So You'll Stay | Wade Branch

Good morning everyone. It's a beautiful day for

worship. I'm thankful to have everyone

who's here today, all of our regulars to the faithful, and

we're excited to see our visitors who are here today.

You're honored guest, and we hope that you'll come back

anytime that you have opportunity.

And we pray that God will be glorified today.

As I was thinking this morning about my part in this worship

service, I was thinking about how is God worshipped when we

study his word? And as I was thinking about

that, I thought about the people who have gone on before me,

whether it's a parent or a grandparent, especially those

who have now passed. I think about the greatest way

to honor someone who has passed is to continue to teach the

things that they taught you because that's that's what you

have and that's what is meaningful and valuable both to

them and to you. And this morning as we study, I

hope God is worshipped because we're going to be relaying the

things that Jesus taught and that he left on this earth.

And I hope that there is, I think there is.

And I hope he, he senses no greater honor from us, that we

would want to change our minds to think the way he does, and

that we would amplify his truths above everything we might think

this morning. And so I pray that he is

worshipped and honored through our study.

And we're in first John and we're in chapter 5 today.

So if you want to turn your Bibles there, we're going to be

in first John 5 most of the time we're on Lesson 7.

So this is 7 of I believe 8. We'll be able to finish on the

next one through this letter to and 1st John.

And if you haven't been here for this, this letter is a letter of

encouragement and a letter of assurance.

And it's a kind of a, a bird's eye view of faith.

And it's a bird's eye view of our Christian walk.

And it gives us so much encouragement in this book.

And it's written to people who are already Christians.

And yeah, we've already talked about the reasons he wrote this

book. And, and, and all these reasons

are to solidify and ground the Christian and to give them

assurance and peace and confidence in what God has for

them. So if you have not read this

book, I recommend you go through and read the first four

chapters. And we're just going to get a

running start from chapter 4 where we left off before we read

there. No one has seen God at any time.

If we love one another, God abides in US and His love has

been perfected in US. And I'm starting here because I

want to clarify something that we talked about last week about

His love being perfected in US. Verse 13 says by this we know

that we abide in Him and He and us because He has given us of

His Spirit. Verse 17 goes on to say love has

been perfected among us in this that we may have boldness in the

day of judgement. So as we were talking about

those verses, I spent some time talking about what it means to

have a love that is perfected in you and me.

And I think as I was thinking about how I said it, I might

have communicated more of a portrayal of love than really

what I was intending to. It is absolutely true that that

we portray God's love in a more complete sense when we become

perfected in love. But I think the maybe what's

even bigger and even more impactful in this passage here

is that whatever this is, it creates boldness in US and

confidence and judgement. And it's not just about showing

things to others. Maybe the bigger point here is

that living full of love gives ourselves confidence that we are

in Him, but it also teaches our heart what it means to love.

So yes, portraying it's important, but if we're going to

have confidence in judgement, having love that is perfected

teaches our hearts what it means to love.

Because how could you and I ever wrap our minds around God saving

us if we don't develop a love toward others?

They would even reflect that if that love is in our not in our

hearts, it's probably not going to seem like it's possible.

And so part of having love fully matured and perfected, it helps

our hearts comprehend the kind of love that would show grace.

We might think we're fine or I'm good enough, God will accept me.

But it's not until our heart becomes exposed to through an

experience of learning it through others and how we love

others that we will ever be able to comprehend how God can love

us that way. I hope that was clear, but I

wanted to emphasize it today. So it's not so much a garment we

wear as it is something injected into our veins that courses

through everything. So love is not a garment that we

put on and people see and it's nice.

It's it's something that is everything inside of us so that

when we view God, we see him through this lens.

So that when we look at ourselves, we see, we see

ourselves through the lens of God's love and that we will see

others through the lens of love like God does.

And absolutely it's true that we do demonstrate that to others

and that's vital. But I wanted to clarify that.

And I think this point is echoed in the Sermon on the Mount where

as Frank pointed out, the greatest F, the greatest effect

of praying for enemies is the change that makes inside of us.

And so the point being there, things really change for us when

we develop the love that God has for us, because as he is, so are

we in the world. There is No Fear in love, but

perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment.

