Walk in the light

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

Here is the antidote for walking in the darkness. We walk in the light, as God in Christ is in the light, through the cleansing power of the spilt blood of Christ on the cross. His blood is sufficient and able to cleanse our dark hearts from the cloying effects of sin. This moral disease will continue to lead us in the darkness, if we do not seek the light of God. The darkness can never overcome the light, and as we seek the light as revealed in the Scriptures, we will find God.

“You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 23:13

Once we begin on the path of seeking and finding the light, we will find it if we are really wanting it. Only the Lord can put this in our hearts and desires, for we do not naturally seek the Lord. We are used to the darkness and it suits our way of thinking and living, so to want something more requires we become dissatisfied with the darkness and seek the love and warmth of the living God. We seek Him because He is seeking us. Only when we are sick of our sin do we embrace the love of Christ and what He did for us on the cross, dying for the redemption of our souls to God. When we put our trust in Him and that mighty work of salvation, we are forgiven. God gives us a new life in Christ, and a new nature, so that we love Him and want to be like Him. Christ is our Lord and so the Light of the World becomes our light and we walk in Him. Then we can have fellowship with the people of God, who also walk in His ways and are trusting in the living Saviour.

When we are cleansed by Christ we can walk in the light. We can never follow just by keeping sets of rules, but need the deep heart work of spiritual resurrection that makes our souls alive to God. God opens the way to us and we walk in it by the light of His Word. We walk in it’s light because we are new creations in Christ and have fellowship with the Lord Jesus and the Father and are in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. We are right with God.

Walk in the darkness

“If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don’t tell the truth.”

We walk in the darkness when we walk by the false light of our own viewpoint. Those who take the name of God and call themselves Christians, yet disbelieve and undermine the truths revealed in Holy Scripture are not honest. There are plenty around who puff themselves up in academic posturing and pick holes and scoff at the Word of God, denigrating the idea that it is the perfect Word and suitable for all faith and godly living. There are many who say they know God, but refute His Word and encourage others to have a low view of it, preferring to live by “the spirit” which is really just living as they see fit in their own judgement.

If we undermine the truth of God as revealed to us, we have no other guide to help us and cut ourselves off from all holy guidance and the unchanging statutes of the living God. We are truly walking in darkness and have never actually seen the light or humbled ourselves to walk in its ways.

Even if we should claim the knowledge of God, but do not accept His Word, His truth, we still are floundering in the dark and telling lies to ourselves, duping ourselves that we are somehow part of the household of faith when in reality we know nothing about it. We have become judges of the Lord with filthy hearts that infect the minds of other people. We talk and practice falsehoods and spread false doctrine everywhere, contaminating the faith of other people and leading many astray.

“The Lord said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I didn’t send them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I to them: they prophesy to you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.”

Jeremiah 14:14

Beloved, let us be honest and upright and embrace the Word of the Lord that He has made open to us, that we will not be led astray and cast into the darkness of unbelief. If we say we know God, yet are not keeping the commands of the Word, we still walk in the darkness of our own thought patterns. Let us trust in the Lord our light and not in foolish people or the folly of our own psyche.

God is light

“This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

The message of the gospel is announced to all who read the Scriptures and the witness of these reliable heralds of it. The message announced here is that God is light, not just surrounded by light, but light itself. There is no darkness of death in Him, for He is the perfect God. It is impossible for darkness to come near to Him, because He dispels all darkness and everything that it represents and hides. Sin and death are not in His kingdom, nor are those who live in sinfulness and the unforgiven state of death of the soul.

God is holy in all His ways and intentions and we are not. There are those who take umbrage at the holiness of God and set their own human reason and taste before the judgment of the almighty God. We presume we know better and that our sense of justice is above His. We interpret the Word to suit ourselves and bend the obvious truth revealed there to suit our fallen human ideas. We baulk at His electing love and take issue with the salvation God offers to sinful people. This is human folly to raise up our thought as higher than the purposes and thoughts of God. We must humble ourselves before Him and acknowledge that His ways are not the same as our ways, and well above our understanding. His wisdom is vastly above all human thought or idea and we bow to Him. This is the point of the Word of God – that it teaches us and is certainly not up for being judged by futile human reason.

“The people who sat in darkness saw a great light, to those who sat in the region and shadow of death, to them light has dawned.”

