Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #16205 - In the Light - 1 John 1:5-7

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#16205 - In the Light - 1 John 1:5-7 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles. First John chapter 1 is where we
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are. First John chapter 1, we're
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going to pick up where we left off in verse five.
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First John 15 and I've entitled our Bible study in the Light.
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In the light being misunderstood really stinks, doesn't it?
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It can lead to so much frustration, so many
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difficulties, and he can even do great damage to relationships
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over a simple misunderstanding. It happens all the time.
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We try to help someone, but actually it's made worse.
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We try to encourage someone, but the words are not well received.
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And since we can so easily be misunderstood on the human
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level, it's no wonder that God himself and the Gospel of Jesus
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Christ is so often misunderstood.
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Jesus himself is misunderstood and misrepresented.
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So many look to Jesus and see bad news.
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They see irrelevance and an unnecessary moral burden.
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They dismiss Jesus so quickly. And Christianity is mythology
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and superstition. And you'll hear these words.
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But throughout history, God has revealed himself through the
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biblical writers very deliberately, very clearly, and
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very plainly. The Bible reveals his actions
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and his desires and His love and His grace toward man.
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John, in the revelation given to him, takes a little bit
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different angle as he begins to share his personal experience.
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John reveals 3 of the greatest definitions and you can just jot
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him down. You might want to turn to them
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as well. You can circle them, put a star
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next to them, but very important that you learn in Bible study
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that take notes whether you're in the room or downstairs or
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yeah, I know that we've over the years, like in the world have
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been taught. We can do two things at once and
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we can kind of. But you, when you're the Bible's
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being taught, you got to give it your full attention as much as
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possible. And one of the ways to keep it's
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just to write those things down that the Holy Spirit is speaking
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to you or a scripture that you can't look up.
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You go, well, I was turning to that scripture head and you
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moved on to the next one. You moved on.
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It's good to take notes. It's good to write in your
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Bible. It's good to jot things down.
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John reveals 3 of the greatest definitions of God's nature.
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Number one, in John's gospel, chapter 4, verse 24, John
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reveals that God is Spirit. God is Spirit.
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In first John 4/16, he reveals to us and we'll get there
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eventually that God is love. And here today in first John
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chapter one verse 5, we learn that God is light.
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And as John begins a short but powerful letter, he carefully
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clarifies the message that he received from Jesus, and he
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tackles head on the subjects of God, of man and sin.
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And what's at stake here? Three times the word Koinonia is
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used in this section, and we know the Greek word Koinonia is
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translating the English fellowship.
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What's at stake is our fellowship, fellowship with God
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and fellowship with one another. If we're the fellowship with the
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one true God, we need to know who He is and how he revealed
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himself to man. Verse 5, chapter 1.
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This is the message which we have heard from him and declared
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to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
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John didn't make this up. He wants to be clear here.
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This is the message he received directly from Jesus.
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Three years he spent with Jesus. All of the apostles, when they
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share, they share first hand eyewitness testimony.
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This is what they lived and experienced.
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You know how it is. You've lived something and
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experienced something and you share it with someone else and
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they don't believe you and you, just what are you going to do?
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How can you not believe me? I was there, I lived it.
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Now you know, your angle might be off a little bit or you might
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remember it different than it actually happened, but for most
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of it, you were there. Now John the Holy Spirit has
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made sure he's 100% accurate but you know that feeling when you
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have like I'm time to tell you I was there, I experienced, I saw
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with my own eyes and it's good to see and experience things
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with your own eyes. All the apostles had first hand
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knowledge. Jot it down.
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Second Peter chapter one verse 16.
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They were already being accused of making things up in the 1st
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century. They were already hearing this
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accusation. Peter writes, for we did not
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follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the
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power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we're
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witnesses of His Majesty. And here's the message, verse 5,
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the message that we heard and we're telling you right now is
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that God is light. This is a positive affirmation
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of God's essential character. He is not some light.
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He is not a light. He is light and the symbolism
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and imagery of God, the imagery of God is light is used
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throughout the Old Testament. This is something that would be
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very familiar to his audience. That's why when a pastor is
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here, as I am today, and he's grasping for illustrations, he
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used something that's relevant to the day.
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You know, I may, if I want to talk about football, I may talk
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about the Broncos. If I talk about baseball, I'm
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going to definitely talk about the Dodgers, of course.
