Written That You May Know | 1 John 2:12-14 (1-7-24: Mark Evans)

John is continuing his sermon series on the letter of 1 John. In this section, he focuses on the assurance of salvation and the importance of knowing that you belong to Jesus Christ. John highlights the bold claims that Christians make, such as having the hope of eternal life and knowing the Creator as their heavenly Father. He emphasizes the need for verification and provides indicators for confidence in one's faith, such as keeping God's commandments and loving fellow believers. John challenges the reader to examine themselves and offers encouragement by stating that they are forgiven, know the Father, and have overcome the evil one. He addresses different groups of believers, including little children, fathers, and young men, acknowledging the unique struggles and challenges they face in their spiritual journey. John urges all believers to grow in grace and emphasizes the importance of assurance in the Christian life. I want you to grab your Bibles and make your way to the letter of 1 John as we pick back up our sermon series through this wonderful epistle. And today we'll be in 1 John chapter 2, and at no doubt you'll recognize this section as it stands out probably in your Bible, we'll be in verses 12 through 14 of 1 John 2, 1 John 12 through 14 of chapter 2. And these are the words of the God who was, who is, and who is to come. I'm writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His namesake. I'm writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I'm writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. The grass withers and the flower fades, and let us pray. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we do praise You that through Your servant John You have written to us, You have revealed the things freely given to us because of the Lord Jesus Christ, His finished, completed work upon the cross, His resurrection life, the outpouring of His Spirit, that these things really do belong to us. And so we pray, Father, might You increase our assurance, our confidence of salvation, that these are the things that we have because of Christ and all of His benefits. And so we pray once again, give us eyes to see, give us ears to hear, that we might behold the King in His beauty. In His name we pray, amen. Amen. You may be seated. Well, such is our modern-day technology that we have ever-evolving security methods for verification. Gone are the days of just punching in a simple password, like 1234, which is my favorite. And now we have things like facial recognition and biometrics and two-factor authentication. If you're logging into a new device, chances are you'll get a message that says, Enter this one-time code to verify that you really are who you say that you are. It's now said that even that is too insecure and artificial intelligence is soon going to take over our verification. Well, I'll leave my opinions on ChatGPT off to the side and just say we know why that is so, because indeed there are plentiful imposters out there. There are hackers, there are hoaxes who would claim to be one thing and yet be another, be a fraud. We're always seeking higher levels of verification. Is this person who he or she claims to be? Of course, there's nothing new under the sun. We have seen thus far how on a much deeper level, John poses that question to the Christian. Can you verify that you really are who you say that you are? Because just consider briefly the incredible claims that the ordinary Christian makes. The everyday Christian says, I have the hope of eternal life, a hope that not even the grave can rob from me. The ordinary Christian says, I know the maker of heaven and earth. And not only that, I know this all-wise, powerful Creator as my heavenly Father. The ordinary Christian boasts that the Holy Spirit Himself, the third person of the Trinity, actually indwells Him and empowers Him to live a Godward life. That's just skimming the surface of the bold, astounding, let's say audacious claims that you, the ordinary Christian, claims. And so, let's just remember, where are we in John's letter? This is a letter all about assurance. John wants you to know that you belong to Jesus Christ. More to the point, John wants you to know that you know that you belong to Jesus Christ, to know, yes, I am a Christian. I've got this firm, settled confidence that He is mine and I am His, and He will never leave me or forsake me. The promise of salvation is the greatest of Christian blessings. The Puritan Thomas Brooks, he wrote a little book on Christian assurance. He titled that book, quote, Heaven on Earth. That is how highly Brooks thought of assurance. To know that you are in Jesus Christ is like having one foot in heaven already, that right now today, this very moment, you could have heaven on earth. Compare that to modern evangelicalism, when it seems like about every decade or so a person claims to have died, they claim to have gone to heaven, only to have their body back here on earth revived somehow, and then they write a best-selling book, here's what my 30 minutes in heaven was like, and we all run out and buy it. But Brooks says we don't even need to rely on these accounts. The ordinary Christian can have the strongest joy, the sweetest comforts, the greatest peace all through assurance of salvation. Our heavenly Father wants us, He wants you to know just how much He loves you through Christ. And so, so far in 1 John, John has said, well, here are some verifications, here's some indicators, here's some diagnostics as to how you can be confident of this heaven on earth. Recall he used a number of if or conditional statements. For instance, he said that if we keep God's commandments, then we can know that we know God. He's also said, if we love our fellow brothers, then we can know that we know God. However, we've also seen John does not peddle cheap, flimsy assurance, because John has also said, quite plainly, that if you profess to know God, but you fail to keep His commandments in the main, then the truth is not in us. That if we hate our brothers and our sisters, which is simply to say, if we neglect to love our brothers and our sisters, then John says we are liars, we are self-deceived, we are in fact walking in the darkness. John loves the people of God enough to not hand out false or counterfeit assurance. And so up to this point, John has challenged us, examine yourselves to see if you are walking in the light. Do you have these verifications? Can you know