Transcript: Walking in God's Light: Christian Living and Faith

Music There is a question that we must all seriously ask ourselves in this day and hour, where the times are growing more evil and the earth is groaning for the return of Jesus Christ. This question I present today is, am I unquestionably and without a doubt of any kind living in the light of God's truth? King David said in Psalms chapter 4 verse 6, he said, there are many who say, who will show us any good? Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us. Well, what David was speaking of here are the hindrances to God's people's ability to live in the light of his presence. and what David was speaking about was not a glowing or a cheerful state of feeling which are devoted to spiritual matters or subjects, but rather he was speaking about something that is more substantial and more real than mere feelings. You see, feelings are a part of our senses that are ever varying in their ability to maintain clarity and perception or stability? You see, our unrenewed feelings and emotions are likened to the ebb and the flow of the ever-changing tide that rushes in and it rushes out. And what David was speaking about in this verse is the practical carrying out of the events and situations of everyday life which lie nearer to the foundation of our profession of faith than any other thing that is the very condition of our eternal being in the consciousness that we should each individually be displaying in a closer walk with the great God, the living God at all times than to any other thing or person. And what David is showing when he says in this verse is the wish of the foolish worldly people. There are many who say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us. You see, foolish worldly people sitting in the pews of church every week are saying, Who will show us good? Who will make us be able to see good? Who will make me happy? David in verse 7 and 8 gives the bottom line as to what makes these foolish people happy He says, Lord, you've put more joy and rejoicing in my heart than they know When their wheat and new wine have yielded abundantly In peace I will both lie down and sleep For you, Lord, alone make me to dwell in safety and confident trust You see, it was the increase of these foolish people's corn and wine that made them happy. All they desired was plenty of the wealth and the abundance of the world in order to enjoy these things that would delight their senses and make them happy. Their question was, who will show us good? Who will make us to be able to see good? who will make me happy. Sadly, these do not have the desire to draw near to God. Only God can truly bring them joy and peace. Only God can give what we truly need in the time of crisis and want. These live outside of God's will and His provision. and they have their eyes fixed on everything else but on God. They have no problem living without Him. In fact, they go to church weekly out of duty and have hopes that this outward exertion or effort will somehow appease God and make Him happy. Thus, it may invoke His favor and blessing when they call upon Him. The fact remains here. They're only looking for the blessing and good that comes from God. They are not looking for God or look to be near or close to him, but look only for what he can give them. The people in our scripture whom David was speaking about were people who were supposed to belong to God, but their eyes were blinded to the things of God because they had adopted the false gods of the people around them. In 2 Corinthians 4.18, Apostle Paul says, Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are visible and temporal, brief and fleeting, but the things that are invisible and deathless and everlasting, our lesson is that we must look with eyes of faith further than we can see with the eyes of our senses, dear ones. When these people were looking for the good or for those who would make them happy or make them see good, they were in effect only looking for the outward and present good, intangible and touchy things, like good food, good drink, good homes, good jobs, good things and stuff that would make them happy in the moment. But you see, without having the only one true and good God in our lives at all times, there will be no real living joy or peace in our hearts. And no matter how many things or how much stuff we have, these cannot and never will fill the place in the human heart that God intended and promised to give everlasting joy and peace to all who would seek after him with all of their hearts with all of their souls, all of their mind and their whole being. God had set David aside for himself and by his distinguishing favor upon David he marked him as a favorite. David in return sets himself apart by the distinguishing character he portrayed in his zeal and love for God. David throughout these few verses is saying that these people were looking for anything good, that is, anything worldly good, but he personally was not willing to offer any part of his heart or soul to these empty things. So David and his friends were in agreement in their choice of literally choosing God's favor as their joy. And those who choose to be near to God are easily recognizable by their daily practices, their words, their deeds, and their choices, and also by their prayers. These prayers do not have to be long and lengthy, but the faith, the sincerity, the fervency in them move God to bring the answers because his favor rests upon them, because they live in the light of his countenance. In 1 John 1.7, the apostle declares, If we are really living and walking in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have true unbroken fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, removes us from all sin and guilt and keeps us cleansed from sin in all of its forms and manifestations. John's testimony in this chapter concerning the reality of the person and doctrine of Jesus Christ and the purpose for which he gives his testimony is to make it unquestionably clear that God is light and no one can have fellowship with him who does not walk in the light those who do walk in the light are cleansed from all unrighteousness by the blood of Jesus Christ. In verse 7, he says, But if