1 John

Are 2 readings this morning. The first is from John chapter 3 starting at verse 16, which can be found on page 10 66 of the Bible. That's a good number. If you're into British history, 10 66. And then the second reading is, from the book of 1 John, reading from chapter 1 verse 1, page 12 25.

So the first reading, the gospel of John chapter 3, starting to read at verse 16. For god so loved the world, that he gave his 1 and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of god's 1 and only son. This is the verdict light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of god. The second reading is taken from the letter of 1 John, starting to read in chapter 1, and at verse 1, that can be found on page 12 25. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked at and our hands have touched. This we proclaim concerning the word of life.

The life appeared. We've seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ, We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you.

God is light. In him, there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and get walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with 1 another and the blood of Jesus, his son purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the father. Jesus Christ, the righteous 1 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. Well, good morning. My name's Pete Woodcock.

I'm the pastor of the church. We've been working our way through 1, John, we only just started a few weeks ago. And if you wanna catch up, the recordings, are in place Let me pray. Follow help us now. It's warm in here and, our minds can wander so easily.

But we pray that coffee that we've had would kick in and that we would concentrate because you're speaking through your word and it's so vital that we hear because as we hear, you're creating us faith and trust and and you make us new. And so please help us listen. We pray for your glorious sake in our lives, amen. Now I'm not a great Star Wars fan. I know that sort of gets that's got off to a wrong start already for a lot of people.

I've never particularly enjoyed it, but, I obviously know that lots of people do. But in Star Wars, what I do know is that behind the universe, is the force, the force, the force be with you and all of that sort of stuff. And the force, as far as I can see, is just that. It's a force. The force has a light side and a dark side.

Good, evil, all are in 1 thing called the force. And it's up to us to sort of tap in to the good side, the light side, or the dark side, the bad side. It's it's down to us. So in a sense, the force is there for us to be enabled to do whatever we want to do enable us to to fulfill our dream, whether that's good or bad or whatever. Now when you open the Bible, God reveals himself in a very, very different way.

So 1 John chapter 1 verse 5. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you. God is light. In him, there is no darkness at all. God is light, pure unadulterated light.

And John wants to make it as clear as a bell, particularly in the world of Star Wars, what he's saying because he then goes on and says, in him, there is no darkness. At all. In god, there's no dark corners, he's saying. There's no shadowy places. There's no moral inconsistencies.

There's no compromise with dark, with sin, In fact, we're told in the Bible that his eyes are of too are too pure to look upon, to behold to gaze at sin, he's so pure. God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. And what John is showing us here is that light and dark don't and can't mix. Light and dark don't and can't mix. And that's my first point that I want you to get.

Light and dark don't mix. If you just read those early chapters, those first 2 of 1 John. You'll see what he's talking about. You'll get the definition of what he means by light and dark and then you'll see that why they can't mix. So let me just read parts of it.

Look out for the words and you'll see what he what he means by light and dark so that I'm not just imposing my thinking on the passage. So look at verses 5 to 7 of chapter 1. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you God is light. In him, there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with 1 another. And the blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from all sin. So you've got all kinds of things that he's showing us what light and dark mean there, little complicated. He writes in a strange way, but I'll I'll sum them up in a minute. Just go to chapter 2 verses 8 to 11.

He says, yet, I am writing to you a new command. It's truth is seen in him and in you because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or a sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light. And there is nothing in them to make them stumble.

But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them. So if you read those, took a bit of time as I've already done and sort of jotted down what light and dark means, you'll come to this. Light equals truth. Truth about us about who we are as people.

Truth about us naturally. A light shines in us and exposes what we're like. This light enables us to walk with god. That's what light means. It enables us to love and have fellowship with other believers, 1 another, other Christians, brothers and sisters.

Darkness equals sin, lies, cover up about ourselves, and it destroys fellowship with other believers. Light equals the realm controlled by truth and righteousness and love. That's 1 realm. Darkness equals the realm controlled by lies and evil and sin and hatred. So you see the difference, light and dark.

And therefore, my first point is, as I say, light and dark can't mix. And John wants us to see that very clearly. Stop messing around with them. Stop trying to make the mix when they don't mix. Light and dark don't mix.

They're simply incompatible. And he's making that very, very clearly. Not only are they opposites, but actually they're opposed to each other you turn the light on and it's opposed to the darkness, isn't it? You turn the light off and the darkness is opposed to the light. They're not just opposites.