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And if I want to talk about, you know, Christians are winners,
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I'll probably compare them to, well, you get the point.
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I'm going to use something that's going to grab your
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attention that you won't forget. It's relevant.
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It's now I want you to hold on to it that you might forget
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other things I say. But if you can remember the
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illustration or you can remember the little thing that made you
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laugh, it'll be a hook that the Holy Spirit can bring back
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another memory. And so as he uses imagery, this
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is familiar to them. Let me show you turn over to
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Psalm 36. This would not be unfamiliar.
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It immediately connect to them. Psalm 36.
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You know, when I'm using illustrations like I-25 because
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our Bible studies are all throughout the country or even
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around the world. There are times where I have to
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clarify I-25. I might have to say that's the
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main highway. You guys know the North and
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South. Now, of course, you guys know
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that, but other people outside of Colorado may not know it.
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And so there are times when I'm clarifying things because
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there's an audience much bigger than the room here, But you guys
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get it. I-25, you know, I-25, the
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traffic and the lanes. And now they're making us pay
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for roads that we already paid for.
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Have you seen that? That's a different Bible study
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for a different day. Psalm 36.
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Notice this illustration of light in verse 9, For with you
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is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light.
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Psalm 104. Since you're already in the
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Psalms, Psalm 104, we have this picture all throughout the Old
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Testament. It's very, very familiar.
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In Psalm 104 and verse one, it says Bless the Lord, O my soul,
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Oh Lord my God, you are very great.
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You are clothed with honor and majesty.
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You cover yourself with light as with a garment who stretch out
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the heavens like a curtain. John is not saying that God is a
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light bulb when John says that God is light.
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There are several truths that this illustration points to.
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Again, jot them down #1 Light is almost a almost always a
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universal truth, a symbol of truth.
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It's almost used exclusively as a universal symbol of truth.
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Again, Psalm 43, verse 3, send out your light and your truth.
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Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy
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hill and to your Tabernacle. Morally, light represents purity
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and holiness. Isaiah chapter 5, verse 20.
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Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness
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for light, and light for darkness, bitter for sweet, and
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sweet for bitter. Light also #3 often represents
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guidance and illumination in Psalm 27, verse one.
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The Lord is my light and my salvation.
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Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
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life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
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Another one to that Proverbs chapter 6, verse 23.
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For the commandment is a lamp and a law.
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A light reproves of instruction or a way of life, symbol of
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truth, purity, holiness, guidance, illumination.
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Then Jesus comes on the scene and what does he say?
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In John chapter 8, verse 12, Jesus spoke to them again saying
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I am the light of the world and he who follows me will not walk
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in darkness but have the light of life.
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John is saying that Jesus got in the flesh, we touched him, we
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heard him, and we want you to share the same joy and
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fellowship that we have. God is light.
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And then he says in verse 5, since God is light, there is no
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darkness in him at all. This is important to grasp, very
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important to grasp as you're dealing and ministering and
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serving with other people. First of all, God is absolutely
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perfect. There is no deviation from truth
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from Him. In Him is joy, peace,
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righteousness and fidelity. Everything about God is honest,
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right, just, holy. Jesus is not like the moon who a
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mere reflection of light. He is the sun in that comparison
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with no darkness at all radiating his love.
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And so while life light symbolizes truth and holiness
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and purity, the symbolism of darkness is also important.
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The symbolism of darkness is just as you know when you
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somebody refer to somebody that black and white.
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This is the area where we're getting light and dark.
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There is no in between, and the symbolism of darkness represents
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everything that is contrary to the life that God desires for
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His children. And I want you to notice if you
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read ahead first, John's very easy to read.
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You can read it every week. You can read it daily if you
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like for a month, and it'll start absorbing it.
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But it's interesting that John doesn't speak about Gray areas.
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I hear a lot of believers speak about Gray areas.
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They like to live in the Gray areas.
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They like to find places, and typically if you're living in
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the Gray area on purpose, you're probably leaning more toward
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darkness than you are light. Why would you need Gray if
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you're not farther away from the light than you need to be
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typically? Now, I do recognize I'm not
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opposed, and I've even taught Bible studies on how to live
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when you see yourself in the Gray area, and I'll always point
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you toward the Lord for sure. But I do admit there are areas
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where you need to learn how to make decisions that may not seem
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so black and white. However, I want to suggest to
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you that most of life is really black and white, light and dark.
