Oh Lord, please speak to us through your
word.
You know where we come from.
You also know what type of a life
we live.
And you know whether we live according to
the Bible or not.
Or whether we just live according to the
wisdom or the cleverness of demons.
Help us Lord, touch us by your grace.
Amen.
We find our text in 1 John 1
verse 7.
But if we walk in the light as
he himself is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of
Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin.
We read thus far.
John here is teaching us or telling us
something which the Lord Jesus taught him.
For in verse 5 he says, and this
is the message we have heard from him
and we announce to you.
So this is what he and the disciples
were taught by Jesus himself.
And he is passing it on saying, God
is light and him is no darkness.
Can the Lord Jesus speak to us and
then can we in turn pass it on
to others what he has taught us?
Or do you just keep quiet?
If you just keep quiet, got nothing to
pass on, it shows you yourself are dead.
The sea there, Gennesareth, is full of
fish.
The water flows in and out.
It is full of life in the sea
because it takes in but also passes it
on.
And then the Jordan flows down to the
Dead Sea.
The difference with the Dead Sea is that
the water flows in but does not flow
out again.
That is why that sea is dead.
So you, if you go to church, you
hear the word, but you don't pass it
on to others.
You are dead.
D.E.A.D. Jesus himself told us
that he is light and him is no
darkness.
And his light is brighter than the light
of the sun.
One day Moses spoke to God on Mount
Sinai.
Now Moses was a man who spoke to
God as a man speaks to his friend.
So he prayed and said, Lord I ask
you.
Just think of that relationship between Moses and
God.
He spoke as a friend to a friend.
And he prayed, he said, Lord, show me
your glory.
And God said, you cannot see my glory,
my light.
If someone would see me, he would fall
down dead.
The glory and the light of God you
cannot face.
Don't take God lightly.
Just think of lightning.
Many people are afraid of it.
Even some Christians are afraid.
And they cover all the glasses and everything
and say don't speak because now God is
speaking.
And they fear.
Some climb under the bed.
If you are afraid of lightning, which is
nothing compared to God himself and his glory,
how much shouldn't you fear him?
But it's strange that many people have no
fear of God.
God means nothing to them.
Whereas we should fear him above anything or
everyone else.
And then God
took Moses and he put him into a
cleft of a rock, put his hand over
it, and then he went by.
And he allowed Moses just to see the
back of him because he said no one
can see God and live.
And then God took Moses and he put
him into a cleft of a rock, put
his hand over it, and then he went
by.
Woe to you who have no fear of
God, who just talk what they like, say
what they like about who they like.
Woe to you if you meet with him
one day.
John was one of the younger apostles and
he was one that had been very close
to the Lord, who was lent on his
bosom.
And he himself said, I am the one
whom the Lord loves most.
But when John met up with the Lord
as he was walking among the churches, as
we find in Revelation, he fell down as
one dead.
And he says he saw the Lord with
his snow white hair, standing for purity, sanctity,
holiness.
His face shone brighter than the sun.
His eyes were like flames of fire.
So just imagine how he looks at you.
And he wore a robe with a belt
around the chest.
And his feet like burning bronze coming out
of the furnace.
They say if you take bronze and you
put it into the furnace at that temperature,
you can put it under the ground and
the flame goes through the soil and comes
out.
When John saw him, he fell down as
one dead.
And he no longer said, I was lent
on his bosom.
He no longer said, I am the one
whom he loves most.
And the Lord had to take him by
the hand and lift him up and say,
don't be afraid.
He said, fear not, I have the keys
of death and of hell.
Jesus should mean more to us than anybody
else.
No matter who you are.
And John said, Jesus told us that he
is light and no one can face this
light except the Son who was with the
Father and came to us.
And here John says, the Lord told us
that if we walk in his light, in
God's light, as he himself is in the
light, we will have fellowship with one another.
And his blood cleanses us.
And if that light of God shines, we
will see everything as it is.
Not like the light of the sun when
it shines, you see a tree with the
branches and the leaves.
But with God's light, you see even the
roots of that tree, what's under the ground.
And if we are in the light, in
his light, then we will have fellowship with
one another.
We as Christians, for we are also called
children of light.
And John says that in this light there
is no darkness at all.
Not like some people, they will talk, busy
chatting.
When you come onto the scene, suddenly they
keep quiet.
They won't say a word.
They don't want you to hear what they
are saying.
You see there is some darkness there.
And they will talk and say, don't tell
anyone what I am saying.
They gossip.
They don't know the heavenly light.
Jesus says in him there is no darkness
whatsoever.
So someone who gossips doesn't know that light.
He is in darkness.
And that also applies to the one who
covers up things, things which should be in
the light.
He keeps them in the darkness.
And his light then unites us.
It makes us one.
Then there is no white or no black
or coloured or Indian.
We all become one.
And that doesn't mean that you must be
one with God.
You must be one with God.
And that doesn't mean that you must be
one with someone who is not in the
light and walking in the light.
Someone who walks in darkness.
You can't be one with that person.
You can't say I am a Christian, I
walk in the light.
But you are fellowship with someone who is
not in the light.
Your friend will be the one who is
also walking in the light.
That's what unites you.
You cannot be united with someone who doesn't
walk in the light, who has works of
darkness in him.
You will choose those and you will find
those who are on fire for the Lord,
who are walking in the light.
They will be your best friends, not the
others.
And that
light
brings to light any work of darkness.
And it does so before you are caught
out.
Because some people, they only confess this and
they only come out with a thing because
they have been caught already.
That doesn't help you.
That is no blessing to you.
And then you start crying because your sin
has come out.
But you don't cry because you are sorry
about your sin.
You cry because you are sorry that you
have been caught out.
And those tears are just crocodile tears.