They've just got not just don't mix. They actually are opposed to each other. They're incompatible. He's trying to get us to see this. Truth and lies.

Don't mix. You can't have truth and lies together. But listen to this. Fellowship and darkness don't mix. Look at verse 6.

It's very interesting this. This blew me away when I got this. Verse 6, if we claim to have fellowship With him, that's god, the god of light, and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. Fellowship with god and walking in darkness do not mix. Get that clear.

But then, look at verse 7 of chapter 1. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with 1 another, and the blood of Jesus, his son purifies us from all sin. It's not just fellowship with god, and darkness don't mix, It's simply fellowship and darkness don't mix. You actually can't have fellowship with darkness or fellowship with anyone if you're walking in darkness. That's what he seems to be saying.

And he he'll bring this out more and more in the book. So if we do walk in the light, then we do have fellowship with god. If we do that We then have fellowship with 1 another. If we claim fellowship with god and walk in the darkness, we are liars. If we claim fellowship with god and don't have fellowship with other brothers and sisters, we are liars.

You cannot have fellowship and walk in darkness. Fellowship in darkness don't mix as light and dark don't mix as truth and lies don't mix. We were seeing last week, and it's an important 1. So if you haven't heard it, go and back and listen to it, that fellowship is is to be partakers together. It's to walk along the same road together.

It's to walk in harmony together. It's to share stuff together to have fellowship is to move in the same direction, walk in harmony together down the same road in the same direction, And fellowship is always about being open with each other, clean, transparent with each other, kind. With each other. When sin enters any relationship, we do the opposite to fellowship. We start lying.

We start covering up. We start hiding. We withdraw from each other. We don't like each other. We whisper against each other.

We walk along different paths. We say things to other people. I'm not walking with him or her. We cover up. We make excuses about ourselves.

We make excuses about our behavior. That's what darkness does. So you just can't have fellowship and darkness going together. Do you see that? John writes, and and we had it read to us in John chapter 3.

And I love this because it shows us the difference between darkness and light. Here's John chapter 3 in in in verse 19. This is the verdict. Lights has come into the world, so here's light coming to the world, but people love darkness in stead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

But whoever lives by the truth and comes into the light, so that, they may be seen plainly what they have done has done and had have done in the sight of god. So there's there's do you do you see what's going on? Badly red? I'm afraid, but, do you see what's going on? You've got light is openness.

People who live in the light come out of the darkness, they live in openness, but people who live in the darkness, they hide. It's like bugs, isn't it? You you bug's under a rock. You pick the rock up, and there's all these bugs. They're loving the darkness.

Life is okay. They're just eating away on their own. They don't have to have fellowship with anyone, and then suddenly the light comes and there's way there's another bug here. What the heck is that? I don't want you're an ugly bug.

I don't want fellowship with you. You filthy thing. And then there's other things saying, you you think I'm ugly, you ugly bug. You need to go to the ugly bug ball. And then and then they all scutter away on their own into individual corners of darkness.

That's what happens when light exposes things that like the dark. That's what he's saying. Now we saw last week, and I hope you've got the dilemma. That last week, John's message, we were saying, his apostolic message, that which he has seen and heard and touched and seen, the message that he proclaims in verse 3 is a message of fellowship It's a message that will bring fellowship with us and god, the father, and the lord Jesus Christ. Now how can that be then?

Because now verse 5, we have a great dilemma. Because now he's saying the message is about God is light and in him there is no darkness. So are there 2 messages, or is there just 1 message and he's filling in the detail? Well, I take it. This is 1 message, and he's filling in the details.

Verse is 1 and 4 all about the lord Jesus Christ, and verse 5 is a summary of who he is and what the message is. It's not 2 messages. So this is how it goes. Jesus has come to bring us into fellowship, with god, us into fellowship with god. Now there's an obvious problem there, isn't there?

Cause if you know anything about us, anything about yourself, you'll know that you like dark things. That there is times where you've shunned the light and rather walk in darkness and sin that there's many dark corners of your lives and skeletons in the cupboard. There's many things that if the light exposed you, you would say, my goodness, don't show that. So we have a dilemma. The message is that Christ has come into the world, and we saw him and touched him and heard him.

This is the authentic message. To bring you and me into fellowship with god, but fellowship and darkness don't go together. So how on earth is that gonna happen? Now if you turn to John's gospel, this is John's letter, and if you turn to John's gospel, you'll see that there is really, really good news. That light is often a symbol of light and life.

