God Is Light — Bob Jennings

Let's pray. Lord, we're just passing through. Our lives are so brief. Our strength is so small. Lord, you're all we have. Lord Jesus, you are all we have. You are a worthy, wonderful Savior. A wonderful friend.

We thank you, Lord, for the riches of the glory of your inheritance in the saints. And Lord, you're giving us just a little foretaste, a little foretaste of heaven. You're bringing many sons to glory.

We confess, Lord Jesus, that you have done and you will do all things well. What a mess sin has made. What ruin, what destruction, what grief it has caused you. What? You made man upright and we sought out many devices and went astray like sheep.

Oh, we thank you, Lord, that you're bigger. We see grace abounding. Oh, we thank you, Lord, that you're gonna clean it all up. We thank you for the victory at Calvary. Abolishing death and bringing life and immortality to light through the gospel.

And we pray, Lord, today again your kingdom come, your kingdom come, and your will be done. We pray that everywhere today grace might abound, that grace would abound in our hearts, that you'd complete what is lacking in our faith, that you would arm us with jealous care as in your sight to live.

Help us to serve this present age. We pray, Lord, unite our hearts to fear your name. Help us, Lord, to see many yet brought into the kingdom. Send out light and truth everywhere this day around the world.

Send out light and truth and bring men in to your holy presence. We just wait upon you for you are you are our shepherd and we are the sheep of your pasture. Amen. John Brashears introduced Charles to the Lord and Charles introduced my brother to the Lord.

And two months later my brother came down to visit me and he introduced me to the Lord. I had I had dates lined up for him and he said, no, thanks, Bob. He says, I found the Lord. I'd never heard such surprising words.

We'd never used the Lord's name but in vain. But I could tell he was serious and I could tell he was different. And that weekend we talked and read and about things that I'd never heard of even though I grew up in a mainline church.

I knew whatever this new birth was I didn't have it because I was the same I'd always been. God had been preparing my heart. I knew that I was a sinner in need of a savior. I invite you to 1 John in chapter 1.

God Is Light: The Central Message of First John

1 John chapter 1 verse 5. This is the message which we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. I am underlining these three words in verse 5. God is light and I would like to bring out five points.

I know normally that's too much but I hope you'll be comfortable with it because we're just kind of going down phrase one phrase after the next. And first the centrality or the preeminence of this message.

It says this is the message which we have heard from him. Secondly the conveyance or the communication of it. This is the message which we have heard from him and announced to you. Third the content or the substance of this message.

God is light. And then the fourth point from the next verse, verse 6. It that is the criterion that is contained in this message. If we say and then fifth some comforts in this message. That is in verse 7.

If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light we have fellowship and so on. So first the preeminence of this message. John says this is the message which we have heard from him. John is intent on telling them about what things he has heard.

He says in verse 1 what we have heard. Verse 3 the things we have seen and heard. And then in verse 5 this is the message that we have heard. You think of the apostle John and all of the things that he did hear from the son of God about God the father.

Some of those things are contained in this first epistle of course. Some of those things that he heard are contained in his gospel account. And some of the things that he heard of course are contained also in the synoptic gospels.

Blessed are the pure and the peacemakers and the poor and so on. But apostle John out of all the things that you heard from the son of God about God the father, how would you sum it up? This is the message that we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light.

It's like the wife has been on the phone for five or ten minutes and she's done with the conversation and you ask her well, what did they say? And she sums up the ten minute conversation with one sentence.

And what else did they say? Well, that's pretty much it. And John is saying this is the message which we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light. And in him no darkness at all. Is that the way you think?

I know so much more could be said but in a sense we ought to have that sense that when we have read the bible and when we read the bible, this is the message that you get out of it that God is light. A second heading and that is the conveyance or the communication of this message.

He said this is the message which we have heard from him and what? Announced to you. It is translated sometimes proclaim. It could be translated declare. It does not say suggest. It does not say advise.

It does not say this is our opinion. It does not say information. Like some college classroom teacher standing behind a lecture, a lectern. I mean how inferior that we should talk about the glorious gospel of the blessed God as though it were just more information.