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And the reason why you're stuck in the Gray is because you want
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to be stuck in the Gray. And you don't want to say that
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you're totally in the darkness. No way.
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And you know, you can't say you're totally in the light, but
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you're kind of in the middle. For example, I'll give you an
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example that just pops into mind this whole issue of smoking
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cigarettes. Smoking cigarettes, I'm not
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going to be able to find anywhere in the Bible that says,
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you know, in 3rd Corinthians chapter 5, thou shall not smoke
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cigarettes. It's a Gray area to some degree,
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but Gray area, you're not going to find a Scripture that says
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don't smoke cigarettes, just not going to be there.
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And so those that are addicted to cigarettes or love
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cigarettes, it's like it's a Gray area.
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It's a grayer, brother. I got freedom.
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I got freedom. Yeah, I know.
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I know. But God is light and he's not
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going to light up with you when you like that one that just came
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to me right now, not on my notes at all.
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I'm glad you're with me. Hope you laughed.
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And when you're not in the room, but it's it's really not as
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great as you think it is because there are other places that
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inform such a behavior. Like you're the temple of the
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Holy Spirit. You want to take care of
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yourself, want to honor God. You want to live as long as you
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can so you can be used as long as you can for the glory of God.
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You don't want to purposely shorten your life.
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You don't want to be addicted and held by these things.
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There's a lot of reasons that would lean you toward the light,
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wouldn't it? There's not too much that's
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going to take you to the dark. You don't want to go to the
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dark, though, because the Bible says that God is light, and the
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Bible says that God lives in you.
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So the more you would reflect the light of God, the closer you
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are to Him. But so many believers today
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would just rather live in the Gray area and make it larger and
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larger and larger. But the Bible says even today
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God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
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Let me give you another example, lying.
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Lying couldn't be more clear. The Bible speaks of lying as an
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absolute light. Thou shalt not lie that is given
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to us as the epic part of the epic 10 that God gives us from
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Mount Sinai, reflecting his character.
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But it's repeated over and over and over and over and over
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again. So what do people do?
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Believers even even in, in order to live in the Gray area, they,
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they, they create colors and they assign them to, to lies.
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So you know, brother, that was just a little white lie.
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OK, that's darkness. A little white lie is complete
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darkness. Well, you know, that was just
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one of the you got to and it wasn't really a lie.
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I was just didn't really tell the whole truth.
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I know that's darkness. That's not Gray, that's
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darkness. And John's saying the message
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that Jesus gave is that he's light and in him there's no
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darkness at all. Darkness, if you're taking
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notes, is a picture of lostness. Matthew chapter 4, verse 16.
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The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.
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It pictures separation. Darkness does.
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It's a picture in the Bible of separation from God's life.
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Ephesians chapter 4, verse 18. It says having their
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understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God.
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The Bible tells us that the world, this system lives in
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darkness. And why is this world system so
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full of darkness? Why does darkness enter the life
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of Christians all the time? Because the light of the world
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is refused and excluded, they can't exist.
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At the same time Jesus said in John chapter 3 verse 18, he who
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believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not
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believe is condemned already because he is not believed in
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the name of the only begotten Son of God.
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And this is what Jesus says in verse 19.
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He says for John chapter 3 and this is the condemnation.
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You ready? That light has come into the
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world and men loved darkness rather than light.
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That is not just a world unbelieving decision.
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Believers do this all the time. They love the darkness more than
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they love the light. There's another illustration.
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I think we need to spend a little bit of time on today and
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just lay it out there for now and for anyone that listens to
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this later. And that is this one other
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symbol, darkness. It also implies secrecy, or that
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which is unseen. People have a tendency to hide
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things in dark places. When they're hiding something,
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they try to put it in a dark somewhere away from just
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normally being seen and in the light.
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Sometimes what's hidden is sin. In Psalm 19 verse 12, the
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psalmist says who can understand his errors cleanse me from
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secret faults. Which leads to an interesting
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question, a good question, and that is there is there such a
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thing as secret sin? It's kind of a trick question.
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Is there such a thing as secret sin?
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The answer is yes and no. It's actually a question that
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has 2 answers. It was Louis Schaefer that put
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it this way. And I quote secret sin down
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here. Is open scandal up there?
