Word of Salvation – Vol. 49 No.3 – January 2004

The Truth About God and Me

Sermon by Rev W Wiersma

on 1 John 1: 5-10

Scripture Readings:  Ephesians 4:17-32; John 8:12-30

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a beautiful verse in the Old Testament in the book of Psalms which says, "In your light, we see light." In God's light we see light. That suggests two things to me. First it tells us that without God's light we are in the dark. We do not know the truth. We are spiritually ignorant. We are unable to understand anything of God and of His kingdom. It is only in God's light that we see any real light.

And secondly, in this saying that in God's light we see light, I read that God has actually given us light. He has given us His light. God wants us to see. God wants us to know Him.

Now there is the awful possibility that we can refuse the light which God has given. We can refuse to receive the information which God provides and which is able to open up for us a whole new world, a world of truth, a world of wisdom, a world of love and of justice and of mercy and joy. Think about this. The Bible identifies the light which God has given us. God's light is His Word. It's the gospel. That is God's light, which He has given us.

In Psalm 119 the poet says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." YOUR word is my LIGHT. God's Word gives us LIGHT. God helps us, God's Word helps us to see where we are and where we're going.

But many people do not want to know that. They don't want to know about God's Word. They have a kind of "head in the sand" attitude. They don't want to know the truth about God and they don't want to know the truth about themselves. Isn't that the reason why many rejected Jesus, who is the light which God has given so that those who follow Him would never walk in darkness but have the light of life?

Jesus, as we read in John 1, is the true light that gives light to every man. But then John says this awful thing - many prefer the darkness to the light. Many prefer to stay in the dark about God and about themselves. They don't want to know about themselves - really.

Living, walking or acting, in the darkness, which John is talking about in this passage, means 'acting outside of the light of God', or contrary to the light that God gives. On the other hand, living in the light is living under the influence of Jesus. It is living in the light of His teaching and of all that He did; the light of His life, His whole being. It is living in the knowledge and understanding of God which Jesus gives us.

So living in the light means living in a true knowledge of God, that is, in the awareness of who God is and what God is really like. And that, says Jesus, is what eternal life is about. Eternal life is to know God for who and what He really is.

So, to know God is the crux of the whole matter. This is the heart of Christian faith and life. To know God! When we know and accept God for who He really is, then we have eternal life. And that knowledge of God will have an amazing impact on our whole life, on our whole being. It will change your attitude to God for instance, because if you really know God, then you will begin to really love and be thankful to Him.

If you know God through Jesus, it will change your attitude to obedience and, for instance, to evangelism as well. Because the love of God will give you a love for people. You will reach out in love. You will not stand back and wait to see what they will do to you, which is the way we often live - we wait for the other to make his move and then we will make a move in response. But love makes the first move. We will want them to have a part in the wonderful light that is shining over our life.

So everything really hinges on us being in real touch with God. Everything depends on whether you really know God, or not. Now what the apostle John is saying in the passage before us today is this - that it is possible for us to fool ourselves about knowing God and about living in the light. It is possible to live your whole life fooling yourself about your Christian faith and walk. So what John is saying is that there are people who claim to be Christians, who claim to be followers of Jesus, who claim to know God and follow His ways, but who are liars!

Amazingly blunt, the apostle John. He talks about people LYING! They are hypocrites. They claim to live in the light but they in fact misrepresent God and misrepresent themselves. God is not what they think or say He is, and they themselves are not what they claim to be.

Isn't that terrible? Is that not shocking? That there are people who claim to know God but who actually don't know what they are talking about? That there are people who claim to live a Christian life, a Christ-like life, but their life is a lie. There may well be such people in church here today. In fact you may be one of them. You think of yourself as a Christian, as a person living in the light which God gives us in Jesus, but you are actually living in the dark.

How can we know? How can you know whether you are living in the truth of the light or in the darkness of fooling yourself? How do you know whether your understanding of God's Word is true or not?

Well, John talks about two tests here, in this passage before us. Two tests which we can apply to ourselves or to anyone who talks about God. The first test is this - do I see, do I think of God as being LIGHT? That's the first question, the first test. Is God LIGHT to me? Am I convinced in my heart that God is GOOD? And that I can fully trust Him in ALL He says and in ALL He promises? Do I want to be in His presence because He is light, He is good? Is that what you think of God? It's a test of whether you know the truth or you are still in the dark. God is good to all - His love extends to everything He has made. God loves ALL human beings. God loves EVERY human being. God wants the best for EVERYbody.

Now you might ask, what about the fact that the Bible says that God hates the wicked? Yes that's what the Bible says. It says that. God hates the wicked. Let's consider some other questions. God asks us to do what He does, doesn't He? The command He has given us is that we should love our neighbour as ourselves. What kind of neighbour? Aren't we commanded to love every neighbour - no restrictions - no picking and choosing, as such? Does the Scripture not teach us that we are to love even our enemies? No matter how wicked, how hurtful they are? Didn't Jesus show us what God requires of us by praying for the very people who nailed Him to the cross? He loved them. We are to love blasphemers, murderers, cheats, what have you. We are to love our neighbour as ourselves.

