[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening, with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read, 1 John, the first letter of John, chapter 1, and if we read again in verse 5, we looked at the first four verses last Lord's Day, so we're just picking up where we left off.
[0:24] 1 John, chapter 1, verse 5, This is the message we have heard from Him. And proclaim to you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
[0:36] If we say we have fellowship with Him while we 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, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
[0:57] When I was young, back in the good old days, I was growing up, as you know, in the village on the other side of the island in Melbost, a very, very good village to grow up in.
[1:13] But growing up in Melbost, we used to get milk delivered every morning by the milkman. So the farm would deliver the milk probably in the early hours of the morning. They'd drop it off right at the end of our driveway.
[1:26] But there was one day when we had forgotten to take the milk in. We must have had plenty in the fridge that day. But we forgot to take the milk in, and we didn't actually take it in until it had got dark at the end of the day.
[1:37] And so my mother, she went to the end of the driveway to get the milk. But when she came back in, something had happened to her. So back then, when I was in the good old days, when I was young, milk would come in cartons of milk.
[1:51] You remember the cardboard cartons of milk a long time ago before we had plastic bottles. But if the milkman didn't cover the milk cartons with a milk crate, the crows would often have a good gulp of the milk before it was picked up.
[2:06] And that day, the crows had been at the milk making holes in all of the milk cartons. And so when my mother went at night, after it got dark, she went down to get the milk from the end of the driveway to pick it all up.
[2:17] What she didn't realize was that as she was walking back up the driveway, carrying all this milk, four cartons of milk that we would get every day, all the milk was leaking out all over her.
[2:29] She was covered in milk. And it was only when she walked in the back door and stood under the kitchen light, she realized that she was covered in this milk.
[2:40] She had no idea that as she was walking up the driveway in the dark, she was getting covered in milk. And my mother, I'm sure I've mentioned this to you before, my mother would spiritualize almost every event in our lives as children.
[2:52] Every event was spiritualized. And so the first thing she said as she walked in, covered in milk, I was sitting there at the kitchen table. She said, look at that, Myrtle. I couldn't see the mess I was in until I came into the light.
[3:06] I couldn't see the mess that I was in until I came into the light. And you know what she said, it's always stuck with me. Every time I come to this passage, the first thing I think of, what my mother said, I couldn't see the mess that I was in until I came into the light.
[3:25] And you know, in many ways, that's what John is reminding us this evening. Because when we come into the light, when we come from darkness to light, we not only see the mess that we're in, we also see that we need to keep walking in the light, and we need to keep talking to the Lord.
[3:44] So we need to keep walking in the light, and we need to keep talking with the Lord. When we come from darkness to light, we see the mess that we're in, but we need to keep walking in the light and talking with the Lord. And there are two headings this evening, two simple headings, walking and talking. So boys and girls, there are your two headings this evening, walking and talking. So first of all, walking. John says in verse 5, this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we 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, his son, cleanses us from all sin. When we began our study of 1 John, last Lord's Day, we were asking the question, how do I know that I'm a Christian? How do I know that
[4:45] I'm saved? How do I know that my sins are forgiven? How do I know that God loves me? How do I know that I'm a Christian, especially when I don't feel that I'm a Christian? And as we said, John wrote this letter for one purpose. He wrote it that you may know, that you may know that you're a Christian.
[5:08] John wrote this letter because he loved the Lord and he loved the Lord's people. And this letter, as we saw last Lord's Day, it's a letter of love. It's a love letter. And it was a love letter, not only because it's written by the disciple that Jesus loved or the beloved disciple or the apostle of love, all these nicknames that John was given, but it was a love letter because it's a letter that's full. And it's a letter that's overflowing with the love of God being displayed to us and demonstrated to us through the death of Jesus Christ. If you want to know if God loves you, if you want to see where God has demonstrated his love towards you, John says, and all of the apostles say, look to the cross. That's where you will see God's demonstration and God's display of his love through the death of Jesus Christ. But you know, the reason John wrote this letter and sought to address this question, how do I know that I'm a Christian? It was all because there were false teachers. There were false teachers infiltrating and influencing the church with the false teaching of Gnosticism. Gnosticism taught, as we mentioned last Lord's Day, it taught that in order to know that you're a Christian, or in order to be a proper Christian, you need to have this higher gnosis, this higher knowledge of God. And of course, their claim and their confusion of Gnosticism, it made genuine Christians or seeking Christians, it made them feel isolated. It made them feel inferior. I don't have what they have.