That is not adequate. It does not say dialogue or discussion. Some say the Sunday meeting is strictly dialogue. I have read that in books. Admittedly, the new testament teaches an interactive participatory open platform meeting.

But that does not equal dialogue. What happened in a first Corinthians 14 meeting as it is called? Prophecy, revelation, exhortation, teaching. That does not sound like dialogue. You have got to have somebody stand up with a word from God or else you are going to dry up.

John says we use great boldness in our speech. We ought to come across like witnesses. I have seen something and I know it is true. Otherwise, they are going to doubt you or attack you all the sooner.

We have seen something and we solemnly testify. Over and over Paul uses that word, solemnly testify. As for the preacher, he ought to come across as a crier. The Lord Jesus stood in that last day, the great day of the feast, in the crowd at the temple and he cried out.

Jonah, he walked through Nineveh crying out. Peter at Pentecost lifted his voice and said, listen, give ear to my words. We ought to come across as a herald, as an ambassador with some authority as one sent by the king, right?

The other day I was in my office and little Cora McNew, back there, she came and knocked on my door. She had a little, she had a page from the coloring book that she had colored and she wanted to give that to me.

But she knocked at the door in such a gentle way, such an apologetic way that I did not even answer it. Not right away. Oh, we ought to come across with some authority for we have a, we've got something more important than any papal bull or any presidential decree.

We have a decree from heaven. A word from God, right? And this isn't just for preachers. It says in Peter that he called us out of darkness into his marvelous light that we might what? Proclaim his excellencies.

That's all of us. You know, the reason that preaching is so offensive to proud man is because it communicates, it conveys a sense of urgency and authority and that is offensive to proud man. Third, we come to the content of this message.

The Glory, Revelation, and Purity of God’s Light

It says, this is the message that we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light and him there and in him there is no darkness at all. God is light. The more I began to think about this, the more I realized I don't know what I'm getting into.

Light. What is it? There's mystery there, isn't there? As seen in the physical realm. What is light? How do you define it? What is it? And so I've wrestled with it and I don't, I know I don't have the last word on it, but I know this much I can tell you it's true.

At least these three things. And that is it speaks of the glory and the splendor and the majesty of God. It says in Psalm 104 that he is clothed with splendor and majesty and light. In another place, marvelous light.

In another place, it says he dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see. Like somebody standing there watching a welder and he starts it before you're ready and you recoil and you hide your eyes.

Unapproachable light. Revelation chapter 1, it says his eyes like a flame of fire and his face like the sun shining in its strength. This God with whom we have to do is clothed with splendor and majesty and glory and beauty beyond anything that we can imagine.

A second thing, a second attribute that this should tell us and that is it speaks of revelation, manifestation, exposure. While the essence of light may be mysterious, nevertheless, the effect of light is quite obvious, right?

I mean, if you're in a room and you can't tell what's in there, you don't call for a jackknife or a pair of pliers, you call for a flashlight. It is the one and only thing that can do that job of exposing what's there.

And it says in Ephesians chapter 5, whatever does make manifest is light. Light. You've got to have light and it's amazing the job that it does. You might look at a very flat surface and see no imperfection in it, but if the light hits it in a certain way, you can see all manner of imperfections.

And so God is light, that is he is a revealer, he is an exposure. It says in 2 Corinthians 4, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. In Luke chapter 2, a light of revelation to the Gentiles.

And so we ought to think of number one, the glory, the splendor, and the majesty of God. Number two, the revelation, the revealing quality that God has and does. In old times when they went to buy, went to the marketplace to buy a vessel, I'm told that they would take that vessel and hold it up to the sunlight.

Because the sunlight, like nothing else, would reveal imperfections and cracks. And, interestingly, that Greek word that describes that, judged by sunlight, is the word for, we have translated sincerity.

In other words, clear, no flaw, pure, genuine. The Christian is one judged by sunlight. So when God saves a person, when God saves a person, there are silent but powerful things at work, right? God commands light to shine, like he did in the first creation.

He commands light to shine into your darkened heart. Paul, on the road to Damascus, saw a light brighter than the midday sun. He calls us out of darkness into his marvelous light. He delivers us from the domain of darkness, a revelation.

