All right. Good morning, guys. Let's get after it. Grab your Bibles. Open them up. If you're just joining us, two weeks ago, we started our new book study. We're going to be going through the Book of First John. It's towards the back of your Bible. If you didn't bring one, we'll put the verses up on the screen. But we're going to be in this book for a while. We're going to be. Even though it's five chapters, we're going to be in here through the end of June. So I would encourage you to bring a pen with your Bible or get an ESV journal, Scripture journal. Mark it up. We got a lot to learn here, and we jumped into it a couple weeks ago. But last week we kind of tackled or confronted this tough reality that we have to reckon or be aware. Aware of. And that is that in the church, there's liars. Now, some of you are like, you don't tell me that. Like, you kind of felt that. But John's addressing this issue of like, hey, there's people in the church that are saying something. He's like, but, but I'm calling you a liar. Like, you're, you're not walking with God. And so the church has people who profess a faith in Christ but don't actually have a life that validates or supports that profession. And there's also, the church has doubters, people that would be genuine followers of Jesus, but have a lot of confidence in their salvation. And that's why John's saying quite a bit in this letter. I want you to know, I want you to know that you have eternal life. I want you to be confident in the Lord's return, that you are in Him. So John is out to. Now, let me say this. I don't think that's the only two groups in the church. I just, that's the groups that John is highlighting that there's these kind of two categories that he's addressing. Of course, the church is full of strong, mature believers and strugglers. Like, there's a lot of that. But John's highlighting, like, hey, there's some liars in the church and there's some doubters, and he's out to make liars feel uncomfortable and make these doubters or genuine Christians more confident. However, confidence isn't always seen as a good thing in our culture, at least not the kind of confidence that John is wanting us to have, because he wants us to know that we're saved in Jesus Christ. He wants us to have a confidence on his return. I'm with him. I'm good. Like, kind of this. This assurance that he wants us to have and to have that kind of certainty is often seen in our culture as arrogance. Right? How. How do you know? Like, how can you know? How can you be so sure, certain? And it seemed like if you have that kind of confidence, you're an arrogant person. So it's like you're saying that. That you're right and everybody else is wrong. Everybody kind of feel that in our culture. No. Oh, well, you should live out in our world a little bit more. Kind of open your eyes. Like, it's all over the place. But there's this idea that if you have that level of certainty, that there's arrogance. And our culture has kind of rejected that kind of confidence. And what's occupied our culture in its place is relativism. In relativism, like, there's no absolute truth. Like, how can you know? And how can. Like. And truth is seen in relationship to culture. So this is true for them, and this is true for you, and this is true for that person. But here's what relativism has done. If everything is relativistic, then there's no. There's no conviction. There's no, like, conviction of a truth. And if there's no conviction, there's no passion. And if there's no passion, there's no devotion. Like, I'm not going to devote my life to something. Like, I don't know if it's true or not. And that's kind of been the breeding grounds of complacent, especially in the Western church. Like, if we're all relativistic, like, there's no conviction and passion and devotion. And John's writing and saying, like, no, no, no, I want you to know, I want you to have a confidence in the gospel. But how do you know? I mean, how do you know? Because John wants us to know, but he doesn't want us to know. In some kind of, like, therapeutic Christian hug, like, God loves you. It's okay. It doesn't matter. Just, you know, be comforted. Like, John is out to build the confidence of genuine believers by leading them, leading us to take a hard look at ourselves. Like, look for the evidence of God's work in your life. Look for it. It's there. And if you see it, rejoice. Rejoice in that, because it is a sign of God working in your life. But it can seem, today I'm going to meddle a little Bit. But it can seem today in a kind of soft evangelical world, the worst thing anyone can do is challenge anybody to question their salvation. Like, are you really a follower of Jesus? Like, to do that is like, how could you do that? Who are you to judge? And this idea of, like, to make anybody kind of question the legitimacy of their faith is seen as a bad thing. But that's what John's doing. He's asking for question now. He has a good pastoral motive to do that. And a lot of us in this room, kind of my age and up, we've grown up in a church culture of decisionalism where it's just that if, if you prayed a prayer, if you raised your hand, if you came down front, if you signed a card, then you're a Christian. Like, that was the way to become a Christian. But then you have people who prayed a prayer, who raised their hand, who came down front, and now they're living lives. And it's like your life shows no devotion to Christ, no love for God, no. No commitment to the gospel or his church. And you're like, is that what it means to be saved? Like, is that how that works? Is that genuine? And maybe we're confused about the work of God in salvation. There's this, this happened fairly recently. Scott Adams is, He's an author, but he is the guy who invented Dilbert the, the comic. Anybody read Dilbert Paper? You guys know who I'm talking about? Oh, some, some Dilbert fans. All right. Didn't expect that. But that's, that's great. He recently passed away and in his passing, he, he, he wrote something. Let me read part of what he wrote. He says, if you were reading this, things did not go well for me. I have a few things to say before I go. My body failed before my brain. I'm of sound mind as I write this. January 1, 2026. If you wonder about any of my choices for my estate or anything else, please know that I am free of any coercion or inappropriate influence of any sort. I promise. Next to my Christian friends. Next. Many of my Christian friends have asked me to find Jesus before I go. I am not a believer, but I have to admit the risk reward calculation for doing so looks attractive. So here I go. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I look forward to spending an eternity with him. The part about me not being a believer should be quickly resolved. If I wake up in heaven, I won't need any more convincing than that. And I hope I'm still qualified for eternity. Is that what it means to be saved? So you look at that and it's like, okay, I have hope, man. I hope so. I don't have confidence. And I think John's wanting us to have confidence, to have a level of certainty in where we stand with God. And here's something I want us to hear. We'll come back to it. But it's really what we're talking about today is built on this. We can't take the supernatural out of conversion. Like, it's more than just forgiveness. It's transformation. It's more than just God. Like, not counting our sins against us. That is a part of it and a necessary, beautiful part of it. But it's also, we get the Holy Spirit and God changes us from the inside out, and he makes a difference in our life. Like, we can't take the supernatural out of conversion. However, nobody's perfect. Like, nobody's, like, fully arrived. Nobody here doesn't still struggle with sin. So it's like, how do you know? How you know that happened to me? How can I be confident? Because I believe it, but I still sin and I struggle. Like, so. So what are the things that we should look for? And last week we asked the question, what is the relationship between a genuine believer and sin? Because a genuine believer is a sign of that, is they seek to avoid sin and they confess sin. But conversion is more than just becoming a more moral person. We're not just being called away from sin. We're being called to God. So what are some marks or indicators that we can look at our life that point to the genuineness of God's work in our life, the genuineness of our conversion? Because here's what John wants. It's what we want. He wants for us, assurance, not insurance. Nobody loves insurance. It's necessary. You have to have it. And sometimes people treat the gospel like insurance. Like, I get this fire insurance. I prayed a prayer. I. I raised my hand. That's not what John's after. John's not after insurance. He's after assurance. So let's get into this and try to discover what is assurance, why should we want it, and how do you have it? And really, this is about better understanding the work of salvation. So this is where we're going. You guys ready? All right, let's get a running start of this. I'm actually going to go all the way back to where we began last week, and we're going to read the text that we covered last week to kind of get into our verses. So let's go back to chapter one, verse five. This is the message we have heard from him, Jesus, and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him God a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. So, so John is assuming, knowing that sin is going to be a part of the life of a genuine believer. That's why he says, hey, we need to confess our sins. And when we do, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. We have an advocate that before the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, like, he's assuming, yes, sin's gonna be a part of life, but that reality should not lead to complacency. It shouldn't lead to a place of, like, it doesn't matter then it doesn't matter how you live. Like, he's writing these things so that you don't sin. But I want you to know if you do, when you do, because it's a part of your life, you have an advocate. We have an advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. It's another way of saying, like, he's a sufficient advocate. He can do that job. Now, what did this righteous advocate do. Do that should give us such confidence? That is a wonderful question. And it's answered in the very next verse, verse 2. He, Jesus, our righteous advocate, is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now, we get a big word here. This propitiation. Propitiation is a sacrifice that satisfies wrath. So it's this offering that is going to appease or satisfy the one that is justifiably upset with us or that we owe something to that we violated. So it takes care of it. It satisfies that wrath. You're mad at me. Here's a propitiation. You're no Longer mad at me. Like it completely satisfied. The wrath. It's a sacrifice that does that. In fact, look at verse seven and chapter one. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the what? The blood of Jesus's Son cleanses us from all sin. What's this blood talk? Because he's a sacrifice. And this sacrifice, the shedding of his blood, is the perpetuation that satisfies the wrath of God. Wonderful news, right? Okay. Amens are welcome. Just from the. Just from the Christians, though. All right, this is what it says in Hebrews. Go to Hebrews, chapter 10. It says, Therefore, brother, since we have what confidence to enter the holy places by the what blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened up for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, the sacrifice of himself on the cross. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, one who's advocating on our behalf to the Father, let us draw near with a true heart in full. What assurance of faith, with a heart sprinkled clean, this cleansing that it's talking about from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. He's like, you can have confidence. You can have confidence because of the work of Jesus in our life. And now if you look back at verse two, he is our propitiation, Underline He. It is an emphatic pronoun in Greek. Now, don't check out on me here what that's saying. It would be like saying he himself or he alone is our propitiation. Now, why is that important? Because you don't share in satisfying the wrath of God. That is all the work of Jesus. So it's not like some of Jesus, and some of you, most of Jesus, little of you. It's all of Jesus. The propitiation, the sacrifice that Christ made is his and his alone that satisfies the wrath of God, not you. Okay, you're with me. I don't know if I have a better thing to say than that, so if you missed it, it's on you. All right? But he also says in this verse that not for yours only, but also for the sins of the world. Now, what does that mean? It's not universalism. It's not like. Well, it doesn't matter. This is just whether you believe or not. It just applies to everybody. That can't make sense in this context because John's saying, we got some liars. We got some people that are contradicting their own profession of faith in their life, and they walk in darkness and they're not in him, and they're not born of God. Like language used to talk about a Christian. So he's not applying the work of the propitiation of Jesus Christ to everybody in the whole world, but he is saying that the sufficiency of his sacrifice is going well beyond just us in this group here. Like, the work of Jesus Christ is going to apply to believers in all times, in all places, to all believers. Like it is the sufficient work of Jesus Christ. Okay, well, how do I know it applies to me? How do I know it reached us? How do I know it's real in my own heart? What are the things that we should look for? Let's read our whole text today, and then we're going to go back and look at some things. So go back to verse two. We'll go through verse six. He, Jesus, is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him. If we keep his commandments. Whoever says I know him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word in him. Truly the love of God is perfected. And by this we know that we are in Him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. Okay, so here's the. You can follow John's logic. Here's what he's saying. If you say that you abide in God, well, then you should. Your life should reflect the life of Jesus Christ. And if you say that you abide in God and your life doesn't reflect the life of Jesus Christ, there's problems. Like, you see the logic in that, right? Like, that makes sense. If you're professing this, then a logical explanation would be your life supports it. You track with me. That's not too far gone. Like, yeah, we can get to that. If you say this, then you ought to live in that way. But John is not talking about salvation through obedience. Obedience. Like, you can't be. That one makes sense in this context because he's saying, hey, if you say you don't have sin, you're a liar. God says, we all have sin. You make him a liar. You need to confess your sin, right? And when you do, he's faithful and just to forgive us of all our sin. And you have an advocate. So Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is a propitiation for our sin. So John is not talking about salvation through obedience, but he is talking about assurance through obedience. Let's go back and look at this a little bit. Go back to verse two. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know. So underline by this we know, because this, this is important. A lot of our conclusions hang on this. And by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Now here's the question. By what? By this we know, okay, by what? By Jesus Christ as our propitiation for our sins, we know that we are in Him. Or by us keeping his commandments, we know that we are in Him. Which one is it? Yes, yes, to both of those. Now let's look a little bit closer at this. For both of these are crucial for our assurance. And we get clarity on that in Hebrews, chapter 10. So that passage in Hebrews we read like, how do we have confidence to enter the most holy places, the blood of Jesus, right? And we have assurance of faith because of what he has done for us. Then you get to this passage in first John, and he has this if clause as a part of this statement. And it would probably make more sense in this context to connect. By this we know. If we keep his commandments, it seems like it's referring to that at least John is connecting the idea of the propitiation with Christ and our keeping the commandments. And it's important to see that connection because listen to me. There is a connection between Christ's saving work in us and our obedience to Him. Let me say that again. So we all get this. There is a connection between Christ's saving work in us and our obedience to Him. Let's look back at chapter one, verse nine. I'm going to nerd out a little bit, but stay with me because there's a point here. Go back to chapter or chapter one, verse nine. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from. From all unrighteousness. Now, the word forgive and cleanse in Greek is an aorist tense. Here's what that means. Like we talked before, like in English, we have just like it's past, present, future. Well, in Greek there's like eight different tenses. Aorist tense is something that happened in the past and it's over in the past. It's a completed action in the past. So he's saying we have been forgiven and we have been cleansed. That happened. It's over, it's done with. Forgiveness is complete, cleansing is complete. You track with me. All right, well, then go to verse seven. Here's what he says. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, Same word again. Cleanses us from all sin. Now, cleanses in verse 7 is the present tense. It means, like ongoing action. So which one is it? Did he cleanse us in the past, or is he cleansing us in the future and in the present? Yes, you guys are catching on here. Right? In these just two verses here, we get the work that God has done in the past and the ongoing continued work that he's continuing to do in our present. And our salvation. Get this. Now, our salvation involves both a past finished work and a present ongoing work. It's important to get that our salvation, the work of God in our life and saving us, involves a past finished work and an ongoing present work. So a past finished work on the cross. Jesus said, what it is, it's finished, it's over, it's done, it's complete. You have been forgiven, you have been cleansed. Right? You've been cleansed, you've been made righteous. And we have this, like, ongoing continued cleansing work that God does. So let me give you bigger theological words for this. Some of you, like, I know this. Others you might be new. Justification and sanctification. So justification is the work of God and justifying sinners being declared righteous, that's the work on the cross that happened. That's over, that's completed, that's done. But then the sanctifying work is the ongoing work of the Spirit of God in our life, conforming us more and more into the image of Christ. Both of those are a part of God's saving work in our lives. And sometimes we just focus on justification and we neglect or ignore sanctification. But John's saying, hey, both of those are part of God's saving work in our life. So let's go back to verse five in chapter two, because he continues this point that he's making. He says, but whoever keeps his word keeps the word of Christ. God's word and keeps. Here is present tense. So he's talking about ongoing obedience. Like, you continue to walk in obedience. He says, whoever keeps his Word in him, truly the love of God is perfected or made complete. Now, made complete or perfected is in the perfect tense. This is where it gets different, because we just have like past, present, future, this is perfect tense. Perfect tense is something that happened in the past and the effects of that continue on into the present. Right? So you have. God has forgiven us and cleansed us. That happened. He's continuing to cleanse us. Right. And some work that's happened in the past has continuing effects into the future. You still with me? Okay. Because this come together, we got to understand salvation. So if he's saying this work of being perfected is something that happened in the past and it continues on in the future, what's the work? What's the work that happened in the past that has a continued effect into the present? It's the work of God in saving us. And where is that work taking place? Look at verse five again. But whoever keeps his word in him, in him, truly the love of God is perfected. Guys, Salvation involves an atoning of sin and an inward work that expresses itself outward. Both of those. So when I say our salvation involves like an atoning of sin, that's something that Christ did on our behalf before God to satisfy his wrath has nothing to do with us. He did that for us. But also he does something in us. He gives us His Spirit and his Spirit works in us to transform us over time to reflect more and more the image of Christ. Like that's the work he's doing internally. We can tend to miss that because. Because justification like that happened. Sanctification is happening over time. Slow transformation, but it is a part of salvation. In fact, the prophet Ezekiel talks about this. He's looking forward to the work that God's going to do. He says, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you should be clean from all your uncleanness. That's what John's talking about. He's going to cleanse you from all your uncleanliness and from all your idols. I will cleanse you and I will give you a new what? And a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you. And this is interesting. And what cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to what, obey my rules? Like that's the promised work that God is going to do when he saves people. I'm going to change your heart. I'm going to take out a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And this work that I'm going to do, I'm going to cause you to express your love for me in your obedience. Right or How John puts it, but whoever keeps his word, or, or how does Ezekiel put it? Whoever caused to walk in my statues or obey my rules, he's saying, like this part of a genuine Christian, like, this is the work of God in their life, that they're obedient. So if you go back to first John, the love of God that is being perfected or matured, verse 5. But whoever keeps his word in him, truly the love of God is perfected. That's not talking about God's love for us, it's talking about our love for God. And he's saying, when God saves you, here's what happens. He's going to give you a new heart, and that new heart is going to love God. That new heart is going to express a love for God in obedience. I'm going to cause you. If you go back to Ezekiel 1, I'm going to cause you to walk on my statues and obey my rules. Why are we doing that? Because we're awesome? No, that's evidence of God's work in our life. That's what John's saying. Like