[6:44] It made them feel insignificant. I'm not as good as them. Because they didn't have this higher gnosis that the Gnostics claimed that they had, this higher knowledge. And because they didn't have this higher knowledge, they thought to themselves and they felt in themselves that they weren't proper Christians.
[7:01] And the outcome, as it was in the early church, was that they questioned their Christianity. And others, they doubted their salvation completely. And even some, they fell away from the faith.
[7:15] But as John points out in his letter, he says, the danger and deception of Gnosticism was that they denied the incarnation and the resurrection of Jesus. They denied that God became man, and they denied that God rose from the dead, which ultimately denies the person and work of Jesus Christ.
[7:34] It undermines the whole gospel message. Gnosticism claimed that it would be unthinkable, unimaginable, unbelievable to say that God, the God of heaven, became man. He became flesh and dwelt among us.
[7:51] But as John states in the opening verses of his letter, Jesus wasn't a figment of their imagination. He wasn't a phantom who appeared around the shore of the Sea of Galilee. No, he was physical. He was flesh. He was God manifest in the flesh. And he proved that he was God manifest in the flesh, not only by the message that he gave, but also by the miracles he performed. And John says in these opening verses, we heard him, we saw him for ourselves, we touched him with our hands. He says there in verse 1, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard with our own ears, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our own hands, concerning the word of life. And John says, this is what we testify to you. This is what this letter is all about. This is what we preach and proclaim to you. Verse 3, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing all these things so that our joy may be complete. John says to us that the focus of Christian fellowship is complete joy in Christ.
[9:10] Therefore, the only way to have complete joy in Christ, the only way to have peace with God, or the peace of God, is to know that you're a Christian. That's the gnosis you need, the real gnosis. Never mind this higher knowledge. It's not a higher knowledge of God you need. John says, you need to know that you're a Christian by simply trusting in Jesus, by faith and by faith alone.
[9:39] And as we said last week, that's why John wrote this letter. He says in chapter 5, verse 13, it's the key verse of the whole letter. If you want to know what the letter is all about in one verse, he tells us that the key verse of this love letter is chapter 5, verse 13, I write these things to you who believe.
[10:00] You already believe in the name of the Son of God, but I want you to know that you have eternal life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. John wrote this love letter so that you may know that you believe in Jesus Christ, and that you may know that you belong to Jesus Christ. That you may know that you believe and that you belong to Jesus Christ. But you know, the way in which John wrote his love letter, it's fascinating.
[10:36] John didn't write this love letter using a logical or a linear approach, as you would often say, like Paul writes his letters. Paul is very logical in the way he writes his letters. Instead, John, boys and girls, John used the ancient technique called amplification. It's a technique called amplification. And how amplification works is that John takes three themes in his letter. So, there are three themes that John wants to convey and communicate to us as the readers of this letter.
[11:13] And John wants to amplify these three themes throughout his whole letter. And the themes that he wants to amplify are the themes of light, boys and girls, light, love, and life. The themes of light, love, and life. And John amplifies these three themes throughout his letter, the themes of light, love, and life. He does that by repeating them all the time. He comes back round to them all the time.
[11:44] It's as if he's going round and round in cycles. And every cycle, he's amplifying it. He's emphasizing it to us. And by amplification, they in turn become application. That's what he's doing. It's very fascinating how he does it. By their amplification, by amplifying light, love, and life, they become application. We see what John is saying. Because as John emphasizes and explains the light, love, and life of God, we're made to see the importance of the light, love, and life in the Christian.
[12:21] And you know, what always amazes me about John's writings is that whether he's writing in his gospel or in his letters, John always uses small words and simple language. He always uses small words and simple language. You see that? This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, God is light. In him is no darkness at all. It's small words, simple language. But you know, we're not to let John's small words and simple language fool us. Because as you see, there's a depth to what John is trying to communicate and convey to us. In fact, it's often said that John's writings, they are shallow enough for a child to walk in, and yet deep enough for an elephant to swim.
[13:12] That's how John's writings are often described. John's writings are shallow enough for a child to walk in. They're small words, simple language. Shallow enough for a child to walk in, yet deep enough.
