Let us continue worshiping God by turning in our copies of the scripture that you have in your pews to 1st John chapter 1. If you're using a pew Bible, it's on page 1021 in the pew Bibles. If you were with us a couple weeks ago when we started this letter of 1 John, we looked at the Trinity. We saw that the Trinity in this letter is at the foundation, at the very beginning of this letter that John the Apostle is writing. We saw that it was in the backdrop. It was, like we said, the foundation of this letter. And then John, in these first four verses, presented Christ in His humanity and in His deity. We saw that John related with all the other disciples that He lived with Him. They ate with Him. They slept with Him. They did all these things in the three and a half years that Christ lived on earth. So as John painted that picture of the Trinity, but especially the second person, Jesus Christ, we go on in these next verses of chapter one and chapter two and the rest of the book and look at the son, the second person of the Trinity and all of his work and all of his ministry on behalf of all of us as believers. So, let's look at our passage today. 1 John 1, starting in verse 5. I'll be reading to chapter 2, verse 11. This is the Word of God. 1 John 1, starting in verse 5. This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaimed to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 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. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just. to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him, or to walk in the same way in which he walked. Beloved, I'm writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I'm writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Triune God, we come to you this day We ask that you would teach us your truth, teach us the word of God. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ, we pray that you would be with us today. We know that you have promised that you are with us by the Holy Spirit. We believe in the Holy Spirit, that he will teach us your word. We pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Have you ever been in a dark cave before? Children, have you ever been in a dark room, pitch dark, and you can't see your hand in front of your face? And then suddenly, someone turns on the light, turns on a flashlight, and you're shocked, you're paralyzed. You now see the light. It is a sudden, traumatic situation. In that same picture, John is doing that to his readers. He, in these first verses, presented the Trinity as we saw a couple weeks ago. But now, like a shock, like a light, he presents Christ to us. And all of his splendor and all of his light. We see first, in these first verses, that God is light. John, in verse 5, says, this is the message, as you see. This is the proclamation of God. He proclaims it to us. As He's done all throughout Scripture, God, in His wisdom and in His gracious kindness, has said, this is who I am. This is my character. And John is taking all of that, all of the knowledge of the Old Testament and summarizing it in these three words. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Our holy God, the God of all the universe, cannot live with sin. He cannot have a relationship and communion with sinners. And as we were born in sin, God cannot have a relationship with us as sinners. But Christ on our behalf died for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He did this in the past to redeem us. So today, if we are in Christ, if we believe on Jesus for salvation, we can have fellowship with God. And you, as believers, if you have fellowship with God, you have an advocate in heaven. You have an advocate in heaven, Jesus Christ. But first, John lays the foundation in the controversy that's going on as he wrote this letter. As we talked about the Gnostics, and those that have denied the truth of the Scriptures, that have denied much of the core principles of our Orthodoxy, that Jesus came in the flesh, that He was sinless, and other things that they taught that were contrary to the Apostles' teaching. And that's what John is interacting with in these verses, verses 5 through 10, He's saying that, no, they are wrong. And he's doing this by answering some questions. He's interacting with them, even though they aren't speaking to us today. He goes back and forth between what they would say, possibly, and he's countering that with the truth of God. First, he says that they say that they have walked in the light, but while they still live in darkness. And he's using this light-dark analogy, and he will use it throughout the rest of the scripture. These contrasts between light and darkness, truth and lies. He uses it in these first verses, and he's speaking of the original sin that we were created in. The original sin that Adam, because of his fall, brought all of mankind. Paul writes of this in Ephesians, in chapter 2. He also, after speaking about the election of God and praying for the saints in his letter, stops in chapter 2 and writes to the believers, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Our whole nature, our mind and our body were corrupted by sin and we were born in sin. So John is presenting this original sin that we have in Adam in verse 5 and verse 6. He says that if we say we have fellowship with God and we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. He's saying to the Gnostics, he's saying to those that are false teachers, if you say one thing, but you do another, you're lying. You don't believe the truth. And then he goes on and says, but if you walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. We see that contrast between the lie and the truth. There's another thing that John says that these Gnostics and false teachers say. In verse 8, it says, if we say, so as a collective, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. John knows our hearts. As a pastor, he knows that we can deceive ourselves, that that's what sin does in our lives as believers. We can say that what we're doing is not a sin while God calls it a sin. We sometimes lie to ourselves. We lie to God. And in our sins, as we sin daily and thought, word, and deed, we are calling God a liar. We are saying that what he has