This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We're looking together through the letter
of 1 John chapter 1, day 4 of our look through that chapter. We're going to look
at verses 5 to 7 today.

The last few days we've seen that John talks about how the life that God wants
to give us is real. He knows it's real because he watched Jesus walk on this
earth and he watched Jesus work in his life. In verse 5 he talks to us about how
real, how powerful this real really is.

Listen to 1 John chapter 1 verse 5. This is the message that we've heard from
him and declare to you, God is light. And in him there is no darkness at all.

God is light. As we walk through 1 John we're going to see 3 truths about God
again and again and again. God is light, God is love, and God is life.

In fact you can almost outline the book by those 3 truths. God is light, chapter
1 through chapter 2 verse 2. God is love, chapter 2 verse 3 through chapter 4
verse 21.

And God is life, chapter 5. Chapter 5 verse 20 talks about the fact that he is
eternal life. God is light.

God is love. God is life. It's not just that God has these things, light, love,
and life, or that he gives these things.

He is these things. It's not all that he is. But he is these things.

He is light. He is love. He is life.

In many ways this is John's confession of faith. As you walk through 1 John it's
his confession of faith about who the Father is, who the Son is, and who the
Spirit is, the Trinity of God. The Father, he is light and love and life.

The Son, John has a lot to say about the Son Jesus. It's summed up in 1 John 4,
9, and 10. This is how God showed his love for us.

God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. This is
the kind of love we're talking about. Not that we once upon a time loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and
the damage they've done to our relationship with God.

That's who the Son is. And John also talks a lot about the Spirit, the third
person of the Trinity. He tells us as we walk through this letter that the
Spirit is the truth, that the Spirit anoints us to know the truth, and that the
Spirit is given to assure us of the truth that God lives in us.

God is light. And because he is light, that affects my life. Listen to verses 6
and 7.

If we claim to have fellowship with him, and yet walk in the darkness, we lie
and do not live by 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,
purifies us from all sin.

John is just being logical here. He says God is light. And the fact that God is
light means that if you're walking with him, you're going to have light in your
life.

And to say that you're walking with him and not have any light in your life,
well, you've got to be lying to yourself. If I walk into a room and the light is
off, but I act like it's on and I say, "Oh, wow, it's really light in here,"
everyone in the room knows I'm lying because everybody can see that it's dark.
Notice in these verses that your life is compared to a walk.

If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, in verse 7, you either walk in
the light or you walk in the darkness. God is light and there are five ifs based
on that statement in this passage in the first chapter of 1 John. We're going to
look at two of those ifs today and three of them tomorrow.

If John says, "We claim to be fellowship with him, yet we're walking in
darkness," we're lying to ourselves. And then if number two, if we walk in the
light, we're going to have fellowship and the blood of Jesus purifies us. Wait a
minute.

You might be thinking, "Are you saying that any moment that I'm not walking in
the light, that my sin isn't being forgiven, that if I died in that moment, I
wouldn't go to heaven? " No, no, no, not at all. We're going to get to that
tomorrow.

We're talking about your relationship with Jesus Christ in a daily way and we're
talking about intimacy in that relationship, walking in the light. We're talking
about the fact that intimacy is rooted in honesty. You see, as a believer in
Jesus Christ, you have come into the light.

You have come into God's love, but you get to choose every day how you're going
to walk. And you can walk in darkness. We walk in darkness when the most
important things in our lives are not brought into his light.

Your career, your relationships, your sexual life, your hobbies, your family,
your thought life, your entertainments. He is the light. And if I'm spending
time with him and he is a part of my life, all of these things are brought into
the light.

But if there's any one of those things that I say, "No, God, I don't want you to
be a part of that," that means he's not a part of my life. Because he is light.
He cannot be a part of my life without bringing light into my life.

So as I went through that list, or maybe a list that God created in your mind as
I went through it, if there's any place in your life where you think, "No, I
don't want God to be a part of that," if I say I have fellowship with him, but
my life isn't being brought into his light, I obviously don't have fellowship
with him. And John's saying, "Just be honest with yourself. Don't lie to
yourself anymore.

Don't act like you can have fellowship with him and let this allow this in your
life. " If I stub my toe when I'm walking into a dark room, that's one thing,
and I realize I need the light. But if I become embarrassed, so embarrassed that
I don't turn on the light and I lie about it, "Well, I really had lots of light,
but you moved the chair.

If you hadn't moved the chair, I wouldn't have stubbed my toe. It's not the
darkness that's the problem. It's you that's the problem," that's a very
dangerous thing.

Because instead of recognizing my need for light, I'm excusing the darkness in
my life. Is there a place in your life where you're doing that? Instead of
recognizing the need for his light, you're excusing the darkness in your life.

You're excusing the fact that you're not fellowshipping with him at that point
in your life, and then that spreads to your entire life. It's easy to do. We've
all done it.

Are you doing it at a place in your life right now? In fact, as we talk to God
today in prayer, I want to encourage you to ask some questions before him. Ask
him, "God, is there a place in my life where I've said no to you?

You've asked me to do something and I've said no. Would you remind me of it? "
So I could say yes, so I could follow your light.

Ask him in prayer, "God, is there a place in my life into which you are not
invited? I'm allowing darkness in my life. Help me to be honest about it, to
stop pretending about it, to realize what it's doing to my life.

As long as I pretend about it, Lord, I can allow it in my life. Help me to see
the truth about it, how that darkness is hurting me and others, so that you can
begin to change that thing in my life, not alone, but with your help and the
help of others. " Ask yourself in prayer, "Are there some feelings, some
attitudes about my life, about the people in my life that I'm nursing in the
dark corners of my thoughts?

Some unforgiveness, some bitterness, some grudge, some jealousy? God, bring them
into the light and bring healing to my life, to my heart. " Ask yourself in
prayer, "Have I revealed my heart, my feelings, my thoughts, my plans to God, as
completely as I know how?

Or are they my thoughts, my plans, and I hold onto them? God, help me to show
you my heart, to open it before you. Bring your light into my life, because God,
I want to fellowship with you.

I want to live my life in your light. I want to live my life in relationship
with you. Help me to stop lying to myself about the darkness, and help me to
instead be honest about the darkness, so I can experience your light.

I pray this, Jesus, in your name, Amen. Make sure to join us tomorrow as we end
our study of this first chapter. We're going to be looking at verses 8 to 10,
which includes one of the most famous verses in the Bible.