you can see it. So when God saves someone, he bows a ton, atones for their sins, He's a propitiation for their sins. He satisfies the wrath of God and he gives us his spirit and he begins to change somebody from the inside out. And over time, our love for God is perfected, is matured, is fulfilled. It grows as we have to have a better understanding of salvation. Because sometimes I think we treat it like benefits we opt into rather than something that God does in us. And for us, it's like, oh, oh, Jesus is offering us forgiveness. I'll take some of that. Like, we just kind of opt into it instead of seeing it. Like, no, it's a work that God does in us and for us. He atones for our sins, he gives us his spirit and he transforms us from the inside out. So I'll say it again, guys, don't take the supernatural out of conversion. It's not just a decision that you make, it's a work of God that He does. He changes. He doesn't just forgive, he transforms. He gives a new heart and gives us passions to please and obey and love God. So here's my question. Has something supernatural happened to you? And we hear that, we kind of think, man, I don't, I don't know. I still sin. Let me ask this. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and his sacrifice is a sufficient propitiation for your sins? That completely atones for what you've done. And do you see a growing love for God in your heart? I'm not perfect, but I want to please him. I want to honor him. If that's the case, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't come to those conclusions on your own. That's not a product of your own reasoning. Do you remember when Jesus was asking his followers, like, hey, what do people say about me? And they're kind of giving all these answers. And he says, well, what do you say about me? Who do you say that I am? And Peter's like, you're the Messiah. You're the son of the living God and Jesus, like, you're right, but you didn't come up with that on your own. Peter, like, you got help from my father, like, he opened your eyes to that. That's what it's like. This saving work is like, that's a work of God in our life. And if you have a growing love for God, John's saying, like, God did that. If you see Jesus as your propitiation for sin, God did that. So John is really making us think and ask some tough questions, like, do you see the fruit of God's work in your life? Is there evidence that points to the genuineness of your conversion, that you are a new creation in Christ? Now, why is he doing that? Well, he wants to expose liars, but he also wants genuine believers to discover assurance. I do believe that I do see that and grow in their confidence. But there's no assurance of salvation without sanctification. Now, here's what's hard when I say that because we all still sin. And I know what you're thinking, because I wrestle with the same struggles. Well, do I sin too much? Have I sinned so much that I should say it's not real in me that it didn't really take? Maybe I professed it, but I don't feel transformed. I don't seem transformed. And it's like, I don't know if it's real, if it really took for me. But notice John is both talking about the reality of sanctification in the life of a true believer. Like, the love of God will grow. That's the work he does. And telling us, confess your sins. He'll forgive you. You have an advocate. He's righteous. He's a propitiation for your sins. And both of those are essential in the life of a genuine believer. Or here's what we need to get. Genuine believers are both dependent on Christ and obedient to Christ. They're both dependent on the grace of God coming through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and they're obedient to Christ. You might be like, well, how do those work? Because if I'm dependent on the grace of God through Jesus Christ, then I'm not being too good at being obedient to Him. And if I'm being really good at being obedient to him, why do I need the grace? Like, it feels like this is intention, it doesn't work. But like we talked about last week, that's the beauty of the Christian life. Remember, if this is your pursuit, like you, you want to honor God and love God and obey God, well then this is your security. You have an advocate, he's a perpetuation. Confess your sins, he'll forgive you, like, relax. But if this is not your pursuit, you don't have a love for God, you're not seeking to honor him, then this should not be your security. Or here's another way to think about it. A sign of true conversion and is trusting in God's grace and living for God's pleasure. It's trusting in God's grace and living for God's pleasure. And I'm telling you again, it's both. It's both. It can't, can't be an either. Or if, if you trust in God's grace but you don't live for his pleasure, that's not conversion. That's not a new heart. But, but on the other end, if you live for God's pleasure but you don't trust in his grace, that's not the gospel. And you're just setting yourself up for despair. Both are needed for a genuine Christian. So, but, but listen. Our hope is not in our obedience. I want you to get this. Our hope is not in our obedience. Our hope is in our Savior. Amen. But our confidence. Confidence, where's that come from? Well, our obedience fuels our confidence that we've actually been saved because it's evidential of the work of God in our life. But both Christ's sacrifice and our obedience fuels assurance. Assurance. So we finally got there. What is assurance? Let me tell you what it's not. Assurance is more than faith. A lot of people express faith and miss out on assurance. That's why Paul, or excuse me, that's why John's writing this. I'm writing this to you because I want you to know, I want you to have confidence. You don't have a lot of confidence. I, I want you to have Confidence. But also there's some people that have a false sense of assurance. Like, you shouldn't be assured, but John's wanting us to have real assurance. And assurance is also different than security. If you are a new creation in Christ, then nothing can snatch you from the love of God. Nothing can take you from his hand. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Like, we are secure in him. Let me put it this way. If we could lose our salvation, we would. Let me make more personal. If you could lose your salvation, you would. You would lose it really fast. But you didn't save you and you can't unsave you. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. But you can be secure and not feel it. You know what I'm talking about? You can be secure and not feel it. How many of you guys in here don't like heights? Okay, it seems like. I don't know. I don't have, like, evidence for this, but it seems like in a marriage, somebody likes heights, somebody doesn't. I'll be personal because Marcy's not in the service. She didn't like heights. We one time we climbed up a lighthouse. There's like 150 steps, and then you get up there and there's just like this small circle. And then you're kind of looking out and there's a railing. I mean, it was probably built in the 1500s, but there's a railing. And I'm up there and like, this is awesome. You know how far you can see and come over here and look down, how far it up? And Marcy's kind of up against the wall. Like, no, I'm fine. Like, get away from the wall. You know, she's more kind of nervous about that now. Am I more secure than her in that situation? No. We're standing on the same material. Like, I'm no more secure or her less secure. Like, we're both standing on the same foundation. But I felt more secure than she felt. But security is not about our feelings. Just because you don't feel secure doesn't mean you're not secure. And on the other end, just because you feel secure doesn't mean you are secure. Like, it's not. Our security is not built on our feelings. Our security is built on the finished work of Jesus Christ. But assurance, on the other hand, assurance. Assurance is the comfort of knowing I'm secure. Or put it this way, assurance is the enjoyment of a validated faith. I know. Let me extend it. Assurance is the enjoyment of a validated Faith that leads to a greater felt intimacy with God. Because why is John writing this? Remember the first week he says, I'm writing that our joy may be complete. So here's why you want assurance. It comes with joy. Joy is in our assurance. Remember when we looked at the situation with David when he sinned with Bathsheba and he kept quiet about it? He kind of lived in this sin, he says, like my bones wasted away. It was wrecking him emotionally. And he prays. And In Psalm 51, you get this prayer of like, return to me my salvation. Is that what he says? No, return to me the joy of my salvation. Like, I don't. I don't doubt that you're still my Savior, but I. I don't feel close to you. I understand that you're my rescuer, but I want intimacy with you. And my sin has hurt our intimacy. And I want to be close to you again. I want to walk in peace knowing that you're pleased with me because I feel your displeasure, because I've sinned against you and I want your pleasure. I want you to be pleased with my life. And when you're pleased with my life, I get your joy. You like, you fill me with joy. And assurance comes from depending on Christ and obeying Christ. Or you could say it like this. Assurance comes from believing in the justifying work of God and experiencing the sanctifying work of God. I believe that he is the propitiation for my sins and his grace is sufficient. And he has satisfied the wrath of God towards me completely. I believe that I can confess my sins to him and he is faithful and just to forgive me of all my sins. And I believe he is my advocate. He is interceding on my behalf before the Father and I experience his transforming work in my heart. That when I sin, I hate it. And I want to please him, I want to obey him and I want to honor Him. And that's validating. And in that I enjoy closeness with God, I enjoy intimacy with him and I greater feel his pleasure. That's what John wants for us. I want your joy to be complete and it's found in fellowship with Him. And sin hurts fellowship. That's what we want as a church. A church full of people that enjoy assurance, confidence in the work of Christ in their life, that they know that Christ is their Savior and they see and experience the transforming work of the Spirit in their life. What would a life look like that had that kind of assurance? What would a church be like if it was full of people with that kind of insurance and confidence that I'm not needing to get it from other places. And I don't need you to like me for me to be fulfilled. I don't need this to fulfill me. I'm fulfilled in Christ. I have the joy of my salvation. I mean, what would a church be like if we had joy in our salvation? Not just conviction of it, not just belief in it, but a joy of salvation. And what might the worship be like in a church like that? Let's pray. Father, I do pray that you would open our eyes, that as we turn to the sacrifice that you have made on our behalf, we would not just feel the freedom to confess our sin to you and not just be confident that we have a propitiation that satisfies God's wrath because of our sin. And we would not just be thankful that we have an advocate. We would fall more in love with you. We would be in awe of who you are and what you've done. And that your atoning work would just be part of our salvation that includes your spirit in us, growing our love for you. And we grow our love for you. We grow our obedience to you. Pray this in your name. Amen.