commanded in his word, the commandments, he did not really mean to say. that we deceive ourselves. In Leviticus and the other parts of the law, it declares that we are guilty before God. Whether we know it or not, we are guilty. So in these verses, in verses 6 and verse 8 and verse 10, we see this progression of sin, progression going down and down into darkness. If we say we have fellowship with God while we walk in darkness, we lie. In verse 8, if we say we have no sin, if we haven't sinned, we deceive ourselves and how easy it is often to deceive ourselves because of the lie. But in verse 10, John writes, if we say we have no sin, these Gnostics were saying that they had no sin, that they didn't have the original sin and that they didn't sin and thought, weren't indeed daily. They were counteracting and they were saying that they, in their actions, were not breaking God's law. And John is saying they are wrong. He's saying that those today who say that are wrong. We make God a liar. How serious that is, that statement. those in the first century and us today when we say we have not sinned. Say that we have not sinned at all or say that our actions are not displeasing to God. This is very important in speaking against God's Word that when He declares what is sin that we have not agreed with that. The truth is not in us. John counteracts these teachings of the Gnostics with the truth of God's word. When we say that we have not sinned, we are rejecting the very gospel of salvation. We're rejecting Christ himself. And those that live in this way, they are not of their father in heaven, but of the Father, the Devil, as Christ told the Pharisees in the Gospels. In counteraction to these verses and these notions and words of the Gnostics and those that do not believe in Christ, John presents the Gospel. John presents the Gospel in verses 7 and verse 9. He says, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, with one another, with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, as a community of believers. And the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sins. He also says in verse nine, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. John is looking from the perspective of us as humans. We are looking at our relationship with God. And John is saying from our perspective in relationship to the cross and the work of Christ, Jesus and his blood has cleansed us, cleansed us from all sins. from all of our sins, not just some, but all. And if we confess our sins and if we repent of our sins, Christ is faithful and just. The Father, His wrath is poured out on Christ and not on us. If we have true repentance and confess our sins, Jesus is ready and able to put His white robes upon us. We might think in these verses that John is speaking of our good works, that we in some way have to work our way into heaven. But John is not saying that. He's saying that God's mercy, God's gift of grace on us, He's been giving us a gift of salvation. And this is what has been done to us definitively in the past. We have been justified. in the justice of Jesus Christ, that the wrath of God has been poured upon Him instead of us. Theologians call this definitive justification. So John is saying, as believers, you today, that you have been justified by the blood of Christ, that you have confessed your sins, and that is the work of the Holy Spirit, creating new birth and new life in us. We have declared that we are now children of God. That we are once dead in our trespasses and sins, but now alive in Christ Jesus. This salvation John further speaks of in the next chapter. In a greeting, just like in the letter today, John says, my little children. He kind of pauses in his letter And even though it wasn't at the beginning, he says, dear brothers and sisters, dear children, Pastor John is speaking in this tender tone. And even though he's said these somewhat harsh statements or these truth statements that are very confrontational to us and to those Gnostics in his day, he, as he's writing to believers, says, dear children, and he says why he is writing, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. Sometimes in this letter we can think there are two opposing positions. Whether John is saying we have originally sinned and are total depravity and we are altogether sinful and we can do nothing about it. Or the other side of the spectrum that we are to be holy and sinless. And that question is not the proper question in this book. It is a both statement, that we have sinned, that we originally were born in sin, but also we are to desire holiness. That through the work of the Spirit, we are not to sin. And that is John's prayer for the believers in this letter. That's his prayer to us today, that we would not sin. But he knows, he knows the natural state of man. He knows his own heart. And we know our own heart. If you would examine your heart, that we still do sin. If we are in Christ, we still have that old man that lives in us. Each day we wrestle in war against our old man. We still sin. So that's why John writes, he says, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, If anyone does sin in thought, word, and deed, in great things or small, miniscule lies that we might tell that are grievous in God's sight and that will send us to hell, just one sin, that we have an advocate with the Father. We have an advocate in the throne of heaven, Jesus Christ, the righteous, that Christ's righteousness covers all unrighteousness. He was the one that went to the cross on our behalf. This is the substitutionary atonement that we were condemned in our very birth, and in our sins, in our actual sins that we do commit to go to the cross. But Christ went on behalf of His people. He was the substitutionary Lamb of God. This is in contrast to that of the universal salvation. And as we will see in a couple verses, it is somewhat confusing at times to read these things and speaking of the whole world. But John is speaking and saying that we do have an advocate in heaven. Sometimes our sins can wear us down and the affections of our sinful nature war against us. We still have that old man within us. And Paul writes in his letters to the Romans and other letters that this war that comes against