we're really living and walking in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have true unbroken fellowship with one another. The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, removes, it cleanses us from all sin and guilt and keeps us cleansed from all sin in its forms and manifestations. John's statement says, if we walk in the light, you see, the word if is a conditional word. The word implies that this will be the only way that God's principle of holiness will be derived from him. If we live in the light or the truth of God's word without wavering, We are living in God's holiness and His righteousness. And this means that we are continually enjoying the revelation of God's truth, and we're enjoying life with Him. We're enjoying fellowship with one another. We are enjoying personal communion with God and He with us. And those who are experiencing the wonderful, deep, and divine things of God have conversation with them and God with them. And the heart of God and the heart of this kind of individual have intersected. They've come together in a continual holy correspondence. The latter part of verse 7 says, The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses it removes us from all sin and keeps us cleansed from sin in its forms and manifestations You see the wonderful and glorious all of Christ blood and his passion that led him to die on the cross for each and every one of us has purged our consciences from dead works. this means that he's cleansed us and he continues to cleanse us to keep us clean to keep clean what has been made clean and being made clean from all sin is what every believer should look for and this is truly a right that we have and we should expect and this is what we must have in this life in order to be prepared to meet our God and this is what it will take to attain eternal life. Jesus Christ is not partial, and he wants above all else for us to be saved and cleansed from all sin. In Psalms 51 verse 7, David cried out to the Lord and said, Purify me with hyssop, Lord. I shall be clean ceremonially. Wash me, and I will in reality be whiter than snow. make me to hear the joy and gladness and be satisfied and let the bones which you have broken rejoice in Mark 1 41 Jesus was moved with compassion and pity when the leper kneeling before him said Lord if you're willing make me clean and Jesus reached out his hand and he touched him and he said to him I am willing be made clean Notice the light of truth that went before this man. He was found in a kneeling position before the very one who had called himself the light of the world. Jesus is the personification of divine illumination, dear ones. this man kneeled and inclined his face to the ground in a token of deep humiliation and earnest prayer. The only one who is called the light of the world and is the perfect fountain where all spiritual understanding can illumine one's eyes to see his greatness and supremacy is called Jesus Christ. because of the leper's acknowledgement of Jesus' almighty power, he then received an answer to his prayer. His cry was, make me clean. And Jesus said, I will be made clean. Here was the most manifest proof of Christ's divine power at work. No one but God can work a miracle such as this. The exertion of Christ's power is a supernatural display of his divinity. And again, because of the leper's acknowledgement of Jesus' almighty power, he then received an answer to his prayer. He had an illumination of the light of Christ and his faith soared to the highest heights. He appealed to Christ's love with sincere words saying, Lord, if you will. You see, these words were filled with ability to heal him. And the leper moved Jesus to compassion and pity and finally to action, which brought the healing. Jesus proves at once that he is the light of the world. His infinite love and unlimited power shows by His words an act of compassion and pity for the poor and needy in heart in their body, soul, and spirit. In the scripture that we had read earlier in 1 John 1.7, this time we're going to back up a few scriptures and catch verse 5. In 1 John 1.5 This is the message which we have heard from him and are now reporting to you. God is light. There is no darkness in him, no darkness at all, no, not in any way, so that if we say we are partakers together and enjoy fellowship with him when we live and move and are walking about in darkness, we are both speaking falsely and do not live and practice the truth which the gospel presents. Verse 7 If we are really living and walking in the light as he himself is in the light we have true unbroken fellowship with one another and the blood of Christ Jesus his son cleansed removes us from all sin keeps us cleansed from sin in all of its forms and manifestations. God is light. There is no darkness in him at all. And if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, then we are not telling the truth and do not live or practice what the light of truth teaches us. There is a true and real conclusion to be gleaned from this message that John was desirous to impart to his readers. And this conclusion is for those who are real and earnest in their profession and life in Jesus Christ. And to the opposite spectrum, to those who profess to be followers of Christ, but are only vain seekers of the light of truth and have only entertained it. These are those who say that they have fellowship with him, but they walk in the dark. you see to walk in the dark is to live and walk in ignorance and pretend to have religious experiences when in fact their lives are empty and full of self-deceit they live impure lives with a thought life that is most profane it has never been renewed by the one who is called the life and light of the world Apostle John is not afraid in verse 6 that they who profess to enjoy fellowship with Christ but move and live in darkness are liars. They do not practice the truth which the gospel presents. They contradict God and distort the light of the truth because there's no real communication with God. And listen to this. There is a lack of honest and open conversation with their brothers and sisters in Christ. If we walk in the light, then we're going to have true fellowship with one another. We will be honest