Sermon Synopsis
This sermon calls believers to “know Him” by walking in the light, grounded in the truth that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. It contrasts the world’s darkness—spiritual blindness, moral decay, and Satan’s domain—with the kingdom of light into which believers are transferred through Christ. It warns that sin deceives through denial, hiding, and blame-shifting, and urges short accounts with God through honest confession. Finally, it comforts believers with the ongoing ministry of Jesus Christ as our righteous Advocate and propitiation, so that restored fellowship leads to a life that increasingly pleases God.
Note: Due to a technical issue, there are brief audio disruptions at approximately 31:05 and 43:04. The interruption at 31:05 does not affect the spoken words, while the segment at 43:04 has slight distortion, though the words remain discernible. The overall message remains clear.
Please note: This transcript is provided as close to verbatim record of the sermon.
Knowing You: Walking in the Light
1 John 1:5–2:2
Introduction: Knowing You, Jesus
All right. Good morning, everybody. Morning. How’s everyone doing this morning?
You know, one thing that Daniel and I have enjoyed so far is your singing. You guys are very talented. Your singing is excellent. And a special thanks to Andrew this morning for choosing that last song, Knowing You, Jesus, and Knowing You. And that probably is going to be my theme in my preaching throughout this week.
I do have one regret though. This morning, we did not stand up and sing. And I always like to stand up and sing. It’s not that the Lord is not going to hear our singing if you don’t stand up and sing. It’s not like that. But it’s always nice to stand up and sing.
So here’s the deal. It’s not fair that I’m going to be standing for 1 hour and you’re going to be sitting for 1 hour. So why don’t we stand and then sing one chorus of that song. Where’s the pianist? If I can get the help, please. Knowing you, Lord Jesus. Just that chorus. And then we’ll get into the preaching.
You all know the lyrics, right?
Knowing you,
Jesus, knowing you,
There is no greater thing.
You’re my all, you’re the best,
You’re my joy, my righteousness,
And I love you, Lord.
Love you, Lord.
Please be seated. Good.
A Warm-Up Question
All right. I have a question for you as we begin this morning. So, which team is the best team?
Okay, okay. So, I’ll give you a deal. Here’s the deal. Whoever tells me—I’m going to check what your memory is like—whoever tells me, there was one word that was spelled out in Greek yesterday in one of the slides. If you can tell me what that Greek word is, you are the winner. How about that?
Raise your hand if you know what it is. Raise your hand. Raise your hand. Are you looking at your booklets?
All right. So, go ahead.
Coonia? Was that on the slides? I don’t know if it was on—
No, spelled in Greek, not in English. Spelled in Greek. In Greek letters.
Okay, I give you another clue. It was not on one of my slides. It was one of your slides earlier in the day yesterday.
All right. Who is the leader of the team forans?
Do you remember the word that is spelled out in Greek? It is the word phōs. Do you remember the word phōs was written in Greek on one of the slides, and it caught my attention because the word phōs means light, and we’re going to talk about walking in light.
So looks like there’s no obvious winner today. So we’ll keep trying tomorrow and day after.
The Cave Illustration: Darkness You Can Feel
How many of you have gone inside a cave? Has anyone been inside a cave?
Okay, good.
I remember going into a cave many, many years ago. It looks like there are about 45,000 caves in the United States. A lot of caves. I don’t know if there are caves here in Malaysia. Probably—yes. Maybe yes or maybe no.
But I remember this guide taking us through the caves, where you see the limestone formations—what they call the stalagmites and the stalactites, I believe. I could be pronouncing it wrong, but you see this limestone formation.
So, as we were going deep inside the cave, the guide warned us. He said, “I’m going to turn the lights off now.” And when he did turn the lights off, I saw a darkness in there that I had never ever seen before in my life.
But thank God that darkness was only for about 3 seconds or 4 seconds, because he knew that we would not be able to handle a darkness like that.
Imagine if you are in a darkness like that for 9 days.
I don’t know if you recall the incident that happened in Thailand in 2018 where there were these 12 boys who were playing soccer along with their coach, got into a cave, and they went deep into the cave. It was probably about 2.5 miles from the entrance of the cave that they went into, and they got stuck there. And there was this heavy flood. There was water all over the place.