Light is both life and light and salvation. Let me give you a verse. In him, talking about Jesus, in Jesus was life, and that life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. So John says at the beginning of his gospel, light is broken into a dark place, and that light is the very life that we desperately need And even though there's darkness, the darkness won't overcome the light.

And John says exactly the same here in John chapter 1 verse 1. Or 1 John 1. Verse 2, brother. Look what he says. I hope you're with me.

We proclaim eternal life. There's the life word. Then verse 5, god is light. That's what we proclaim. And in him, there is no darkness at all.

So the message John proclaims, that appeared to him that he saw that he heard that he touched is the truth about god and it truth about god who can fellowship openly with us, bring us light and life. Jesus, as we started this service, calls himself the light of the world and darkness, not even the darkness in you can overcome the light if you have him in your life. He brings the opposite to lies and sin and cover up and denial and death and anti fellowship and self centeredness. He's the light of the world And he comes and he turns the light on and shows us the way. That's John's message That's the message of verse 5 that he's preaching, that he's always been preaching.

The message can bring you into fellowship with god. He turns the light of eternity on through Jesus Christ. He exposes us to the light so that we can become children of the light. It is fantastic. Now I hope you got this, light and dark don't mix, and what John is trying to do and we've seen in previous sermons is test us.

So if John was here today, so I'm glad you're here. Let's test you. Let's test each 1 of you. Let's put you to the test. Let's put you through the fire.

Let's make sure you're genuine and authentic. Are you real gold or you're false? You're fake or real. And John doesn't mind doing this. He's he he he he shows us that preaching is actually bring comfort, but the way you bring comfort is to make sure you're real.

Yeah? Are you really gold or are you just to pretend? So he's gonna test us. Are you really walking in the light? Is the question he wants?

And 1 of the marks to see whether you're walking in the light is whether you think you're a sinner or not. Whether you see darkness for what it really is. If you don't think you're a sinner, and we'll see what that means in a minute, You are in the darkness. The light has never gone on in your head. Part of walking in the light, is that the light exposes us, like the rock being taken off to those little bugs.

Whoa. What is that? So here's my second point then. First point is light and dark don't mix. Got it.

Second point is authentic Christians when exposed to the light, come out of hiding. Authentic Christians when exposed to the light come out of hiding. Go back to chapter 1 and look at verses 6 to 10, and I'm gonna read them again, because I wanna keep rubbing these verses in. Is that a little complicated when you first read them? Look out for the if we, if we phrase.

Look out for that as I read it. I try and emphasize it. Here's the first 1 verse 6. If we, okay, did I emphasize that enough? If we claimed to have fellowship with him, yet walk in darkness, we lie.

And do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with 1 another, and the blood of Jesus, his son purifies us from all sin. If we verse 8 claim to be without sin, We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, We make him out to be a liar, and the word is not in us.

Being an authentic Christian, walking in the light is coming to terms with your own darkness. Being an authentic Christian is coming to terms with your own sin. Your sin. And unless you do that, you're not walking in the light because the light exposes you. And if you're not prepared to be exposed, you'll be like the bugs and you'll run for cover, and you'll be in the darkness.

You see, it's just not hard. A Christian is a person who knows that they are a failure. A Christian knows they are a sinner. A Christian knows that they have loved darkness. There's been many times that they've even shunned the light.

That's what a Christian knows about himself. But a Christian is someone who's come to their senses. They know they need cleaning and they go to the place of purification. They know they need someone to atone for their sins so they go to the place of atonement. They know that sin has to be punished by the god of light because sin is darkness.

How could god have fellowship with sin? He is too pure. And has to judge it and damn it. They know that sins deserve punishment, and the only hope is if someone takes the punishment for them. They've seen the truth about themselves They know they are failures and they are dark beings, and they know that if they confess their sin, come out of hiding and confess their sin, that when the light exposes their sin, Even though it hurts the eyes and it's painful and really hurts at first, they come to the place where they are cleansed and made new and forgiven.

They've seen the light about Jesus and sin. The very, very, very, very very, very good news. That because of Jesus, me, a bug that has been under the rock for so long can come into the light because of him. Look at verse 7, the second half of verse 7 of chapter 1. It is in a sounding statement, the blood of Jesus, his son purifies us from all sin.

Do you see how good that is? It's such a statement. There is a place. Historically happened. We saw it says John and the other apostles.

Where there is atonement for your sin, a place of cleansing. Listen to verse 9. Look at verse 9 of chapter 1. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will will. Not might?