and upfront with one another because the light of the gospel of the truth cleanses us from all sin. We have nothing to hide. We have no reason for wearing a mask of pretension. We have no need to present ourselves as having arrived and doing everything just right. You see, the conviction and consistent satisfaction of finding that place of nearness to God now drives you to continually seek the light of His truth and walk in honest and open fellowship with one another. Only the blood of Jesus, as we've seen in our scriptures, cleanses us from all sin. It is sin that keeps us in the dark, blind, deaf, and dumb. A conformity to God's Spirit in practicing what you learn in light of the gospel of grace demonstrates your fellowship and communion with God. And only those who walk in the light of truth show that they know God and that they have embraced God's Holy Spirit. the spirit of truth's divine image is engraved upon their spirit and soul now and when this happens then you can truly have honest and open and genuine fellowship with your brethren this fellowship won't be mixed with half-truths and lies you see half-truths are the most dangerous because they're the most seductive form of delusion the half truth which is presented usually excludes the suspicion of deception a lie is a lie and all liars according to the gospel says these deserve eternal death you see walking in the light of the truth cleanses us of all sin walking in the light of God's truth results in three major things 1. You will be without a doubt and unquestionably be leading a life of holiness and purity. Let me say that again. Walking in the light of God's truth results in three major areas or things. 1. You will be without a doubt and unquestionably be leading a life of holiness and purity. Ephesians 1.4 declares as even in His love He chose us He actually picked us out for Himself as His own in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy, consecrated, set apart for Him and blameless in His sight even above reproach before Him in love and this is saying that the great end and design of God's choice in choosing us is that we should be holy as He is holy. You see, when God originally picked us out, it's not because He foresaw that we would be holy, but rather it was because He was determined to make us holy through His Holy Spirit. And all who are called and chosen and privileged to this way of life must see and understand that their personal sanctification leads them to eternal life. It's by faith. In other words, this is the only way to salvation, dear church. Willingly setting yourself aside from all sin with the Spirit's help is a direct result of the divine love of God at work in your life. and only here can we stand before the Father without blame our holiness cannot and will not be acceptable to God if it is just merely an external and outward show and appearance It's a lie. It's a facade. But rather it will be acceptable if it is real and is the direct result of the pure and honest internal change that results and stems from the love of God and is shown towards our fellow man. this kind of love is the key ingredient and principle for all true holiness let me say it again this honest internal work that's taking place in your hearts is a direct result or it is not as and stems from God from the love of God and is shown as well towards our fellow man. This kind of love is the key ingredient and principle in all true holiness. Called to be holy is God is holy. This is pure love on God's part because we had no claim or we did not have any hand in this at all and furthermore we really didn't deserve it. to be chosen and called to holiness is the highest moral excellence in the divine nature and character of the almighty creator the light of this truth should never be defiled or profaned in any way it should be realized and taken serious in our Christian walk and we should stand before our father without fear and give him thanks for the love that he has for us and that was before the foundation of time. He chose you, dear one. It was according to his good pleasure, the good pleasure of his will that he saw you personally before the foundation of time. May I ask you a personal question at this time? How are you honoring this truth in your own life thus far in your Christian walk? Are you allowing the spirit of holiness and truth, the freedom in your life to make you holy? Are you leading a life of holiness and purity at this time? Are your actions and deeds towards your fellow man honorable? Or do you fillet people with your rudeness and unkind words because you feel justified to do so? Are your words true and pure or are they filled with lives and half-truths? What about your thought life? Are you taking captive of the impure, unclean and vile thoughts? Any Christians live in the realm of their minds, therefore they're governed by chance rather than the internal renewal of God's Holy Spirit. And being governed by chance leaves people struggling with conflicting forces. They're at work in their thought life. many have a thought life ruled by a demonic spirit they struggle with doing the right thing because they've never really given themselves over to Christ and the work of his Holy Spirit they are just moved with hatred and jealousy and unkindness and they are envious of others joy and prosperity and the favor that God shows them and they live in the dark but pretend to live in the light now the second major thing that happens when you are found walking unquestionably in the light of truth the unrenewed or unregenerate individual will never be able to discern truth from air or the holy from the profane only those whose minds are truly being renewed by the light of the truth will be able to discern all error and betrayal to the Holy Scripture. In 1 Corinthians 2.9, it is written, Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows these things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. Verse 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that we have been freely given to us by God. Verse 13 These things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. You can never know the truth of God if it were not for the fact that the Spirit of God illumines the eyes of your spirit