They couldn’t be rescued for a long time. For 9 days, they were inside the cave having been stuck there for a long time. And there was a movie that was made out of it. I think it was called The Cave Rescue. I believe I remember seeing it many years ago or four or five years ago. A wonderful movie that kind of explained the challenges for these guys as they were there inside the cave.
And one of the main challenges for them as they were there inside the cave is this deep darkness for 9 days.
And when the rescuers went and got them out, one of the things that they had to deal with was: how would these young boys and their coach get adapted to the normal light? So they were actually kept in darkness for a few more days and were slowly introduced to the light.
No one likes darkness. Do you agree with me? No one likes darkness.
This morning we’re going to talk about God being our light.
Setting the Context: Knowing Him
Last night we talked about knowing Him by walking in fellowship. And today we’re going to talk about knowing Him by walking in the light.
So the three things we talked about yesterday—the major topics or major themes that John the Apostle is focusing on, with the central idea of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing God—he said yesterday we saw that:
John did not say, “Hey, we touched Him. We saw Him with our eyes. We heard Him with our ears. So we are special.” He didn’t say that. He said, “As much as we, the apostles, were able to have that relationship and fellowship with God, you can also have fellowship with God and know Him.”
And the three aspects are: life, light, and love.
Scripture Reading: 1 John 1:5–2:2
Let’s turn our Bibles to 1 John chapter 1. The passage for today is from verse 5 of chapter 1 through verse 2 of chapter 2.
This is the message we have heard from Him and announced to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
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.
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 righteous 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, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
Let us bow our hearts in prayer one more time.
Father, we pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart will be acceptable in Your presence. We pray that You would open the Scriptures to us through Your Spirit of God and help us understand it better. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
What Does “Walk” Mean?
If you notice in verse 6, John is saying, “If we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness.” In verse 7, he says, “But if we walk in the light.”
So the word walk appears a few times in the epistle of John. What does walking mean in the New Testament? In the epistles—like Paul’s epistles—you will see the word walk used multiple times.
Walking means a habitual pattern in Christian life. A habitual pattern is a metaphor for one’s conduct and behavior, or a lifestyle.
So you will see a lot of exhortations in the New Testament about walking in love, walking in the Spirit, walking in a manner that’s worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so on.
So John introduces God as light right at the get-go: God is light, and those who say they belong to Him must walk in light.
If there is a thesis statement for my message today, that’s it:
Thesis Statement
God is light, and those who say that they believe in Him—those who say that they are saved—must walk in the light.
As we get into this section, our conversation this morning will revolve around five things that I want you to remember as we talk about walking in the light.
1) Darkness Defines the World
Darkness defines the world.
John talks about darkness a lot in this epistle and also in the gospel. It is the word skotia. The word skotia is darkness, and in its root form it appears multiple times—about 58 times—in the New Testament.
It is used for physical darkness, but it is also used for spiritual or moral darkness.
Say for example, we see in Matthew’s gospel the Lord Jesus Christ saying—or the prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ being mentioned there:
“The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned.”
The Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 4 was starting His ministry. So He left Nazareth and He settled in this place called Capernaum, in the region of what is called Zebulun and Naphtali. So as He was getting ready for His ministry, Matthew writes that this prophecy was being fulfilled.
What was the prophecy? The prophecy is that the people in darkness are coming to know the light. Here is hope for people who are in darkness in that region because Jesus Christ came into the picture.
Ephesians 4:18 says: “Being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of heart.”
Darkness is life without God. They were darkened in their understanding.
And also darkness is a state of moral decay. For example, in Romans 1:21 it says, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened.”
Now these people were smart people. But because they did not know God—nor did they want to honor God—what happened was they became futile in their speculation. What was happening was even their common sense became so dull.
Romans 13:12: “The night is almost gone, the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
Ephesians 5:11: “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them.”
Well, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist—or maybe in today’s terms, you don’t have to be like an AI research scientist—in order to understand the world we live in is a place of moral decay.
As much as we grow in our technology, as much as we have grown in the AI models of the world, as much as we have grown in every aspect of life, people are going down in their speculations or in their common sense. I would say there’s not a lot of common sense in the world today.