[13:23] There's a depth to them. There's a weightiness to what John is saying. There's a depth to them that it's deep enough for an elephant to swim in. Now, even though John amplifies the three themes of light, love, and life, he repeats them again and again throughout his letter. And if you read through the letter, I'd encourage you to read through 1 John. You'll see those themes coming back up again and again and again. The themes of light, love, and life. But even though he presents these three amplified themes, he has divided his letter into two halves. And the two halves are divided by a phrase.
[14:06] And the phrase is there in verse 5. This is the message. This is the message. That's what he says there in verse 5. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. So that's the first half. He introduces the first half of his letter.
[14:29] John introduces the theme. God is light. God is light. Then in the second half of his letter, John introduces the second theme. God is love. God is love. He writes in chapter 3, he writes, this is the message. This is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Why, as John explains? Because God is love. And those two themes, those two themes, God is light and God is love. They are bound together by the theme that God is life. God is light. God is love. They're bound together by the theme God is life. Because when we know that God is light, and when we know that God is love, we will know and experience the life that God gives to us.
[15:19] Because we will have God's life, eternal life. Which is why John says, the main verse, the key verse to his letter, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. The themes are all there to amplify to us the importance of that you may know that you belong to Jesus and you believe in Jesus. And so as John amplifies the first three, the first of these three themes, he says in verse 5 there, he introduces his letter, then he says in verse 5, this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
[16:14] And throughout his letter, John not only amplifies the themes of light and love and life by repeating them throughout his letter, he also, you could say, he amplifies their application by using contrasts.
[16:28] You'll see that as you read through the letter. He makes all these contrasts between truth and error, between God and Satan, between life and death, between love and hate. But the clearest contrast is right here in verse 5, the contrast between light and darkness. Light and darkness.
[16:50] In the ancient world, when John was writing, and even before then, light was always symbolic of perfection and holiness. But darkness was always symbolic of sin and evil. Therefore, when John says that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all, John is emphasizing and explaining to us that the God we worship and the God we are called to walk with, he is perfect and pure.
[17:23] He is holy and he is to be hallowed. And in him, says John, in him there is no darkness, there is no sin, there is no evil, there is no wickedness, and he says there is nothing there at all. Not even a little bit. God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. It's a great contrast between light and darkness. But of course, this contrast between light and darkness, it began at the very beginning, when God, the God who is light, he spoke first into the darkness of creation and said, let there be light. And there was light. But the thing is, God not only spoke light into the creation, he also called us, we see that in the Old Testament, God called the people of Israel to be a light. They were to reflect the image of God. They were to be image bearers of the
[18:24] God who is light. They were to be a light to the nations. That's what the people of Israel were. They were to be a light to all the other nations to draw them in that they would follow the Lord.
[18:36] But sadly, the people of Israel, the story of the Old Testament is that the people loved darkness rather than the light. Why? Because their deeds were evil. And they hid their light. They veiled their light. They kept the light of the Lord to themselves. They didn't display the light to any of the other nations. They kept it all to themselves. Which is why when Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Sermon on the Mount, the first thing, one of the first things Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount to the Christian, he says, remember, Christian, you are the light of the world. You are to do what Israel failed to do. You are the light of the world. You are a city set upon a hill that cannot be hidden.
[19:24] You are not to hide your lamp or light under a bushel or a basket, but put it on the lampstand. Let everybody see it. Because when you let everyone see it, it gives light to other people.
[19:36] Let your light so shine before men, says Jesus, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Because as John says there, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
[19:57] And so you see the importance of light and darkness, this contrast between light and darkness. You see it here in this letter. But John also makes it very clear in his gospel.
[20:10] He makes this contrast between light and darkness throughout his gospel. When he introduces the prologue, the first 18 verses of John chapter 1, John introduces Jesus to us, and he says, In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. Why? Because the true light, which lightens everyone, was coming into the world. And throughout his gospel, when you read through John's gospel, it's fascinating how he uses it. John uses the themes of light and darkness through a man.
[20:52] You see it through the life of Nicodemus. He is an image, an illustration of what it means to be brought from darkness to light. We've all heard about Nicodemus. He was the Pharisee who came to Jesus by night, under the cover of darkness. He was the teacher in Israel, and yet he was coming to Jesus. He was being drawn to the light because he knew he was in darkness. And that's what John tells us.