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And so while you and I may be able to keep sin a secret from
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each other temporarily, temporarily, be sure that your
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sin will find you out. The Bible says temporarily there
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is no secret sin when it comes to our relationship with God.
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There is nothing hidden in his sight, nothing.
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So it's answer is yes and no. I want you to remember it that
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way. There is a great prideful
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confidence among believers either.
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I'm not naive enough to think that there's stuff right now
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that's hidden. You have the air right now in
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this room. Some of you have the air that
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you're walking with the Lord and all is well.
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But you know that you're hiding something and you're hiding it
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from us, and the only person that you're hurting is you.
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And I guess secondarily, you're hurting the body of Christ
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because you're living in sin and pretending not to, and you're
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trying to hide it from us, but you're just exposed and you're
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exposed and you're exposed before the Lord until finally
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you just harden your heart and you don't listen anymore, you
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grieve the Holy Spirit. It's a hard thing to live with
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when you're hiding sin. You have it.
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The enemy has you believe in a lie.
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And that is if I come clean and I repent, it's just going to
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ruin everything and it's going to be so hard.
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Now, actually, that's a lie because, yeah, it might be hard
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and things might be ruined, but you're already ruined.
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You're living in perpetual ruin right now.
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And your life is hard right now. And all the relationships that
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you have with people that love you are not real.
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You go. What do you mean, Ed?
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Well, we all love you and we care for you, but we don't know
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the truth. We love a false part of you.
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We love you for who you are. But now you're not giving us
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yourself. You're holding back from the
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body of Christ. You can't fellowship with God
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and you're having a hard time fellowshipping with us, and you
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are being set up to be completely destroyed.
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For what? What do you gain out of it?
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Guilt, shame, condemnation, separation.
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Is there such a thing as secret sin?
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Yes and no, as God is calling you to himself.
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I remember David in Second Samuel Chapter 11.
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David thought that his blatant sexual adulterous sin with
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Bathsheba, he thought he got away with it.
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He thought he kept it secret instead of living in the life
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number 1. He tried to transfer his
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transfer his sin to someone else #2 he tried to hide his sin with
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another sin #3 he tried to cover his sin by just ignoring it.
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And #4 God brings Nathan to him and gives him a little story
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that awakens the morality inside of him, gives him the whole
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story. David, is it?
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Go kill the man, kill the man. But the penalty for the story
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wasn't death. But what was he carrying the
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penalty of his own sin. It's not God's will for you and
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me to live with any secret sin. There is no such thing as secret
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sin with God. But we're not to hide anything
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with one another or try to put on errors or be hypocrites, just
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to live our life in the grace of God, to be humble and repentant
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and get things in order. He certainly doesn't want you
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living in darkness. He doesn't want you living in
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the Gray areas. He wants you living in the
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light. To bring our sins into the light
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and be forgiven in Jesus, to enjoy God.
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John says God is light. We were with him.
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He's absolutely pure and holy and without fault or sin.
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And you see over and over again that the atmosphere that Jesus
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created was one of truth. They were themselves with him.
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So much so they say they would come to Jesus.
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Jesus, they would come to Jesus. As we learn with John and his
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brother, We're going to wipe them out.
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OK, You want us to wipe them out?
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We're ready to wipe them out. Jesus, we got murder in our
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hearts. And Jesus says, no, guys, no,
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no, no, no, don't want to kill them.
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I want to serve them and love them.
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You guys, you don't even know what spirit you are, but you're
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one step closer to that knowledge because you told me
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the truth. You told me what you wanted to
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do. And you don't see that repeated
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again. You don't see John trying to
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kill people at every city. Wipe them out.
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James and John wipe them out. No, what?
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What do we see? John becomes the apostle of
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love. There was an honesty and a
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fidelity, not a perfection. None of us are going to be
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deliver perfection. We've learned that none of us
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are. But we we.
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That's no excuse to live in willful, hidden sin or to make
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excuses for our behavior. We need to come to the light,
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the light of the world who reaches out in his love.
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And now John is going to lead us to a logical conclusion.
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If God is light and we're in fellowship with Him, then our
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lives should reflect the same characteristics he possesses.
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John will say that people who truly have fellowship with God
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will share things in common with God.