A woman missionary in Holland
travelled the world, preaching the gospel, together with
someone else.
Sometimes it is good not to travel alone,
to go with someone.
So she travelled with someone.
Now she had quite a strong character.
And her companion, she was more a shy
type of person.
And on the one trip they were going
to undertake to Uganda, that was before Idi
Amin's time, because the Lord had been at
work in that country.
So they were preparing to leave for Uganda.
Now when you travel, especially from one country
to the other, you have to fly.
There are always friends on both sides.
And then someone will come and say, please
can you take this along for my friend
down there.
Or please take this for my other friend
there.
And eventually you have got a whole heap
of things.
You don't know how to transport them.
Just on this last trip where we returned,
we had to leave 30 kilograms of things
behind.
And we were already overweight with our luggage.
I think we had 70 already.
This lady was Corrie Ten Boom.
So as they were about to leave, people
were bringing all these gifts which they had
to take along.
So Corrie Ten Boom just came and she
took one thing after the other and just
felt it, said this is too heavy, she
put it one side.
This is too heavy, put it aside, said
we can't take that.
Now her companion who was the
shy one, in her heart she was unhappy.
Her face got longer and longer.
And she said, but I don't understand what
she's doing.
She doesn't ask me for my opinion.
She just does her own thing, what she
likes.
And eventually they weren't even talking to each
other anymore.
So eventually they boarded the plane, these two
white missionaries, on their way to Africa to
bring the gospel to the Africans.
But they were on their way and they
weren't one themselves.
They weren't one in spirit, one in word
and deed.
They were white, very white, going to the
blacks in Uganda that are quite dark, to
bring them the gospel.
And they themselves weren't of one heart and
one mind.
How foolish a white person can be.
And how silly a white man can be.
So they sat on the plane, sipping away
at their tea.
Eventually they got to Uganda.
Now in Uganda at that time they had
experienced revival.
Now when God works in revival, there are
certain things which he does.
So in the revival there, God had made
this word and this aspect of light, that
God is light and we should walk in
the light.
It made it very important to them.
To the point that when they greeted each
other, they didn't any longer say hello or
good morning to each other, but they would
greet each other with the words, do you
walk in the light as God is in
the light?
And then the other person would respond with
the same question.
It was important to them that they were
children of the light.
Now in the early church in Jerusalem, the
first Christians, to them what was so important
was that the Lord Jesus had risen from
the dead.
Their greeting was, he has risen from the
dead.
And then the other one would respond by
saying, truly, surely he has risen from the
dead.
For them that was so wonderful that he
had risen from the dead.
If we had to greet each other with
those words and go to someone and say
he has risen from the dead, maybe that
person would think something is wrong upstairs.
But some people when you look at their
faces, how long their faces are and how
depressed they are, maybe one should remind them
of that and greet them with those words,
that they will realize that they have not
risen, that they are still dead.
In China they would greet each other with
the words, when they greeted each other they
would say, tell me brother, have you overcome
sin?
Have you got victory in your life?
That was their greeting.
And very often then a person would respond
by saying, no I haven't been victorious and
he confesses sin immediately.
So the Ugandan Christians greeted each other with,
are you in the light, walking in the
light, as he is in the light.
But these white missionaries didn't know this.
They got to Uganda and there were all
these Christians.
So Koritenboom went to the first one in
the line and greeted that person, hello, and
that person answered and said, are you walking
in the light as God is in the
light.
She was shocked.
She went to the second one.
She went to the second one and that
person said, are you walking in the light
as God is in the light.
She was amazed.
She said, but what's wrong?
Who's been gossiping about us?
Who's told them about what we've just done
and what's just happened?
Because people always suspect others of gossiping.
You're not sorry that you've sinned.
You just think there's somebody who has gossiped.
Ah, mooby.
Crooked generation we are.
A bad one too.
She got to the third one.
The same question.
Are you walking in the light as he
is in the light?
She stopped.
She looked at her companion and said, just
come here.
They went round the corner.
She said, I'm sorry my sister.
I didn't take you into account.
I just did my own thing.
I'm sorry about it.
They got reconciled to each other.
They made peace with each other.
They went to Africa to do missionary work.
To evangelize Africa.
And Africa had to evangelize them.
That's the trouble with many missionaries in the
world.
You understand?
Take it to heart.
And John said, what we've heard from him,
what he taught us, we are passing on
to you now.
We're announcing to you that he is light.
And if we walk in the light, we
will have fellowship with one another and his
blood cleanses us from all sin.
Do you understand?
Do you have fellowship with other Christians or
do you have fellowship, are you one, with
people in the world?
Are you one with those that walk in
the spirit or are you one with those
that are carnal, who walk in the flesh?
I'm going to stop.
I'm going to stop here.
He is light.
Are you walking in this light?
In him there is no darkness.
Is there any darkness in your life?
If there's any darkness in you, let the
sun not set today without you having made
that right.
If you are a Corrie, that's your sister
and that is its fault, then you must
make that right.
If you say you have fellowship with God
and you don't have fellowship with your Christian
brother, you're a liar.
That's what the Bible says.
And if you say you love God and
you don't love your brother or your sister
in Christ, you're a liar.
The truth is not in you.
If you say you love God and you
don't love your sister in Christ, you're a
liar.
That's what the Bible says.
Is it enough?
Have you heard?
Or must I say it all over again?
Go now and don't just be a hearer,
but a doer of God's word.
Let's bow our heads.
Lord, we hear from John that Jesus told
him about his light.
How great God's light is.
Jesus also said that you do not like
the light because your works are evil.
Lord, may your light shine into our hearts.
Work in an amazing way.
May your light drive away the darkness.
May your light cause us to have fellowship
one with another, so that the blood of
Jesus can cleanse us.
Amen.