[21:20] He tells us that Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. He's not talking about the hour of the day or of the night that Nicodemus came to Jesus. He's telling him that there's a spiritual darkness going on in Nicodemus' soul. But then you read through John's gospel, and you follow Nicodemus through the story of the gospel. And Nicodemus, he appears again. He's there when Jesus declares, I am the light of the world. Whosoever follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And by the end of his gospel, John tells us, look, here's Nicodemus again.
[21:59] After Jesus has encountered and endured our darkness on the cross, after the cross has been shrouded in darkness, we see Nicodemus there with Joseph of Arimathea, and he's burying the body of Jesus. Nicodemus was following Jesus. He was committed to Jesus. He knew Jesus. He believed in Jesus, and he knew that he belonged to Jesus. He's no longer walking in darkness. He's walking in the light. And throughout his gospel, John uses Nicodemus as this image, this illustration of what it means to be brought from darkness into the marvelous light of the Lord. It's a wonderful theme to follow through John's writings, darkness and light. But you know, one of my favorite verses in the Bible, it just encapsulates, explains what John is emphasizing here to us. One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6. For God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's what we need to see. We need to see the face of Jesus Christ, because he is the light of the world. So how do I know that I'm a Christian? John says, you will know because you walk in the light by following the light of the world, Jesus Christ. That's how you know you're a Christian. You want to walk in the light, and you want to follow the light. That's what Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Whosoever follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. But John goes on to explain that walking in the light involves talking with the Lord. Walking in the light involves talking with the Lord, which is what we see secondly, and more briefly. So there's walking, and then there's talking. Walking and talking. John says in these verses, he says, this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we 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, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. You know, when preparing for this evening, it's very hard to divide these verses into headings. As you know, I love alliteration. I love headings. I find them very helpful. But it was very difficult to put these three verses into headings because, as you know, when it comes to the Christian life, walking and talking go hand in hand. Walking and talking go hand in hand. We see that with Enoch right in the book of Genesis. Enoch walked with God and talked with God.
[25:11] You see it with Noah. Noah walked with God and talked with God. You see it in the example of Jesus. Jesus walked with God, his heavenly Father, and he talked with God, his heavenly Father. But of course, the thing about walking and talking is that you're not in a static and stationary position. You're not standing still silently. You're walking and talking, which highlights that there's movement, there's progression, there's advancement, there's growth. But we must always remember that the Christian life, it's a walk, not a run. Paul says that we're running a race. That's true.
[25:55] But it's a marathon, not a sprint. Because as you walk and as you talk with the Lord, there is going to be this gentle and gradual growth in grace. Sometimes your growth isn't obvious to yourself. It might be obvious to other people. Sometimes your growth isn't obvious. It's not observable. But it is there. And it's there because the Lord promised that he who begins a good work in you will bring it on to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. So your walk and your talk with the Lord, there's this gentle and gradual growth where you gently and gradually grow in grace and in knowledge of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And you know, that was the whole premise of John Bunyan's classic book, The Pilgrim's Progress. We're all familiar with The Pilgrim's Progress.
[26:46] We should all love The Pilgrim's Progress. If you haven't read it this year, read it. It was that journey. It was a long journey, a difficult journey that began in the city of destruction in darkness.
[27:01] And it was a long journey all the way to the celestial city of light. That's what the Christian life is. It's a journey with Jesus. It's our walk with God. It's a walk where we are walking and talking.
[27:17] A walk with God. And you know, was it not William Cowper, great hymn writer, he wrote the hymn, Oh, for a closer walk with God. I don't know about you, but that's what I always feel I need.
[27:32] Oh, for a closer walk with God. A calm and heavenly frame. A light to shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb. But of course, in order to have a closer walk with God, we not only need to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we also need to have fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. And John says this is why we preached and proclaimed the gospel in the first place. He says there in verse 3, That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, in order to have this closer walk with God, we need to have fellowship with God and fellowship with God's people. We need to have fellowship with one another. We need to walk in the light and talk in the light. We need to walk in the light and talk in the light. We need to have fellowship with the Lord and fellowship with the Lord's people. Because as John goes on to say in verse 6, if we have fellowship with Him while we're still walking in darkness, we lie. We do not practice the truth.