We see sin the way we've never seen it before. We see his glory the way we've never seen it before. The Bible comes alive. Here's his brother from Iran. They gave his testimony. I heard it at Kirksville and someone gave him a Bible, and to get rid of the fellow, he agreed to take the Bible home and read it that night.

And he hadn't read far in the book of John before suddenly he realized this book, it has, it came from another realm. That was God, silent but powerful at work in his mind. Thirdly, when we think of God being a God of light, we ought to think of moral purity.

Moral purity, I mean, what is a connection? It's easily seen in the physical realm. A business, for example, they'll put out a nightlight. Why do they put it out? They put it out there to repel crime, to repel sin.

Why does it repel sin? And why does it repel that crime? Because sin, by its very nature, does not want to be exposed. And so it says in John chapter 3, those who love darkness and hate light, they do that because their deeds are evil, and they don't want their deeds to be exposed.

And so when we think of God being a God of light, we ought to think of glory, we ought to think of revelation, and we ought to think of moral purity. In contrast, the devil and his demons, they are the rulers of darkness, and their domain is a domain of darkness, and their deeds are called deeds of darkness, right?

And so when we go out to evangelize, we ought to go out very conscious that we're trying to turn them from darkness to light, to bring them to a place where they'll say, I'll be honest. This, I believe, this third aspect is the main thing that we have here.

That is, God is light, that is moral purity, infinite moral purity, and in Him no darkness at all, no crookedness, no shadiness, no dishonesty, no darkness at all. Number four, the fourth heading. And that brings us to verse six.

True and False Professions of Faith

Now, the criterion that is contained in this message, God is light. We've looked at the, we've looked at the centrality of it, we've looked at the communication of it, we've looked at the content of it, but now the criterion that is contained in this message, God is light.

It defines a true and false Christian. It defines a true and false profession. It says, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. John is very intent on exposing false professions, right?

I mean, he says it six times. In verse 8, if we say, in verse 10, if we say, in chapter 2, verse 4, the one who says, and then in verse 6, the one who says, and in verse 9, the one who says. I'm saying John is very intent and on exposing false professions, and the Lord Jesus was too.

Most of his parables, if not all of his parables, were spoken with that in mind, to define true and false profession. And he's very rough about it here. He says, if someone says this and does this, he's a liar and does not practice the truth.

Why so rough? Because that fellow is lying about the most important thing in the whole world, his relationship with God. He gives here marks of true profession and in marks of a false profession. Let's look at these marks of a false profession first.

He says, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. So, he says, walking in the darkness. That is a lifestyle. Walk, walking in the darkness.

He lies and does not practice the truth. What does it mean? These two things. He does not practice the truth of the Bible. The Word of God is a lamp to a man's feet, a light to his path. He does not practice the truth of the Bible.

He has trouble frequently reading the Bible. It's a dark, dull, uninteresting book to him. Let me give you some examples of this matter, of not practicing Bible truth. One time I was in in another city with another pastor and this other, this pastor friend invited a pastor to have dinner with us.

He was a pastor of probably the biggest church in town and in the conversation we got to talking about Romans 6 and the glories of that chapter and this other pastor began to take issue with us and so the subject of carnal Christianity came up and we are going back and forth and I said, well, let me put it like this.

Let's say here's a man who is a drunk and he makes a profession and he is baptized and he joins your church and he regularly attends your church and he is a deacon in your church and yet come to find out he is regularly, habitually committing adultery.

Are you saying that that man is going to heaven? Are you saying that he's not going to hell? And he says, well, we cannot judge. And I said, but the Word of God has already judged him and he came back yet with more empty words.

Now that man is walking in darkness. He is not practicing the truth. Let me give you another example. One time I put a an article in the newspaper it Refuting Baptism Salvation and this individual in another town read this article and told somebody that I know that that she highly disagreed with the article and argued with him about it.

But do you know that individual never did come and talk with me about it? Why? Because she was walking in darkness, did not want to practice the truth, did not want to be exposed to her error. Balaam had a clear word from God and yet wrangled with God on it and ended up in the blackness of darkness.

