A Call To The Remnant

1Jn 1:5 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.

This then is the message that John has heard. He brings it all together in the statement that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. What then is the message? John says in the opening verses that he has seen the Christ with his own eyes. With his own ears he has heard God speak to him through the flesh. His eyes beheld Him and he even touched him. He handled the Word of Life. He embraced Him and he hugged Him and he kissed him on the cheek. For over three years he walked with Him, he walked with God and the message that he is now sharing is that in Him there was no darkness at all, they had walked in the light, and in this all-seeing all-knowing light it was impossible to walk in darkness. You simply could not walk with Jesus, could not fellowship with God if you were walking in darkness for God would call you on it.

But 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 cleanseth us from all sin. (1Jn 1:7)

What does it mean to walk in the light? It is not a small point, it is a vital point for it has major ramifications for who we are and how we live before men. You will notice that it says that if we walk in this light then we shall have fellowship one with another. Now, perhaps you did not know but there is two possible interpretations of this phrase ” one with another.” Many have believed that it means fellowship with other believers would not be possible if one were walking in the darkness. The other interpretation and the one that I believe and prefer is that “one with another” means having fellowship with God. Now, this will ultimately lead to a breaking in fellowship with other believers who may be walking in the dark, but primarily this scripture speaks to our relationship with God.

And so if we are to walk in this manifest presence of God then we shall be walking in a light that allows no darkness. It promotes transparency. It does not and cannot promote sinlessness but it can and does promote transparency.You can be blameless before God if your heart is good. Walking with Christ is to be first and foremost open and transparent before God and then open and transparent before men. If we are open and transparent before God then we are walking in a very tangible light. Perhaps one of the greatest compliments a Christian or a minister can receive is when men say of you ” what you see is what you get.” Or ” he is just the same as he is on the platform or off the platform.” You see, God hates hypocrites. He hates deceivers. The truth, and the love of it no matter where it leads is the light of God for in Him is no untruth. If we are walking without fear or favor of men then we are on the road with the Lord. If we cannot have fellowship one with another, meaning fellowship with God then it all stops there, nothing outside of that truly matters. Many men and women have fellowship with other saints despite their secret sins. In fact those who are walking in darkness, meaning not having fellowship one with another with the Lord, will be drawn to others of like state.

There is an enmity between those who are walking in darkness and those who are walking in the light. It cannot be avoided, it is like matter and anti-matter. It is the two opposite sides of the magnet that cannot come together. You could not walk with Jesus and stay in your sin. The light would pierce the darkness and something would have to give. Trying to have fellowship with someone who is an actor or walking in the darkness will ultimately lead to someone coming to the light or them turning on you and fleeing from your presence. Truth always prevails. Darkness cannot exist in the presence of light.

1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Guilt from sin is a double-edged sword. It is a door that can lead to freedom or to greater bondage and slavery. If one is walking in the light and sin comes knocking at the door, then one can respond to the guilt by walking through the door that leads to God and before His throne. There we have fellowship one with another as we confess our sin before a Holy God. Oh the beauty of it. He is faithful to forgive His children as they are drawn to Him and away from the darkness of sin. In this place we renew the intimacy of our walk which was temporarily broken and the beauty of it is, as we find ourselves awash in this grace we go deeper into the Father’s heart.

Now for those who teach that all sin is already forgiven therefore there is no need to come before the throne and deal with the issue of sin, we can clearly see that they are robbing God’s children of this experience, the experience of finding true grace, unmerited favor, before the throne of God. The discovery of God’s grace in the manner prescribed in 1Jn is so vital to the intimacy and maturity of the saints.

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. (1Jn 1:9-10)

Now when guilt comes knocking at our door because of sin and we choose not to come into His presence, rather we choose to continue in the darkness and flee from Gods presence, then the darkness increases as we distance ourselves from God. We are no longer walking in the light and we cannot have fellowship one with another with God. This leads to a quenching of God’s Spirit and a loss of anointing. One can hear the cry of King David after he fully realizes his sin and the magnitude of it ” take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” His earnest desire and hearts cry was that the joy of his salvation would be restored and that his heart would be cleansed from all unrighteousness.

Now this kind of darkness can take place within us on a personal level. It can also take place within a community, a nation or the whole world. Can I suggest that we are living in times when the nations of the world are walking deeper into the darkness. The gross darkness that is descending is happening because there has been an embracing of sin. When the world begins to deny the existence of sin, when it throws off the notion of sin and actually begins to embrace its sin as a virtue and something beautiful then there can be no darker place. The world is walking through a dark door when it rejects guilt and attacks the bearers of the light and tries to quench that light. One can argue that this tension between darkness and light has always existed to one level or another. Yet in that great final battle between darkness and light, one must either fully embrace the light and walk therein or fully embrace the darkness. In this final conflict, there will be no room for compromise. Stand fast saints. God is good and His mercy endures forever.