This is the message we have heard from
him and proclaim to you, that God is
light and in him is no darkness at
all.
If we say we have fellowship with him
while we walk in darkness, we lie and
do not live according to the truth.
But if we walk in the light as
he is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another and the blood of Jesus
his son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in
us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just and will forgive our sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say we have not sinned, we
make him a liar and his word is
not in us.
My little children, I am writing this to
you so that you may not sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an
advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
And he is the expiation for our sins
and not for ours only, but also for
the sins of the whole world.
And by this we may be sure that
we know him if we keep his commandments.
He who says I know him but disobeys
his commandments is a liar and the truth
is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word, in him truly
love for God is perfected.
By this we may be sure that we
are in him, for he who says he
abides in him ought to walk in the
same way in which he walked.
I remember the first time I was in
the company of people that I thought were
holy people or were Christ-like people.
And I remember the first thing I was
aware of myself was my own dirtiness and
my own coarseness.
And of course it made me take a
lot more care with what I said.
And in a way I wasn't really free
because I was aware of how Christ-like
and how gentle and how pure they were
in their hearts.
And I was very aware that I was
not at that time like them.
That's the way it will be in heaven.
I was sitting down there with my wife
and I looked at the stage and it's
interesting this stage has a lot more light
hasn't it about it than when you're out
there.
This is bright illumination.
It'll be like that.
It'll be like us all coming into bright
bright light where nothing can be hidden and
where every blemish shows up.
And it won't ever be a case of
God rejecting us.
It'll simply be that we cannot bear the
light.
It'll be the same as I was with
those dear people that I met.
You'll just be so uncomfortable that we won't
feel at home there unless we have allowed
God's spirit to fit us for that place.
And loved ones that's why tonight is such
a dear feast for all of us who
believe that in Jesus God included all of
our uncleanness, all of our dirtiness, all of
our coarseness.
This is a feast for us tonight because
we realize again that there is nothing in
us that is bad.
Nothing in us that is sinful.
Nothing in us that is coarse.
That God has not destroyed in his Son
Jesus and that we cannot be freed from
tonight by the power of his Holy Spirit.
And that's why tonight is a celebration for
those of us who are children of God.
We believe that here is the secret to
all of life.
The death of our Lord Jesus.
We believe with all our hearts the words
of scripture, God made him to be sin
who knew no sin that we might become
the righteousness of God in him.
And there is no one here with a
resentment in their hearts that they cannot get
rid of.
There is no one here with a bitterness
at the bottom of their hearts that they
cannot get rid of.
There is no one here with a mind
filled with unclean thoughts that they cannot get
rid of.
But they can put all of those in
Jesus by faith tonight and say, Lord, I
believe you allowed these to be destroyed with
you in Calvary and I want now to
let these go.
Will you show me tonight what I have
to be willing for in my identification with
you to be freed from this sin?
And the Holy Spirit, if you take that
attitude, will answer you and he will show
you if it's resentment or sarcasm or if
it's bitterness or it's a critical spirit or
it's uncleanness or selfish ambition or the drive
to be the most important person in the
situation.
Whatever it is, loved ones, the Holy Spirit
will speak to you this evening and will
say to you, I want you to be
willing to be treated like Jesus in this
way.
Or I want you to be willing to
be identified with Jesus in this way.
Or I want you to be quiet with
Jesus in this way.
And he'll explain it to you.
Then all you have to do, and I
know it from my own experience, all you
have to do is say yes from the
bottom of your heart and there'll come a
clean spirit into you this evening, the gift
of the Holy Spirit.
Now what we have found a blessing in
these evening communions is if God has given
you light during this past month.
That's why I read those verses.
The verses say if we walk in the
light as he is in the light, we
have fellowship one with another, first of all.
And then secondly, the blood of Jesus cleanses
us from all sin.
And walking in the light means a readiness
to call sin, sin.
If God has shown you something that's wrong
in your life, call it sin.
And then walking in the light means a
readiness to walk into obedience in regard to
that area of your life and a readiness
to have the Holy Spirit melt you and
mold you into Jesus on the cross in
whatever way is necessary.
So what God has used is when some
of us have felt free just to come
up to this open mic, we'll leave it
just like that for the next 10 or
15 minutes, and simply to share any light
that the Holy Spirit has given you about
your own walk and about your own life.
And if I could encourage you, I think
that it will be two kinds of light.
I think with some of us, it will
be new light on a willful, rebellious attitude
that we have had and something that we
have been hiding in our hearts, a bitterness
towards some person or a resentment towards some
person or a critical attitude towards some person.
That is, it'll be an expression of our
selfish will and something that is keeping us
from being crucified with Christ.
And loved ones, if the Holy Spirit allows
you to do it, I'd just share that
and say, I'm having done with that.
And I would encourage you not to tolerate
that kind of thing.
And I would share my own experience that
God has taught me to be like a
watchman with a telescope.
And if I see anything of that even
approaching my life, I fly from it.
I get it out before him.
I confess it.
I declare it publicly and get rid of
it.
If it's a selfish, willful thing like that,
don't hesitate for a moment.
Then there's another kind of light.
Many of us have been crucified with Christ
and have no more trouble with the good
that I would, I cannot do, and the
evil that I hate is the very thing
I do.
We have no trouble with that.
But the Holy Spirit still leads us into
new light in our lives.
And that's precious light to share because God
can use it to light something up in
some of our own hearts, those of us
who are listening.
So I'd encourage you above all not to
hide anything and not to feel you're being
particularly humble by sharing it.
All we're doing is responding to God's light.
And the more we do that, the more
light will be shed abroad here in this
room.
So we'll just leave the mic open.
And really just as the Holy Spirit guides
you, and certainly not apart from that, but
just as he guides you, and I'd encourage
you just to share briefly if you would,
because that enables more of us to speak.