And I would want to say, ironically, many of these issues are most evident in some of the world’s so-called intellectual college campuses today.
This is what life can be when you take God out of the picture.
We saw in these verses that even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks. But they became futile in their speculations and their foolish hearts were darkened.
And also another area that we see people losing their common sense is in the area of: “Love is love.” “My body, my choice.”
No, it’s not your body. It’s the body that God gave to you. What is inside is not your choice. It is God’s choice for you.
There’s so much moral decay in the world because sin brings moral decay.
And why is the world a very dark place? Because it is Satan’s kingdom. It is Satan’s domain.
Colossians 1:13 says: “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”
You know, Satan took the Lord Jesus to a very high mountain and showed Him the kingdoms of the world and all the glory. And he said, “All these things I will give to You if You fall down and worship me.” And Jesus said, “Go, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.”
Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.”
You know, the world belongs to Satan. This is Satan’s domain.
So the question I want to ask you is: where are you spiritually? Are you in Satan’s domain?
There are only two places a person can be. One is Satan’s domain. The other is the kingdom of the beloved Son, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the kingdom of light.
You can walk in the light only when you belong to the kingdom of God or the kingdom of the light. You don’t want to be in Satan’s domain.
2 Corinthians 4:4: “In whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Satan has blinded the eyes of the people of the world.
And the Lord said, “This hour and the power of darkness are yours.” He was talking about Judas Iscariot and the people who came to arrest Him: “This is the power of darkness.”
So the first thing we talked about is: darkness defines the world.
2) God Is Light
The second thing about walking in the light is this: God is light.
John is really fascinated by this idea that God is light. And he uses the word six times in this book, 23 times in the gospel, and he starts off the gospel with these words:
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
Remember the three words we talked about in terms of knowing Him—the three L words: life, light, and love. Life first, light second, love third.
John begins: “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And then he goes on to say: “In Him was life.”
And then in 1 John chapter 1 he said: what we have seen with our eyes, what we have heard with our ears, what we have touched, concerning the Word of life.
So life first. And then: “the life was the light of men.”
And then later is when he talks about the love of God.
You know when John talks about the love of God in John’s gospel? John 3:16. Exactly.
So it is not until John 3:16 that John talks about the love of God. It is primarily on God being life and God being light that John was emphasizing on.
And this is very important to understand, because the world is a world of darkness, and light has to come inside to illumine so that people can see the light and then understand the love of the Lord Jesus Christ later.
Even in Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” But verses 2 and 3 say: “The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep… and God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
It is not until Genesis 3 that we begin to talk about the love of God in how He clothed man and woman with the skins of the animals.
So in Genesis, in John’s gospel, and in 1 John, there is a progression of life, light, and then love.
What does it mean that God is light?
(a) God Is the True Source of Salvation
It means He is the true source of salvation.
“There was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is the true light. Because Jesus came into the world, every man in this world can be enlightened. It does not mean everyone is going to get saved—obviously not. But everyone can see the light. Everyone has the possibility of seeing the light, because Jesus came into the world. He is the source of salvation.
John 8:12: “Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
What a fascinating verse. Jesus is saying: without Me, there’s no light. There’s really no light. There’s only darkness. And whoever follows Me will have the light of life.
John 12:36: “While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.”
John 12:46: “I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”
The question this morning is: do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? If you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are transferred immediately from the power of darkness into the marvelous kingdom of the light of the beloved Son.
If you are not, then there is no promise in the power of darkness at all. All that this side promises is hopelessness, hell, and eternal darkness. Why would someone want to choose it?
And those of you who have been born again and come to eternal life should value the transformation that has happened—bringing you from that side to this side—which is a great chasm.
(b) In Him There Is No Darkness at All
And I want you to focus on one thing here: John says, “In Him there is no darkness.”
He uses a very emphatic term—oudeia—meaning not at all, absolutely nothing. The verse literally means: none darkness is in Him. That’s why the translator said, “In Him there is no darkness.”
It is emphatic: there is no sin in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not only is it true that Jesus did not sin, it is equally true that Jesus did not have any sin.
You see the difference between those two?
