“If we walk in the light . Besides, verse 8 warns against claiming to be sinless while you walk in the light. A truly Christian love, either to God or men, is an humble broken-hearted love. But God’s Word tells us to “cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12). The mark of the new creature in Christ is not a rosy self-concept. All religious duty will be irksome, and, therefore, a cross to him. 5:11). He serves from fear or hope, just like a slave, and not from love. Verse 8: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” The claim to be without sin is self-deception. If in his own light he shines forth as a Being of infinite worth, then he is the star of glory that we were made to admire and cherish. Another way to put it would be that nothing is truly understood until it is understood in the light of God. Conscience condemns him. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own tempers. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 11. John shoots down the first error in verses 6 and 7, and then shoots down the second error in verses 8–10. Ours is simply to listen and submit to the word of God. Light. He shall be filled with his own feelings. If God opens the eyes of our hearts to see all that, then our desires are captured by the surpassing glory of God over everything that the world has to offer, and we walk in the light as he is in the light. He shall be filled with his own works. No missing boards or monitors or operating systems. The first picture of God that John wants to put before us is this picture of God as light. Having forsaken God, he will be sure to have much to irritate him. It is a progressive work in the believer’s heart and, as Philippians 1:6 says, God “will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” All sin really will be cleansed away in the end if we walk in the light. The backslider in heart will be full of his own delusions. So we must ask three questions: We have already answered the first question: walking in the light means living under the controlling desire for God instead of the world — the kind of life you live if you see things the way God sees them and share his values. In other words, God is light means that God is the source and measure of all that is true. But can a Christian ever be too hard on himself as he strives to live up to that calling? Again, he is in bondage to God. It opens the way to your goal. God will not share His glory with anyone. Does God love everyone in the world? "I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you" (John 5:42). perish, are condemned already, will not see life and will suffer the wrath of God.Jesus himself gives many descriptions of the consequences of rejecting God’s salvation. That is, God is truth. Our "gods" nowadays are usually celebrities. The nearest piece of evidence for this is verse 9. The backslider in heart will be full of his own perplexities. Having lost all heart in religion, the performance of all religious duty is a cross to his feelings. And the old fellowship is over. Then when God keeps warning, sending His prophets and humans don’t pay attention: then we rouse His anger, then the drastic consequences of sin emerge; sometimes it becomes extremely fatal. English Revised Version And we have seen the application in verses 6–7 — that we must, therefore, walk in the light of God in order to go on being cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Here is one of the most beautiful paragraphs I have ever read outside the Bible. To understand this verse, we must know what sin is, what its consequences are, how the blood of Christ can cleanse us from sin, and what it means to walk in the light. The backslider … In God the stumbling logs and rattlesnakes and cliffs and low-hanging branches are all exposed and we are made safe from them. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7–8). And the word of God says that “if we walk in the light as he is in the light . He has taken all these things out of the hands of God, and claims them and treats them as his own. He is not walking with God. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own bondage. But let’s review its meaning. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He calls us evil. He has fallen out of the Divine order. Again, he said, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world and men love darkness and will not come to the light because their deeds are evil," (John 3:19 KJV). This means that God’s assessment of us is not positive. Light is the promise of hope and joy. Jesus, then, is the conduit or provider of light to the world. The sentence, “I am without sin,” amounts to the sentence, “God is a liar.”. What he says is that when the truth enters in, its light reveals sin! “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Notice that in verse 7 sin is cleansed. The backslider in heart must be full of his own losses. And God is light and in him is no darkness at all. A gain, he is in bondage to his own conscience. The whole course of Divine providence will run across his path, and his whole life will be a series of crosses and trials. Being a professor of religion, these things will be all the more noticed, and of course bring him all the more into ridicule and contempt. Now we have seen the foundation in verse 5 — that God is light and in him is no darkness. 4. But verse 3 would suggest that the “fellowship with one another” in verse 7 refers to fellowship with fellow believers. 3. If he neglects religious duty, he of course condemns himself. Walking in carnality and spiritual darkness results in a bad influence on others, and this can have eternal consequences. According to verse 7 two things accompany walking in the light: “If we walk in the light”. Such a gospel produces a Christianity that is a game of words. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to 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. It means seeing reality for what it is and being controlled by desires that accord with God’s light. And I think he chose the word light because it carries a positive connotation that the word truth may not always carry. will cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” This is the moral effect of the blood of Christ. Not only to acquit but also to reform. Consider Lot. When it comes to interacting with the world, we are not forbidden from making friends with those who are still enslaved to sin; rather, we are forbidden from acting in ways that displease God. He has turned back to selfishness. It amounts to calling God a liar. They hedge themselves in, and shut their eyes against the light; stand on the defensive, and criticize everything that would search them out. You both hope in his promises, and avoid sin by the light of his word. John has just said in verse 7 that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin if we walk in the light. Verse 6 shows what destroys fellowship with God — walking in darkness. There are no more comments about the sweet hour in the word of God. To choose gravel over diamonds you have to be blind. Determined to have his own way, he will be greatly disappointed if his plans are frustrated; yet the certain course of events under the government of God must of necessity bring him a series of disappointments. Verse 5: foundation — God is light and in him is no darkness at all. “we have fellowship with one another,” and, “the blood of Jesus God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.”. It seems to me that there is good reason for saying it refers to both. There is no assurance of salvation while you are living in disobedience. First, verse 5 gives the message of Christ that John has heard. 8. 7. Third, verses 8–10 answer a possible misunderstanding of verses 6 and 7, and so clarify their meaning. John knows that some of what he says could play right into the hands of the perfectionistic false teachers. Having rejected the Divine guidance, he will evidently fall into the depths of his own foolishness. But these are dead works, they are not works of faith and love, which are acceptable to God, but are the filthy rags of his own righteousness. Negatively, it helps you avoid danger. John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. Nothing will be more discordant in your final hour than the sound of the television. First, it refers to the experience of having all our sins forgiven, so that God does not hold any of them against us. Then the empire falls. 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. Modern man is a bit more sophisticated, but he still yearns for intimacy with a higher being. There are absolutely no regrets for those who come to God with all their hearts. the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”. 13. What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you so that you may have fellowship with us. They have forsaken God, and in their feelings there is more of hell than of heaven. Walk means life. But when the light goes on, he sees that the warm, soft fur is the underbelly of a horrid, man-eating monster; and the hard, cold edge is the sword of the majestic Christ ready to save. 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