Title: God is Light 
Text: 1 John 1:5-7

I John 1:5-7 "And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce 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." (NAS)

John is fond of brief phrases to describe the nature or character of God. Here he says God is light, he tells us God is Spirit in his gospel and later in this letter God is love.

Like Paul, John declares his message is from God Himself. It is this God given message that John announces to us. The message is "God is light."

This phrase is loaded with meaning. What light is in the natural world God, is in the spiritual. Just as all material life and growth depend on natural light, so all spiritual life and growth depend on God's light. Of course when we compare what John says in this letter with his gospel we understand that the statement God is Light equally applies to Jesus Christ as the "true" light.

John compares light and darkness. Though out the scriptures there is this comparison. Biblically darkness is where the hidden things of evil have freedom to thrive. Darkness is the enemy of the light. It is the realm of Satan and his strategy to ensnare the unsuspecting. In the Scriptures, light refers to truth, purity and holiness. Darkness refers to error, ignorance, sin and evil. Darkness is not the opposite of light, it is the absence of light.

So what does he mean God is Light?

Just as he opened the letter with the affirmation that God is, here he states unequivocally that God is light; not a light among many lights, but the light.

Several Old Testament understandings are included in John's meaning. First light stresses the self revealing nature of God.

Isa 60:1-3 "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. "For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you. "And nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising." (NAS)

In his gospel John echoes this theme in the first five verses:

John 1:1-5 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." (NAS)

Men didn't seek the light, they didn't turn the light on, they didn't create the light or discover the light, rather the light revealed itself in the darkness.

Not only does light speak of God's self revealing it also emphasizes the fact that God reveals or exposes sin. The reason we can see one another this morning is because there is light. If there was no light you would be able to hear me but not see me. I remember years ago about 1972 Deborah and I had another couple over to our apartment. Sometime during the evening they begin to talk about High Falls and how pretty it was and we decided to go see it that night. I'm not even sure now where it was, but we drove and got there in the wee hours of the morning. It was a big disappointment because it was dark, we couldn't see the falls. We could only listen and then drive back to Atlanta because He and I both had to work that morning. The falls were there, but without light we couldn't see them. Light reveals things that have been there all the time.

That's what God does. He reveals the inherent sinfulness of our lives. Without the light of God we cannot comprehend the nature or reality of sin. That's what John meant in John 1:9, "There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man." (NAS) The light of God reveals sin and man's need for a savior.

Without the light of God mankind has no concept of sin. I think that is so evident in modern society where we struggle so hard with what is right and what is wrong. Pornography, profanity, prostitution, promiscuity among other things becoming acceptable within society as a whole because we refuse to allow the light of God to expose their sinfulness.

The late Ray Stedman said we often only look at darkness as sinning. But if we only see darkness as sinning, we confuse cause with results. In other words, we sin because we are walking in the darkness. We stumble and fall because we cannot see where we are going. He said, "To walk in darkness means we walk as though there were no God. It is practical atheism, if not actual atheism. We say we believe there is which is the prevalent view of society, but we live as though he did not exist. We don't expose ourselves to him."

Light also sustains life. Just like sun light is necessary for physical life to exist on this earth, true spiritual life, eternal life is only possible through the light of God.

Here John reminds us that in Him there is no darkness He is perfect light.

Jesus said in John 8:12 "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life." (NAS)

Verse 6 is a warning to believers about wondering in darkness. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and {yet} walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."

We know that nonbelievers walk in darkness and are not in fellowship with God are not forgiven are condemned by their own actions. Paul explains in Col 1:13, "For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son." (NAS)

The problem is we get used to the dark. Most of us if we're honest would probably admit to being afraid of the dark when we were younger but as you mature and are exposed to the dark you lose that fear and that's a good thing most of the time. The problem is when it happens spiritually.

The same thing is true when you first encounter darkness, your eyes can't see anything, but after awhile they dilate and you can see and grow accustom to the darkness. When you begin to compromise your faith the same thing begins to happen, you gradually grow accustom to the darkness and it doesn't bother you anymore. The Bible also talks about it as becoming calloused. You don't allow the light to shine.

When that happens John say we lie, not simply telling a lie, but our lives themselves become a lie, something that isn't true. The danger in that for the believer is that disruption of fellowship with God.

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.

The basis of our relationship with God is the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses us from all sin. The basis of our fellowship with Him and with one another is based on our consistently walking in His light. Or living our lives according to His divine will.

We can see here salvation by grace expressed. It is Jesus blood that cleanses, not our walking in the light, however if His blood has cleansed us (3rd class condition) our response must be expressed by our walking in the light of His love, and grace, salvation anything less makes disrupts the fellowship God desires with us and among believers.

You have a relationship with God, but are you walking in fellowship with Him? Are you walking in His light? Our hymn of commitment says Open My Eyes , that I may see, open my eyes illuminate me. Will you let His light illuminate your life?