There are people who believe that Jesus did not sin, but He could have sinned, but He did not sin. And I would say that is totally wrong. That is unfortunate to believe in that way, because John is pretty clear and emphatic in saying: in Him there is no darkness at all.
Now Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. Sometimes it can be difficult to understand, but be with me for a second. He is 100% God and 100% man—what is called the hypostatic union.
It’s not like He was 50% God and 50% man. It’s not like He wore the hat of God on Tuesdays and the hat of man on Wednesdays. It is not like that. It is the God-Man: 100% man, 100% God.
And you and I needed a Savior who is 100% God and 100% man. He could not have sinned. It is not that He did not sin; there’s no possibility for Him to sin—because in Him there is no darkness.
Peter said: “He committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth.”
Hebrews says: “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”
2 Corinthians 5:21: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
So number one: darkness defines the world.
Number two: God is light.
3) Sin Deceives
Number three: sin deceives.
Look at verse 6, verse 8, and verse 10. What are the three words that occur in all three verses?
Verse 6, verse 8, and verse 10. All three start the same way:
“If we say…”
“If we say…”
“If we say…”
What does that mean? John is saying:
So what he’s saying is: if you say that you are saved, then you must walk with God.
If you say, “I’m saved,” but you’re walking in darkness, you are really what? You are lying.
And in verse 10 it says if we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar. You accuse God of being a liar.
And guess who wins? If you accuse God of being a liar, God always wins because He’s not a liar. He cannot lie. In Him there is no darkness at all.
When you talk about the characteristics of sin, there are two that are very obvious:
I remember when I was a little kid, I grew up in South India. There were a lot of mango trees in that area. I remember going with a few of our friends to one house. There were a lot of trees in their garden and one of them was a mango tree.
So we climbed on this mango tree and we got two or three mangoes. And I don’t know how this house owner found out. I don’t know if she was counting the mangoes on the tree or not. But she found out that two or three mangoes were missing.
And somehow she found out we were there in her garden, and she caught us. There were three or four of us, and there was one guy who was not there with us. We all blamed the other guy who was not with us, saying, “Oh, that was the guy who did it.”
That was so bad of us, wasn’t it? Oh well, that was before I got saved. So you got to give me some slack there, right?
Adam blamed his wife. The woman blamed the serpent. And the serpent did not have a leg to stand on.
We refuse to see the darkness of sin in our own lives.
Now if you go to the book of James, James wants to make it clear that when you sin, there is no one to blame except yourself.
Turn to James chapter 1. James chapter 1, verses 13–16:
“Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”
So the first thing James wants you to rule out is this: when you sin, don’t say God made me do it. It cannot happen. It’s not going to happen.
When does someone sin? Verse 14 says: “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”
So temptation begins with your own involvement. God is not the source of temptation. You are tempted when you are carried away by your lust.
Then verse 15: “When lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin.” When you’re looking at it for a longer time, when you’re working on your temptation, lust conceives and it gives birth to sin.
So when somebody sins—when you sin—you are sinning because you wanted to sin. It’s not because you were led into a place where you didn’t have any other choice. You decided to be carried away. You decided to give way.
And then, “When sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”
And that’s why James says: “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.” Do not be deceived by sin.
Bill McDonald said this: “If we think about a certain thing long enough, sooner or later we will do it.”
Someone said: “Sow a thought and reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.”
So stop blaming others.
4) God Restores
The fourth thing: God restores.
Look at verse 9:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
So what is the word? The word is confess.
Like when you sin—well, you don’t have to sin. You don’t have to give way for that lust. You don’t have to look at that thing long enough for you to percolate on that particular thing. You can walk away. You can say: I am going to obey my parents. I am not going to look at these things.
But in case you do—when you disobey, when you give in, when you sin—the verse says: confess.
Confess comes from the word homologeō. Homo means the same, and logo comes from logos, meaning word. You say the same word as God says. Confess means you are agreeing with God. You are speaking the same language as God.
God says it is sin. You are not defending your act. You’re not saying Satan made me do it, or my brother made me disobey, or my friend motivated me to steal. You don’t defend your sin.
Rather you confess before the Lord and say, “Lord, I agree with You that I have sinned.”
David did that. Psalm 32:5: “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and You forgave the guilt of my sin.”