Not if he's in the right mood, not if you bring the right things, but he will forgive us our sins. And purify us from all unrighteousness. These are just staggering sentences. And 1 of the problems is we as Christians have heard these so often We forget how staggering they are. They are mind blowingly staggering.

They are the opposite to hiding. They are the opposite to denying. They are the opposite to concealing. They are the opposite to a sinful life. This is what someone does when light has exposed them and they're an authentic christian.

They openly say. They openly confess I am a sinner. I have been in the dark, but there is a place of cleansing. They own up to doing wrong. But notice how they can do that.

Why can you do that? Well, it's because god is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins. Look at verse 9 again. Just look at it. It's an extraordinary sentence.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from unrighteousness. See if there's no forgiveness of sins, you're not gonna confess, are you? If there was no forgiveness sins, you would not confirm you'd hide. Yeah? You'd be on the run.

You'd just go and hide. If you've done a crime, you're not gonna own up to it, are you? You're gonna run and hide. Yeah? I didn't write to the parking attendant and say, by the way, I parked on the yellow line.

I was a bit naughty. Here's a picture of it. I'd just like to own up because he's not gonna forgive because he'll say, right. I'll use that. Yeah.

The law doesn't just forgive, can't do. It's it's like fathers. If you're a if you're a terrible father, You know some of these people that the hardly fathers, are they? They're unforgiving. Never forgive.

Harsh. Well, the kid will go into hiding. He's not gonna come out and said, yeah, I did steal the sweets. He'll hide. He'll try and cover up.

But if the father forgives, if there's forgiveness, it's much easier to come out, isn't it and say, yeah, okay. Did it. And with god, with the god of light, who cannot even look upon sin, There is bountiful forgiveness. Isn't that extraordinary? There is bountiful forgiveness because of the lord Jesus Christ.

But there's even more. Just just have a look because it's just fantastic at verse 9. Let me read it again. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. He is faithful and just.

Now, I this is what struck me. I was writing this, a good job, I wasn't. If I was writing the Bible, I think I would put, if we confess Austin, he's faithful and merciful. To forgive us our sins. I'd write that, I think.

Or he's faithful and generous. I don't think I'd go anywhere near the word just because just is a legal word. And to be just and you've done a crime means that that needs to be punished. Yeah? It's simple as that.

So I don't want to go near the just god. I quite like the faithful god and I love the forgiveness but the just bit, that's legal. That's like in a law court. And I've been in a law court and stood be stood before a for a judge and it's not pleasant. So why does he say just because this is a real genuine gospel?

Not to pretend. It's not a cover up. God doesn't cover up your sins. God doesn't say your sins don't matter. He can't do that.

They do matter. Light and darkness cannot mix. They have to be judged. The light has to come on. Darkness has to be destroyed.

They do matter. He can't just say they don't matter. They do matter. So sin has to be judged justly, and that's what the lord Jesus Christ is. Look at verse 2 of chapter 2.

We'll come on we'll look at this again in another sermon, I'm sure. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. The atoning sacrifice. They're not just swept under the carpet. The penalty has to be paid for sin, and Jesus has atoned, has paid for them, propitiated is the word.

If you want the theological word, he has taken the punishment in our place. Justice has been done. The penalty has been paid in him. Do you get all this stuff? A Christian is not a sinless person.

A Christian is a forgiven person. A Christian is not a sinless person. If they say that, they're not walking in the light. A Christian is a forgiven, but, and what a relief? Because if you have to be a sinless person to be a Christian, well, I'm not 1, I declare to you now.

But the wonderful thing is If you're gonna be a forgiven person, what do you need to be forgiven? Sin. That's the thing. Oh, I've done that. So I qualify.

That's all you need, isn't it? That's what you need to be a Christian is to be a sinner. And you own up and confess and come to the place of cleansing. Walking in the light is not a matter actually of moral achievement. It's a matter of where you go with your sin.

It's coming to terms with the truth about sin. So authentic Christians when exposed to the light come out of hiding. And actually, that's the Christian walk, which we'll see in subsequent subsequent sermons. We're always coming to Jesus. We're always coming and confessing our sins.

That's the Christian walk, but we'll come to that. But it leads me to my third point. The first point is light and darkness. Get it. They don't mix.

The second point is that authentic Christians when exposed to the light will come out of hiding. And that shows they're walking in the light when they see their own darkness. But the third thing is that there are many people blinded by the light. There are many blinded by the light There are many people that when the light turns on, they run like the bugs to the little hiding spots. They run away.