us, it wages in our heart. But we have an attorney in heaven, Jesus Christ, the great high priest that is speaking on our behalf, that says to the father, I have paid for my people with my blood, that these are my people cleansed of all of their sins. All the penalty and wrath of the father has come upon Christ. This Greek word advocate is one of, and it means someone that comes alongside. Just like an attorney today, if you would hire an attorney or watch attorneys and lawyers on TV, you see that as that person that is convicted of a crime sits silent, the advocate, The attorney speaks up before the judge, before the bar, and he says, this is why this person is not guilty. I am pleading my case. In that same way, Christ is pleading our case in heaven. We saw earlier, as we read in Exodus, that Moses and others in the Old Testament pictured the advocacy of Christ on our behalf. Noah. Abraham, Moses and David. As you remember, those people in the Old Testament, those servants of God, they were advocates for the people of God. And they didn't do it perfectly. They were sinners. In great ways, we can remember their sins, those of David and of Moses and of Abraham. But just like Moses on that mountain pleading for the people, interacting with God in that relationship. They were advocates for the people. How much more is Christ on our behalf? These types of Christ in the flawless, sinful nature were not the true advocate that came to the earth. There is the great intercessor, the great advocate on our behalf, Jesus Christ, the God-man. Paul writes of this. in scriptures. And the author of Hebrews writes of this in chapter 4. He says, since then we have a great high priest who has passed to the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respects has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. And then the author of Hebrews says, Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. In our time of need in the Christian life, in the times of sin that still lives within us, we can go to the Father in prayer through Christ, our great high priest, that is our advocate. And we can do that because Christ is the propitiation for our sins. We see that in verse 2. John writes, he is the propitiation for our sins. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb. We read in Leviticus 16 that as Aaron was commanded Each year on a specific day, the day of atonement to take a bull and take goats and go into that tabernacle and the holy of holies. and present the blood of these sacrificial lambs, all of the smells of blood and of incense He was commanded to do. And this was a picture, a future picture of the great Lamb of God, the Messiah that would come to finally and completely take away our sins. In Leviticus 16 it says, Moses writes these words, And in front of the mercy seat, he, that is Aaron and the high priest, shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times." He is to sprinkle blood all over the altar and on the mercy seat in the tabernacle. And that Holy of Holies is the Ark of the Covenant. As you remember, that was fashioned of gold and objects were put into it. In that place, God's presence dwelled. His very presence on earth dwelled between the angels on top of the ark. On that seat, he was communing and had a relationship with the people of God. And as the goat that was presented by Aaron on that seat, the blood of that sacrifice So to Christ is our sacrifice. He is that sacrificial lamb on our behalf. And John is using this word, this word that talks of a covering. It means an expiation, a sacrificial sacrifice on behalf of our sins. It covers the wrath of God. God's wrath is appeased. Our sins that we were born into and that we have committed, all of our wretched sins before a holy God, are taken away. They are taken and put upon Christ in His righteousness and His holiness. The holiness of God is put upon us. That's what John is presenting with all the light and the majesty in these verses. He's presenting the good news of the gospel, of new birth, He's saying that it is for the whole world. Countering those that speak of the universal salvation of all mankind, John is not speaking of that all people that will be saved by God, but he's speaking of a universal salvation in regards to all people, without distinction, from all nations and races and ethnicities, of all different types, of people. We can see that in the body today, in the Christian church. We can see that we are all of different backgrounds. We have different wealth backgrounds, and we have different birth backgrounds, and different races. And it is beautiful to see that. That John is saying that this gospel is not just for the Jews. As the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, it is for the entire world. It is to spread from Israel to all the nations. He's saying that is beautiful and wonderful, that the good news would spread throughout all the world. We can see in Christ's advocacy for us that we can pray to him, pray to the Father, that Christ is praying on our behalf as our great high priest because of those white robes, because of the propitiation, of the expiation of our sins, that God has taken his wrath and poured that upon Christ. And now he is our great high priest before God. He makes intercession for us. In our confession, it says that Christ is making intercession for them, for us as believers, and revealing unto us in and by the Word of God, the mysteries of salvation. Last week, I met a Hindu man at the swimming pool. And as we were talking about his faith, about the Hindu faith, about all the many gods of the Hindu religion, I was asking why he goes to the temple. He was saying there's a temple here in Topeka, and the largest one in the United States is in Pittsburgh. So I was fascinated, I'd never heard about this, and all the gods that they have, and I was kind of talking to him about Christianity, and he was talking to me about the Hindu religion. And I asked, why did he go? And he said, a peace of mind. A peace of mind. I was shocked by that statement, because that was so man-centered. praying to these wooden statues, these false gods, just for a peace of mind. And John knows that. And we know that today, that we sometimes go to God just to satisfy our own