Matthew 4:16

God is light and all holiness. This is the starting and ending point of all reason. His revealed Word is the light He shines into our dark world and the Saviour of the world that it displays is the Light of the World. He alone gives light into our dark minds and enlightens our understanding that we might recognise and acknowledge the truth of that Word in our mind and life. To obey it is life and peace and we gain the light of God in our life shining in all godliness and humble obedience. This is the way to the eternal light and to dwell in that light forever. We enter that way through repentance from our sin and putting faith in Christ as our Saviour and Lord.

Joy fulfilled

“And we write these things to you, that our joy may be fulfilled.”

These truths about Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God are written that we might know them and in knowing them, be found by Him and being in Him, we will rejoice. The truth is that only in Christ are we made whole and happy and only in Him is there true joy, for we have peace with God. This passing world talks of joy, but it has none in real terms. It is a passing, transient and temporary joy that depends on world- oriented things to sustain its existence in our minds. It is not a deep and lasting joy, given to us by God, through faith in Jesus Christ our Saviour. In fact, by definition it is not joy at all, for joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and only a life in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit can know or exhibit that joy.

“Therefore with joy you will draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

Isaiah 12:3

Peace with God through salvation is the only way to lasting peace and joy. This is because it depends on God and not us, or anything around us. It a transcendent peace that is linked with our eternal life, the gift from the Father when we come to Him in repentance and faith. Joy is the gift we receive when we come to God and as we know Christ better in our lives, so our joy increases. As we read and meditate on Christ as revealed in the Word of God, so we grow in all the graces and our joy is full.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13

As our Christian life gets closer to God, as we obey and live in the light of His Word so our joy is made complete and our fellowship with one another grows, deepens and is clearly seen. Christians should be happy people, rejoicing in the joy they possess by the Spirit and victorious over circumstances. Only the power of God through the working of the Holy Spirit can bring this to pass in a life.

Fellowship with the Father

“…that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”

The glorious and miraculous vindications of the Son of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, are now spoken out clearly by the eyewitnesses of these very things. We have all the evidence written and preserved for us in the Scripture, not just the New Testament writers, but Christ in the whole Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. The works of the mighty God are now declared to us, that we might understand and know Him. This is such a privilege, but we run from it and construct all sorts of arguments not to believe. Every generation falls into its own errors and favourite gripes with the truth of God.

The message of Christ is recorded for our salvation, that we will not suffer the ignorance of our own destruction, but find the way to God. It is plain and very straightforward, but our vain philosophies muddy the waters and divert our minds from right and logical thinking, and take us away from the truth. The witnesses record the message so that we are not confused but have a clear understanding of how to have the fellowship we need, with the Father. The truth about Jesus is taught and presented to us, so that we are not mistaken. Through the witness of these writers we are united with them in faith and in fellowship with the Father and the Son.

It is an incredible truth that sinful people can be united with Christ and with God and live their lives in fellowship with Him. Unfortunately we are so slow to want it and God must work in our hearts to get us to desire Him. He is not far from any of us and is unwilling that any should perish. He desires fellowship with us because He knows we need Him and He loves us. It is possible for us to know God and approach Him with confidence, that He will hear us and save us. If we have this fellowship with Jesus Christ, we also have it with the Father. If we enjoy this fellowship we are united with all true believers down through the millennia and can rejoice with them.

Revealed to us

(and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us)

The Holy Son of God was born into this world as a human baby and appeared in His human flesh among us for a short time that we might have a living Saviour who can rescue us from our sinfulness. John and the disciples saw Him and can testify to His person and works that He carried out while on earth.

He is the very life, the essence, of the living God revealed in human flesh. He was with the Father at the beginning of this world, the beginning of time, and has always been with the Father. Jesus is the eternal Son of God and is now revealed to our human sight and ears. Humankind has seen the Lord with human eyes, and heard the very Word of God with human ears. Human hands have touched Him and He them, that we might testify to His humanity and touch Him and be healed.

The Lord Jesus has come to bring us eternal life, the life of God. The witness of John testifies to this life, which is now available to all of us. It is not fanciful conjecture or mystic philosophies, but God come in the beauty of human flesh, to redeem the world through the sacrifice of Himself. He came to reveal the life of God to us, and this He did through the testimony of His servants in the eternal Word.

Jesus is now revealed and there is no hiding from the truth. It is obvious and set out clearly for us to read, believe and know. Human kind can know God because of this amazing revelation through the Son of God come in the flesh. It is open to all who will humbly come, bow the knee, repent and believe in this Lord Jesus.

Who He is

“That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life.”

