Review
(1 John 1:5 NKJV) This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
The imagery or concept of God as "light" pictures God's self-revelation (cf. John 8:12; 9:5; 12:35, 36). The truth of the matter is that if God hadn't revealed Himself to us, we would still be groping about in the darkness.
Jesus said in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
The Bible says that we did not reach out for God, He first reached out to us. 1 John 4:19, "We love Him because He first loved us."
The Psalmist concurs with this truth:
(Psa 14:2 NKJV) The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
(Psa 14:3 NKJV) They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.
Paul in Romans reminds us in the New Testament that we did not have God in our minds or heart to serve Him:
(Rom 3:11 NKJV) There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.
Because man is not inclined to seek after God, God had to take the first step towards a relationship with man by disclosing or revealing Himself to man. The Apostle Paul writes:
(Rom 1:20 NKJV) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
*invisible attributes - characteristics of God
*clearly seen - to the one who responds to God's prompting or "light"
*understood - as man thinks, ponders and inquires
*the things that are made - God's creation
*His eternal power and Godhead - i.e. Jesus and the Trinity
Paul answers the age old question by the scoffer, "Will God judge the heathen in the deepest, darkest tribe of Africa who hasn't heard the Gospel?" YES!!!
Illust: One day Deb and I played a game with children where we hid candy and had little pieces of paper with clues to where the candy was hidden. As our kids discovered each clue they learned more about where the candy was.
God has placed clues about Himself in His creation for everyone to see. As one finds a clue and responds to it, God reveals more about Himself, eventually leading the person to Himself.
Hebrews 1:1-2 speaks of this process:
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds…
Creation => The Law => Prophets => His Son, Jesus
Since God is "light," that is, since God has revealed Himself to us, last time we began to look at the some of the attributes or characteristics of God as taught in His Word.
Last time we learned:
God is Spirit - God is a non-material personal being; He is self-conscious and self-determining. John 4:24 says, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
God is Life - God has absolute life in Himself and is the source of all life. Life is the vital principle, or breath of life, which God imparted to man, making him a living soul. 1 John 5:11 says, "And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son."
God is Infinite - There is no way to fully understand the vast greatness of God. Infinity is the term man uses to describe something that cannot be counted or measured and God is surely immeasurable. Paul in Romans 11:33 writes, "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!"
God is Immutable - The immutability of God means that God is devoid of all change in essence, attributes, consciousness, will, and promises. No cause for change in God exists, either in Himself or outside of Him. There is no reason for God to change because there is no change that would make Him better. In Mal 3:6 God says, "For I am the LORD, I do not change…"
God is Truth - The word "truth" suggests an integration of character, and allegiance to virtue. The concept of truth is derived from the character of God, and is the exact opposite of the concept of lying. The Bible teaches in Hebrews 6:18, "It is impossible for God to lie."
Jesus is the personification of truth. In John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
This is where we left off last time.
God is Love
Love is the very nature of God, and the greatest of the Christian virtues. Love is more that a word to describe one's feelings for another. True love is demonstrated.
Attributes of love include patience, kindness, protection, trusting, hoping, and persevering. Love is not envious, boastful, proud, rude, self-seeking, easily angered, a recorder of wrongs or does it take delight in evil. (1 Cor. 13)
I John 4:8 - He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
I John 4:12 - No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us.
I John 4:16 - And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
God loves us more than we can ever know. He loves us more than we could ever love ourselves.
However, His love for us is to overflow into the lives of others, so they can begin to know and experience God's love.
(1 John 3:16 NKJV) By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
So far we have learned that God is spirit, invisible, life, infinite, immutable, truth and love.
God is Eternal
Eternal refers to the endless past and the unending future. Eternal also refers to God's present limitless with respect to time. God has no beginning as man can understand beginning and God has no end.
God created time. Since He created time as we know it, He lives outside of time and can see the beginning and the end of our lives simultaneously. He can also see the age of men at one glance.
(Psa 139:4 NKJV) For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
(Psa 139:5 NKJV) You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.
Therefore when He tells us what events will happen in the future, we can rest assured that those events will happen just as He described. More than that, we can live with the peace of knowing that when we die we will be with Him forever without end. The Scripture says, "A day will be as a thousand years." (2 Peter 3:8)
Psalm 90:2 - Before the mountains were born, Or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.
Isaiah 57:15 describes God as the, “high and lofty One that inhabits eternity…”
Deuteronomy 33:27 - The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms…
I Timothy 1:17 - Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
God has always existed and He always will. Nothing will ever be able to bring Him to an end.
God is Immortal
The word immortal means, not subject to death.