[28:45] But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus' Son cleanses us from all sin. And you know, by mentioning the word fellowship four times in the opening seven verses, so John is emphasizing something. If the Bible says it once, it's great. If it says it twice, it's emphasizing to it.
[29:10] If it's three or four times, you need to listen to what it's saying. And John is emphasizing four times in seven verses, he's emphasizing and explaining that fellowship is key to knowing that you're a Christian.
[29:25] Fellowship is key to knowing that you're a Christian. And as you know, this word fellowship, it's not only a familiar word, it's also one of my favorite Greek words in the Bible. Boys and girls, it's the word koinonia. Koinonia. That's your third question. It's a beautiful word, isn't it?
[29:48] Koinonia. And it's a word that we've encountered, we've seen it many, many times before in the New Testament, because it's a word that stresses to us and shows to us how important fellowship is in the Christian life and our walk with God. Because koinonia, it means fellowship. It means communion. It's sharing. It's fellowship with Christ and fellowship with other Christians.
[30:14] It's communion with the Savior and communion with the saints. It's speaking and sharing our lives with one another, where we speak and share about our salvation, like Sean is going to do this evening with the youth fellowship. It's speaking and sharing our sins, not publicly, but sharing with one another, our sufferings and our struggles and our stresses and our strains and our sicknesses and our sorrows. It's sharing it all with one another. My friend, we're to be committed to koinonia by walking in the light and walking with the Lord and walking with the Lord's people. We're to walk together. We're to walk together. We're to walk and talk with one another. But, says John, verse 6, if we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
[31:11] And you know what John says there is so important. Because if we say that we're a Christian, and I hear many people saying to me, I'm a Christian.
[31:24] But if we say that we're a Christian, but our character and our conduct and our conversation does not match that confession, if our walk doesn't match our talk, then John says, we are deceiving ourselves. We do not practice the truth. We're deceiving ourselves, and we're deceiving others because we're lying. But if we're walking in the light, which is our confession, then we will be talking with the Lord and the Lord's people. And you know what John is saying here is that our walk must match our talk must match our walk. The two go hand in hand, walking and talking. Our walk must match our talk. Our talk must match our walk. Our Christian character, conduct, and conversation must all be connected through koinonia. We need koinonia. We need fellowship. We need communion. We need one another.
[32:37] We're to walk in the light. We're to walk with the Lord. We're to walk with the Lord's people. We need to strengthen and support one another. We need to bear one another's burdens. We need to love one another, says Jesus, as He has loved us. And so, my friend, I want to say, if you feel distant from the Lord, if you feel detached from your congregation, if you feel that you're disconnected from your church, then you have to question, are you using the opportunities for fellowship that are there for you?
[33:15] Are you using the opportunities for fellowship that are there for you? Because if you're not using them, if you're not using them, then don't complain that you lack fellowship.
[33:28] If you're separating yourself by sitting on the sidelines or sitting on your settee at home, then you're not walking in the light as you should be. That's what John is saying here. We need to have walk in the light so that we have fellowship with one another. John says, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
[33:51] So, John is asking us, are you attentive to the means of grace through prayer and Bible reading? That's the first means of grace. That's how God communicates His grace to us. Do you read your Bible? If you don't read your Bible, share that with someone. That's koinonia. Speak to somebody about it. Encourage one another to read the Bible. Or do you pray? If you're struggling to pray, speak to someone about it. Have koinonia about it. That's what it's about. So, the means of grace.
[34:30] Are you attentive to the means of grace? Prayer and Bible reading. Are you attending the means of grace? So, you're coming on the Lord's Day, Lord's Day morning, Lord's Day evening, Wednesday evening.
[34:42] They are the means of grace, the means that God communicates grace to us. They're there for us. If we struggle to go, why do we struggle to go? If we can't go, why can't we go? And if we can't, if there's a genuine reason, share it. Share it with someone so that they can pray for one another.
[35:00] That's koinonia. That's what being a church is all about. That's what the Christian life is all about. That's what walking and talking is all about. Do you stay behind for tea on a Sunday morning, or do you just shoot off home? It's provided for you so that you speak and share.
[35:17] Koinonia. You share with one another. Do you attend testimony evenings? Do you hear of somebody else speaking and sharing about their salvation? Do you attend congregational fellowships? It's all there for you. Do you speak to other Christians in the week, maybe bumping into them in the shop, or passing them in Tesco, or whatever it is? Do you meet with them? Do you speak? Do you share? Do you have koinonia? Because that's what it's all about.