Now that’s the beauty of our salvation. Yes, we don’t have to sin. Yes, God gives us the power not to sin. But when you sin, you can go back to God.
And what does verse 9 say about God? Two things:
He is faithful, and He is righteous.
You know, I don’t know about you, I find it hard to apologize to people. Is anybody agreeing with me on that? It’s very tough to apologize. Why? Because we have our own egos.
Sometimes when we apologize, we try to make it as broad as possible—as surface-level as possible.
At Hillview Bible Chapel, we go through this book called The Peacemaker. It’s one of our foundation courses. Because where two or three are gathered, there’s always conflict. When there is conflict, there is disunity. When there is disunity, there is chaos. When there is chaos, the Lord’s work is not moving forward.
And Ken Sande talks about what he calls the seven A’s of confession. Rather than broadly painting your confession, you have to be specific.
The Seven A’s of Confession
One of the things we emphasize when it comes to conflict is this: you have to look at the log in your own eye before you look at the speck in your brother’s eye.
It’s graphic. You have a big plank—like a 2×4—stuck in your eye, and you go to your brother and say, “I see that small speck in your eye.” And he says, “Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?”
So let me ask you this: when was the last time you confessed your sins to the Lord?
As they say: keep short accounts with God. Confess regularly. Don’t keep things pending. Have a good relationship with people in the assembly, and so on.
5) Christ Advocates
And then the final thing: Christ advocates.
Look at chapter 2, verse 1:
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.”
That’s why John is writing all this. Yes, you confess your sin, but ultimately he’s trying to encourage people not to sin.
And then he says: “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
Christ is our Advocate in the presence of the Father.
Now Christ is also called an intercessor, isn’t He? Jesus is our intercessor. What does that mean? It means Jesus is praying for us, on our behalf, to the Father. An intercessor brings two parties together.
But an advocate does what? He’s not bringing two parties together. An advocate represents one party.
So Jesus is both:
It is the word paraklētos which is used also for the Holy Spirit.
And the advocacy of the Lord Jesus Christ is based on two things:
(a) Jesus Christ the Righteous
Jesus is rightful. He cannot go wrong in being an Advocate, because He paid for your sins on the cross.
(b) He Is the Propitiation
And secondly, He is the propitiation.
I know that’s a big word. But don’t shy away from these big words. Try to learn them and the meaning of them.
Propitiation means satisfaction. Jesus Christ satisfied God the Father.
Now why should Jesus Christ satisfy God the Father?
Because when there is sin in the world, is God happy? No. I would say He is full of wrath, because He is holy.
So if a holy God has to accept sinful human beings to Himself, He needs to be satisfied. And there’s only one Person who can satisfy God the Father when it comes to the problem of sin: the Lord Jesus Christ.
That’s why it says: He is the propitiation for our sins.
And notice: it does not say He was the propitiation when He died. It says He is the propitiation. Why is that important? Because when you and I sin today, it is because of Jesus being an Advocate. It is as if He says, “Father, I paid the price for David’s sin today. So You can be satisfied.”
That’s why it is important for us to realize Christ is our Advocate.
Closing Exhortation
And finally: “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.”
Let me close with this: God takes sin seriously. And you and I should take sin seriously as well.
What does taking sin seriously mean? Of course, we need to rely on the Holy Spirit and His power not to sin. But when we sin, we need to go to the presence of God and confess our sins, because He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins.
That’s how you walk in the light, because He Himself is in the light.
Always remember: sin deceives. Always remember: you once belonged to the domain of darkness. Now you can walk in the light. You can be like the Lord Jesus Christ who is the light who came to enlighten every man.
And because He has done that work—because He has finished that work—you can walk in the light and live in a way that pleases God.
Let’s pray.
Our Father in heaven, we thank You for the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. We thank You for the value of the blood. We want to pray and ask that You will help us to walk in the light as He Himself is in the light. We thank You for the work of the advocacy that He does for us, representing us before the Father, because we belong to You, because You paid for our sins on the cross.
So we thank You for these rich teachings from the Scriptures. We thank You for the Word of God that’s been given to us. We ask that You would continue to bless our studies as we get into the book more and more in the next few days. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.