I think one of the ways that this comes out so easily is in counseling. Here's a person he called some years ago, and he says, Bobby, I'm having trouble with my salvation. I don't know if I'm a Christian or not.

Can you talk? And so we talked for maybe 15 minutes and as we went along all of a sudden he began to back out of the conversation and he closed the conversation. He didn't want to talk anymore. A year later I saw him and I said, well, what happened on that matter?

And he said, oh, I talked to the pastor and we got it all taken care of. You don't just easily, lightly like that dismiss such a big thing. A man, he was confronted with light and he didn't want to go any further.

He walked in the darkness, didn't want to practice the truth. Here's another fellow. He called and he goes to another church. You wouldn't know it all. And he says, I'm having trouble. He said, the pastor told me that he did not like my wife.

He says, I'm having trouble feeling like I fit in and and what should I do? And I said, you and your wife, you go to the pastor and ask him why did you say that? I don't know if he ever did go. It's, the question is, are you going to face the light and the light of exposure or not?

Ahab, he was willing to talk with all of those other counselors, but there was one counselor he was not willing to talk with, Micaiah. He always speaks evil of me, and so he did not want to practice the truth.

Here's another person. He comes and talks to you for an hour about his problems, but he never does get around to asking you, what do you think? What can you tell me? Why? Because there's some darkness there and he really does not want to practice the truth.

Here's another person. He comes for counsel and he can, and after he puts out his problems, he, and you go to give him some some help, he keeps interrupting you. What's going on there? He's still got some darkness there and does not want to practice the truth.

You ask a straight, you ask a question, and he doesn't give you a straightforward answer. That man is afraid of practicing the truth. Those are just some marks of someone who is walking in darkness and does not want to practice the truth.

But now on the other hand, he gives us some marks of the sons of light. Some marks of a true profession. In verse 7, but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light. If we walk in the light, in contrast to the man in verse 6 who walks in the darkness.

The man who's walking in the light, he practices the truth. In contrast to the man in verse 6 who does not want to practice the truth. Do you realize brethren that a great mark of a true professor, a great mark of a true Christian, he is someone who wants to practice truth.

He is zealous for the truth. He doesn't care if he's wrong. He just wants to know what's true and right and good. What does God require of us? What does he want out of us? It says he desires truth in the innermost being.

And this is the goal of the whole New Testament instruction. The whole Bible instruction is love out of what? A pure heart, a good conscience, a sincere faith. Mere Christianity is to maintain a clear conscience and allow no darkness at all in your heart.

Walking in the light as God is in the light, that is mere basic Christianity. No hidden areas, no secret sins, no little pockets of rebellion, none at all. I'm free of God before you. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it.

Whatever you're saying, I'll do it. Whatever your definition of this area in my life is, I'll agree with it. It's a courageous, open, honest, straightforward attitude before God. That is the thing that you've got to maintain all the way to the end.

That's why it was so big to John. This is a message we've heard that God is light. One brother told me, he says, I've been for years afraid to read that book by Conrad Merle, but he said I've got to read it.

Here's Elijah. He poured water on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. I mean, he was, we're saying God is light, exposure. He was willing to expose himself to failure. Stonewall Jackson, when he was a young Christian, the pastor called on him to pray and he floundered.

And he told the pastor later, don't quit calling on me. I've got overcome. A son of light. Waleed Batar, the missionary in Lebanon, he tells a story something like this. That there was a time when the king of Jordan, you know, a Muslim country, he called the Christian missionaries in for a banquet.

And after the banquet, he called him up one by one to talk with him. And he says, what do you think about Islam and Muhammad? And they, one after another, gave a compromised answer. Well, there's good in it.

You sit down over there. Finally, here comes up another fella and he says, King, if I answer you truthfully, I realize you're probably gonna put me away. But he says, Muhammad is false. Islam is false.

And the king said to the gathered company, he says, I found an honest man. The rest of these men are hypocrites. They could have never done my people any good anyhow. Sons of light. Walking in the light.

