In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the message that God is light. He highlights the fellowship of light and love that believers have with God and His Son. The speaker shares a story to illustrate the importance of viewing things in the light of God's truth. He also discusses the responsibility of believers to walk in the light and not in darkness. The sermon emphasizes the joy and pardon that come from having fellowship with the Father.

I'll tell you how good the Lord is. And I want to start off with a little story to illustrate the point. You know, they say laughter is good medicine. Scripture says. There's a colored family moving into a neighborhood of white people. We need some air, apparently. A little boy came over the next day and said, How's that? Well, we have a Cadillac car. All right. Next day he comes on, he says, My father says we're doing the same. And then one day he comes on, he says, My father says we're back. Well, he says, You have colored neighbors and we're white neighbors. And a year or so ago, we had quite a branching out. The last spring, the Lake Howell Chapel opened and some old family. So we have had quite an exodus. And we had, you know, visions of getting an organ and a piano eventually. For those who have cast their bread upon the water, Just the other day we had a visit from a doctor from Virginia. And recently she lost her mother. Her mother was a Buddhist. And through the chapel and the friends of the chapel, the gospel of the chapel, And one of the ladies having a Bible class, This Buddhist lady gets saved. Wonderful. Recently she died. And among what she left was apparently quite a conservative gift That wasn't designated for anything. So they thought who could we better give it to than Highwater Hills Chapel. So for that sum of money, yesterday they purchased a piano and an organ. So now we're as good as you are. I won't say we're better, we're just as good. We're good, Brother Anderson. There's some lights there. You know, I can sort of see out of it a rough way. And I'd be able to do that. I'm not envious of you. This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you, That God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. For if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleansed us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. May the Lord bless to us the reading from his holy word. I think it's safe to say that the gospel of John was written, as we read in the last chapter, that we might have eternal life. That we might believe in Christ, and believing in him we may have eternal life. I believe the epistle was written that we may be like the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus may indeed live his life in and through the believer. And this of course will become more and more apparent as we walk in the light and we have fellowship with him and with the Father and with one another. Now in verses 5 to 7, here you have the Lord Jesus as the light into which we are brought, into this glorious fellowship of light. In verse 5 you have a revelation, a divine message. This is the message which we have heard of him. You have the fact of the message here. They have a message. A message that came to them from the Lord Jesus. A personal message, something that they knew by experience, which we have heard. The source of this message of him, and it's most important that we have this from him. Not just something we receive from man, as good as that may be. But what you really receive from the Lord himself. These are the things that are valuable and that are precious and that stay with you. I know some of the things that the Lord has in fit, may be simple things to many, but to reveal to oneself the things that God really gives you from his word. As you study the word yourself, you never forget them. Many wonderful things you hear from other servants of the Lord. And when you really get something, then you like to share. This message which we have received, now we announce it to you. We declare this message to you. Thank God for this declaration. And what is that message? God is light. God is light. You have the fellowship of light. He made known unto him the word of light. Then you have the fellowship of love with the Son, you remember. And we spoke about that this morning, about the joy we are brought into. Oh how wonderful that joy is of that fellowship. I wanted to mention that this morning too. The time of course runs out. I always notice the clock goes much quicker when I'm speaking than when I'm listening sometimes. It's strange isn't it? Don't you find that? For you folks, the seats get hard, and the fellow here gets sort of vague, and you always become standing in a haze after a while, and you're a little bit tired. But your speaking sometimes is not that way. You're sometimes into one thing you want to say. But they have that fellow who has came back to them. What a, what a, what a, what a wonderful thing. To be in fellowship with that one whose protection, and of every provision, God has given him in his purpose, provision for him to fall. And then you think of the fellowship with the joy, if you think of this divine person, he came down, you think about his redemption, you think about his resurrection, you just see him there. You know sometimes we, we get into a sort of a spiritual air, and we're going through a, is that the right motive for this? How much better it is to be like Enoch, he walked with God, he just walked so, that better isn't it? You just keep right on with him. Joy of this fellowship, and then the fellowship, the unity of this fellowship, and you know to have this, the God, what a fellowship, and then you meet another brother, you open the, enrich your soul. This fellowship, he says I've written unto you that this joy, now let's go back again, I jumped back to this morning, but let's go, and in him is no doubt, and you know the truth, and if there's someone here that's not saved tonight, you know the Bible, and men that are not saved, generally speaking, men loved, your child gives you spiritual possession, all the benefits, are being brought in, and the closer we get to him, in the light, reveals the sin, does it not? How do we reveal things? The greater the light, the more, you know, you ladies know that if you, because the light reveals all, and in him, is no darkness at all. The light that dispels, he brings