that you know God? Well this morning comes a bit of a shift. Maybe John's thought was, okay, I've challenged the people of God enough, and now I just need to give some encouragement. I need to remind them and comfort them of who they are in Jesus Christ. Maybe you caught it during the scripture reading, that John no longer speaks in hypotheticals, no more if statements, no, now it's just these blunt, glorious truths. He says, you are forgiven. You know the heavenly Father. Young man, you have overcome the evil one. He talks as if these things are certain, they are accomplished. And so Lord willing, we're going to see how these truths hopefully give you the utmost encouragement as to who you are in Jesus Christ. Now in particular, you're going to see in this section that John addresses three groups of people. And those three groups are little children, secondly, fathers, and then thirdly, young men. And so we're right to ask, why these three demographics? Well I know that some commentators think that John is not addressing us by our physical age. He doesn't literally mean little children or old fathers, for instance. Instead, the idea is that he's speaking to our spiritual age. He's speaking metaphorically. These are the different phases of the Christian life that we grow and we mature in. And so when John uses the term little children, in our parlance, we might use the term baby believer. When we say baby believer, we don't mean that person is literally an eight pound, six ounce Christian, right? No, we just mean someone who's young in the faith. And similarly, when John says young men, he might just mean growing, aspiring Christian. And father might refer to the experienced, seasoned believer. Now, for my money, I would want to just simply add, though, of course our physical age and our spiritual development can and often do coincide. You can be young in years and you can be young in the faith. And the same way, you can be old in years and you often are experienced in the faith. So I don't want to drive too sharp a wedge between this figurative and this literal meaning. So we'll be weaving in and out of both uses along the way. But regardless, John has something for everyone. I don't know your particular stage, but I know that whatever stage of development you are in this morning, John has a word for you. Every phase of the Christian life brings with it a unique struggle, a unique challenge. I think John Calvin said it well when he said that the old, the old, excuse themselves from learning and growing because they think there's nothing left to learn. I have arrived. The young, the young, the little ones, they excuse themselves from learning because they are simply too young and they think they are incapable of learning. Well then maybe the middle-aged, maybe they're just ripe. Maybe they are prone to develop. And Calvin said, nope, the middle-aged also excuse themselves because they are so preoccupied with other pursuits. All right, they're out there hustling, climbing the corporate ladder, raising families, and so they don't have time or concern for growth and godliness. Well today, John summons all of us, young, middle, and old to grow in grace. And so with that, let's look at the first group, little children. Verse 12, John says, I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His namesake. You see, John just says a very short, very pithy word for the little children and then he moves on to the next group. Now in writing, it's often said, less is more. The fewer the words, the more important the words are. A very prolific speaker once said that if he had an hour to speak, he needed very little time to prepare. But if he had only five minutes to speak, he needed a lot of time to prepare. Now it sounds counterintuitive, but you see his point. If I only have five minutes, I have to choose my words carefully and precisely. Every single word must matter. I cannot waste a single word. And that's John, at least in this section. His brevity only deepens the gravity. And so, to the little children, he addresses them simply to say, children, I want you to know, your sins are forgiven. I think we can consider at least two things from just that one verse. Firstly, let's just notice that John's assumption, you can maybe even say his expectation, is that little children would be present to hear this word. Again, perhaps figurative, but I don't think we're to exclude the idea that little children would be right there in the congregation, listening and hearing John's letter read aloud. It was just a couple of weeks ago. We had a visitor make to me not necessarily a rude comment. I think it was a sincerely curious comment, which was, hmm, there seem to be so many little children at this church. I can't turn around without bumping into a small child. It seemed this person had visited other churches that were limited to the still, lifeless, boring sound of adults only. Before I could respond to his comment, I was so proud of a fellow member who chimed in simply to say, we like it this way. We wouldn't change it even if we could because the children are our future. How true that is, right? The very unique thing about children in God's house is that children occupy two positions at the same time. Firstly, they are already part of the covenant community. They are as much of the church family as anyone else is. But secondly, they're not only the present church, they're uniquely the future church. As the psalmist says, may one generation tell the next generation to hope in God. So, of course, it falls to us as the covenant family to rear up this next generation. A great stain on the modern evangelical church is that children have so often, sadly, been sequestered off of the body of Christ, treated like second-class citizens. So, we want to always carry the banner, children matter, and they matter a great deal that our Lord Jesus rebuked His disciples saying, let the little children come to me. And so, John talks right to the little children. But secondly, you see, he wants the little children to know above all else, in verse 12, that their sins are forgiven. It's particularly precious of small children that one of their greatest fears is displeasing their mother or their father. Certainly, there are exceptions to this, namely teenagers, but what often pains the conscience, what troubles the soul of a small child is this thought, I have displeased my father. I've dishonored my mother. And how much more so is that true when it comes to our heavenly Father? That