1 John 1:1

Straight away John deals with the poison of the Gnostic ideology which was infiltrating the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus was a real man and John knew Him and spoke with Him and touched Him, before and after the resurrection. The Gnostics sought to so spiritualise Jesus, that he was not fully human and therefore not someone who can identify with us or be our Saviour. This book is to counteract that theory and show Jesus and what He taught as cogent for a real and hurting world.

The Lord Jesus took twelve men to follow Him around and be witnesses to His work, His grace and His glory. They did not always understand at the time, but they were emboldened as the Holy Spirit gave them holy boldness to speak and live for God. So also we can have this boldness and be witnesses to the love and life-changing power of God.

The disciples saw the real Jesus and we have the miracles and His character recorded for us in the gospels. The disciples touched the very Son of God, existent from before the beginning of the world, and shared His bread and drink. They lived up close to Him and saw the working of His hands and motivation of His perfect mind. They saw and touched the very Word of life, the embodiment of the Word of God recorded for us in the Holy Scripture.

That Holy Word was from the beginning, the Creator of the ends of the earth. Straight away, John leaves us in no doubt as to the credentials of this Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Holy God and Lord of all, yet fully human and worthy to be our Saviour.

Praise the Lord

I praise the Lord for what He has done in my life, my mind and soul. He alone is worthy of all our praises and we lift Him up and glorify His mighty name. He has released us from the bonds of sin and death, oppression and misery and sets our feet upon a high rock, even Jesus our Saviour.

Today this is my post and I rejoice in Christ my Lord for what is ahead for me. God has done great things for me, of which I am glad, but there is more to come. The power of the Spirit within makes us over-comers by that same power. All who know and love Him will honour Him and obey the holy Word.

I continue with my studies and posts tomorrow with a new book, the book of first John. I hope you will follow and read and be blessed. The Lord is with His people and we rejoice today in His glorious presence.

Praise the Lord…

Psalm 150

Please read Psalm 150 (6 verses)

In this short final Psalm, we are called upon to praise the Lord 13 times!

The praises to the Lord go into overdrive and we offer a multitude of worship and adoration of our God and Saviour. The Psalm is sandwiched with the phrase, “Praise the Lord…”

We praise Him in His holy sanctuary and praise Him in the highest of heavens, where His praise always resounds. We praise Him for who He is and His acts of supernatural and surpassing power. His greatness is reflected everywhere in the created order, in His holy Word and in the lives of His people.

We praise Him with every kind of musical instrument at our disposal, the trumpet, guitar, saxophone, tambourine, violin, clarinet and the resounding clashing of the triumphant cymbals. What a cacophony of sound will fill the air as every musician and singer gives the praise to the Lord!

Along with the music we have dancing and the physical expression of our devotion and creative interpretations for His glory.

Beloved, we are seriously missing out not to be involved in this glorious activity of praise, one that we are made for, and brings us such joy and peace. The worship of our maker is our deepest need and most longed for activity, if we did but understand it.

The psalmist calls on every living thing that has breath in its lungs to praise the one who made it and loves it and who loves us. He has done everything to bring us to a full life and we adore His love and power that has made this possible. Why hold back…

Praise the LORD…

Psalm 149

Please read Psalm 149 (9 verses)

We praise the Lord with a new song, the song of the redeemed people of God – all those who have been bought out of the slave market of sin and shame and set free to live and worship. Those who are bought with the most expensive cost, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice to be part of Him and part of that innumerable throng. We will sing that song in eternity, but this is precious time that we can sing it now, even in a sinful world. To rejoice is our God-given right, and no one will take it away.

We rejoice in our maker and elevate our beloved King who has freed us by His sacrifice on the cruel cross. We praise Him with instruments and dancing, all joyous and expressive worship to the glory of His mighty name. The Lord takes delight in His humble people and gives us the victory over temptation and sin. Why should we not be happy? We rejoice even in our beds! And lift holy hands to the Lord!

As the praises of God fill our mouth with singing, so our hands are able to fight with the double-edged sword of the Spirit, even the Word of God. It is the theme of our singing and the constant rehearsal in our minds. We obey it and treasure it and exalt it’s truth above all other considerations. Let us never be deflected from it.

In this we judge the nations and bind its leaders with ropes and the shackles of the truth of God, so that they hurt no more. The Word sets us free to judge accurately and set the standard in all we do. These are the glories of the people of God and why we sing. No one is silent, except those who have no song…

Praise the Lord.