to see it. The spirit of a man, or better called the human spirit, knows only the things that are common to man. He's conscious of all the schemes and plans and purposes that pass through his own mind. But the Spirit of the Lord knows all the counsels and determinations of the great Supreme God who knows everything. And as the Holy Spirit is given to every true Christian, He literally lives in the soul of that individual. The Spirit knows all things of God. he reveals the truth of God to sincere and genuine Christians who are endeavoring and allowing the Spirit's work in their inner being to uproot and cast out every vile sin and every thought and word and deed that oppose the truth. And as a result, there should be a purity of heart, of mind and soul that begins to radiate forth from that individual. There should be a kindness, a sweetness, an honesty in that new nature Just as the apostle exampled the new nature of this way of life So should we each do so As a proof that God's spirit lives in and is at work in our souls You should have a clear and undefiled understanding Of what is right and what is wrong or evil First in your own life you should have a clear knowledge if you are living up to the truth in God's word it should be clear and it should be made known to you and if you can't discern this fact for yourself then you will not have a clear spiritual view of the truth versus air in the way others live and also may be presented in the gospel and as I had said the unrenewed or unregenerate individual will never be able to discern the truth from error or the holy from the profane because their eyes cannot be illumined by the light of God's truth. Paul said in Ephesians 1.17, you've heard this verse many, many times, I always pray to God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that he may grant you a spirit of wisdom in revelation, of insight into mysteries and secrets, in the deep and intimate knowledge of him by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light so that you can know and understand the hope to which he's called you and how rich is his glorious inheritance in the saints, his set-apart ones. So what the eye is to the body, the soul then is the understanding of God's truth. The eye is not the light itself, dear believer. It cannot discern anything but only that by which the spirit of light and truth gives to the understanding of a hungry heart after God's truth. You see, people who say that they want to please God will be found obeying him, not in just a few things, but in everything. They'll trip over themselves to do so. They will hate the fact that they trip and fall. They are not going to hang on to the same sins year after year. No, rather true seekers of God's truth are those who are being highly influenced by the understanding of the spirit of wisdom and revelation. You see, without this influence of God's Holy Spirit, no man or woman would ever become wise unto salvation any more than anyone who has never had the divine and supernatural illumination of the light of God's truth shine abroad in their poor, blind and wretched heart to convince them and convict them that they are eternally lost without Jesus Christ as their Savior. Now, the third and final proof to know whether or not you're living unquestionably in the light of truth is that you are enjoying the comfort that the paraclete or your helper gives you as you journey along on your Christian path. And that is, do you exude or emanate the joy which this way of life is meant to impart to those who are sincere and earnestly endeavoring to embrace and keep? David said in Psalms 94 verse 19, O Lord, in the multitude of my anxious thoughts within me, your comforts cheer and delight my soul. Here David is in effect saying, O Lord, in the multitude of my grief, my sorrow and trials, you've been my consolation. It is like he is saying, while I have been deeply meditating on your wondrous grace and mercy, The divine light of your truth is broken like the dawn upon my soul, and I have been filled with delight. For you and me today, this is to be our comfort too. We have been given the precious gift of God's Holy Spirit, who has the task of coming alongside us to give us strength and encourage us and give insight to enliven our spirits as to the joys of walking unquestionably in the light of God's truth. This is to be a consolation to us and a support that results from the gracious work of our indwelling Comforter. His work is to make it unquestionably clear to you that you have a big part in cooperating with him in this salvation walk. His part is to make it unquestionably clear to you and me that as we cooperate with him, he will assure us of our Savior's love. And when you are genuine and real about this way of life, he imparts the Father's divine and supernatural peace and joy in your heart. he imparts also the knowing in your spirit that you find God's way of life preferable to the old way that you used to live before you came to Christ. And with all these new comforts in this new way of life you truly begin to turn away from sin. You now hate sin in your life as much as your comforter hates it. In fact, you hate it so much that you turn away from it because you prefer the light over darkness now. Jesus said in John 12, 35, You will have the light only a little while longer. Walk while you have the light. Keep on living by it so that darkness may not overtake you and overcome you. He who walks about in the dark does not know where he goes. He's drifting. And while you have the light, believe in the light, have faith in it, hold on to it, rely on it, that you may become sons of the light and be filled with the light. Jesus said these things and then he went away and he hid himself from them. He was lost to their view. the seriousness of this way and walk in the light is that if an individual is not taking his call serious Jesus' spirit will not remain with them Jesus said walk in the light because you will not always have the light with you and this is saying to us that while the truth of God's word is being spoken be serious and follow and obey the light of the truth because it is only the light where the revelation is illumined in your heart. Jesus will abide with you forever, and