They cover up. Or somehow they cover up by claiming to walk in the light. Yes. Of course I of course I believe in god. Or they claim even to love the light.

Of course, I love the light of god, but they're self deceived. Their liars. Be aware of deception. And this is why John is is is such a piercing book. He knows us.

He knows how we lie to ourselves. See, John shows us that self deception is not only possible. It's probable. That's what he's saying. Look at verse 6.

Let's just see the we're gonna go through those verses again, and we'll do it again in a minute. Look at verse 6 of chapter 1. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. Self deception. Verse 8, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

We're self deceivers. Verse 10. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. Verse 4 of chapter 2. Whoever says, I know him, but does not do what he commands, is a liar And the truth is not in that person.

Self deception, liar, making god out to be a liar. Do you see that? So these are false Christians. These are unbelievers. They're still in the darkness because they haven't done with what you're meant to do with sin.

They've not come into the light of the gospel. They make claims that are false, their liars, and they're full of deception, and they haven't confessed their sin. The point is light comes into our dark place. And we can have fellowship with him when we confess our sins, but these are blinded by the light. And look at their deceptions.

Let me just go through their deceptions. Deception number 1. They're basically saying darkness and light can live together, liars. They don't mix, remember. This is deception number 1.

Look at verse 6 again. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. I can be in the light. Don't worry about darkness they're saying. The way I choose to to live out the force is this way?

Or I can experience god this way. It's back to dualism. That's the first sermon you need to listen to. It's back to the 2 stories. I can I can say 1 thing and live differently to what I say?

I can be saying I'm in the light but I live as if I'm not in the light. I don't have to confess my sin. I don't have to come clean. I'm not a sinner. How dare you call me that?

The way of life I'm living. Everybody now at least thinks it's good. John's short answer is you liar and yourself deceived. If we experience a spirituality that is not morally sensitive then our Christians it is not a Christian spirituality that you're experiencing. So that's what he's saying.

Deception number 1, dark and light can live together. No, they can't. Deception number 2, darkness? What darkness? I'm essentially good, aren't I?

Verse 8. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. I'm good inside. Sin is just a contamination of the outside, but not the inside And John's answer is you are self deluded. Deception number 3, Darkness is the light.

Look at verse 10. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. John's answer is that you are so self deluded that you're calling god a liar. You think you have light above god, but it only shows that your light is utter darkness. We deceive ourselves in so many ways he's saying.

We prefer to say verse 8 that we have no sin or verse 10 that we have not sinned. 1 saying I'm not sinful, the other is saying I haven't done anything wrong, and both are untrue. I am sinful and I have sinned. That's what he's saying. And we'll do this in all kinds of way.

We'll blame other people if you heard that 1. It was the way I was brought up. It was not fair. My parents were terrible. Or, you just don't know what happened to me.

It's always someone else's fault. We hide in the darkness because it's someone else did something to me, and that's the way I am, and we blame others. See, that's not living in the light. That's living in the darkness and not coming out and saying I confess. Others will say, well, I'm not as bad as him.

Gosh. I mean, I'm clean compared to what he's done or what she's done in life? My goodness look at her. Have you heard the things he's done in his life? I'm better.

Not as bad as that. That's living in the darkness. That's not coming out and saying, hands up. I'm guilty. It's deflecting onto other people.

The truth is if you close your eyes to the light, and block your ears to the truth and desensitize yourself to the word of god, then the light in you is only darkness. And you'll always have an excuse and you'll always wiggle out of your sin. I was born that way, or it's not fair. And when we're in the dark, we'll personally, in our conscience and publicly in our belief systems deny sinfulness. People who even claim to be enlightened about sin by denying sin.

It's extraordinary and we're in that place today. Many who have got rid of god think that they now understand humans better. Get rid of god, and we understand humans. Back in the eighteenth century, the atheistic elite established a thing that they called, guess what? The enlightenment.

They're the enlightenment And because they were so enlightened, they said the exact opposite to god on sin. They said there is no sin. Part of the enlightenment was to close their eyes to god, there is no god, and therefore deny the fact of sin. Rousseau was 1 of these men. He actually said that man is naturally good.

Russo said man was naturally good. He's 1 of the leaders of the enlightenment. He said through education, through counseling, through medication, through social reforms, through economic assistance, man can overcome all his problems and will progress until he reaches perfection. Man is basically good. His outward circumstances just need changing.