needs, not for the right reason that God has commanded. And as the affections, as children of God, as those have been redeemed by Christ's blood, we go to God through the Son in His advocacy, because we don't want just to clear a guilty conscience because of our sin. We don't just want to put away that sin that we just committed and don't think about it anymore. We want to confess our sins as John has commanded us, as God has commanded us, and that Jesus is faithful and just. He's ready by the Father. And he says to the Father, as a picture, look at my hands and look at my side, that these are my children. Even though they have sinned, I have covered their sins. In that way, the Prince of Peace gives us His peace. In these next verses, in verses 3 through 11, this is how we live out our salvation. In the rest of the book, we're going to see a mix of justification and sanctification, of the definitive work that God has done on our behalf. But also, how do we live this out? How do we live out these truths of God justifying us, of this intercessor that we have in heaven, this counselor, Jesus Christ? How does that impact our lives? Well, if we are born again, we are to live a life of obedience and love. Obedience and love is what John is calling believers to live. We can have assurance of our salvation. And John, in this letter, is speaking about the assurance that we can know that God has paid for our sins, that we are children of God. What does it mean to keep this commandment? John writes that there is an old commandment that you have heard, but also that there is a new commandment in these verses. Well, it's definitely not the good works that we merit salvation by keeping the commands of God. We cannot keep them perfectly without breaking them. John is speaking of that commandment in the Old Testament, that the prophets and those people of God in Israel were commanded to have communion with God, have fellowship with Him by believing on the coming Messiah. They were to keep the commands of God, the Ten Commandments, out of a heart of love for God. And just like that in the Old Testament today, we are commanded to believe on Jesus Christ. John is saying this new commandment flows out of our relationship with God, out of our justification that he wrote about in the first chapter. He says that we are commanded to love one another. John writes in the fifth chapter of this letter, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you believe, you trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation. And he says that you may know that you have eternal life. And John in his gospel, as Jesus was teaching his disciples, Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper. That is the Holy Spirit that is within us, that helps us. to keep God's commandments. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that gives us strength to obey God's commandments. And that application for our lives as disciples, we are to be followers of Christ. We are desired with all of our affections to live for God. And John says how we live is by loving one another. Walking in love in these verses, verses 9 through 11. If we say we love God, we are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ that should come out of our salvation, flow out of that. But if we hate our brothers, we walk in darkness. So I ask, do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? Not just a Disney love or a love that our society promotes, but the very love of God from His character. We are to love brothers and sisters in Christ from the love that God has shown us through his son, and the love that Jesus shows us by his high priestly role, his advocacy in heaven. Do we love one another? If we don't love one another and we hate and attack one another. In so many words, we are saying you are not a believer. You don't have an attorney in heaven. I'm not treating you as a brother and sister in Christ if we devour one another. And we don't love as Christ has loved us and walk in the light. John in this letter says that if we practice sin, if we live in sin, we lack assurance. We can fall into that state that not that we lose our status as children of God, but we walk almost as we stagger without assurance of salvation because we are in a state that we do not love our brothers, we don't have confidence in our salvation, that we don't see Christ as our advocate in heaven, one that is pleading our case as we live our lives. So we must remember what John wrote to us in this letter, that he wrote to the believers in the first century, that we can have a relationship with God. It's because of Jesus Christ and His work. And we do have an advocate in heaven, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is our advocate as believers. In heaven, He is the one that pleads our case and has given us salvation and newness of life. So let us walk in that newness of life by our love for one another. And remember, in times of sin, as we are sometimes prone to wander from God's commandments, from Christ and His work, that Jesus is by our side. He is our attorney that is standing by us in heaven. And he says, you are mine. That should give us great comfort, brothers and sisters. And if we do not know Christ, that we should run to him for salvation, that we should repent and confess our sins, and the blood of Jesus will cover our sins. So yes, take comfort, Christian, in these words that John wrote to us. I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come to you through the High Priest, Jesus Christ, We come to your throne saying all praise and glory and honor goes to you and to the land that sits on the throne. We come to you as your children, knowing that we have sinned and thought word and deed, but Christ and his blood has covered our sins. We repent of our sins. wanting communion with you. And we know that you do hear our prayers through Christ and through the work of the Holy Spirit. We thank you for these words of John, your truth, your words that you have shown us today. We pray that we would live a life pleasing to you, a life of holiness and love for you and for one another. that we would not live in a lie and live in darkness anymore, but live in the light of light. Jesus Christ, in his name we pray. Amen.