WALK IN THE LIGHT

PROCLAMATION

“… God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out 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, purifies us from all sin.”  1 John 1:5-7 (NIV)

 

EXPLANATION

These words were written by the apostle John, under the inspiration of The Holy Spirit of God, to all believers.  John begins this first epistle by proclaiming that Jesus, The Christ, rose from the dead and he saw Him, heard Him, and touched Him. (1 John 1:1-3)  In this letter he is declaring to them what he heard from Christ. (1 John 1:4-5)  He said that God is light and there is no darkness in Him.  John told them if they walk in the light, the blood of Christ Jesus covers them and purifies them from all sin.  He said, if we claim to have fellowship with Christ and yet we walk in darkness, then we lie. (1 John 1:5-7)  He also says that we lie if we claim to be without sin. (1 John 1:8 and 1:10)  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

 

APPLICATION

Most people do not like to be told that they are sinners and that their parents were sinners also.  The truth is that all of us are sinners. (Romans 3:23)  The only difference between us is that some of us have accepted Christ, confessed our sins, and we have been forgiven, while others have not done so.  Believers have chosen to walk a different path and we walk in the light along the least-travelled path. (Matthew 7:14)  Many people deny Christ and have chosen to remain in darkness and walk the well-travelled wide path which leads to destruction. (Matthew 7:13)  Jesus, The Christ, said, “I am the way…” (John 14:6) and He also said, “I am the light of the world …” (John 8:12)  We have a choice, we can choose whether or not we want to walk in the light.  Please choose wisely because there are eternal consequences for our choice.

BELIEVERS MUST WALK IN THE LIGHT NOT IN DARKNESS

Proclamation:

“If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”  1 John 1:6-7 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by the apostle John, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, to all who believed in Jesus, The Christ.  He begins this letter by stating that he heard, saw, and touched Christ, and he was sharing what he saw and heard with them. (1 John 1:1-4)  He said that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)  Those who claim to walk with Him but walk in darkness are liars.  He also said that those who claim to be without sin also lie and deceive themselves. (1 John 1:8 and 10)  Then he said, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

Application:

We cannot walk with Christ and hold hands with the devil.  We cannot serve to masters. (Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13)  Some people do no like to hear this, but all of us have sinned. (Romans 3:23)  If we say that we, or anybody else that we know, have not sinned, then we are lying.  On our own, none of us is righteous. (Romans 3:10)  All of us should admit that we have sinned, then we should pray and ask to be forgiven, and He will forgive us. (1 John 1:9)

BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT THE PEOPLE YOU ASSOCIATE WITH

Proclamation:

“But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler.  Do not even eat with such people.”  1 Corinthians 5:11 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by the apostle Paul, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, to the believers in the church at Corinth.  Paul began this chapter by telling them that it had been reported that there was sexual immorality among them.  Not only was there fornication among them but some of the men were sleeping with their father’s wife. (1 Corinthians 5:1-2)  Members of the church knew about this but did not do anything about it and Paul urged them to take action. (1 Corinthians 5:4-5)  He had written to them previously warning them not to associate with sexually immoral people (1 Corinthians 5:9-10) and now he was being more specific in this letter. (The epistle entitled First Corinthians is actually the second of four letters written by Paul to the believers at Corinth.)

Application:

We may not have control over who is in our family, or the people that we work with, but we choose our friends.  We need to give some thought to the people that we choose to spend time with.  “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3)  None of us is perfect, we have all sinned. (Romans 3:23)  This is not to say that we should not speak to non-believers or back-sliders.  However, if we continually spend time with unapologetically, incorrigible sinful people, what does that say about us?  We should fellowship with people who share our beliefs, values and principals. (1 John 1:7)  We should not fellowship with those who continually walk in darkness. (Ephesians 5:11)  We really should not call ourselves “Christian” if we continue to walk in darkness with our sinful friends. (1 John 1:6)  Once we accepted Christ we were changed into new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17) and we should put away our old sinful ways, and our old sinful friends.