[35:42] Walking and talking. Communion. Sharing. Fellowship. That's what John is showing us. That's what he's stressing to us here. Because he says that one of the ways to know that you're a Christian is that you're walking in the light, and you're talking with the Lord. You're walking with the Lord, and you're walking with the Lord's people. You're sharing. You're speaking. You're communicating.
[36:07] You're having koinonia. Because we are to be a body of believers that serves together, and shares together, and has koinonia together. Time has gone. But my friend, I want to emphasize that to you. We need to speak and share with one another. Because if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus' Son cleanses us from all sins. Now, time has gone. So, God willing, we'll touch on this more and more next week and in the weeks to come. But I want to highlight, last of all, just briefly, the verbs that John uses there in verse 7. He emphasizes and explains to us what we said earlier, that the Christian life, our walk with God, it's not static. It's not stationary. We're not standing still, silently. We're continually progressing. We're continually growing. We're continually moving forward. We're continually going on and on in our Christian life. And our continual movement, says John here in verse 7, boys and girls too, our continual movement is not annual. It's not monthly. It's not weekly.
[37:24] It's daily. John says there in verse 7, if you were to translate the verse accurately or as clearly as possible, it says, if we continue to walk in the light as he is in the light, then we will continue to have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus will continue to cleanse us from all sin.
[37:52] You see that? There's a progression. There's a growth. There's continuation. If we continue to walk in the light, as we should do every day, as he is in the light, then we will continue to have fellowship with one another every day, and the blood of Jesus Christ will continue to cleanse us from all sin every day. My friend, the Christian life is not static. It's not stationary. We are walking, and we are talking. Our walk with God is not weekly, monthly, or annually. It's daily.
[38:21] It's daily where we share koinonia with one another. Because when we come into the light, as my mother discovered walking into the house with milk all over her, when we come into the light, we not only see the mess we're in, we also see that we need to keep walking in the light and talking with the Lord. We need to keep walking in the light and talking with the Lord. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. Well, may the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray.
[39:04] O Lord, our gracious God, we give thanks for the teaching of thy word, that thy word is able to speak light into our darkness. That it not only speaks light into darkness in our salvation, but also light into darkness in our daily walk with thee. And we pray that we would keep coming back to the Bible and see that it is that lamp unto our feet and that light unto our path to lead us always to the rock that is higher than us. Bless us, Lord, together we pray. Bless thy truth to us, we ask, that thou wouldest continue to be our teacher and that we, O Lord, would be students of thy word, always willing to learn and to look and to listen and to love Jesus more and more.
[39:49] Cleanse us, we pray. Go before us into a new week, that whatever is before us, that thou wouldest keep us on the way, ever looking to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Go before us and we ask for Jesus' sake. Amen.
[40:08] Now, we're going to bring our service to a conclusion, singing the words of Psalm 119. Psalm 119, it's on page 408 of the Scottish Psalter. We're singing from verse 103 to 106.
[40:24] Psalm 119, page 408, singing at verse 103. Before we sing, four questions. Are you ready?
[40:36] What ancient technique did John use to write his letter? Amplification, yep. What are the three themes of John's letter? Light, love, and life. What Greek word does John emphasize in this chapter?
[40:55] Koinonia, which means... Oh, good guess. In verse 7, John explains that our walk with God is daily. It's a daily walk with God. Good job. I hope all the adults got that too. Yes, they did.
[41:15] Psalm 119 at verse 103. How sweet unto my taste, O Lord, are all thy words of truth. Yea, I do find them sweeter far than honey to my mouth. As we said, all our Psalms this evening, they focus upon the theme of light. And the psalmist says in verse 105, thy word is to my feet a lamp, and to my path a light.
[41:38] I sworn have, and I will perform to keep thy judgments right. So these verses, 103 to 106 of Psalm 119, to God's praise.
[41:48] How sweet unto my taste, O Lord, are all thy words of truth. Yea, I do find them sweet, greater, far, and honey to my mouth. I through thy precepts that are pure, do understand, I live forever with us falls with all my heart to hate thy word is to my feet along unto my path alight
[43:25] I sworn heaven I will platform to keep thy judgments right The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore Amen