Walk In The Light As He Is In The Light

1 JOHN 1:5-10
“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to 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 practice 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 Christ 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 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.
”‭‭I John‬ ‭1:5-10‬ ‭NKJV‬
‬https://bible.com/bible/114/1jn.1.5-10.NKJ

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Light represents what is good, pure, and holy. Darkness represents what is sinful and evil.
The statement, "God is light" means God is holy, true, and that He alone can guide us from the darkness into the light.
Light is related to truth, and that light exposes the truth whether good or evil.
In the dark, good and evil look alike, but in the light, they can be clearly distinguished, “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
‭‭John‬ ‭1:5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
Just as darkness cannot exist in the presence of light, sin cannot exist in the presence of God.
No matter how great the darkness, it cannot snuff out the light-it exposes all truth.
If we are to have good relationship with God, we must put aside our sinful way of life, repent and turn to God.
How can we claim to belong to God, and go on living sinful lives?
No one can deceive God, and He will expose and judge all deceit.
The Good News is, if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive.
He is just because He sent His only begotten Son to take our place on a cross and paid our penalty of sin with His own blood. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15:13‬ ‭NKJV‬
John was confronting claims of false teachers, that we could have fellowship with God and go on living in spiritual darkness. False teachers thought that the physical body was evil or worthless, and taught one of two approaches to behaviour.
They insisted on denying bodily desires through rigid discipline, or they approved of gratifying every physical lust because the body was going to be destroyed anyway; obviously, the second approach was more popular.
John is saying, we can't claim to be Christians and continue to live evil and immoral lives.
By living in the light, confessing our sin in repentance; that means being willing to change, Jesus cleanses us from all sin; He took yours and my place on a cross and died a criminal’s death on a cross that we are justified.
We inherited sin from Adam and Eve the beginning (ROMANS 5:12), and have a natural tendency towards sin.
Sin is complicated, often as a result of survival, false beliefs, culture, habit, addiction and even possession, and therefore we can't possibly change ourselves, we need the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit (JOHN 14:15-18).
Furthermore, not only have we inherited sin from our decendants, we pass on our sinful ways to our children. Only by total submission to God and allow Him to change the way we think, can we be made right with God and be transformed into the person God created us to be.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
My brethren, we as individuals must put into practice our new nature in Christ-the old must be gone. “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:5-14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
If you think that you never sinned, you are calling God a liar. Therefore, we must remove all pride and truly be willing and desire to change from our old sinful life to God’s way of holiness as He teaches and strengthens us to stand firm against all sin.
We can only do this by the leading and power of the Holy Spirit in us (JOHN 14:15-18).
If one lives in the light, he or she has nothing to hide, but if one lives in the darkness of sin, he or she will have much to hide and it will be exposed in time.
Confession takes away the devil’s hand, he can no longer hang your sin over you, and therefore you are free to live for Christ without shame because your debt has been paid in full by the blood of Jesus.
Transparency brings peace because in transparency one hides nothing and is living in the light.
Therefore, submit to God in repentance daily, not because you deliberately sinned, but because you may of made a mistake.
We cannot live right without the Holy Spirt, but we do need to cooperate with Him.
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭16‬-‭26‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
My brethren, only then can the light of Christ shine from you.
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.