us into this wonderful light. Now how do we know believers, you have then, a revelation here, God's message, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all, then you have the responsibility, to walk in that light. Verse six, if we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, here is the contradiction, if we say, verse eight again, you have the same thing also in verse ten, if it's only empty profession, we tell a lie, and we live a lie. If we say that we're in the light, and we still walk in darkness, what's the evidence of walking in darkness? It's doing the things that people do in the dark. If when a person says he's saved, and he's still living a life, and he's doing deeds, that are running parallel, with the deeds of the unsaved. Once we name the name of Christ, once we're brought into the light, and we're associated with the light, and everything can be seen in the light, it's a tremendous thing you know, if you're in a room that's well lit, and there's a big picture window there, it's much easier for the people outside to see you, than it is for you to look out into the light. And once you're really brought in, and you profess the light, that you belong to the light, and you walk in the light, then people expect a light that corresponds with that light. Be ye holy, says the Lord, for I am holy. As we walk in the light, then we're bound to show the characteristics of that light. So if we say that we walk in the light, and we're not living this, we lie and do not the truth. Our responsibility is to walk in the light. Then in verse 7, you have the result of walking in the light. But if we walk in the light, and he is in the light, we have fellowship, one with another. If we walk in the light, and he is in the light, as we get really into him, and the closer we get to him, the more anything will be revealed in our life, and as God the Spirit puts his finger upon that, and as we confess our sin, and he's faithful and just. Because then the light is this, when a believer has known that his unconfessed sin in his life. When he's not hating someone in his heart, or he's not as bludgeoned in his heart, or evil thoughts in his heart. When these things are really dealt with and made right, because of walking in the light, you can see how wonderful that fellowship really is. When you can go up to a man and look him straight in the eye, put your arms around him and say, I love your brother, and not have any hypocrisy about it, that's part of walking in the light. That's how we ought to be able to deal with one another. Christianity, as you walk with the Lord, it brings you into the light, and one of the curses among God's people, I believe it, as many times we cover up, we're artificial, we're superficial, and we put on a different... Oh, that we might be open and honest with the Lord, and with one another. There wouldn't be much room then for bitterness, or bickering, or these things. Oh, may God speak to us. May we be conscious. You know, every one of the men of God in the scriptures, as they came right into the full glow of God's light, like Isaiah, and Daniel, and many of these, it didn't matter how perfectly out were these men's feet, but when they got right into the searchlight of God's presence, one thing they realized, how sinful they were themselves. The light reveals it. If we walk in the light as He is in light, we have fellowship one with another. Now, that place, one with another, is found seven times in the epistles of John, six times, once more, in the second epistle. You look them up. I'm not going to give them to you, but they're in there. But we have fellowship one with another. The right relationship with Him, walking with Him in the light, will give us a right relationship. And the blood of Jesus Christ cleansed us from all sin. I think here we know, firstly, that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleansed us of all sin. When He died on the cross, continually, in this sense, we continuously, we have a new section opening up, where the Lord Jesus, He's the one that keeps us spiritually adjusted. You know, sometimes when you get something out of joint, or if you're brave, you might even go to a chiropractor and get adjusted. You got a chiropractor here? But they twist. Here's the Lord Jesus, the one that can give us spiritual adjustment. Now, in verse 8, you have the need for this cleansing. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Now, He says that we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. When we say the old nature is not of us, that which is born of God is not sin. But we still have the old Adamic nature. That's why the Word says, you know, it's a work, in pioneer work, through the years, you mean. And you know, there are some, and they are completely free of the sin. I was dealing with a person like that one time, and I said, now, have you ever known any, have you ever known any, that tell me what, that which is born of God cannot sin, and is the only, I'm still waiting for the answer. There's no answer. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And perhaps the only way you can get across from this, and to bring down the holiness, the closer we get to the Lord, the more sinful, like Peter said, depart from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. The more we're conscious of the succeeding sinfulness of the flesh. So we have the need of cleansing. Then we have the method of cleansing in verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Look at chapter 2, verse 12. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. All sins have been forgiven us. But when a believer sins, the word of God tells him the method is for us to confess our sins. You know, it's the hardest thing before people are saved, to find sinners. And after people are saved, it's so hard for most of us to say, I've sinned, I've done wrong, and to confess it. I'm like that too. And I hate to make a personal reference here, but it struck up to me in my mind many years ago. And just pulling almost away from the chapel was a stuffed street. And I said, dangle. And a man came up, he couldn't believe it. And he was so astounded that the man had admitted, and isn't this so, we want to excuse ourselves? Such and such a thing happened, and this happened, and this happened. Rather than say, I did so and so. Adam, what have you done? That woman. Eve, what have you done? The serpent is still with us. The Lord says, come out with it. Confess it. And then God says, this is man's, the believer's part, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins. This is God's part of it. If we confess he's faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and then to cleanse us. He forgives and cleanses. This is marvelous. Just like when you take things right off the blackboard, and you have a real good wiper that's new, and that just completely cleanses. He forgives and then he cleanses. Wonderful. It's a grand thing to know that sweet fellowship with the Lord. Oh, when you've done something wrong, you're guilty, you know it's children or anyone else, and you have this thing weighing on your mind, your conscience, and you just dread meeting your dad or your mother, this thing off your chest, and you confess it, and you trust him. If you confess he is faithful and righteous, dismiss it from the mind. Then he says it's forgiven, it's cleansed. And go on enjoying fellowship. Again in verse 10 he says, If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Now he says, We make him a liar if we say we have not sinned. And God says, All have sinned. God says, In the believer's own nature, if you make provision for the flesh, you will sin. Then we come to chapter 2, and I just want to briefly just introduce these first two verses in chapters 1 and 2, where you have the Lord Jesus as the maintainer of fellowship. Now he writes, My little children. In this chapter, chapter 2, the title little children is found five times. Three of these times means the term of endearment, as you have here in verse 1, also in verse 12, and in verse 28. But in verse 13 and in verse 18, the little children, they are mentioned, means the young lambs or the young boys, the little, the young in the faith. But here, in verse 1, is the term, the term of endearment addressed to all the believers. He says, My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin, nor that ye may not sin. First you have the appeal here of the apostle, My little children, these things write unto you that ye sin not. It is not necessary for the believer to sin and go on sinning. Little children, I write unto you, the provision is there. This is what we ought to be aiming at, continually living in fellowship with him. Unbroken fellowship with him. This is God's desire for us. This is his provision for us. Oh, wouldn't it save a lot of heartaches and heartbreaks. But then he comes in, and I say to you that he has the, he's writing these things write I unto you, the authority of what he's saying, it's the written word of God, and he writes it unto you, and he says, Now if any man sin, we have an advocate. Now he's right that you may not sin. He doesn't, if any man sin, there's no need, but if a man sin, we have an advocate. The paraclete, meaning one call. An attorney. And notice who he is. He's Jesus Christ the righteous. Sometimes people in certain areas, when they talk about an attorney, they call him a liar. L-A-W-Y-E-R, but they pronounce it liar. And a lot of liars are lawyers, are liars. But here we have one that is Jesus Christ the righteous. Thank God, here's the scene. From Job, from Revelation, we read that Satan has access into the presence of God. He's the accused of the brethren. And if Satan comes in to accuse us, we have the advocate up there. We have our attorney, who is the Lord Jesus. And if Satan accuses us, the Lord Jesus is there, and he shows the marks of Calvary. I've died for that person. That person, he's taken care of. I plead for him. How wonderful to have an attorney like that up there, taking the provision God has made for us. The Lord has been so good to us, beloved Christians. He has given us the comforter to indwell us and to empower us. He's given us the Word of God as a lamp for our feet. He's given the Lord Jesus not only as a great high priest. Think of the provision he's made for the people of God, for the pilgrim church. What an encouragement. We have the Lord Jesus. Think of the character, we said, the righteous. There's the death here, and he is. So he himself, I think it should read, he himself is the propitiation for our sins. The finished work of the cross. First he made peace by the blood of the cross. We read in Colossians 1.10. And now we have the willing. He is. He's alive. He won the great victory. He arose again. He ascended. He's exalted. He is in God's right hand. He is. There's a victor leading our cause. He don't advocate. Our case is in good hands. Good hands. We haven't advocated. Jesus Christ, the righteous. We have, he said, the assurance. We have. And notice he put the we in there. He didn't cleanse himself. We're the clergy. You have. We need the Lord Jesus as the advocate. And then the one closing thought. He's always available. We have. We have. And that's the case present tense. We have him right now. So take courage, fellow believer. God has made every provision for us. So let's go on looking on to Jesus, the author and finisher of all faith. Let's keep on walking in the light. And may I say this? The moment that you're a saved person, the moment, whether in thought, word or deed, something comes up, keep short account with God. The moment you sin, the moment I sin, let's confess right away. Keep the fellowship open. Keep walking in the light. And with our unconfessed sin, it puts a cloud between. It dims the lights at work. Let's keep an open heaven. Let's walk in the light. So fellowship will be sweet down here and fruitful as we fellowship with the Father, with the Son. Oh, Father, we thank and praise thee for this good day together. Oh, it's hard for us to even imagine or enter into, except by faith. The full provision that was made for us from truly salvation is of the Lord. And we do give thee all thanks for Lord Jesus Christ, our Advocate. And now, Father, bless each one of thy dear people, especially those that are meeting here locally. We pray thou would bless their testimony and give them much encouragement. Grant that they may so grow in grace and the knowledge of Him, that their lives may so shine from walking in the light, that others will be brought into this fellowship of walking in the light and fellowship in the light together with them. Dismiss us now, thy blessing. Give us a happy time of fellowship in the presence of one. We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.