Only God possesses immortality "as an original, eternal and necessary endowment." This means that no one gave God immortality--He has immortality in and of Himself.
When it comes to man, the immortality of man's soul is bestowed upon it by God and is contingent on His will. In other words, God gives man immortality and sustains it.
I Timothy 1:17 - Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
I Timothy 6:16 - Who alone hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
Only God is immortal in and of Himself.
God is Omnipresent
The prefix “omni” is from the Latin word omnis meaning “all.”
Omnipresence is the attribute of God by which He fills the universe in all its parts and is present everywhere at once.
Omnipresence means that not a part, but the whole of God is present in every place. There is no place man can go to hide from God.
Psalm 139:8 - If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
I first began to believe God for this truth when my son Mike joined the Marine Corps. When he traveled to Korea I had to depend upon a God in whom the whole of Himself was in Korea while at the same time in the United States watching over me and the rest of my family.
Then when Mike was overseas and my daughter Sophia traveled to St. Mary’s County to do summer missionary work, I had to trust in a God in whom the whole of Himself could be in Korea and St. Mary’s County and in Woodlawn at the same time watching over my son, my daughter and my wife and kids.
I am so glad I have a Heavenly Father who is omnipresent.
In Jeremiah 23:23-24 God says, “Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "And not a God far off? "Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him?" declares the LORD. "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD.”
There is no place to go where God is not already there.
God is Omniscient
Omniscience is the attribute of God by which God perfectly and eternally knows all things which can be known, past, present, and future.
IBM has a computer they designed which is capable of examining and evaluating two to three thousand chess positions per second.
Recently they began to write the code for Deep Blue in C and run it under the AIZ operating system. The net result is a highly parallel system capable of calculating 100-200 billions moves within three minutes, which is the time allotted to each player's move in classical chess.
The omniscience of God means that God doesn’t have to evaluate our circumstance and choose the “best move” that gives us the most benefit. Since God knows everything, this lets us know that God knows how best to achieve His desired purpose in our lives.
The omniscience of God, like the omnipresence of God, demonstrates that man cannot hide from God because God knows all things.
He knows the number of hairs on each head; He knows the thoughts of every man. He knows the secrets of the heart.
Just because no one is around to see us do wrong doesn't mean nobody saw it happen - God did. (Matthew 10:30; Acts 15:8)
The Bible says in Psalm 33:13 - The Lord looks from heaven; he beholds all the sons of men.
Psalm 147:4,5 - He tells the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
Acts 15:18 - Known to God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
God knows everything that has happened and everything that will happen. He knows when we do things for the wrong reasons and when we do things for the right reasons. In other words, he know our motives.
God is Omnipotent
The attribute of God which describes his ability to do whatever He wills.
God can do anything. There is nothing God can't do. There are no bounds to His energy.
Job said, "If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong" (Job 9:19).
One Hebrew name for God is El Shaddai (El refers to God; Shaddai means "almighty").
The psalmist said, "Power belongs unto the Lord" (Ps. 62:11).
Revelation 19:6 says, "Halleluia! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns."
God can do anything effortlessly. God can do one thing just as easily as He can do another. It is no more difficult for Him to create a universe than to make a grain of sand.
A.W. Tozer said, "Since He has at His command all the power in the universe, the Lord God omnipotent can do anything as easily as anything else. All His acts are done without effort. He expends no energy that must be replenished. His self-sufficiency makes it unnecessary for Him to look outside of Himself for a renewal of strength. All the power required to do all that He will to do lies in undiminished fullness in His own infinite being."
Isaiah 40:28 says the Lord "faints not, neither is weary."
God can do anything He wants. Psalm 1l5:3 says, "Our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased."
Although He can do anything according to His infinite ability and authority, He will do only those things that are consistent with Himself. That's why He can't lie, tolerate sin or save an unrepentant sinner.
Matthew 19:26 - Jesus said…With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Job 42:2 - I know that thou can do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
Jeremiah 32:17 – “Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.”
Later in this chapter of the book of Jeremiah God would say, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” (vs. 27)
Let me say here that some of us make the mistake of putting the devil on the same par as God. The Bible says that God spoke and the worlds were formed. (Heb 11:3) Satan was also created by the Word of God. If God created the devil with a word, He can destroy him with a word; just a word.
Revelations 20:10 says, “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Last but not least, God is holy. This is the attribute of God which is on display in our text from 1 John 1:5.
God is Holy
I John 1:5 - This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Here in 1 John 1, He is declared to be "light."
The imagery of God as "light" illustrates two truths. First, it pictures God's self-revelation.
Second, the concept of "light" highlights God's holiness.
