Hello everybody, I'm Pastor Donny Jester, Grace Redimps Church. I'm so glad that you could tune in today. I want to talk to you about the light of God. So if you have your Bibles, you get time to get to it, or your iPod or iPad, whatever you got, iPhone.
Let's turn to first John chapter one, and we're going to read it verse five. First John chapter one verse five. While you're going there, if you'd like to become a partner with this ministry, all you got to do is look at the address on the screen. We'd love to have you to be a partner with us if you want to text an offering.
So see to this ministry. You'll see that on the screen as well. So let's look at the Word of God together. First John chapter one verse seven, or excuse me, verse five.
This then, John said, is the message which we have heard of him and declared unto you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanses us from all sin. What does it mean to walk in the light?
It simply means to walk in holiness, to live a holy life of righteousness, walking in the holiness of God, the holiness of heart, not the way you're dressed or not, the way of keeping some rule or a bunch of rules. We're not a rule keeper to have a appearance of some religiosity, but simply walking in fellowship with God, walking in holiness of the heart. Because the Word tells us that if we say that we walk in the light and we walk in darkness, then we're not in truth. What I want to share with you, if you are watching this program and you've never ever surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, that is what God is waiting on.
Jesus came into this world to bring light, to bring life. And when you say, Lord, I want to give you my life, my heart, I want to commit myself to you, I've tried other things and they didn't work out so well. When you do that, the light of God, or the life energy of God comes into you through the person of the Holy Spirit, who lives inside you and me, and no longer are you out there floating around on your own, but there's someone living on the inside of you that's loved you from the very beginning, that's loved you before you entered into your mother's womb, that had a plan and a purpose for you. You say, well, I've done too much and I've messed up.
Why don't we just say we can join the club? The scripture says if God would mark a Nick which is none of us could stand. God is not keeping a record of every little thing that you do so he can beat you over the head with it. He wants to let you know that he came to bring you light, he came to bring you his life, he came to bring you the peace and the joy that only can come from him knowing him, and then you can start walking in the light.
And if you walk in the light, as he is in the light, the scripture says, then we can have fellowship one with another, that's how we know that we're saved because we love the brother, we love one another. And when we do that, then we have fellowship with God, we have fellowship with Jesus, and not only that, but the blood of Jesus is continually cleansing us. See, the good news is that when God came to us, the very purpose of God coming to us in the form of a man born of a virgin lived 33 and a half years without sin died on the cruel rugged cross. On the third day he rose from the dead, and he's alive right now forever more.
But his whole purpose was to reconcile us to God. See, that's what the Lord is. He's our Redeemer, he's also our mercy seat because when the blood was on the mercy seat, Hallelujah. There is a covering.
So Jesus is our mercy seat, he is our reconciliation. He is our covering. That's why the scripture says that our life is He had in Christ. That's why the Bible teaches us that God can hide us in his provision.
The Lord loves us, He loved me as much back when I didn't want to serve Him and was walking in darkness as He loves me now. Now that's hard for the human mind to grasp, but we're talking about the love of God, the light of God, the life of God, the reconciliation of God, the man and man to God is through his Son, Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. And there's only one way to get to the Father.
There's only one way to go in the presence of God and you go in the presence of God through his Son. So when God the Father sees us, He really sees his Son. We come in through the blood-soaked path of Calvary's cross through Jesus Christ and no other way. That's why God can love us as much as He loves Jesus in John chapter 17 verse 23, because Jesus is in us through the person of the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus came to this world, not as God, but as a man, God-man, very much God, very much man, but a man anointed by the Holy Ghost. And if you look in the scripture, you'll find that Jesus could do nothing, say nothing, without what His Father would allow Him to do, allow Him to say. Isn't it amazing to know that when Jesus cast out the money changers and overthrew the tables of the money changers, He was there the day before, observing, they really didn't recognize Him being there, but He was there. Why didn't He do something in?
Because He couldn't do anything until He had to talk with the Father. And when He went back in the next day, He said, this is my Father's house. My Father's house shall be called a house of prayer. You made it to the end of these.
So He could only do and say what His Father had Him to say and what He had Him to do. So it's important to know that we have light in us. When Jesus Christ comes into our heart through the person of the Holy Spirit, there's light. There's not darkness.
You and I can get off track and we can get into some dark spots. But I want to encourage you today. I don't know of anybody that hadn't got into sin that were Christians that did not know they were in sin. They wasn't blinded about it.
They knew they were in it. The flesh got the best of them and they failed, but they knew what they were doing when they did it because the light is always on. And even though God cannot overpower us and He cannot begin to control us, to make us into robots, we have to understand that He is letting us know that in Him there's light and no darkness. And when we want to walk in the light, then we have fellowship with Him.
And only then can we have fellowship with Him. Remember, the same light that can bring the blessing is the same light if you walk in opposition to Him, can destroy. So I want to let you know today that there's a God that loves you and He wants to bring light to you. And if you have the light and been walking away from the light, please understand the light is there.
Jesus Christ came into this world and lighted every man and gave life to every man that came in the world. So right now, all you've got to do is say, Jesus, I give you my life, I give you my heart. I turn my back on friends that are not for me, that are in opposition to you in the world, and I turn to you. I accept you today.
If you've done that, you have a great, great day. Let us know. God bless you.