broadcasting from the police state that is frederick city just outside the capital of the former republic of the united states of america this is the frederick faith debate sponsored by putman plumbing and heating how can we make you smile You can find us online at wfmd.com, keyword faith. There you'll find all sorts of religious links, including links to podcasts of previous Faith Debate shows. You'll also find the Faith Debate blog on the right-hand side of the web page. My blog is your blog, so email me, Troy Skinner, at clearchannel.com. That's troyskinner at clearchannel.com. Whatever you send me, within reason, I copy and paste onto the website. Nine fresh blog postings are uploaded each and every weekday. That's 45 postings a week. And I've got to say that a lot of what you send me to post up there is pretty good stuff, so thank you. On our show today, you listen to the last couple of weeks and you kind of know what's going on this week and probably next week as well. We're kind of filling time because Jonathan Schweitzer had an emergency in his church. Couldn't be here on the show, so we had to reschedule our panel. We'll hear those shows probably starting in two weeks from today. Last week, we wrapped up a two-part series on who is this Jesus and a message that I was allowed to share at a local congregation. And they had me back. They said, you know, you were just so darn emotional last time. If you were listening last week, you know what I'm talking about. You were so darn emotional last time. Let's see if you can't do a message without being so darn melodramatic. So, sorry to give that a shot. See how it goes. What am I reading, you ask? Oh, I couldn't be happier to tell you that I've been reading Exegetical Fallacies by D.A. Carson. If you like real good theology and don't mind working your brain just a little bit, it's not over-the-top difficult, but it's not, you know, it's not, you know, Harry Potter, okay? D.A. Carson is awesome. Come with a hearty recommend. Two thumbs up with D.A. Carson. Anyway, what we're gonna hear now is the part one of a message based on first John Chapter 1 verse 5 and chapter 2 verses 7 through 14 Title of this message is living in light with love. I hope you enjoy it and find it beneficial Who loves your baby God does. I do. At least I should. Do you love me? Do you really, really love me? Do we really even know each other well enough to say that we honestly love one another? Do me a favor. Turn to the person next to you on your left and your right. Look them in the eye. And with sincerity, I want you to tell them you love them. Now, that's pretty easy for some of you, right? Because you're sitting right next to immediately family members. And that's not fair to the rest. So, what I want you to do now is turn to the people that are in the row immediately in front of you and behind you. Look them square in the eye. And with sincerity, I want you to say two things. I want you to say that they are special to you and that you love them. That feel kind of weird? If you're a visitor, will we ever see you again after today? If you're a member, are you suddenly feeling trapped in what just became a very strange and awkward church? Or did it feel pretty natural? Felt pretty good. Normal, really. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Heck, you tell people you love them all the time. And you even mean it most of the time. Well, then we have time for one more group exercise. If you would stay seated and turn forward and listen to the reading of God's Word. We'll be reading from the early portion of John's first epistle, 1 John 1, verse 5, and then jumping ahead to 1 John 2, verses 7-14. This is the message we have heard from Him and declared to you. God is light. In Him there is no darkness at all. Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command, but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command. Its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them. I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who was from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who was from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Dear Father, I ask that you would help us to open our hearts and our minds to put aside the distractions and embrace what your word of truth would have us hear today, would have us live out today and always. I ask that you prepare my mouth and my heart and my mind to overcome the inadequacies that I have in sharing your truth. Please, whatever distractions I might bring, might your truth shine forth. with clarity and conviction. Help us to know who we are. Help us to honestly know the current condition that we are in and to wrestle with that. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You might have noticed a bit of a theme as I was reading from 1 John. The word light kept coming up in contrast with darkness. So what does it mean that God is light? In him there is no darkness at all. John says he's not writing a new command, but an old one which we've had since the beginning. So let's turn to the Old Testament and consider the word light. And here are some biblical passages that might have come to John's mind if we could have asked him about it. In Genesis, at creation, God said, let there be light. God saw the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness. In Exodus, through the wilderness, The Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of fire to give them light. In Leviticus, as the law was given, command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. In Numbers, talking about the tabernacle, Eliezer son of Aaron the priest is to have charge of the oil for the light. In 2 Samuel, regarding godly leaders, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth. In Job, in the context of bringing down a curse, may God above not care about it. May no light shine on it. From the Psalms, let the light of your face shine upon us. Fill my heart with joy. In Proverbs, the book of wisdom sayings, for these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life. In Ecclesiastes, the counterbalance to Proverbs, I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. In Isaiah we read, I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness. I will take hold of your hand. I will help you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles. In Lamentations, we find here the experience of God's rebuke. I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord's wrath. He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light. Indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again all day long. Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope, because of the Lord's great love." We are not consumed for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, the Lord is my portion. Therefore, I will wait for him. That's good. In Amos, we hear God's words to those who falsely claim to be his followers. Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord. Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light, pitch dark, without a ray of brightness for those who falsely claim to be His followers? What do you think about all these images and perspectives on light? God said the light was good. We like that. God provides guidance by the light. He instructs his people to use light in their worship of him. He teaches us that light is the way of wisdom. We like all that, too. Now, knowing full well what all these Old Testament passages teach, John writes to us saying that God is light. And we like that, too, don't we? We like it the same way that we like God is love. God is merciful. God is full of patience and mercy and loving kindness. God is Savior and grace filled. We like all of that stuff. And we remind ourselves of that stuff. And each other of that stuff. Saying that that is the truth. And it is the truth. God is all of these things. God is. love. God is good. Oh, how we love and adore this good God who is good to us. Good to us as we define being good to us. We not only love this God, We like this God. He's cool, right? What a cool God we have, right? He's up in heaven. He's just kicking back. He's got his feet up on a footstool. He's just chilling, hanging out, being fabulous. That's God in our mind. Or is God maybe more mellow than that, right? Not so hip as much as maybe a doting father. Sort of professional. God is focused. He's focused on helping us to live the good life. He wants what's best for us. Which means He's figuring out ways to help us to sidestep all the consequences of the selfish, short-sighted, and horrible decisions that we make. Spend more money than we have? Well, maybe this God will you know, shine His light on me and help me win the lottery. Take in more calories than I can consume? Well, maybe, or can burn, you can consume lots of calories, right? But more than you can burn, maybe God will miraculously somehow help me to overcome and sidestep high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high level of body fat, afraid to witness to Christ, to the people you meet? Even to the people you've known for a long time? Well, maybe God won't mind so much. He probably bugs them a little. But He understands. They were only human after all. What more could He expect? He's laid back. He's laissez-faire. Right? He's non-judging. No worries. None at all. This is God. in our mind. Is this the biblical God? Well, is the God of Holy Scripture love? Yes. Is the God of Holy Scripture good to us and merciful and interested in what's best for us? He sure is. is the God of Holy Scripture holy? You betcha. Holy, holy, holy. You betcha, you betcha, you betcha. God is patient and kind and full of grace. God is love. God is also truth and righteous and just. God is holy. God is light. Now, I've said all of that to say this. We can't have just one piece of God. We can't carve Him up and embrace the parts that we like and toss aside the parts that we just don't care for all that much. We can't do this because to throw away the bathwater is to throw away the baby in this case, right? God is love because He is light. God is light because He is love. He judges sin because it is righteous and because it's the loving thing to do. His wrath burns against the evil so that the good will be defended. His light exposes the darkness so that true love will flourish. We live in a world that would rather everyone just get along to each his own. Everyone has his or her own version of the truth. What's to say what's truly right and wrong? And who are we to say? Live and let live. It's the climate of the times. Problem is to live and let live is to live and let die. We can attempt to have unity by dimming the light so low that no one can discern any differences anymore. Or we can have honest, to goodness, authentic unity by turning up the light so bright that the shadows are chased away and leaving us to see clearly our diversity and our uniqueness, not pretending to appreciate each individual, but to actually appreciate each individual. to appreciate each other while we're all bathed in the light of God, the light of truth, the light of love. Light and love, they go together. Justice and grace, they go together. To exclusively claim only love or only grace is to lose them both. If we lose truth and righteousness and holiness, we lose God. Without God, we have not love or mercy or grace. So do you want God's love? Do you want His grace? Do you want His mercy? Then embrace His commands. Obey His word. To do otherwise is to embrace the darkness. And in God there is no darkness at all. Now that just about covers 1 John 1, verse 5. So now for the other eight verses we're going to cover this morning. And I'm just kidding, we've covered more than one-ninth of what we're going to be covering here this morning, so don't panic, we'll be out plenty of time for dinner. We'll at least be on time for small groups to start at 6. So, nope, don't panic. Actually, we've covered a lot of ground here, much more than just verse 5. So, to show you what we've learned without maybe realizing it, here's a brief recap of where we've just been. In 1 John 1, verse 5, it says, So John is passing along the teaching of Jesus Christ that God is light. And this is contrasted with darkness. And that's the point I was just pressing a moment ago. And before that, we cover what some of the Old Testament passages on light are, what the Old Testament has to say about light. And the reason we did that is because in 1 John 2, verses 7, 8, and 9, it says, Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command, but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command. Its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. So there's nothing new about God's nature, right? He's unchanging in this respect. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. There is no new command. Yet there's something new. A new command. That's a recasting of the old command. What's new is Him. The truth is seen in Him. and in you, a Christian believer. Who is Him? Let's not take anything for granted. From verse 6, the verse that immediately is prior to what we just read, we know that John is talking about Jesus. He writes, whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did. Because Jesus has already come, John can write that the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. In a real Baptist church, we'd get an amen and a howl you right there. The darkness has passed and the true light is already shining. I can really feel the already not yet tension in that phrase. You feel it? The light is already shining. The darkness isn't gone. It's passing. It's a reminder that we currently live between the ages. The age to come is here, while the age, at the same time, the age of old is being overlapped presently until the second coming of Jesus Christ. And don't miss the truth of the matter for God's church in this right now. This passage from God's letter says that at present, at present, the truth is seen in him and in you. The truth is seen in Christ and Christ's church. Christ's light is already shining, and the darkness is passing from God's people. Is darkness passing from you? How would you know? Well, do you hate your brother or sister? In 1 John 2, verses 9 through 11, it says, anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother or sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness, walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them. John is talking here about our brothers and sisters in Christ. You will not stumble if you're walking in the light, and you can tell that you're living in the light because you love your fellow Christian. If we're not loving each other, then we're walking around the darkness. We're blind. We're deceiving ourselves. We do not know where we are going. In the words of world-famous theologian Diana Ross of the Supremes, I want to ask you, do you know where you're going to Do you like the things that life is showing you? Where are you going to? Do you know? Do you get what you're hoping for when you look behind you? There's no open door. What are you hoping for? Do you know? Well, do you know? Do you like what life is showing you? What are you hoping for? is what life is showing you dissatisfying. Perhaps it's because you're hoping in unsatisfying things. Perhaps you've fooled yourself or Satan has tricked you so that your hope is not really in Jesus Christ. That's going to put a wrap on the portion of the message for this week. We'll get the last half of the message next week. I'm sorry to do that to you, but we're constrained by time. The show is only as long as the show is. It is what it is. It's like 26 minutes. I don't care if I want to try to cram 35 minutes. It won't fit. I'm trying. It doesn't work that way. anyway this is the predict a debate on frederick's news radio nine thirty w fmd special edition only we have a panel discussion talking about important stuff and have people disagree with one another this week like the last couple weeks and next week still to come it's pretty much me so if you like me good for you if you're enjoying this if you don't like me so much hang in there uh... two weeks from today will have our panel back jonathan switzer and uh... guest to be named later arguing about something that they uh... that they find a really important or perhaps agreeing with each other passionately. That happens on occasion on this show, usually by accident. Anyway, Fredrik Veithevede is brought to us by Putman Plumbing and Heating. How can we make you smile? You can visit us online, wfmd.com. Just type in keyword faith, or there's a drop-down menu of the program lineup. You can find us that way. There's, I think, a third way to find us. I forget what that is now. There's all sorts of different ways, but the easiest way is just find that keyword field and type in the word faith. Hit go or search or whatever. Takes you right to the Faith Debate page. There you'll find a link to all sorts of what are called apologetic sites, they're websites on all the different religions, like if, I don't know, a Buddhist site, and it explains what Buddhists believe and why, and it's put out there by Buddhists, so it's their point of view, represented by them, whoever the them are in a particular instance. They also find a daily Monday through Friday blog update, nine postings a day, and my blog is your blog. So email me, TroySkinner at ClearChannel.com. Whatever you email me, that's TroySkinner at ClearChannel.com. You email me, I post it up there. No questions asked, unless it's horribly offensive or something, or way, way, way, way, way out in left field on topic, subject matter. I might not put it on there. But even then, I've been known to put it up there. Recipes, political commentary, not just religious stuff. for some reason get sent to me. Anyway, I want to thank you so much for listening. Part two of Living in the Light will be next. I think I mentioned our sponsor, but just in case, to give them their due credit, Putman Plumbing and Heating, how can we make you smile? Thank you so much for listening. Until next week, God bless. Here at Putman Plumbing, we make a living by servicing our customers' needs, but we make our life by how we service our clients. The Putman Plumbing way combines value, ethics, honest answers, and amazing service, because we believe you deserve it. Putman Plumbing, how can we make you smile?