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Back in your Bible, you'll notice in verse 6, in verse 8
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and verse 10, you can just see it ahead of time.
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You see the phrase if we say verse 6, then again in verse 8
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if we say, and again in verse 10 if we say, He'll measure us for
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our claims and he'll match our claims with our actions.
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We typically judge ourselves by our motives, but everybody lives
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with us by our actions. I don't know if you noticed
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that, but if you've hurt someone or you did something wrong and
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you're trying to work it out, one of the first things that
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comes up, you might say this because you probably mean it.
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I didn't mean to do that. That's a statement of motive.
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I didn't mean to do that. Like you might be messing around
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and, you know, you slap somebody beside the head and they start
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to bleed and you go, well, I didn't mean to do that.
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Like, bro, it was your hand. Like I I get it was your hand,
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my face, your hand, my blood. They're not denying the fact
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that they didn't do it. They're speaking immediately to
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the motive of the heart. And what John is saying is when
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you're in the light, your actions match your motives.
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It's so good. That's what we want anyway.
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Notice verse 6. If we say that we have
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fellowship, that Greek word is what?
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Koinonia, Koinonia, Koinonia, beautiful Bible word.
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If we say we have Koinonia or fellowship with him and walk in
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darkness, what does that mean? We say church lie and do not
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practice the truth. It's a very important principle.
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We have been invited and been given the privilege of walking
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in the light of the glory of God.
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What an incredible thing that God would want to walk with us.
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And it's important to remember that if we say that we are
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walking in the light, then we won't walk in darkness.
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In the context of what we just studied, if we say we're walking
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in the Spirit, we will not walk in the flesh.
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If we say we walk in the Spirit, we won't fulfill the lusts of
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our flesh. It's one or the other as we
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fell. Have fellowship in the light.
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There were false teachers, the Gnostics in the 1st century.
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There were false teachers that were saying that you could live
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in the darkness and in the light at the same time.
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The Gnostics spelled GNOSTICS. The Gnostics taught that it
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really didn't matter how you acted.
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They claim to have the highest knowledge of God, but their
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lives spoke otherwise. That phrase, walk in darkness is
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in the present tense, Speaking of a continual lifestyle.
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The false teachers were saying, and some were agreeing as saying
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in effect, that I can walk in both the light and the darkness
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at the same time. I can practice sin and be in
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fellowship with God at the same time.
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And John's answer to that was that's a lie.
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It's not possible, which is why I think since humans, we create
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new categories while I'm in the Gray area.
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I mean, you may or may not be in the Gray area, but you have to
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check yourself. You have to check before the
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Lord that you haven't created something to try to get away
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from the fact that you're saying you're walking in a light, but
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you're walking in darkness. It's possible for all of us.
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Let's add a little clarity here so we understand the reality of
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our humanity. Is it possible for a Christian
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to fall into sin? Yes.
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Is it possible for a Christian to even begin practicing sin?
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Yes. Those are both unfortunate
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realities of life. But it is not possible for the
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person in sin to be in fellowship with God at the same
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time. It's impossible for a prodigal
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son or daughter to be in fellowship with God when they're
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actively rebelling against God. It is the exact opposite.
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Living in darkness spiritually is frightening.
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But here's the danger. You and I, men and women, have a
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tendency to like just a little bit of darkness, a little bit,
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just to dabble in a few areas of the world, a few areas of our
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thoughts. Bright lights tend to irritate
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us. If I had one of the bright LED
27:56
flashlights that we just purchased to fix things, not
28:00
like I fix things, but the flashlights there in case I need
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to see what needs to be fixed. We literally had a guy come out
28:06
and fix something and we like the flashlight so I wouldn't got
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one. Not that I could fix anything,
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but the flashlight was pretty cool so I got it there.
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Super bright, you can set it up and move it all around and super
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bright. But if I took that flashlight
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and I shined it in your eyes, you would naturally turn away.
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It's not comfortable to have a bright light in your face, which
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when we open the Scriptures, the Bible being the light of God's
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counsel to us and it sheds light on our dark lives.
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We don't always like what it says.
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I mean, I said a few things tonight aren't very popular,
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like Vassar. You calling me a liar?
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A no God is. If you think you can live in
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darkness but say at the same time you're in the light, what
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does it say? We lie and do not practice the
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truth. It's a hard that's the light.