But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

There it is again that that you can't really have true peace

from your fears until you understand love completely.

And I, I, I'm not saying any of us completely do, but we're

becoming more perfected in it. Hopefully.

Verse 19. We love him because he first

loved us. If someone says I love God and

hates his brother, he's a liar for he does not love his brother

whom he has seen. How can he love God whom he has

not seen? So here's the running start and

this commandment we have from him that he who loves God must

love his brother also. OK first the first verse of

first John 5, the last chapter of this letter.

He says whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of

God and everyone who loves him, who begot who, who did the, the

creating, you might say, also loves him who is begotten of

him. So you're starting to probably

feel like this is repetitive, right?

That's circular reason. He's coming back through some of

the same topics. But the point here is that there

is a close connection between those who are God's people and

those for between God himself, the one who begot and God's

people. So if if you love God, then I

should love you. That's his point there.

How I feel when people are good to Charlie is a different

feeling that I can explain. And I felt it when, you know, if

there was someone from from school who came to church with

me or who was converted and, and the people at church showed them

love. It was such a great feeling to

know that there were people who loved me, who transferred that

love to them and showed them love.

I can only imagine how God feels because if we love God, he says

it should be natural that we love those who God has begotten,

who those who are begotten of God.

If we really love God, we can't help but love his people.

Verse 2 By this we know that we love the children of God.

So if you wonder if if I really want to love God and portray

that and if I want to be assured in my Christianity because by

knowing that I love the children of God, how do you do that?

And as you think how you might show love to the children of

God, maybe there's certain things that pop to your mind.

There certainly are things that pop into my mind as I think of

how I could show love to the children of God.

Is it a specific act, a deed, He says when we love God and keep

his commandments. So there's this unbreakable

triangle happening between us, God and others.

And I think we are very confident in understanding that

that love that we show towards God is in following his word.

We've established that throughout this letter that we

love God by following his word and keeping his commandments.

And we could see how others we need to show God that same love

in following his commandments. But the unbreakable third piece

to this is that we actually show love to others when we obey God,

when we follow God's commands. OK, so the question might be,

well, what commands? Well, before I get into that,

the first primary point is we cannot separate love for others

from God's commands. And some people want to make it

like, yeah, obeying a lot of the stuff in the Bible is kind of

kind of rules as legals. It's it's legalism if you focus

on the rules too much. But in God's Word, you can't

separate his commandments from love because the New Testament

is called the law of liberty. And if God gives us a law to

follow, it's going to be good for him and it's going to be

good for us, and it's going to be good for everyone around us.

So what kinds of of commandments is he talking about?

Well, let's start with the obvious.

Being generous and showing generosity or doing good deeds

for people is obviously a way that we can follow God's

commandments and show love to God's people.

I think we all get that. And you think about Acts 2 when

they had all things in common, they were sharing with one

another, selling their land, and doing things for one another.

It's beautiful. That's what God intends.

But does it stop there? What about things like how we

dress? I'm not talking about Sunday

morning. I'm not talking about how how

nice your clothes are. I'm talking about what we wear

as it relates to a covering in Galatians 6 and other passages.

It talks about this idea of lasciviousness that might cause

someone else to lust or cause someone else to incite sexual

desire or show things that we should not be showing.

Now, how does that command relate to showing love for my

brethren? Well, some people might say that

is not my job to dress modestly so that that man or that woman

can control themselves. It's their job to control

themselves. They shouldn't be looking at it.

If it's if it tempts them or if it shows, makes them feel

feelings of lust, that's on them.

But the Bible talks about the way we dress and the way we

conduct ourselves. It is their job to control

themselves, but it is the other party's responsibility to help

them control themselves. Because if we're going to follow

God's commands in a way that will show love toward our

brethren, how can we possibly do that with our dress and if it

does not uphold the other person who might be tempted?

So our dress, I think you could absolutely say plays into how we

show love to God and others at the same time.

What about romantic relationships and specifically

before marriage? If I'm think that I'm in love

with someone before before I get married and or if someone thinks

they're in love, if we do things outside of the the bonds of

marriage that are sexual in nature, that creates a

relationship that is sinful before God.

And how could we ever say we love them if we were creating

sin in them and in us? So by obeying God's commands to

wait until marriage, we are showing them love.

And we are showing God's love by obeying God's command.

You think about homosexuality almost the same line of

reasoning. If you really care for someone,

you will not engage in a homosexual relationship because

you know what's going to doom their soul.

It is a way of showing love to them to follow God's commands,

even if it might not seem right to us.

There's a way that seems right to the man, but it's end

thereof, the ways of death. The Bible says relationships can

make and break our lives. To be willingly, to willingly

take someone else into sin in our relationships.

How could you ever show love to them by engaging in that way?

And as you think about marriage, how can I show love to someone

in marriage? Think you can think about any

possible scripture about marriage in the Bible.

Every scripture about marriage from God's commands is intended

to help us show love to that person.

So I think we can see the commands of love and marriage,

but what about worship? So we're we're still talking

about how does me falling God's commands show love to my

brethren? How is that how I show love to

them? What about worship in first

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 14, he's describing several different

factors that go into their worship and he says all these

things are done for edification. So if you don't think that the

way we worship matters and I'm not saying anything specific.

I'm saying if you're considering the way we worship, you read

scripture. He says this is reason is for

edification, whether it's the whether it's the clarity and how

many people speak or when they speak or how they speak.

You read about that all in First Corinthians.

Anything about that is to build people up.

That's what edification means. So if we're not following God's

commands for how we're to worship, we're not building

people up the way God has intended us to be building them

up. What about singing?

Do you think God's commands are on singing have anything to do

with showing love to other people?

Reads Colossians 316. Let the word of Christ dwell in

you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one

another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with

grace in your hearts to the Lord.

So yes, the grace is in our hearts to God, but we're

teaching and admonishing each other.

So in our worship, in our singing, if we don't do that, we

are missing an opportunity to show love to our brethren by

teaching and admonishing them. What about communion?

Do you think communion is an opportunity for us to show love

toward one another and following God's command?

Well, in first Corinthians 11, it says for an eating, each one

takes his own supper ahead of others and one is hungry and

another is drunk and and he goes on to say, and they shame those

who have nothing. So he's starting here by

correcting how they were doing communion saying here's how you

went wrong. Now, if we were to mess up

communion in some way, it might be in a different set of

consequences, but this is what the consequences that they had

when they messed up communion. So they messed it up in one way

and it created these consequences.

There's this inequality, there's these people who are receiving

shame because of it. So we don't commune the way God

wants us to commune. People are hindered.

That's not love. Instead, in First Corinthians 8,

he says the bread which we break, is it not the communion

of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one

bread and one body, for we all partake of that one bread.

If you love people, you want them to feel unified and

together in this body. That's Christ's design.

You want them to feel like they're a part of this.

You want them to feel like they are valuable and matter and are

important to us and to God. And it says that the way we

commune conveys that unity to one another.

So I'd say the way we commune, the way we bought obey God's

commands matters is to how we show love toward God and people.

What about the hair in First Corinthians 11 says, but every

woman who prays or prophecies with her head uncovered

dishonors her head. That's a study for another time.

But as you see here, it says throughout that passage, her

head is man. And so there is a dishonouring

when there is a when there is, the hair is not handled the way

God says to handle it. And now you might ask, what is

what are we supposed to do with the hair?

That's a study for another time. I hope you'll read 1st

Corinthians 11. But however we handle the hair

shows respect or disrespect to someone else as the head.

So what we're seeing is everything Gods has commanded

us. I just thought of some random

stuff. Does this apply to me loving my

brother? And so far everything has a

connection to loving each other. What about church discipline?

What about when someone is in the wrong?

And there's a lot of wisdom to be had and a lot of nuance to

these situations. But can I show love to someone

by showing by by the church having discipline and the church

taking action? In First Corinthians 5, you read

of a situation where somebody was doing some bad stuff and

living in sin and everybody was just OK with it.

Paul came in to correct that, and he later comes back and

wants to assure them that the purpose of doing that is to

restore that person. The purpose of correcting and

disciplining from the church and giving some, hey, you've got to

get this, this can't happen anymore.

This is not good. The purpose of doing that kind

of discipline is to save their souls.

So, so far everything we could think of leads back to loving

each other and loving God. Jesus said it this way when he

was asked in Matthew 22, Teacher, which is the greatest

commandment in the law, He replied, love the Lord with God

with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your

mind. This is the first and greatest

commandment and the second is like it.

Love your neighbor as yourself, love God, love people, right?

Verse 40, all the law and the prophets hang on these two

commandments. People try to pull the

scriptures apart and say this is love, this is laws.

God says I'm wise, I know what I'm doing, follow me and you

will love each other better. You will love me better.

May we never try to peace out God's law because just because

we don't see how it matters, just because it we don't see how

this teaching matters or this Scripture matters, doesn't mean

it doesn't hold a vital role in God's plan for us to show love

to him and to others. So by this we know that we love

the children of God when we love God.

Keep his commandments, He goes on to say, and his commandments

are not burdensome. Have you noticed something about

yourself that I've noticed about myself?

Small things can seem really hard sometimes, and big things

can sometimes not seem like that big of a deal.

We're weird that way. I am at least.

So I need to watch out for how I look at God in His commands

because my gauge is not very good.

There's a comedian some of you have heard of who does a skit

all about this, and his comments are about how people always use

the phrase that's the worst, as if the things that we're talking

about are really the worst. And the comment he uses is, you

know, when you when you're stuck by yourself waiting outside the

mall for your friends to get there in a first world country

with stuff inside that you can never, you never need anything.

We say things that are really ridiculous when you think about

it, like all that's the worst thing that can happen or it's so

bad. It's so frustrating.

And, and I have things in my life that do that to me all the

time where I develop a mentality in daily life.

There's some things become burdens that don't need to be

burdens. But what's really burdensome,

it's not God's. It's not God's commands.

What's burdensome is internal restraint.

Frank talked about this often. Serving God without restraint is

actually good for us because the burdens come when we try to hold

back and we feel that strain against ourselves to do what God

has commanded. So the internal factor about

pulling back is what can cause a strain, but also external

persecution. So if you are trying to do

better and somebody's pulling back against you, sure, that's

that's a burden, but that's not God's command.

These things show up when we follow God's commands often

times. But God's commands are not the

problem. Sin is what creates new burdens

for us and for others. It creates new burdens and ways

that we can never foresee happening.

God's way relieves burdens for us and for others.

And sometimes, or oftentimes you might even say it doesn't seem

that way. Oftentimes what looks good right

now and seems like it's going to be relief from a burden ends up

creating new problems later. But we can't see that right in

front of us and we have to at some point surrender in faith as

he's going to tell us in a minute.

Faith says God, I don't see how this is good right now, but I

trust you enough to obey you and I believe it's going to be best

for me and the people involved. I've been in situations where I

did not want to address somebody, but I knew God was God

was calling me through his word and through and, and through his

teachings to, to respond to that person and to and to reach out

to them in some way. And lo and behold, it fixed the

relationship in ways I thought I never would have and developed a

bond that I never thought could have happened.

When we follow God, even when we don't see it, that is faith and

that is going to relieve burdens.

And we by God's grace can adapt to anything.

Isn't that the context of what Paul says in Philippians?

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Isn't that the actual context where when you want to do God's

will, you can do it and you can change your mind and your

attitude to do it in a way that will go be good for you and for

everyone? We can change.

Things that seem hard don't have to always seem hard.

You're going to have new challenges, but those things

will become easier as you progress.

Sometimes they come back up. But I can do all things through

Christ who strengthens me. And so as we would be called by

God to repent and to change our life in any number of ways that

you or I might need to change our life, may we be willing to

repent of a mindset that would think that God's ways are

burdens. God's ways are not burdens.

And I have to change my mind if I think that way.

Verse 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.

It's not a burden there overcomes the world, and this is

the victory that has overcome the world.

Our faith. Faith is the only thing in this

world that can drive the kind of things that it does.

You look at Job in the Old Testament, a man who suffered

beyond anything I can imagine, maybe more than anyone has

suffered outside of Jesus. I don't know, but he lost

everything. He lost his family, his health,

his wealth. He lost it all and yet his faith

held on. It overcame the world.

What else but faith could take people who are in their 70s and

80s, who has held them on their whole life, to sustain you and

strengthen you through everything you've been through

and to still have a smile on your face?

Faith only. Nothing is like it for the new

Christian that gives them the strength to pry away and that

God's strength would pry away them from the sin that they were

living in. Sins claws run deep in US.

What else besides faith could make that happen?

Faith is the victory that has overcome the world, as we often

see verse five. Who is he who overcomes the

world? As you think about that, who do

you think the person is who has overcome the world?

I don't know about you. There might be people you think

of that have done pretty well in their life.

Maybe you picture someone who is overcome by by their business

prowess or maybe their political prowess and they've risen to

great heights and great wealth. Maybe they have everything this

world could ever offer them, you might say.

And by some standards, maybe you think of athletes who, hey, it's

not all about the money, it's about victory, it's about

winning, it's about overcoming. And it's sports, man.

You can't, you can't beat Tom Brady for that.

Maybe you think about climbing Mount Everest if you're into the

outdoors like I am, that's I don't care about the money as

much. But if I were to to climb the

tallest mountains in the world, or if I was going to explore

some of the greatest things the world has to see, that's

overcoming the world in some sense.

But the hard reality is this isn't what it seems.

Maybe you think about scientists and great thinkers or great

business people. You think about Robert

Oppenheimer, the great scientist who who is making leaps and

bounds. But then his work led to the

atomic bombs, the nuclear weapons being used.

You think about men like Cornelius Vanderbilt, who built

the railroad system, who built this country from the ground up.

In many ways, his railroads became pretty obsolete not long

after he built them. Most things you talk to Tom

Brady, and he was said it in interviews when he won his first

Super Bowl. He said, this is kind of like

this is it that that was it. That was the peak you you hear

from people who climb Mount Everest and it's like, well,

well, now what peak now what mountain am I going to climb

now? Now I need to do this one and

this one and this one all in the same month or in the same year.

And there's always these heights to climb.

There's always a new peak. Well, yeah, you're a climber,

but can you, can you dive? There's always a new horizon.

There's always more wealth. And really, all these things

require sacrifice of something else that is so valuable.

These people will tell you they'll cry when they talk about

the sacrifice it took to get there.

So overcoming the world. My grandpa used to say if you

only do one thing, you better be good at it.

That's pretty humbling because a lot of times people get pretty

puffed up about how good they are at their job or something

they do well, Yeah, that's, that's all you do.

Will Rogers said everyone is ignorant only on different

subjects. The point is, something is

always sacrificed, and you know that better than I do.

Something is always sacrificed when you think you're reaching

some greatness and the peak is not what it seems.

So who is he? Whoever comes the world, that's

the question that's still in front of us.

We've thought about maybe someone from every area of life.

Here's the Bibles. Well, we have all these

advancements and yet we as Americans are overweight,

disconnected, unhealthy, depressed, too busy, and we have

pandemics that still happen. So we're not overcoming the

world. Whoever it is, it's not us.

We are not overcoming the world, but who has?

Who has overcome the world? But he who believes that Jesus

is the Son of God, the phrase he who believes is not thinking.

Oh yeah, I know God exists. The word believe if you read

after any commentator, is the force to obey my belief, if it

is real, propels me and pushes me and drives me to trust God.

Whatever trust means to rely upon God and to commit to God.

If I tell my wife I love her or I'm with her and I don't trust

in her and rely on her and commit to her, that means

nothing to her. Jesus says even the demons

believe in tremble. So a mental ascent.

Yeah. God, I I think you're real.

That's that's good. That is not what he's talking

about here. He is talking about he who

believes, who will trust and real trust says, God, I'll trust

you with whatever you want me to do.

I'll follow you wherever you want me to go.

That's trust, that's belief. Now he's going to start a little

conversation about about the testimony of God and the things

that are proof. And we have to remember the

context of what he's saying here.

So he's been defending in this letter.

He's been defending the faith and what Jesus did against

people who would detract people who'd say, oh, Jesus didn't

really come. He didn't really come in the

flesh. That's not real.

He's been defending about those things.

So that's the context for what he says Next, verse 6.

This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not only by

water, but by water and blood. Now blood, you might say, has

one perspective. You think about Jesus's blood he

shed on the cross. Maybe there's some more in there

we'll talk about, but there are some different points to be made

about the water. And the most commonly held and,

and maybe the most obvious way that this is true is in the

waters of baptism. Jesus came by the waters of

baptism and it was, it was his moment where things were

changing and his ministry was beginning.

And as you think about people who would detract from this

really happening, Jesus, when he was baptized, solidified and

spoke and and confirmed that I am here on earth to do this

work. I'm fully in, I'm fully

invested, I'm immersed in it, and I'm here to do the Father's

will on earth. And by being baptized, Jesus

came by water and he confirmed that he did what he said he did,

and the Holy Spirit says that he did.

He was invested fully here and fully human.

Now some people might make a point and, and I don't, I

wouldn't say I think this is not true, but maybe it's not as

commonly believed about this passage.

But some might say this waters is talking about the waters of

the womb, that Jesus came by the waters of the womb and by the

blood of death. And so that is the proof that he

was here and was real among us by his birth and by his death.

But I think the cool part is those things are both true and

water has both a physical truth. Jesus came and he was here by

the waters of birth and a spiritual component where he was

baptized and immersed and he was real in that sense and

committed. But just like it, the blood does

have then a physical and a spiritual component.

Jesus lived in flesh and blood. He had the blood in his veins.

He wasn't a hologram. He had the blood in his veins

that we have, but also the spiritual component.

He came and he sacrificed and he bled and it was a real thing

that he did. That's what the writers trying

to convince us of. Jesus came by water and blood.

This is true. This is real and it is the

Spirit who bears witness because the Spirit is truth.

The Spirit of God tells us that this is true, for there are

three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word,

and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.

There's a discussion to be had about this passage if you are

curious about it, we can talk later.

This passage is all, all these things are true in this

statement, but there is a conversation to be had that

maybe you'll be interested in later, but we don't have time to

go into it now. Verse 8 And there are three that

bear witness. Some translations include the

phrase on earth, some do not for some of the same reasons.

Verse 8. And there are three that bear

witness on earth. So if you look in the Bible

throughout the Word of God, two or three witnesses is required

to establish a testimony. So if you're going to say

something, it needs to be backed up in the Bible, oftentimes by

two or three at least. And we read about that in

Deuteronomy 1719, Matthew 8, Second Corinthians 13.

And the Bible holds to that standard.

There are three that bear witness on earth.

The Spirit. First of all, the spirit is the

primary witness and he's going to say in a minute, if you

believe people, how much you believe God.

The Spirit of God conveyed through miracles, through mighty

powerful works. The Bible says the things that

are are in there. So the Spirit is witness to

Jesus work. But also the Spirit of God

taught the truths of the Bible. The Spirit of God gave us the

Word. So the Spirit first of all bears

witness that Jesus is real and he did what he said he did.

Secondly, we have the water, and that's what we just talked

about. Jesus.

The water proved his divine and human mission and the blood.

Now, we've already talked about the blood, but this is

interesting when you consider it in light of the statement about

the witness, the one saying standing up and saying, hey, I

can witness to this. I can say that this is true.

The blood says this. How so?

Well, in Genesis chapter 4, we read about the situation where

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

Abel was murdered by his brother Cain.

And the Bible says that Abel's blood cries out from the ground.

So Abel's blood testified of something.

It spoke of something. What did it say?

Abel's blood said, evil's been done, vengeance is required,

Something needs to be done because this is wrong.

His blood spoke in a sense, and it demanded justice happen.

But what about Hebrews 12? Hebrews 12 we studied not too

long ago says that the blood of Jesus speaks better things than

that of Abel. So if you remember, what did the

blood of Jesus say? The blood of Jesus, unlike

Abel's blood that spoke vengeance and justice, the blood

of Jesus spoke of a sacrifice. It spoke of peace, salvation and

redemption. So as we think about these 3,

the bear witness, the blood is the witness that Jesus came, He

died and he sacrificed for redemption and for salvation.

Verse 9 we're almost done here if we receive the witness of

men, the witness of God is greater for this is the witness

of God, which we which he has testified of his son.

It's silly to think that we would take our witness and

people's claims above God. That's what he's saying believe

God. If you're going to if you're

going to believe people believe God.

He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.

So this whole time we've been talking about the spirit that is

witnessed, the blood, the water. We've talked about in chapter 1,

the writer said that which was from the beginning, we've heard,

we've seen, our eyes have seen, we've looked upon him, our hands

have handled, we've touched him. The word of life, He said we are

witnesses of that, that life was manifest and we bear witness.

So, so far we have the disciples, their witness, who

are testifying that this is true.

They've seen it, they've heard it, they've touched it.

And then you have the Spirit of God, you have the water, you

have the blood, all these witnesses.

And he includes you and me in that list.

He says he who believes you're a witness too, You are one who

could stand up if there was a court case and say, I believe.

And I can tell you that this is true because of faith.

And we have this witness. We are another person standing

as witness to Jesus Christ. He who does not believe God has

made him a liar. Now again, that that belief is

the force to obey. So when we don't follow God,

whether it's through, I don't think you're right, God, or

maybe it's practical application to our life, we make God a liar.

God's work is front and center in creation.

As Romans clearly lays out for us.

There is no claim for ignorance, innocence, or disinterest in the

work of God. You either believe with force or

you call God a liar. I call God a liar.

There's no in between. That's the hard reality because

he has not believed the testimony that God has given of

His Son. So if God in all his great and

masterful works stood up and made the claims and did the

things that he did, and we look at that and say him, OK, I

really don't think that applies to me.

You're not want to do that. We're rejecting the testimony of

God Himself. And this is His testimony that

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

I can understand rejecting a testimony that is like eating

nails. But how about this testimony

that people reject that sometimes maybe I reject through

my actions. God's given you eternal life.

Why in the world would I reject that?

And this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life.

He who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

If you're here today without the life, without the Son, you're

dead. There's no life in your body.

These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the

Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and

that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

He's trying to hold these people up and to hold them.

Look at the witnesses. How could you look at this stand

of witnesses if you're in a court case and look at all the

people who have come up and testified one after another and

say, Nope. The writer is hoping that you'll

see this long list of witnesses and say, OK, I'm in here.

I'm in here for the long run. And we're going to finish next

week as to maybe some concluding thoughts as to what to do with

that that belief and what to do with that appreciation.

But as we close here today, I just want to read the words of

this song that to me are a response to this great message.

Is it for me, dear Savior? Thy glory and thy rest for me,

so weak and sinful, Oh, shall I be so blessed.

Oh Savior, my Redeemer, what can I but adore and magnify and

praise Thee, and love Thee evermore?

Is it for me Thy welcome, Thy gracious enter in for me.

Thy come You blessed for me, so full of sin.

Oh Savior, precious Savior, my heart's at Thy feet.

I bless Thee and I love thee, and thee I long to meet.

I'll be with thee forever. Never grieve Thee more.

Dear Savior, I must praise Thee and love Thee evermore.

There's only one response to this call.

I can, I can Amen those things. I am not someone who I can see

deserving. That is it really for me and it

is for you. And maybe you're not taking

advantage of it right now, but that doesn't mean it's not for

you. He says you who believe in the

name of the Son of God. So that's anybody who would

believe, who would respond with force on that belief and come to

Him with everything you have and every faith that you would put

in Him. If you haven't done that, you

can start by hearing the word of God as we've already done today,

believing on Him according to Mark 16 and 16, repenting

according to Acts 238, where I'm going to change my mind and

whatever God calls me to change my mind in whatever He's asking

me to do, sure, I'll repent. And confessing that Jesus Christ

is the Son of God according to Romans 10/9 and 10.

We can't get this salvation by our own goodness or by any other

savior out there who might claim this only in Jesus.

And we're baptized for the remission of sins according to

Mark 16 and 16. Maybe you've done this, and

maybe you need the prayers of the church.

The good news is that it continues to be good news for

people who have fallen and have failed, like all of us have.

The Bible says that the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us

and we can draw great strength from one another in our prayers.

And, and we have example in the Bible where someone said, hey, I

don't feel like I can pray for myself.

And they prayed together. And so we're happy to take care

of that. If you want to pray together

this morning, or if you need to start your walk, please come

forward while we stand and sing the song of invitation.