The Bible says in 1 John 1:7 that we cannot have fellowship with God if
we do not walk in the light. If we walk in the light, we certainly can't
hide anything, for the light exposes everything. The man who walks in
darkness is the one who has something to hide in his life. If we walk in
the light,
The Bible says in 1 John 1:7 that we cannot have fellowship with God if
we do not walk in the light. If we walk in the light, we certainly can't
hide anything, for the light exposes everything. The man who walks in
darkness is the one who has something to hide in his life. If we walk in
the light, our life is an open book. We can then invite people to
examine our private life, our account books and everything. There is
nothing we want to hide. It doesn't mean that we're perfect. No, it only
means that we are honest.
The first thing that God requires from all of us is honesty - absolute
honesty. If we are willing to be honest first, many of our other
problems will be solved very quickly. We will progress in leaps and
bounds in our spiritual life if we live by this fundamental rule of
honesty before God and men.
But you'll find that this is a battle. You may say, "I'm really going to
take that exhortation seriously. I'm going to be honest from now on."
But you'll find before the week is out that you're tempted to be an
actor again, and to seek for the praise of men rather than the praise of
God. So you have to determine to fight that battle and win.
It is a great grief to God that there are so many Christians today who
have been born again for twenty, thirty or forty years, but who haven't
progressed spiritually because they have not learned this fundamental
lesson of being honest. We can't progress if there is hypocrisy in our
life. Our prayers will not be heard. We can have all-night prayer
meetings; but we are wasting our time. Our prayers will not be heard if
we do not get rid of hypocrisy first.
We must recognise that our true spiritual worth is what we are before
God and nothing more than that. Our spiritual state is not determined by
our knowledge of the Bible, nor by how much we pray, nor by how many
meetings we attend, nor by what the elders or others in the church think
of us. On the contrary, ask yourself, "What does God, who can see into
every area of my life, think of me?" The answer to that is the real
measure of how spiritual you are. We need to remind ourselves of this
daily, or else we may find ourselves becoming actors again.
I love those words that Jesus said about Nathaniel, "Behold, an
Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile" (John 1:47). If Jesus could say
that about you and me, that would be a greater commendation than almost
anything else. Nathaniel was not perfect. He was imperfect. But he was
honest about his imperfections. He didn't pretend to be something that
he wasn't. That's where he was different from Ananias and Sapphira.
our life is an open book. We can then invite people to
examine our private life, our account books and everything. There is
nothing we want to hide. It doesn't mean that we're perfect. No, it only
means that we are honest.
The first thing that God requires from all of us is honesty - absolute
honesty. If we are willing to be honest first, many of our other
problems will be solved very quickly. We will progress in leaps and
bounds in our spiritual life if we live by this fundamental rule of
honesty before God and men.
But you'll find that this is a battle. You may say, "I'm really going to
take that exhortation seriously. I'm going to be honest from now on."
But you'll find before the week is out that you're tempted to be an
actor again, and to seek for the praise of men rather than the praise of
God. So you have to determine to fight that battle and win.
It is a great grief to God that there are so many Christians today who
have been born again for twenty, thirty or forty years, but who haven't
progressed spiritually because they have not learned this fundamental
lesson of being honest. We can't progress if there is hypocrisy in our
life. Our prayers will not be heard. We can have all-night prayer
meetings; but we are wasting our time. Our prayers will not be heard if
we do not get rid of hypocrisy first.
We must recognise that our true spiritual worth is what we are before
God and nothing more than that. Our spiritual state is not determined by
our knowledge of the Bible, nor by how much we pray, nor by how many
meetings we attend, nor by what the elders or others in the church think
of us. On the contrary, ask yourself, "What does God, who can see into
every area of my life, think of me?" The answer to that is the real
measure of how spiritual you are. We need to remind ourselves of this
daily, or else we may find ourselves becoming actors again.
I love those words that Jesus said about Nathaniel, "Behold, an
Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile" (John 1:47). If Jesus could say
that about you and me, that would be a greater commendation than almost
anything else. Nathaniel was not perfect. He was imperfect. But he was
honest about his imperfections. He didn't pretend to be something that
he wasn't. That's where he was different from Ananias and Sapphira.
Sermon Audio