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That's for some the light just and you naturally recoil.
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Why? Because we like a little bit of
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darkness. Brightness has a tendency to
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irritate us. And spiritually it's easy to
29:12
grow comfortable as long as the light is not turned completely
29:16
on. I believe that's one of the
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attractions in churches today that don't quite teach the
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Bible, but they use it. They don't quite teach the
29:26
Bible, but they use it. And they have series of Bible
29:31
studies over the years where, you know, they're entertaining
29:34
and informative, kind of pep talky.
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You leave in courage. You leave because there's a
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little bit of light. We can deal with a little bit of
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light. I like a little bit of light.
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I talked maybe mentioned sin every five weeks or so, or we
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might see that in the Scriptures.
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It's very challenging though, for pastors such as myself in a
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I'm saying it's challenging. It's not challenge for me
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personally, but I could see how it's challenging where you're
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looking ahead and like, oh man, Lord, you want me to mention
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that there are liars in the church?
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That's hard thing. They're going to stone me, man.
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Like that's a hard thing to say. Maybe I could just soften a
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little bit. That's bright.
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That's a big word. That's a bright word that's
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going to that's going to get some that's going to shine the
30:17
light on someone's darkness that that they're living in
30:20
compromise and that they're just, they're, they're being
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hypocrites with the people that want to love them.
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Those are hard words. And the father says, yeah, but
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they'll never have fellowship with the son until they get
30:31
through that truth. They've got to turn away from
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the darkness and get back to the light.
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But our problem is, is we don't like the bright lights.
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We would rather have like the, you know, if, if we could
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control the dimming switch, we'd rather have it dimmed.
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And in my office, I have two light switches and they're both
30:51
go on. And in my, up in the ceiling,
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there are light fixtures with three light bulbs.
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And I'll tell you, I almost always just flip one switch that
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only turns the middle one on because I think all three of
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them are way too bright for my little office.
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And, and I understand, like I'd rather, I don't want it so
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bright personally, if, if people will allow it, I'd rather not
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turn the light on at all and just open the shades a little
31:12
bit and have a little bit of light coming.
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It won't be bright at all. But when we have that spiritual
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dimmer switch and we're really not wanting the brightness,
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it'll lead us into lifestyles of sin every time and starts always
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with a little compromise. And God will send a Nathan into
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your life and you'll just reject him, and he'll send someone else
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and you'll reject them and it'll always be someone else's fault
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and always be the situation. It'll always be.
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You don't understand. It'll always be something.
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When God is being merciful to you is what he shines like.
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This happens a lot in this church in particular, where you
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may have come from another fellowship family that didn't
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expose the situation so much with the light.
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And you have come into a sanctuary in a place where the
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light is always on. All the switches get turned on
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because we want what's best for you.
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You may be held accountable to behaviors you've never been
32:12
accountable to in your whole life.
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I have spoken to people who go, I've been in a church my whole
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life and nobody's ever said that to me.
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And my first answer is, I'm sorry.
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How could you be in a church your whole life and not read
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this verse? It's right here, like it's been
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there all the time. You've been carrying your Bible
32:28
to and from church all this time and and it's very uncomfortable.
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So what happens is you fight the light and you can't fight the
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light because you'll lose against God.
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So you know what will happen? You'll fight the people that
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share the light with you. And John says, look, just make
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it simple. God is light.
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Is there any darkness in him Church?
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No, not. At.
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All James would say that there's no shadow of turning with him,
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no shadows, no Gray. In verse 7, it says, but if we
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walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship
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with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses
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us from all sin. Isn't that great?
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We're going to study that next time.
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I don't want to gloss over this, so I'm going to pause here and
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we're going to pick it up next time.
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This verse enough to say now this verse has become a banner
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truth in serving on the team here at Calvary.
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We've had episodes on our team here at Calvary where there have
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been people not walking in the light as he is in the light and
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it broken fellowship among our team, among those that serve and
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done great damage to the body of Christ.
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So we're always like, no, we got to walk in the light.
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We have to be truthful one another.
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We have to support one another. We have a phrase, you know, as
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we're going forward in spiritual warfare.
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We have a phrase, we call it an axiom or a principle here where
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we lock Shields and we fight together.
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We move forward together. We are together and and this is
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a band. We have to do it in the light.
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You, you won't make much progress.