We can put the question another way. For what kind of people did Jesus come and lay down His life? Was that for good people or for wicked ones? It must have been for wicked ones - otherwise He wouldn't have had to die on the cross for them in order to save them from sin and death. Now if we are to love ungodly people and Jesus laid down His life for God's enemies, what does that say about God's attitude to sinners? He LOVES them.

Oh yes, God does say, the person who sins shall die. This means that on the basis of what we do as sinners, we are finished, we've had it, we stand condemned. But God is a merciful God. And God loves what He has made. And you and I cannot say, God loves these people but He doesn't love those. The wicked will not ENJOY His love. But underneath, the rock-bottom truth of all things is that God is who He is and God is LIGHT. And when God created all things, He could say, "Behold, it is GOOD", and He LOVED it all. And does so still. For God sent His Son into this world to REDEEM all that is lost - the whole world. It was for wicked ones and none other, that Jesus came.

To whom is the gospel to be told? And what is the Gospel, what is the good news to be passed on to everybody? We may not exclude anybody from hearing the gospel. And the gospel is this - God is concerned about you and God calls you to repent of your sins and put your trust in Jesus. Why does God say that? Because He loves you. He calls you to repent from your sin and put your trust in Jesus. That is a call driven by love. That is a message to be passed on with love. To all human beings. To sinners.

Now we come to the second test of living in the light. How do you see yourself? Those who live in the light, says John, have discovered they are sinners through and through. That is the work of the Word, of the light and of the Holy Spirit.

And it is a terrible discovery, isn't it? It's a humiliating and terrifying discovery, to be shown that you fail by God's holy standards on every front. That you simply have no hope of making any claim on God on the basis of what you can present to Him. You've got nothing to change God's mind about you - nothing! Even after you have come into the light of God's light, there are still things that we do that are contrary to the character and will of God, which we have to call sins.

But you see, these two things, these truths about God and about us are very closely connected, aren't they? God's light includes God's love and mercy, as well as His holy justice. Listen to what we read in the verses 8 and 9 - and I wish that every one of you would learn these two verses off by heart: "If we say that we have no sin, if I say I have no sin, I deceive myself and the truth is not in me. But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and righteous and will FORGIVE us - ALL our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness."

You see, we may come to God as we are, sinful, broken, wretched sinners. God says to sin-conscious sinners, "Come to me and I will give you rest - I'll take care of your needs. I'll take care of your needs as a sinner. I will forgive you and I will give you my Spirit to work in you and renew you."

Why is it so important that we own up to our sins? Why is John so hard on those who claim to be without sin? Because denying sin is rejecting the truth, rejecting the light, the truth which God gives us - it's calling God a liar. And secondly, if we deny our sins, we deny responsibility for our actions. I might also say, we deny responsibility for our troubles. For if I haven't done anything wrong, then everyone else is to blame for what is wrong in my life - God, others, but never me. Because I am without sin, I've not done anything wrong.

Of course, there is actually a third test given in John's letter as to whether we are living in the truth, and that is whether we are living in love towards our brothers and sisters. People who don't necessarily agree with me on every point, who don't necessarily do things the way I do them, but people who know who God is and who know who they themselves are - or what they are - and who trust in Jesus alone as the door into the presence of God and into the life of God, such will love their brothers and sisters.

Why is it so important to confess our sins - to stop us, to prevent us from being arrogant and judgmental. Because the only right we have with God is that He loves us and has presented us and provided us with everything we need in Jesus.

Isn't it amazing that John in effect says: If we receive the light and walk in the light, if we begin to see that God is good and that God is holy and that God is caring, and we discover that we ourselves are rotten sinners, we will hear God say, just own up, just say, yes, that's what I am Lord.

And He will forgive you. He will say, now I'll stand right beside you, in fact I'll come right inside of you in my Spirit. I'll stand right beside you and I'll help you deal with your sins.

You know, sometimes we've got it all wrong, haven't we? Sometimes we think that God just loves to catch us out. And we feel we've got to overcome 'these things', we've got to give this or that up. And it is such a struggle. We fail to realise that all we have to do is say, "Lord, I've got a big problem - I've got this sin. Will you help me to deal with it?"

You see, we often leave God out of it. We think we've got to fix something ourselves and we've got to change God's mind about us. We don't have to change God's mind about us. Why not? Because He is light and He loves us.

That's the first thing. Can we accept that? Can you accept that God loves you simply because you are His creature, made in His own image? God KNOWS what you are like and He grieves about that. God grieves that we are sinners. And in His concern He sent Jesus in order that we might see, believe and rejoice in His love and in His willingness to stand by us, even as we struggle with our old self.

What a wonderful God we have. What a wonderful God He is. Oh, I pray that He will draw you with His love and show you that He cares with a care beyond description, because that is the only way that you or I will ever learn to love Him and to serve Him with thankfulness, with joy and a great sense of peace and security. That security is only in the love of God - nothing else. That's what Jesus teaches us, doesn't He?

Let's pray:

Lord, please help us to see, to grow in our knowledge, or maybe we simply have to have our shutters taken off us, our blinkers, so that the truth of your Word may truly beam into our lives and transform our minds. Lord, help us to see, for without your help we are blind. And Lord, when we see, we will give you the praise and thanksgiving, now and for ever.

Amen.