The Third Sunday of Easter

April 14, 2024

1 John 1:5-2:2

Resurrection Reality —

We Have a Meaningful Message to Share!

5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But 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, purifies us from all sin.

8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (NIV1984)

Dear fellow worshipers of our living Lord and Savior,

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

There are certain events that take place in our lives, certain situations that arise that we feel compelled to share with others. For example, when we found out that Brenda was pregnant with our first child I had to call my Mom and share the good news with her. When Jonathan was born I proudly and joyfully handed out cigars that said, “It’s a boy!” on them. When someone passes their final exam, when someone lands their dream job, when someone finally gets that long overdue promotion, when someone gets to the point where they are going to retire— they want to share that good news with others! It’s the natural response to a joyful and literally life-changing event!

There is no better example of that truth than the joyful life-changing event we know as Easter! As an eyewitness of the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, the apostle John not only understood how important it was for him to share the Good News of Easter with others, but as an eyewitness of the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, the apostle John also impresses upon us this Resurrection Reality: Like John — We Have a Meaningful Message to Share! The meaningful message that John shares with us, the meaningful message that we have to share with others is a message that contains two major points: Law and Gospel.

Look at how clearly John brings out God’s powerful message of Law in the opening portion of our text. He writes, “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth…If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us…If we claim we have not sinned we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”

Our ultimate goal as Christians is to live in “fellowship” with our God. We want to have a close personal relationship with the One whom John accurately describes with the words: “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” Since sin is what separates a person from God in order for us to be in “fellowship” with God, in order for us to have a close personal relationship with Him something had to be done about our sin. Our sin had to be removed— completely! Unfortunately, all too often we try to achieve that goal on our own by minimizing and euphemizing our sin. We fall into the world’s trap of reclassifying sin as a “weakness” or a “disease” over which we have little or no control. But just as a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, so also a sin by any other name is just as deadly.

Have we been avoiding responsibility for our sins, my friends? Have we been playing word games in our life as a child of God in order to make ourselves feel and look better? If we “claim to have fellowship” with God, if we claim to be “in the light of Christ,” then we need to compare the claims we make with the actions of our life to see whether those claims ring hollow or true. John helps us to make that comparison by giving us a series of three statements— statements that gradually get stronger and stronger.

John’s first statement is, “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.” “Walking in the darkness” goes far beyond realizing that we have been caught in one of Satan’s traps. “Walking in the darkness” includes knowingly living a sinful lifestyle, knowingly adopting a sinful mindset, knowing supporting sinful attitudes— all while lying to ourselves in order to try and convince ourselves that we are still “in fellowship” with the God of light.

The Holy Spirit then has John kick it up a notch by saying to us, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” If anyone— especially a Christian!— if anyone says to themself, “I do not have any sin”— they are “deceiving” themselves. They are “leading themselves astray.” The Holy Spirit even has John conclude that if someone has “led themselves astray,” if someone has “deceived” themselves into thinking that they have no sin— “the truth is not in them.” “The truth” that John is talking about here is the truth of Scripture. Think about it. Scripture clearly proclaims, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:233).

The final and most serious statement of Law that the Holy Spirit has John share with us is found in verse ten, “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” We see and understand the seriousness of these words when we lift up our eyes to the cross (Pointing to the cross) and ask, “Why did the holy, perfect, innocent Son of God die on the cross?” Again Scripture very clearly answers that question, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:4, 5). The only way to deny that truth is to call the “God of light” a “liar”— which would be the height of both arrogance and foolishness! To me the thought of standing before the judgment throne of God after calling Him a “liar” is enough to make anyone shudder in fear!

Thankfully, John’s meaningful message to us also proclaims the glorious message of the Gospel! John says, “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, purifies us from all sin…If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

The word that is translated here as “walk” can also be translated as “go about, live, conduct oneself.” If we are “conducting ourselves,” if we are “living,” if we are “walking about” “in the sphere of the light”— His “light” (Pointing to the cross) then we will not only enjoy “fellowship” with our brothers and sisters in the faith, but we will rejoice in knowing that “the blood of Jesus, his Son” is continually “purifying” us and “cleansing” us and “making us clean” of all of our sins! How can “the blood of Jesus” accomplish such an amazing feat? Because it is the holy, precious blood of the innocent Lamb of God— the Lamb who willingly suffered and died to pay for our sins, the Lamb who physically rose from the dead to guarantee that we are now saints in the eyes of the God of Heaven!

Because this is such a central part of the meaningful message John was given to proclaim, the Holy Spirit has John emphasize its importance with the words, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” God’s promise to us is that He is and always will be “faithful” and “just.” God’s promise to us is a promise that is “rooted” in the cross on Calvary’s hill (Pointing to the cross) and is “proven” in the empty grave of Easter Sunday. Every single time we admit that we have sinned against God and deserve His punishment both now and in eternity, our “faithful” and “just” God puts His loving arms around us and says, “Fear not, My child. I have already washed you clean of all your sins.” Could there be a message that is more meaningful than the message our crucified and risen Savior speaks to us?

John then personalizes his message to us when he says in the closing verses of our text, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense— Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Our goal as Christians is to clearly and consistently live our life in a way that beautifully reflects the light of Christ in everything we do, think, and say. But we must also be realistic enough to realize that we all have that old sinful nature living inside of us. That’s why it is so necessary to know that no matter how often Satan confronts us with our sins, the reality of Jesus’ resurrection assures us that our living Lord and Savior “speaks to the Father in our defense.” The word John used here is the word “paraclete.” This word refers to someone who “calls us to their side” to comfort us, to counsel us, to console us.

Picture yourself in God’s courtroom. Satan brings all kinds of accusations against you— accusations that you know are true! If— and I emphasize the word if— if you were standing in God’s courtroom all alone— you wouldn’t have a chance. You wouldn’t have any way to defend yourself. Thankfully, you are not standing alone! The reality of Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead means that He is right there by your side to “speak to the Father in our defense”! The reality of Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead means that He “calls us to His side,” and “comforts” us. He “consoles” us with the truth that He is the “atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday are the proof that the heavenly Father has accepted the sacrifice of His Son as payment for our sins and that for Jesus’ sake He no longer counts our sins against us. Since Jesus is the “atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world” there is no way that Satan can claim that Jesus’ death and resurrection were not “enough” to completely pay for all of our sins. Since Jesus is the “atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world” we have a meaningful message to share with everyone whom God brings into our life!

That is the reality of Jesus’ resurrection that we are to take home with us today, my friends. The meaningful message that God the Holy Spirit has John share with us this morning is the meaningful message that God the Holy Spirit wants each and every one of us to share with as many people as we can. We always need to remember, however, that this meaningful message we have been given to share does indeed contain both Law and Gospel!

If we are talking with someone whose lifestyle reveals that they are “walking in the darkness” of sin, if we are talking with someone who has deceived themselves into thinking that they don’t have any sins or that their sins are not all that serious— we can’t be shy about proclaiming to them the powerful message of God’s holy Law.

If we are talking with someone who is striving to “walk in the light” of His Truth (Pointing to the cross), if we are talking with someone whose soul is in pain because of the sins they have committed— we can’t be shy about encouraging them and comforting them with the glorious message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

There are certain events that take place in our lives, certain situations that arise that we feel compelled to share with others. My prayer this morning is that the reality of Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead will motivate us to share with others the most meaningful message of all:

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

To God be the glory!

Amen