This was an atheist called Russo, and he was 1 of the most wicked men you could ever read about. He was a filthy, dirty man. He was disgusting to all women in his life. This is the man that is the basis of modern education in our country, by the way. He had numerous children from women, He did not want to pay for them even though he was rich.

He put them in homes where he knew they would die within 3 to 6 months and they did. They starved to death. He paid nothing for them. He's the man under our modern education. And he's the man that declared, man is basically good.

Well, of course, he declares that because he doesn't want his filthy little sin exposed. Does he? He was a wicked, wicked man. God is dead and everything is permissible for him Nietzsche comes along. The great German philosopher has said, god is dead and the stink is over Europe.

And after that philosophy of the enlightenment, we had the French revolution where hundreds were killed. We had Marx who brought Marxist where thousands were killed. We had Hitler and Starling and Mao. We had the first and second world wars and the nonsense that man is good was declared in history as the nonsense that it is, but we still believe it. History denies that.

Read history. It denies it. Just look at your own life and you deny it. This is the strange stupid dualism We are basically good but we have more and more passwords and more and more keys to stop the good people breaking it and taking our stuff. Why do we have CCTV cameras everywhere?

Everywhere. Constantly looking at us. Why? Because everybody's good and we trust everyone. Why did you lock your house when you came out?

Why did you lock your car? Because we trust everyone in Kingston because everybody is basically good, just like Russo was good. It's a nonsense The problem with this is if that philosophy is constantly taught and it's clearly unto untrue, You have a dualism, and you will definitely have mental health issues everywhere. Could it be that so many problems with our young people in the area of mental health is because we say there's no god and there's no sin. And if there's no sin and yet we know we're sinners, In reality, we repress and suppress the truth.

And we all know that when you suppress guilt, It pops out in all kinds of weird and strange ways. Better to come out of hiding. Better to come to the god who says, the blood of the lord Jesus Christ will cleanse you from all your sin. Better to know what it is to be washed than hide in the darkness in the dirt and pretend that you're clean. Better to come out of hiding, better to come into the light, and know the authentic cleansing of Christ.

So can I ask you? What are you hiding? Where do you scurry away into your little dark to blame people or blame some thing. It's my jeans. Oh, get some others.

What do you hide? What excuses there? Come out of the darkness, come to the lord Jesus Christ, Come and be clean. Confess. It's a beautiful thing.

My last point, which I have no time for, but we carry on week. But I will tell you, is authentic Christians walk in the light with 1 another? You can't have fellowship with god as your father and hate his children. You walk out on his children and you walk out on the father. Verse 7 says, but if we walk in the light, He is in the light.

We have fellowship with 1 another, and the blood of Jesus, his son purifies us from all sin. Christian fellowship is cross shaped. It's vertical, fellowship with god, and it's horizontal fellowship with each other. If you don't have fellowship with other Christians, then you're in darkness. That's what John's saying.

And he's the apostle. You can argue with him. So it's really important. So I want to say to you 2 things, come out hiding if you're hiding. If you've never come to Christ, come out.

Come out. Come on. I'm trying to show you how good it is. I know we've done a bad job, but listen, there's some little lights of good stuff, isn't there? If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to purify us from all unrighteousness.

My goodness, why didn't I just say that a hundred times? That's a good idea. If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to purify us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sin. Do it.

Come out of hiding. Stop covering up and repressing yourself. No wonder you've got issues? Come and know what it is to be cleansed. Know what it is to come into the light and walk with brothers and sisters have been purified as well.

So if you're not having fellowship, it's so vital that you do. It's so vital that you do And so help us to help you. You know, maybe you can't get out in an evening. Maybe there's things you can't get to. Fine.

But Please help us help you have fellowship somewhere because that will help you walk in the light. Father god, you know every 1 of us. You know the world that we're in and how it denies sin and thinks it's clever and helpful to do so, and the issues and the problems that it brings, the repression and people walking in guilt the disaster of the atheistic philosophy, so cruel and wicked, so dark and joyless. And thank you for this gospel. And we're so sad that in this country, we're putting aside this amazing news of Jesus because we're running and scurrying to darkness and covering up and pretending that we are better than we're not.

How foolish? Please have mercy on our country. Please have mercy on our young people. Please have mercy on us that we would see. Open our eyes to see Christ see the truth about ourselves and the need not to express ourselves or to find ourselves, but to come into the light and be cleansed.

By Christ, to be born into his family and to know brothers and sisters in this great community, the church. Help us we pray in Jesus' name, amen.