1 John 1:5-9 | Sunday November 9, 2025
John never moved passed hearing, seeing, and touching the One that was from the beginning. He was an eyewitness to Jesus, the eternal God in human flesh and it astounded him. He knew that it was fellowship with the Father and the Son that changed him and he wanted every believer to be able to experience the same type of fellowship. John is going to clarify for believers what gets in the way of having fellowship with God and how this all important fellowship can be restored.
1 John 1:1-10 ESV
(1) That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—
(2) the Life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
(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.
(4) And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
(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.
(6) If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
(7) 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.
(8) If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
(9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(10) If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
The eternal life that was made manifest is Jesus. In verse 5 John is proclaiming the message he heard from Jesus, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” This is a simple and yet profound truth. It is the first of three “God is…” statements in the book of 1 John. John had first hand experience of seeing Jesus with His face shinning like the sun.
There are many layers to the amazing truth that God is light. Light is beautiful, radiant, and full of glory (Dan 10:6). Light is self-revealing, it illuminates the darkness (Gen 1:2-3). Light represents the truth in opposition to the falsehood of darkness (John 3:21). Light exposes the sins committed in darkness (Eph 5:13). Light overwhelms and conquers the darkness (John 1:5). Light guides us and offers clarity and direction.
Psalm 36:9 ESV
(9) For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light.
When God said let their be light, He was providing the revelation of Himself that the rest of His new creation could be seen through. It is through His light that we can see. Light does not just enable us to see, but to walk, move, and act. It illuminates the world and exposes dangers but also where freedom and true life are found.
Light can expose and reveal all because v.5 “in Him is no darkness at all.” The Greek has a strong double negative to overemphasize, no darkness, none at all. There is a purity to God that is hard to fathom. I can speak truth but I have lies in me. I can be loving but I have hatred in me. God is light and is so pure that there is no part of Him that has any darkness at all.
James 1:17 NAS95
(17) Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
Psalm 92:15 ESV
(15) to declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
God does not change and never has different versions of Himself. He never has a bad day. There is no shift or variation in Him. For this to be true it means that He has no unrighteousness or sin in Him. He is purely holy. This makes Him a God worthy of praise and a God who can be trusted to be faithful. God being light, and pure creates a huge problem for us though, because we are not light.
1 John 1:6 ESV
(6) If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
John acknowledges this problem directly. So many think John is referring to a statement that is made by false teachers, but that is not how he introduces the thought. John knows how to pose a hypothetical of the false teacher and later in the book he will mention “Whover says…” (1 John 2:4, 6, 9) and “If anyone says…” (1 John 4:20). But notice verse 6, John says “If we say…” this is the same “we” from verse 5, who heard and proclaim the message. John is admitting that even if Himself and the Apostles where to claim to have fellowship with God while walking in the darkness, having sin in their life, that they would be lying and separated from fellowship with God. Sin, always breaks our fellowship with God.
Isaiah 59:1-2 NAS95
(1) Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.
(2) But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
The separation sin causes is not due to a weakness in God, but due to His holiness. There are many false ways to try and solve the problem of God being light and pure and humanity being full of sin and darkness. So many times we try to bring God down to our level. We try to reason that we can have fellowship with the pure holy God, while we walk in darkness. This is devaluing the holiness of God and wanting to insert darkness into a pure God. God’s truth is very clear. If we are walking in sin, then we are not in fellowship with God. The light and darkness metaphor does not leave much wiggle room or gray area.
John 3:19-21 ESV
(19) And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
(20) For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
(21) But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
God did something truly amazing, He sent the light down into the darkness. God did not bring humanity up to heaven to escape the darkness but sent Jesus to be the light. We hated the light because of what it exposed. He defined purity and holiness and showed us how sinful we truly are at our core. Jesus is the standard and He exposes every deviation from Him and His truth. We would be ok with fellowship as long as we can have our sin too. God is clear fellowship is only possible if we walk in the light.
1 John 1:7 ESV
(7) 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.
To walk means to conduct one’s life, behave, live. How we walk is the summary of our thoughts and actions. Our walk reveals where our heart is. As we walk in the light we not only have fellowship with God but we also have fellowship with each other. To have fellowship there has to be something shared, something in common. Believers are to have the shared fellowship of being in the light. If we as a body of believers walk in sin it will destroy our fellowship with each other. It is so crucial how we walk as believers, in the light and not in the darkness.