About four years ago, I heard that special they did on television entitled Heaven. And Barbara Walters interviewed several evangelical pastors and asked them, what do you say about if a man doesn't have Christ, will he perish?

And you know, they could not, would not answer it straightforwardly. Then she asked a Muslim, what do you say if a man's not a Muslim? Is he gonna go to hell? He said, absolutely. That man was more straightforward than the others.

May God help us to be sons of light and walk in the light as he is in the light. Everything in the light. Last, some closing comforts. What blessings have the sons of light who walk in the light as he is in the light.

Fellowship and Cleansing for Those Who Walk in the Light

It says we have fellowship with one another in verse 7. You see it? We have fellowship with one another. Here we are. Here we are. How many of us, all of us who know the Lord, we can say the friends we used to have were no friends at all.

They just helped me pick up speed for hell. And now the friends I've got, they're, they're, they're, they're friends, saints, holy friends. And what a fellowship we have. I mean often you gather together one on one and it's heaven on earth.

Kevin Williams was at our table the other day and after dinner we just sat there turning from one passage to another. It reminded me of the two on the road to Emmaus as they talked to the Lord Junir. But if you're not a son of light, oh, you've got these fears, you've got these things hidden, you are not going to enjoy getting together with the saints.

It's going to be a trouble to you. One of the blessings is fellowship with the sons of light. Second, his fellowship with God. It's talking about that up here in verse 6. We have fellowship with him and then in verse 4, our fellowship, truly our fellowship is with a father.

Our fellowship is with a father. We wouldn't have anything if it weren't for him. We'd all go home. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for God. What do the branches have in common on the tree except that the tree is rooted in life.

And so truly our fellowship is with the father. That is the purpose of redemption, right, is to restore fellowship with God. Terry's been reading this book, Miracle of Miracles, and it's the story of a woman named Mina who was very high up in Islam and her parents were very high up in Islam and she was praying to this God of her religion and began to realize I have no relationship with him.

I have no interaction with him and it began to trouble her and led to her conversion. She has no fellowship with her God. We have fellowship with God. Duncan Campbell was asked after the Hebrides revival, after such powerful things in 1949, he was asked, doesn't it seem anticlimactic now that the that the revival is over and he said not at all.

He said nothing can compare with a daily walk with God. The benefits, the blessings of being, of walking in the light, it says that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. When a person steps into the light, he finds the blood of Christ avails for him.

Sins are forgiven past, present, and future, fully, freely forgiven forever. Hallelujah. How blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven to, how blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works.

The cleansing of the blood. I'll tell you a story about my daughter Evangeline. I know that she would not mind. She was saved about three years ago at a heart cry conference and before that time there were times when she would come in tears, tears of repentance.

You couldn't ask for anything anymore. It appeared that she was very repentant and yet she could not close on with Christ. She could not believe, she could not confess that Jesus died for her sins. She would say, God you died for my sins.

No, we've got to get that right. God sent his son to die for your sins. And then I, okay Lord Jesus I believe that you died. We would ask her but do you believe he died for your sins? And it just go back and forth and could not say it and you know we would wonder what is going on here?

What a strange thing is this? What kind of a demonic obstruction is this? And then she was saved and afterwards she said, you know Dad, Mom it was not that complicated. I still had a dark area in my heart.

I was not yet willing to run up a white flag of absolute unconditional surrender. It's not that complicated, but it is that deep. Walking in the light, this is where the joy is found. The joy of a clear conscience.

Nothing between my soul and the Savior. Isn't it amazing that the Lord has set it up such that a new convert can have more reality than an elder. He can be walking in more light than an elder. Walking in the light, that's where you find the sensible presence of God, the sweet assurances of God.

When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way. But if there's any darkness there, it's like you're running in mud. If there's any darkness there, it's like you're growing crops that are being choked out by weeds.

It's like you're trying to plow with a rusty plow. The chariot wheels they drive so hard. Depression and perplexities that cannot seem to be fixed if you're not walking in a light, if your heart isn't open.

Duncan Campbell, he tells the story that in Scotland he was riding with another person and the car malfunctioned and stopped. It was at night time and they didn't have a flashlight, they couldn't see how to fix it.

