder, try to walk like those light people
are not those darkness people. You better count your sins
more carefully. It's not what it's teaching. It's just asking
a real simple question, and a real simple question. Is this,
Which one of these camps do you belong to? And
as you answer, answer from your life and not your
lips to which camp do you belong? How is your

(53:52):
life characterized? Who are you?

Speaker 2 (54:06):
Are you his.

Speaker 1 (54:09):
As is evidenced by the fruit born in your life
as a result of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ
being applied to you through repentance and faith, or are
you not, which is evidenced by darkness being the place
where you're at ease, and sin being something that you

(54:32):
don't very much like to confess. There's always an excuse,
there's always an answer, there's always a reason. It's never
just flat out, bald face I sin. I agree with God.
It's not the product of the way I was raised.

(54:52):
It's not just a preference. It's not just something that
I'm inclined to. It's not a disease. It is sin,
pure and simple, and it is ugly, and I hate
it because God hates it, and I'm bringing it to
the throne.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
That's how we act towards sin and the Kingdom of Light.