this is true, but he will not continue abiding with those whose hearts are self-deceived and hardened due to sin and disobedience and worldly pleasures. And these shall be left in the thickest darkness, and they shall not see the true light of the bright and morning star. Scripture says in the last days people will run to and fro trying to hear or see God, but they will not because they didn't care to allow the Spirit's work leading them into the light of God's truth. It didn't take root in their heart. They didn't care to live unquestionably in the light of the knowledge of God's Word. You see, you've heard it many times. Only the truth will set you free. Jesus made a profound statement in the parable in Matthew 21-43 when he said, I tell you for this reason the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to people who will produce fruits of it if those who listen to the light of the truth of Christ's gospel are not pricked in their hearts with the conviction and repentance it will be cut off and left in the dark it's like if we do not believe in him now and are not obeying him now but only go through the motions of Christianity then all that will be left will be wailing and gnashing of teeth without producing the fruit of repentance then we will only stand before the great judge without proof of our confession of living unquestionably in the light of his truth Isaiah 57 verse 8 declares, behind the door and the doorposts you have set up your idol symbol as a substitute for the scripture text God ordered. Deserting me you have covered and ascended and enlarged your bed and you have made a fresh bargain for yourself with the adulterers and you love their bed where you saw a beckoning hand or a passion inflaming image. You see behind closed doors These professors of the faith deceived themselves and others into believing that they were living in the light when in fact they were living in the darkness of their own lies and their deception and perversion, impure thoughts. They had other idols rather than loving God with all of their hearts and souls and minds, their entire being. They were and or are apostate liars. they had the word of God plastered to their walls but only allowed a trickle of his truth to dwell in their hearts they had too many molten images in their hands and in front of their faces, in their minds with all of the entertainment and today this is found in the way of electronic gadgets movies, computers, games and every other form of entertainment this idolatry comes in the form of people places and things and nevertheless these all speak of spiritual adulterous intercourse and is designed to show the love people have for other forms of idolatrous worship and the extent of their unfaithfulness to God God and his son get a pittance of their time and this is called living in the dark dear ones giving God just a little of your time a pittance of your time is called living in the dark or we can even give God a whole lot of time and remain in the dark because it's not with sincere reason that we are doing it but it's only out of duty if God's son is the light of our lives then he is able to be the sum total and source of all wisdom all knowledge and holiness in our lives. In him, there is no darkness or ignorance nor imperfection. In Christ Jesus, there exists no sin or misery. This is not to say we're not going to have trouble, but we have been given the help to see us through those troubles and trials that we run into. From Christ, as the giver of the true light, there's only wisdom. There's knowledge. and holiness that is received by every honest and sincere soul who seeks after him with all of their heart, with their entire being. And this is the greatest message of the gospel, dear ones. Yours and my lives must depend on the light of Jesus Christ's crucial and excellence, especially his wisdom and holiness and wonderful joy and peace. darkness implies spiritual ignorance imperfection, sinfulness and misery living unquestionably in the light of Jesus Christ is the purest and most useful and most important attribute for all true seekers who are endeavoring to live a life of perfection or maturity in the divine nature of the eternal living God God Almighty is to the human soul what the light is to the world. Without the radiant light of the sun, the world would be a dismal, dark and dank place. And without the indwelling of God's precious Holy Spirit uprooting sin in our lives, His all-penetrating and radiant light would be nothing to our faith in Christ and the regeneration of our souls. this Christian way of life would truly be empty indeed and the word of God's truth would be a dead letter as we would read it. We go through it out of duty because we've got to. There's no power to it. But we do it out of duty. We would have no authority and would have no influence in our souls. It would be like a journey through the wilderness, like a howling and empty wasteland full of evil and terror and confusion. Be no hope. No wonder then Apostle John was given this word to deliver to us as the first and greatest foundational truth when he delivered it in the opening of his letter in 1 John 1 verses 1 through 10. this is the greatest and most important message for all of us to heed and take heart in this time that remains either before God decides the day and hour of our last breath or the day where he is coming very soon in the not too distant future where he will rapture or seize away those who have been unquestionably living in the light of the gospel truth Let us not remain in the dark where we may have weaknesses. Let us not be guilty of thinking or supposing that we have no sin or guilt or have no further need of the precious blood of Jesus Christ to atone for our sins. 1 John 1.9 declares, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. By doing this, we will truly begin to live in a deep sense of knowing our guilt and our impurity and helplessness, our weakness and our sin. And then we will truly begin to appreciate the very one who died for us and made this awesome atonement as God's means and way of divine justice so that his Father can now be just and merciful to all who are unquestionably living in the light of his Son's gospel of truth.