And then they looked over there and they saw this lighthouse. And they realized if we can push the car down there, we'll get it in the light and we can see to fix it and they did. You've got to get your heart in the light in order to be repaired.

Light, Willingness, and Victory Over Sin

This is where you find more light. In your light we see light. Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart. Willingness is just such a key, isn't it? If any man is willing to do his will, he will know of the doctrine.

A willing heart is very, very precious in the sight of God. Walking in the light, this is where we find the power. It says in Romans chapter 13 that we ought to put on, what? The armor of light. That is a powerful thing.

I remember soon after I was converted, the Lord showed me I needed to go and make things right at the bookstore, the university bookstore. I'd shoplifted some books and so the clerk directed me to the manager of the bookstore, the manager directed me to the administrator of the union.

There I walked in to this nice office and this man was seated there with his tie and I told him that I had been saved from my sins by the grace of Christ and become a Christian. Do you know that man became white in his face as though I'd pulled a gun on him.

I told him that I needed to return or repay some stolen books. What authority is lost by darkness? The cost of a dark area. The cost of allowing a dark area in your heart. I mean it will mar your testimony like a scratch on a new car.

You can't show it off. You can't look people in the eye. It'll hinder your fruitfulness. It'll hinder your joy. It'll hinder your usefulness in the kingdom of God. It'll sap your strength. We bought an ATV some years ago and got a lot of work out of it and all of a sudden it began to malfunction.

I mean it would cough and sputter and spit and backfire and no power and we took it in and they took the motor apart and said we got it fixed and they didn't. And we took it in a second time and they still thought they had it fixed.

We took it in a third time and you know it was some little device on the handle bar. Just a little, I'm talking about allowing a little area of darkness in your heart. It will hurt you. It'll harden your heart.

Soft choices make hard hearts. Look at Lot's wife. It'll deceive you. If you allow some besetting sin, some secret sin, some hidden sin, eventually it will deceive you. You cover it at first, you make excuses for it, then you begin to talk about it and defend it and then you begin to laugh about it and brag about it.

It will deceive you. Look at the effects of one sin. Look what one sin did to Abraham. Look what one sin did to Noah. Look at one sin did to Moses. Look what one sin did to David. What one sin did to the rich young ruler.

This one thing you lack. Look what one sin did to Adam and Eve and the whole human race. What one sin did to the Son of God. It will hinder your ministry. Because of one point of disobedience, God sought to kill Moses.

Look what one sin will do to the church. Achan. He hindered the whole congregation. Maybe most every. Historic revival is started by someone stepping into the light. We've heard about the Canadian revival, some of us.

And, you know, it looks like it started at Bill McLeod's church in Canada. But really it started in Michigan when, at a meeting, one teenage girl stepped into the light. If you've got an area of darkness, if you've got to be setting sin, if you've got a bondage there, don't pass it by.

Work on it. An athlete, the coach tells him, you're going to win if you just get this one area right. A concert pianist. He might have the whole piece real good, but there's this one troublesome area.

What does she do? She works on it. Right, Kathleen? She works on it and works and works until it's all smoothed out. Do that also with your heart. Keep it that way. Isn't it something the way God has made it?

I mean, here's this one thing that's fluttering around in my conscience. And all I've got to do to get back into the light is down deep, honestly, sincerely say, Lord, I agree with you against that thing.

I'm going with you. If you're not a true Christian, if you love darkness here, you'll get it there. Outer darkness. This is the condemnation that light has come and men love darkness rather than light.

You know your heart. You know what's going on there. You better step into the light with God. No darkness at all is what he asks and requires. If you're not a true Christian, don't think that the blood of Jesus will avail for you.

It only avails for those who are walking in the light. Duncan Campbell said again, Calvary will not cover what you are unwilling to uncover. If you're not a Christian, if you're not a true Christian, go for any light you can find.

Go for any light. The evangelist told Pilgrim, do you see that light over there? Head for that light. If you're in a cave and only one person had a flashlight, you better walk in the light while you've got some light or darkness is going to overtake you.