Ephesians 4:1; 17; 5:2; 8; 15-16 ESV
(4:1) I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
(4:17) Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
(5:2) And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
(5:8) for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
(5:15) Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
(5:16) making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Every single person was darkness, in contrast to God being light. Then through the blood of Jesus we can be saved and now are light. The major issue becomes which do we walk in, light or darkness. A nonbeliever does not have an option they only walk in darkness. These commands are for believers, we can walk in sin or in fellowship. We have a choice each day as to how we are going to walk. God did not leave us unequipped to know what is light and what is dark. He gave us an incredible tool to define both and guide us into the light.
Psalm 119:105; 130 ESV
(105) Nun Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
(130) The unfolding of Your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.
God uses His word to show us what walking in the light looks like. His word illuminates the path and gives direction. It defines sin for us, not based on opinion or culture but on God’s holiness. The more time we spend dwelling in the Word, the more it will expose to us.
Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV
(12) For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
(13) And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
There is no place to hide in the light of the word of God. It divides into our hearts, and reveals the secret parts of us. God’s truth goes past our actions and gives us insight into our intentions and motivations. Things which are usually mysteries to us. We do not look to ourselves to know our hearts but look to the Word. Walking in the light requires an openness to be exposed by God’s truth. Walking in the darkness is a refusal to be exposed, and a hardening against God’s truth.
1 John 1:7 ESV
(7) 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.
It is so amazing that we are told to “walk in the light” and not “According to the light.” In the light means we are to be open to what God’s word reveals to us. Open to seeing the world and ourselves based on His truth. According to the light would demand a perfection that is impossible. None of us can walk perfectly according to the light of God’s truth. We all are sinners and fail in so many ways. Walking in the light is a willingness to let the light continually expose the areas God wants us to grow in. It is a learning and growing process. It is a constant fresh walk with Him as “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Cleanses is in the present active tense. That is important because it is not referring to the one time washing of sin that God does the moment we are saved. This means that as we walk in the light God is constantly washing us. The blood of Jesus is sufficient for everything the light exposes in us. A mature walk with Jesus is constantly relying on the blood of Jesus to cleanse. It is someone who lets the Word constantly show the various deep seated sins in our hearts and is willing to keep taking those to God.
1 John 1:8 ESV
(8) If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
In a self-righteous pride we do not want to admit how truly sinful we are. We don’t want to admit what the light of the Word exposes. If we harden our hearts this way, then we take ourselves out of fellowship and out of the truth. We only deceive ourselves. God knows who we are, even our friends, family and coworkers know who we are.
I am afraid too many think that a close walk with Jesus would mean that they would never have to confess or deal with sin. It is when we walk in the light that our sin is exposed. These are not shown while we are in the darkness, there would be no way to see them. It is in the light, and the longer we are there everything starts to come into view. The issue is how we respond once it is out in the light.
1 John 1:9 ESV
(9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confession means to say the same thing about the sin that God does. It is agreeing with Him about what the light showed. This involves repentance, stopping the sin and continuing to walking in the light. God has promised to be faithful and just. We should not be so prideful to think that this verse does not apply to our sin. We can think it applies for everyone else but us. Let us come into the light. This is not a once for all action but a constant process.
I am going to ask the band to come up and we are going to take a time for reflection and confession. This is a time just between you and God. If you are like me these verses are light that have exposed sin, pride, and darkness. We are to trust in our faithful and just God who provided the blood of Jesus and promised to wash us clean. He promised to never fail, never get tired, to never waver at restoring us to a close walk with Him, when we confess. The great news is we don’t even have to worry about the sins we do not know about because God promises to “to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Meaning the cleansing God does goes well beyond the sin that we know of.
Proverbs 28:13-14 ESV
(13) Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
(14) Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
The band will play some instrumental music please take time to pray and confess anything God lays on your heart. If you are a nonbeliever, please trust in what Jesus has done for you on the cross. Confession is for believers; your first step is to believe in Jesus.
Once the time of confession is over, the band will lead us in a song.
I will give a final thought during this song.
Psalm 32:1-5 ESV
(1) A Maskil of David. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
(2) Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
(3) For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
(4) For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
(5) I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah