You Know Him | Wade Branch

Good morning everybody. It is a great day to be together

to worship our God. And as Dave prayed, I'm excited

to continue our study in First John.

I'm glad we landed here. I'm glad this is the path that

that we're taking. And I enjoyed our study last

week. And I think so much of this

letter in First John is things that so many of you have grown

up reading and knowing. But I hope as I forget where,

where it's written. But the writer of one of the New

Testament letters says that I would stir up your pure minds by

way of remembrance. You know, sometimes the all the

flavor in our drink settles to the bottom of our glass and we

have to stir it back up. So that fills us and, and

completes the, you know, the drink, the beverage, whatever

we're drinking. And I hope that as we study

this, though it's in your glass spiritually, I hope it'll be

stirred up and you'll remember it and let it fill you more and

more because we lose focus as we all do.

And this is a wonderful set of scriptures to meditate on.

As we talked about last time, this is believed to be written

by the the man John. And we had talked about the

context in which it was written. We talked about the purposes of

this letter and we we covered all the way through Chapter 1

and we started in chapter 2. We took our little step into

chapter 2. And so we're just going to pick

up at the beginning of chapter 2, verse one where we went a

little past there. So it says there in verse one of

first John 2, my little children, these things I write

to you so that you may not sin. So it's believed that John was

older and so in many ways he could write to them and say my

little children, because he's a spiritual mentor to them.

And he and he helped guide these people.

And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus

Christ the righteous. We learned about that last week,

how Jesus is a good and faithful advocate who speaks to the

Father on our behalf and who advocates for us in the presence

of God. Verse 2 And He himself is the

propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for

the whole world. Now this the whole world does

not mean that everybody is receiving Jesus, his

propitiation. Not everyone is receiving the

payment for their sins in the way God intends it.

Just like in the Old Testament in Leviticus chapter 16, there

Leviticus 16 · chapter mention

was a atonement sacrifice offered for the entire nation of

Israel. There was an atonement sacrifice

that was over the entire nation, but not all of Israel was saved.

The Bible says they were not all of Israel who are called Israel.

They're not all truly God's people just because they're in

the nation of Israel. So they weren't all saved.

And just like that, it's for the whole world, but it doesn't mean

everybody is saved. Unfortunately, verse three.

Now by this we know that we know him.

He's trying to give us assurance.

The way we know him is if we keep his commandments.

He who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a

liar and the truth is not in him.

He is simplifying our spiritual perspective.

He's helping us. John writes this letter almost

from a 30,000 foot view, like he's flying over and he has this

grand perspective. Some letters really dive into

the nitty gritty and all the details.

John doesn't do that. He's flying over and he's

simplifying it for us. If we don't follow him, the

truth is not in US now this changed relationship if we say

we are in Him, and when we have a changed relationship with God,

that should cause us to have a changed relationship with sin.

A Christian no longer loves sin as he once did.

A Christian long no longer brags about his sin as he once did, no

longer plans to sin as he once did, no longer fondly remembers

his sin as he once did, and he never fully enjoys his sin as he

once did, and is no longer comfortable in habitual sin as

he once was. We have a changed relationship

with God and also with our past sins and that sin that we are

trying to actively get out of our lives.

Verse 5. But whoever keeps his word,

truly the love of God is perfected in him, and by this we

know that we are in Him. Verse 6.

So this is the part where we did not get to last time.

This is all going to be new from here on.

He who says He abides in him ought himself also to walk just

as He walked. So John is challenging us and

reminding us if we're going to say it, we got to be about it.

We can't just talk about it. We got to be about it.

Verse 7 Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old

commandment which you have had from the beginning.

The old commandment is the word which you heard from the

beginning. Now he kind of provides a

paradox here because he's about to say again, a new commandment.

So he's providing kind of a, a this, but that.

He says I write no new commandment to you.

So in one sense he's saying this is nothing new.

Now the word new has, there's two Greek words for the word

new. One of them was neos, which

means new in time or installation.

But there was another one, kaidos, which is new of quality,

and that is the word kinos that's being used here.

He's and he really says it the same way in both circumstances.

But it's not a new commandment. God has intended the same thing

from from the beginning. Now what is this beginning?

And again, John writes in big generalities.

The beginning, I think includes a lot of things.

The beginning was something they'd known about the whole

time as Christians. And you know, I think we need

that. Like we talked about being

stirred up. It's something we know, but we

have to be reminded and have it driven further.

Like that stake that's in the ground, but maybe not holding on

to the ground as strong as it can you pound that stake in

further so that that tent or whatever it is might be grounded

in this. He's driving home this idea and

this thing that he's about to share with us that they've known

the whole time. He could also be intending.

And I think this is part of it from the beginning of what John

has been teaching them. John taught them a lot.

And so he's saying it's these are things I've been teaching

you from the time I began this, but also that Jesus taught them

from the beginning. These are things that Jesus

showed them from the beginning of his ministry.

So in a sense it's nothing new. But he says in verse 8 again,

which kind of in this context basically means in another sense

a new commandment I write to you which thing is true in him and

in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light

is already shining. We believe John wrote the this

letter. So if you go back to John 13, we

have maybe a clue as to what he's talking about here.

He says a new commandment I give to you in verse verse 34 that

you love one another. Now that's not the new part, but

Jesus says the new part is to love one another.

He says, as I have loved you, that's the quality of the love

that were commanded this new before Jesus.

Yes, there was love. Yes, there were principles that

were good and to be governed and followed, but it brought a whole

new level of love when Jesus did what he did.

When someone was willing to turn the other cheek and say

disrespect me, that's OK, I'll love you anyway.

As Frank's been travelling at a wonderfully slow pace through

the sun on the mountain, we can soak in how intentional Jesus,

what Jesus was to remind us of the love that he intends us to

have for the world. And he embodied that.

That is new in a quality that the world had never seen and

never seen exemplified. Our God taught us primarily and

maybe most importantly through example.

And that was a new command because of that, that you also

love one another by this all will know that you are my

disciples if you have love for one another.

So I believe that's that's the direction John is taking this.

And 1st John, he's saying this is true in him and in you.

Jesus embodied that. The love was in Jesus.

It was true in him and it's even becoming true in you now.

He doesn't say it's completely perfected yet.

He says because the darkness is passing away.

It's a process. The darkness is being pushed out

both in the world as a large macro perspective.

The darkness as the gospel is being introduced, is pushing out

the the light is pushing out the darkness and it's getting

further and further passing away.

But it's also true in our own lives individually.

It's true, as John writes to these people, that in their own

heart that the darkness will be being pushed out by the love and

the light that God is shining in there.

And because of that, he gives them this encouragement.

It's this love is true in him. It's also true in you.

This standard should revolutionary revolutionize our

idea and our standards of goodness every day.

Now someone might say, and I think this is a very common

question that comes up, how can I be walking in the light and

still sin? I've asked that question.

I've had friends ask that question that gets I've talked

about a lot. And that's a very good question.

How can the light be coming into my life?

How can I be walking in the light and still have darkness?

And I think it's, it's in this verse, it's a process of passing

away and the light is working its way into the depths of our

heart, sometimes in in one area that we hadn't seen before.

And so it was darkness. And now that has the light of

God's word that can teach and change us and that slowly and

continually makes its work in us.

So you can still have darkness in your heart that's just

getting worked out, that is getting processed through.

And God is continually finding new crevices in our heart to

shine His light in and to fill His fullness in.

Now maybe I should clarify first, Romans teaches us.

Romans 2 verse 4 says the goodness of and the grace of God

Romans 2:4

is intended to teach us. So it's not that we have an

excuse to continue in sin. So maybe, you know, if we're ten

years in doing the same thing, we should really consider a

self-assessment. Am I really walking the light if

I'm 5-10 years in doing the exact same thing?

That doesn't mean we're not going to have habitual

struggles. We're going to have things that

come back. But staying in the same place

and not making progress is probably a sign that the

goodness of God is not doing the is not leading us to repentance

the way it should. And we should respond to the

goodness of God in a more complete and intentional way.

But we must let the light work. Don't block out the darkness.

Remember when you were younger and someone came and flipped on

the light and you weren't ready to get up yet and you just want

to go back in the darkness? You just wanted them to go away,

go under your covers. That's what happens with sin,

and that's why you can walk in the light.

But there's parts of your darkness that don't want to see

the light, that want to continue to hide.

And you're sitting there fighting that internal battle.

Whether you're at work, whether you're getting up and getting

around, you're trying to manage all the other things in your

day. You are fighting that desire to

go back into the dark spiritually and so it is very

understandable, but we have to remember to let the light work.

Don't block it about. Don't put the covers back over

your head spiritually. You know what you know now you

can't go back to knowing to not knowing.

We are without excuse. We know the way God intends to

work on our hearts. Verse 9, He who says he is in

the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now.

So the first Test he gave us of our own relationship with him,

right? You started this by saying I

write to you so that you may have fellowship with us and we

have fellowship with Christ. And so we have this triangle of

fellowship. He wants us to know that the

first Test was whether we walk in the light.

The second test is a fellowship test and our attitude with our

brother. This is a large indicator,

according to John, of whether or not you are truly walking in the

light. Do you love or do you show hate

for your brother? Why do we hate?

I believe it's because of of wrong or being of perceived

wrong. And the challenging thing is you

might think you have a handle on it, but as you get older, your

list of perceived or in reality wrongs toward you grows.

Like Frank talked about the other day, that list with his

friend, he mentioned that list grows and it becomes maybe

sometimes harder and harder to have love for others.

Mark Twain once said, having spent considerable time with

good people, I can understand why Jesus liked to be with the

tax collectors and sinners. It can be hard to have love for

our brethren, but this is an indicator of our own spiritual

state. Now hurt and pain and

frustration is the root of these things, right?

We don't hate someone who didn't do anything wrong to us.

Hopefully that's that's AW outlandish.

But we typically respond, I think in one of two ways.

If someone hurts you or lashes out at you or does wrong to you,

we respond with either lashing out in return with wrongdoing.

And we talk about that a lot, but maybe we don't talk about a

kind of evil apathy that we can develop toward people who have

wronged us. Jesus says that our heart, not

just our actions, determines whether we are wrong towards

someone. Jesus condemned murder in the

heart. Have you ever heard the phrase

you're dead to me or so and so is dead to me?

Isn't that kind of killing them in your heart in a sense?

Sometimes apathy can be evil and drawing a line where you just

I'm not going there forgets you. That can be evil in it in

another sense. And they're both defense or

coping mechanisms. You have to manage the pain and

the the hurt. And so you're going to respond

in one of these two ways often times.

So may we avoid both of these. And I'm not saying I have the

solution or the answer because it's not easy.

It's a daily and situation specific process, but that's how

God's word is supposed to work. It's not a stamp on your life

that you move on. It's this is going to take

process. So sometimes separation is good

for a time that that's a biblical principle throughout

the Bible. Sometimes you need to take a

moment to separate because that can help us cool our emotions,

that can help us get back to baseline.

When we're not in that fight mode or flight mode, which is

fight or flight, you're either leaving and forgetting you.

It can cool our emotions, get us back down to baseline.

It can help stop the bleeding or stop the pain and the hurt

that's being caused. But as I was talking to Tina

about this, I got her wisdom. The thing, the important thing

she said that stuck out with me was what are you doing with the

separation? If you separate and that

separation turns into further hatred or complete apathy and

I'm done with you, we are not handling the separation in a

godly way that's going to bring reconciliation.

Here is the biblical pattern. Instead of responding with

lashing out our apathy, Jesus says, and I'll give you

scripture for this in a minute to give intentional positive

thought in action. There's no other way to handle

this and other than what Jesus prescribes as as Frank's been

covering Luke 6 verse 27. But I say to you, who here love

Luke 6:27

your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who

persecute, who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully

use you. So in this context of pain and

hurt, may we respond in the biblical way because sometimes I

like to think of our pains and challenges in the term of the

gym, because physical exercise really makes a lot of sense to

me with how you can have pain, but it can be good for you and

you can grow. Jesus says, but if you love

those who love you, what credit is that to you?

For even sinners love those who love them.

What credit is that to you if you do good to those who do good

to you, for even sinners do the same.

Spiritually speaking, that's no workout.

He's saying you're not working out, you're not exercising,

you're not getting better, you're not exercising strength

when you do that. But I say you love your enemies,

do good to those who hate you and bless those who persecute

you, who curse you. That is spiritual exercise.

If you really want to grow and if you really want to be giving

your effort, this is where it starts.

And in the context of first John, we cannot hate our brother

through apathy or through direct wrongdoing backward because

Jesus commands a true effort. You know, I used to think that

this concept of enemies and those who hate, I always felt

like it kind of missed me when I was younger.

It's like, well, that I don't have any enemies, so that

doesn't really apply to me. I guess I'll just try to find

another scripture. But the reality is this isn't,

you have to have this extreme maybe, but it's everything in

between as a catch all, whether someone is good to you or

downright evil and persecuting you.

This is the prescription. So if someone is kind of in

between and you just don't have a great relationship, the

prescription is the same. The attitude and the command is

the same. The challenge is the same.

So may we not excuse ourselves because, well, when I get an

enemy, then I'll then I'll really try this.

That's not the biblical way. It's a catch all.

He who hates his brother is in the darkness until now.

So I do believe this is a general principle.

But John is writing. He's kind of writing to this

knit group of Christians and he's saying one to another.

It's like you gather them in together and he's saying you

don't love each other. You are not walking in the

light. And so I believe this is

especially specific and important for us as the body of

Christ, our brethren. The way we respond to our

brethren is of most utmost importance here.

But he says until now, he's in the darkness until now.

So John is hopeful that this will wake up somebody who has

been walking in darkness in this way.

Maybe we needed to wake up and maybe we needed to see something

that we didn't see before. And John is hopeful and I am

too, that we can overcome that now that we see our reality.

Verse 10, He who loves his brother abides in the light and

there's no cause for stumbling in here.

What a hierarchy of things we could come up with to describe,

you know, if it were you, what would you say means, you know

you're walking in the light? How would you say a good

indicator that you're walking in the light?

We could come up with any number of things, but he says that's

how you know you're walking in the light and there is no cause

for stumbling in him. Commentators talk about, well,

is the stumbling on the part of the man who is feeling the

hatred or or is it on the part of him maybe causing someone

else to sin, to stumble? I think it's both.

There is no cause for me to stumble in sin if I love my

brethren because that controls so many other things.

But I also have no 'cause to make somebody else stumble

because of my life. It's true in every sense.

There's no cause for stumbling in him.

That's a wonderful. Blessing of peace.

Now he who loves his brother is the antidote in first

Corinthians 13 reminds us that this is going to look different

in every situation, but it does believe, endure and hope through

all things. May that apply itself somewhere

in our lives today that we would find somewhere to stick this

that we would find somewhere to put this and apply this truth to

our lives. Verse 11 But he who hates his

brother is in the darkness and walks in darkness and does not

know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his

eyes. My mind, I see a scary image of

somebody who is pious toward God and thinks they are walking the

light and maybe carrying the Bible, thinks they're doing His

will and doing so many good things.

But because they hate their brother or don't show love to

their brother, they have no idea where they're even going.

It's a complete waste. Now he's going into this next

section and John is going to write affirmations.

It's kind of like a poetic style of affirmations and

encouragement. And these are, I believe, his

thoughts from John himself. God used apostles who are going

to give the word of God, but I believe this is also the Holy

Spirit's perspective. So we need to honor this

affirmation as such. This is the Holy Spirit that

should teach our thoughts of how we see ourselves and how we

should honor those around us. And here are the affirmations.

OK, one more thing. I do not believe these are

gender specific. I believe these are these are

broad groupings of Christian maturity.

As we're going to dive in, I think you'll see the same thing

because you know, as one would say, like all men, we won't mean

like literally only the men. We would say all men being a

broad category of people. And the point is I believe all

groups are noticed and acknowledged in this list of

affirmations. So here we go.

The first one, he says, I write to you little children because

your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.

So the little children, most commentators agree the little

children are those spiritually who are young in the faith.

And there's a special thing that he writes, then your sins are

forgiven you. And that is something that they

are to take joy in and to praise them for and to give them

reminders of, you know, I'm so happy for your sins are

forgiven. What a wonderful thing.

Remind them to take joy in that because sometimes new Christians

maybe struggle with that process.

And did I really just get saved? I've had so much evil in my

life. Now there's a couple Greek words

used. The first time he's going to say

this, he's going to kind of repeat this list.

The first time he uses a Greek word, technia, and this.

Some commentators say this has more of an emphasis on a child's

relationship and dependence on a parent, while the next one used

may have a different emphasis. But I think the point is he's

using these like nuanced words to hit everybody.

It's all these spiritually young, and he's going to say it

again in another way to hit those who are children and maybe

infants and need growth. He's just hitting everyone.

He's making sure these people are recognized and encouraged in

what they have in Christ to remind them.

So these little children have a great joy because their sins are

forgiven. Verse 13, he says, next I write

to you fathers, because you have known him who is from the

beginning. So who are the fathers?

The fathers, I believe, are those who are seasoned

spiritually, who have stood the test of time and maybe mentored

others spiritually. And as you think about who are

those spiritually mature in your life or in this congregation,

their encouragement and their reminder and affirmation is you

have known him who's from the beginning.

It's not maybe just the freshness right now.

You've been through every phase. You've been the child who had

their sins forgiven, but now you are the one who maybe has the

the biggest honor of them all. He's talked about how do you

know whether you've really walked in the light?

How do you know whether you're even in the light?

And sometimes as you're an experienced Christian, sometimes

it doesn't always feel that way. Sometimes your feeling is you

get so immersed in what you're doing and the people you're

working with. You think maybe that you're the

sum of what you've been able to do in others lives.

That if if my work has just kind of fizzled out in some ways or

so and so doesn't really come around anymore.

So and so doesn't seem to be affected by my influence.

Maybe that's just the sum of me. Maybe that's all I am as a

Christian. But that's not what he wants

them to see. He wants them to see that you

have known him who's from the beginning.

He says this whole time that you've been walking white, this

whole time that you have been fighting and holding on

spiritually, you've been walking with Jesus.

You've been in the presence and loved and honored and and walked

step in step as we sang this morning with Jesus himself.

You are not the sum of the of the results of other people that

you have mentored. You know, as I teach high school

students, sometimes I have years where I have a lot of kids who

really struggle and who don't make a lot of progress.

And there are things that I can't control.

I've done everything I can. And it it can be discouraging.

You can walk away from your work like, was that worth it?

But that does not mean that I'm a bad teacher just because

someone doesn't succeed. He says to take consolation and

take joy. You have known him much from the

beginning. The second-half of this verse I

write to you young men. So it's not the children that

maybe the ones who are just being converted into

Christianity saved and their sins are forgiven.

And it's not those who have maybe been seasoned the same way

that others have, but the ones who are in between.

I write to you young men again, I believe this is the young

people, the young people spiritually, and you may be 60

years old, but maybe you're a spiritually a young man or a

young woman. I write to you because you have

overcome the wicked one. Maybe you've overcome some of

those first battles, those youthful lusts.

Maybe you have overcome those fights where you went through an

inner battle or an external battle that was difficult, but

you went through with your faith and you're a young, you've

matured and you're a young person spiritually now.

You're not a child anymore. He wants you to know that you've

won a valiant battle. You have overcome the wicked

one. That's a powerful thought.

There's a there's a, we read, had to read a book in high

school called The Ender's Game. I don't know if any of you are

familiar with it. And basically in this book,

there's a young group of people who are hired to try to fight

this enemy. And it's all, you know, like a,

a, it's a futuristic type of war where they're flying things and,

and fighting and flying drones and different machinery to where

they're, they're getting trained to fight the enemy.

And the whole time they're going through these brutal trainings

and they get to end of the, one of the trainings.

It's supposed to be like the final exam training.

And at the end of it, their, their general said that was it.

You thought you were just in the training, but you were actually

fighting the enemy the whole time and you just won.

Now, they wanted them to have the Peace of Mind and to be

creative enough to to think freely and to do their job.

And so they didn't tell them they're really fighting the

enemy the whole time, but they were actually fighting the

enemy. They thought they were in a

simulation. At the end of it all, the war

was won. And sometimes, you know, I think

we have a hard time realizing who we're really fighting.

But at the end of this, we're going to look back and be like

we just fought the wicked one. We just actually fought the

devil. And he says you've overcome him.

That's the reality you're in. You might feel like you're just

in, you know, it's a simulation of sorts, but you are actually

fighting the wicked one. And if you were winning fights,

you are overcoming the devil. I would ask you, are you on the

front lines? Are you fighting?

Are you doing that to be categorized as someone who is

overcoming the wicked one? The the third part of this

verse, verse 13 says I write to you little children because you

have known the Father. So he's kind of circling back

now. Here's that word, that Greek

word paideia, which is another word for children, but it has

like a different angle and he's just covering all the bases.

He says because you have known the Father, the children have

been freed from their sin and forgiven and they know the

Father. It's not just the old and the

elderly spiritually who have been commended for that

wonderful walk of faith. It's even them, even the young

people, those children spiritually have known the

Father. One commentator says in this

first stage of spiritual growth, we sink our roots deep in the

fatherly love and care of God. We know him as our caring Father

and see ourselves as his dependent children.

Verse 14 again, he's kind of cycling back through this list I

have written to you, fathers, because you have known him who's

from the beginning, you have an experiential knowledge of him

because you've been there the whole time, you know, and maybe

we think, is that enough to have known the father in the sense

that we have to trust that we know him?

Is that enough? Well, Paul says it is.

Here's what Paul says. But what things were gained to

me? These things I have counted loss

for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all

things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus

my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,

and count them as rubbish. Then I may gain Christ and be

found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the

law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the

righteousness which is from God. By faith He says that I may know

Him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship

is of his sufferings being conformed to his death.

Is that enough that you would know the Father?

Do you need some massive spiritual enlightenment where

you just, I don't know, you hit this, this Nirvana that wasn't

Paul didn't need that. Paul said it's enough for me

that I just know him that I would be right in there with him

in his suffering and then I would be honoured to take on a

life of suffering that was connected to him because of it.

That's enough for Paul. I hope it's enough for us.

I've written to you young men, because you are strong and the

word of God abides in you and I've overcome the wicked. 1 So

he's already kind of said this once, but he's affirming.

He's not just saying what he said the first one.

He, now he's saying you're strong.

A young man or a young woman needs to be reminded you're

doing this, you're being strong. Why?

Because of your own strength. No, because the Word of God

abides in you. God's Word must live in us as

young people spiritually or as any of any of these levels, in

order for us to be strong, we have to have God's Word living

in US, abiding in US. There's a lot that that means,

like we've already talked about what it means for Him to abide

in US. But do you search the Scriptures

daily? Do I search the scriptures

daily? Do I live it daily?

That's how God's Word abides in US and through it we can

overcome the wicked one. He says, finishing up from just

a broad perspective. Again, he's flying over this

30,000 foot view and he's just saying don't love the world or

the things in the world, it's not worth it.

No, this is worth it. If anyone loves the world, the

love of the Father is not in him.

What is the world? The world is kind of first and

foremost the powers of the world and the intention and the goals

of the world. Following these worldly desires

do not lead where we want to go, but also things in the world.

I was over at my neighbor's house.

She got older and she's moving out and she's downsizing because

she she's alone now. And she said one day you just

look around in your house and you're like, you just feel

distant from everything. It's just, these are just

things, all these things you thought were so cool at the

time. There comes a point where you're

like, what is this? It's just stuff everywhere,

though. Things of the world don't love

this stuff, because that's not the love of the Father for all

that is in the world. The lust of the flesh.

He clarifies here more specifically what the world is.

All that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of

the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father, it's

from the world. And the world is passing away

and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God

abides forever. May I remember this, that when I

am tempted, I am choosing whether I want eternity or I'm

choosing whether I want temporary because God is

building us for eternity. You're not built for here.

I'm not built for here. We are being built for eternity.

And when I choose the lusts of the world and choose to give in,

I'm saying I I choose temporary as better.

Obviously it's not. May I remember that I should

choose to be built for eternity. May I choose the better part.

It seems to me, as I talked about the older lady, that the

older folks are given that blessing of a separation like

that dissociation from what they used to have love in as almost

like a last grace to help us realize our reality.

And we as young people would be, would do good to listen to you

and hear you in that because you have a special perspective where

God has shown you through the, the, through the fading things

of this life. You, you have a reality where

you just realize this stuff is worthless.

Every older folk you talk to says the same thing.

May we as younger folks listen to that because God has given

them the grace to see it in their later days.

And we're going to stop there. I had more ready, but we'll pick

that up next time. And we definitely don't have

time to talk about the Antichrist and and the

anointing. So we'll talk about that in our

next study. We're about at a good stopping

point anyway. And as we look toward the

Father, as we try to leave the world and not be conformed to it

anymore, but to be in the presence of God both now and in

our eternity. This starts here as we've

studied. It starts with following Him

today in this room, with following his commandments.

If you haven't done that today, He keeps it simple for us.

His commandments are, well, you got to believe in me to have

eternal life and to believe, you have to have faith.

Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God.

Romans 10/17. So once we believe Him, we have

an opportunity to respond as first.

John has been trying to get us to remember to respond to those

commands with repentance to change our life.

And it's by Jesus and the confession that Jesus Christ is

the Son of God and I cannot be saved by any other one, but by

him that we express faith unto salvation, where we are baptized

into him, baptized into Christ for the remission of sins.

And if you haven't started that walk today, what I wanted to get

into the later half of this chapter because he talks about

eternal life and being assured and how awesome it is.

If you don't have that assurance today, there's a reason you

don't have assurance is because you're not ready have that

assurance and come to him and be joined to his saving body

because that's what he wants and that's what we want for you.

But if you've done that already and you need the prayers of the

church, you want to make something right, we'd be happy

to take care of one of either case.

We'll always stand and sing.