The word "light" (phos) in the Greek text is without the article. The rule of Greek grammar is that the absence of the definite article shows quality, nature, or essence. So what John is writing here is "God as to His nature, essence and character is light." (Wuest)
The context in which we are reading these things concerns spiritual things. So we know that John is not writing about physical light. The light John is referring to is ethical, spiritual and moral.
John writes that God is light. He is saying that God is ethically, spiritually and morally pure. He is without sin.
This truth is driven home when Jesus came on the scene. Jesus is God manifested in the flesh.
To talk about God being light is hard for some of us to comprehend. But when God puts some skin on where we can see Him and hear Him and look upon Him and handle Him, well that’s what I can understand.
Heb 4:15 says , “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 says that Jesus “knew no sin.”
1 John 1:5 says that “God is light.” In John 8:12 Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
When Jesus says “I am the light of the world,” He is saying that He is ethically, spiritually and morally pure. He is without sin. He is saying, “I am God’s self-disclosure; I am the holiness of God.”
Back in our text, John says:
(1 John 1:5 NKJV) This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
God being light presents a problem for humanity. God is ethically, spiritually and morally pure. There is no darkness in Him. This is another way of saying that God is holy. “Holy” means that God is “set-apart” from all sin.
John explains the problem I mentioned in his Gospel account:
(John 3:19 NKJV) "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
This problem was seen as early as the Garden of Eden when God shed His light on Adam. He said, “Do not eat of the tree that is in the midst of the Garden” but Adam disobeyed; he loved darkness rather than the light.
Adam and Eve had a godly son Abel, who was intent on obeying God. But Cain, who was intent on doing things his own way, killed his brother because he loved darkness rather than the light.
John further writes in his Gospel narrative, "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” (John 3:20 NKJV)
This reminds me of my teenage days in the world--going to the parties that were held in the basement of someone’s house.
*The lights were turn down low or turned off altogether.
*A black light was hung up, where you can see the lint on your clothes.
*The slow-dragging music would be played and we would be doing our “thang.”
That is, until someone turned on the lights.
*The girls would push themselves away from the boys while straightening their clothes.
*Both guys and gals would have this embarrassed look on their faces as they realized how the person they were dancing with really looked in the light.
*Everyone would be yelling, “Turn off the light!!!”
John writes, "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”
This is so true today.
You see it in the Christian bashing going on in the media, magazines, movies, newspapers. It is ok to mock, ridicule and discriminate against Christians but don’t talk about the homosexual or you will be labeled a bigot and intolerant.
It is ok to tell dirty jokes and hang up dirty pictures on the job but some places of employment won’t let you use a Christian-themed screen saver or post Scripture in your work area. Someone at my job complained that I was using the company phone to pray with the members of New Vision.
The Word of God is light and it brings conviction to those practicing evil because the light exposes their evil.
Even some church-folk avoid the “light.”
*Studying the Bible reminds them of the hypocrisy in their lives.
*Praying makes them rely on the Lord’s power rather than their own resourcefulness.
*Worshipping God reminds them that they have usurped His lordship in their lives.
*Taking Communion forces them to examine themselves to see whether they are in the faith.
*Witnessing reminds them of what they used to be before Christ saved them.
*Doing ministry makes them have to put their own agendas aside to fulfill Christ’s agenda.
John writes, "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”
The John continues, “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." (John 3:21 NKJV)
I like the NIV translation of this verse:
(John 3:21 NIV) But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
John is saying, “Whoever lives by the truth,” i.e., “Whoever lives by what is true or right comes into the light…”
When I am not in fellowship with God, I don’t want anything to do with God; with His Word; with His people and with His work—and that is a very dangerous place to be in.
All the devil wants to do is get you isolated from the rest of the flock. He wants to isolate you from the light where you can’t see where you are going and find yourself in the darkness, tripping over sin, and falling headlong in it.
The prophet Samuel told King Saul in 1 Samuel 15:23, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.”
When you are in rebellion you are practicing evil and hating the light and not coming to the light. In other words, you are in the darkness.
1 John 2:11 says, when you are in darkness you are walking in darkness, and you don’t know where you are going, because the darkness has blinded your eyes.
When you are in darkness you are on the devil’s turf. You are in his domain. And, if you stay there long enough John tells us that it just might prove that you were never of the light from the beginning.
You see, Christians are not of the darkness; they are of the light.
Eph 5:8 - For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
Eph 5:11 - And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
(Col 1:12-13 NKJV) …the Father…has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love…
1 Th 5:5 - You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.
(1 Pet 2:9 NKJV) But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
In our text John writes:
(1 John 1:5 NKJV) This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
(1 John 1:6 NKJV) If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
(1 John 1:7 NKJV) But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