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There may be the frustration you carry you.
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Perhaps I'm speaking to people that aren't even here, but
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they'll hear it later. The frustration.
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You might feel as if you're not in the light.
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You're going to feel frustrated. You may feel left out and there.
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This is one of the truths that you need to come back to.
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Am I walking in the light like He is in the light?
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Because Jesus was truthful. He told the truth, the easy, the
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hard, those that hit, good, those that didn't.
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And the truth for us is not to walk in darkness according to
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verse 6, but to walk in the light.
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And we'll get into that more next time.
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I don't want to just go through it quickly.
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So Father, as we look to you today, knowing your character is
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to be in the light and knowing your character is a light and we
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are to be in the light. I just pray over our church
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today that we wouldn't be hypocrites.
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Not that we haven't stumbled or that we maybe haven't made
35:09
mistakes along the way, of course we have.
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But to willingly be deceitful and deceptive with each other
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but also with ourselves. Deliver us, Lord, why are we
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here? But to walk in the light, why
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are we here? But to learn how to be truthful
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with our spouse and with our children, with our siblings,
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with our church family, with our friends?
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To not hide anything, to not be afraid to be found out.
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To not have to like, run away from the light, but to just flip
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all those switches on to enjoy and welcome the truth.
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To receive light is warmth and guidance and purity and
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holiness. To not live in darkness, not be
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swayed by the darkness of this world, but to walk in the light.
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And even as we will learn to walk in the light, as He is in
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the light, we're going to have fellowship with one another,
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fellowship with you, God, fellowship with one another.
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The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
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Thank you, Lord, for that glorious truth.
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Pour out your Spirit upon us as we leave here.
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Speak to us, Lord. I know looking at these truth
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stirs up so much, but it only stirs it up so we could skim it
36:31
away. Lord, skim it away.
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We want to be like David, try to hide and destroy and try to get
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away with something. We don't want a Nathan.
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We have the Holy Spirit. We don't need a Nathan to come
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and tell us. We have the Holy Spirit.
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We can come clean before you right now.
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And if you're here today, you need to come clean before the
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Lord. Just do it.
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I'm not going to ask for an open response or anything.
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I want to embarrass you. I'm not asking for that.
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You might after the service, come and talk to somebody, tell
36:57
somebody. I just can't clean tonight.
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Have a testimony. Maybe for the first time, you
37:05
need to receive the Lord Jesus Christ.
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You can just ask God to forgive you of your sins.
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The blood's been shed. For some of you who might need
37:14
to tell the truth to someone, you've been lying to them.
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You got to tell the truth. I didn't have it in my notes,
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but that silly illustration about cigarettes.
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Maybe you have some addiction that you've been presenting
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yourself. I know the world, what the world
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calls addiction. Jesus says if you present
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yourself a slave to it, sin, you'll be a slave to sin.
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But if you present yourself to righteousness, you'll be free.
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The sun sets you free. You know what the Bible says,
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you'll be free indeed, true for you.
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Just let the Spirit work, walk in newness of life.
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Allow him, allow, give them, give them permission again,
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search me, Lord, and know me and show and reveal any unclean
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thing in my life. And then after the service,
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pastors and their prayer team will be up here to serve you and
38:00
pray with you. The body of Christ will be here.
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Serve and pray for one another, encourage one another and the
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Lord, pray for each other and what's on your heart and on your
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mind and just what you're carrying.
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Like Kevin brought those prayer requests.
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If you're hurting, let us pray for you.
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If you're struggling, let us pray for you.
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If you've been living the hypocrite life, let us pray for
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you. Maybe you're listening on the
38:22
radio. You need to drive down here
38:24
before we lock up. We'll be here for another half
38:26
hour after the service. You can drive down here.
38:29
Hampton and Tower, we'll be here.
38:31
Just come on in and we'll pray for you.
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You're welcome here. Come clean before the Lord.
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Let him do that thorough work in you.
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The time is short and the coming of the Lord is at hand.
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God is calling His church to the light and away from darkness.
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Let's sing this song. Allow the Spirit of God to
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minister and read ahead for the rest of the chapter.
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See what God has for us should we get to come back again to
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worship. We pray that you've been
39:00
encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from the
39:02
sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
39:08
Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
39:15
integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
39:19
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
39:25
Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
39:27
this week.