CLICK HERE FOR THE LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE CONTAINING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Illustration: oil and water, light and dark, mostly faithful spouse and healthy marriage.

• Toleration is not possible.
  
  
• Cannot be merged.
  
  
• Effort to that end is repulsive.

Today’s text: John’s concern is that we have true fellowship Jesus.  “Die to sin?”

• There is concern for toleration believing it works.
  
  
• There is effort to merge two incompatible wills.
  
  
• There is belief that God is okay with it.

Pray- God…Expose our errors.  Expose our excuses to sin.  Expose our presumptions of You.

Read 1 John 1:1-7

We have been with Jesus and now we share with you what we heard of greatest truth:

Summary of Jesus’ message:  God is light and in Him there is no darkness! ZERO! (5)

• Truth: God is pure, holy, and filled with light.
  
  
• Truth: We are not!
  
  
• Warning: Do not try to mix God with darkness—it will be at your own peril!

It is human nature to try to justify ourselves at the cost of truth. (6)

• We are lying to ourselves, to others, and to God!
  
  
• We try to mix light with darkness and even try to redefine darkness to make it possible.

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet
 and sweet for bitter.”  BEEN AROUND A LONG TIME!

• We search for teachers who make the case to justify our effort even redefining sin. 2 Timothy 3:2-4
  • Denying truth of gender to justify other actions.
  • Denying the truth of God’s design for sexuality between a man and a woman.
  • Denying that an unborn infant is not life because it hasn’t made the six inch journey or was not planned for.
  • Denying the truth that the pursuit of money as your primary effort is not a moral issue.
  • Denying the things we practice in private do not hinder others or our fellowship with God. “If it doesn’t hurt anybody.  It is okay.”
  • Lies that are motivated from the right place are okay.
  • Replacing our loyalty to God’s Kingdom for an earthly Kingdom is part of God’s plan.
  • Praying for one people group over another as if the Cross of Christ was for certain ethnicities. JESUS rebuked people for such thinking!!!

By mixing light with any form of darkness we have broken fellowship with Christ. (6)

Sin is the cancer that we need Christ’s healing from. (7)

• We are incapable of saving ourselves because we will continue to sin.
  
  
• If you minimize sin in any way, you are dead where you stand because you have subtly convinced yourself you’ve got most of this. Jesus is not needed fully. 
  
  
• A little debt is a debt.

Having fellowship with God requires the work of Christ. (7)

• Walking in the light is to see things as they truly are.
  • Seeing sin for what sin is.
  • Seeing what is holy and that it is incompatible with sin.

• Walking in the light brings you into fellowship with others who are in the light.
  • I have noticed over time that relationships go to their deepest levels when they confess sin. Shining the light on their heart.  TRUTH!
  • Relationships are held back when honesty is withheld.

 Take Aways

1. God is holy and intolerant of fellowshipping with darkness.
   
   
2. We need to see and acknowledge sin as being as severe as it is.

• I am not as bad as I was.
• Avoiding toleration that allows for the cancer of sin to fester.

3. We need to identify the pockets of sin in our lives that we want to protect.
4. We need to invite the blood of Christ to do that which we cannot do.

• The love of Christ is intense as He knows we won’t make it without Him.