when we sin against our heavenly Father, when we rebel against Him, we disobey His will, and the Spirit convicts us of our unrighteousness. What do we most want to know in that moment? What is the greatest balm to our soul? It's to hear that good news again and again and again by a little child. Your sins are forgiven. But our Father in heaven does not count our iniquities against us. He does not hold our iniquity against us. He has washed us, and He remembers our sins no more. As we just said, as far as the east is from the west, so far are our sins removed from Him. And friends, the more and more we realize just how offensive, how grievous our sins against God are, the more and more we marvel at His mercy towards us. Humanly speaking, I don't know if you've ever been forgiven of something quite serious. If you have, you know how it stops you in your tracks. You can't help but stop and wonder, why is this person forgiving me? I've heard tales of stout-grown men brought to their knees in tears upon being forgiven. And how much more so is that the case before our God? For the most holy God who is pure light, who cannot even look upon wrong, why would He be so forgiving? Well John tells us why. In verse 12, you see at the very end there, God forgives His little children, quote, for His namesake. That it is unto the fame of God's name that He forgives, for His reputation, the glory of His character, that our God has revealed Himself to be merciful, gracious, abounding in steadfast love, showing steadfast love to a thousand generations, and He has entered into a covenant with His people to forgive for the sake of Jesus Christ, that for the sake of His finished work upon the cross, and that His name is exalted as name above all names. On that basis, God forgives you. We've probably all been guilty of name-dropping, right? You casually mention the name of someone famous and rich and successful, maybe a celebrity, someone of status, hoping this person's name is going to curry you some favor. And sometimes that works, and sometimes it backfires. A Christian just here, the forgiveness of your sins always works when at rest entirely upon the name that is above every name. And what that further means is that the forgiveness of your sins does not rest upon your merits, upon your works, how well you cleaned yourself up this week. No, instead, ask yourself just how jealous is God for His name? How good is God at keeping His promise? How much does God want to exalt the name of Jesus Christ? And that answers how well God forgives His little children. I know without exception that everyone walked into the room this morning with guilt. We are guilty people with guilty consciences. And now you might have heavy, paralyzing, crippling guilt. You might have low-grade, nagging guilt, but we are all guilty people who have fallen short. Your guilt might be for your lust, for your anger, for the way you mistreated your spouse this week, for the way that you were not loving to your children this week. Don't forget, this is likely directed right towards you, that you might have guilt this week for disobeying your mother, for dishonoring your father. Well, just hear the good news of the gospel once again, that the forgiveness of your sins and the removal of guilt rests entirely upon Jesus Christ and the exaltation of His name. Well, as awesome as that truth is, John now addresses children a second time. So you can go to the end of verse 13, and see that the little children are not only forgiven, you see also, he tells them, verse 13, that they know the Father. So not just forgiven, as amazing as that is, that is not the fullness of salvation. We're not merely forgiven, we enjoy fellowship with our Father. This is often rightly called the doctrine of adoption. It is true that Christians are adopted as sons and daughters through Christ. It was the great J. I. Packer who said that adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel, higher even than forgiveness. That yes, to be right with God as judge is a great thing, that's an awesome thing, but how much more so to be loved by God as your heavenly Father, that is even greater. And is that not true? What does every little child want to know? That they're not merely forgiven, but they are restored back into fellowship with mom and dad. Just imagine if our God said, yes, you're forgiven, but you may come no further. Our relationship ends with forgiveness. I'm going to forgive you, but you stay at an arm's length distance, but such is the loving kindness of God our Father, that He adopts us as His sons and His daughters, and He wants us to know in our heart of hearts that we can come before Him crying out, Abba Father, confident that He will hear us. If you have children, I'm sure they're not all that different from my own children, and that they come before you with this incredible openness, this liberty, this freedom to express, hear my fears, hear my doubts, hear my needs, hear my wants, hear my wishes. There's this readiness to plead with confidence that you will hear them with goodwill. And Christ Himself tells us, come that way before my heavenly Father, ask and you shall receive. Knock and the door will be open. We are so often too mature, too grown up, too adult for our own good, fancying ourselves to be independent, to be self-sufficient. And those words of James will rise up against us when he said, you do not have because you do not ask. Well, John brings us down to reality. Behold what manner of love that we should be called children of God, and so we are. As if you're here this morning and not a Christian, this is the glory of the gospel, that a sinner can have God as Father through faith in Christ. I realize to many that might not sound like good news at all. So many have had horrible fathers, abusive fathers, fathers who were anything but fatherly in their kindness. The friends hear the good news. God is the true Father. He is the perfect Father. He is all that a father is to be, and He says, I will be a father to any, to all who turn from their sin and put simple faith in my beloved Son. On that note, John now turns from the little children, and let's go to this second group, which indeed are the fathers. You see in verse 13, he says, I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. See, in verse 14, he repeats the same thing verbatim to fathers, just changing the verb slightly. And now, what are we to make of this? Right, imagine it's Father's Day, you get this Father's Day card. You open it up, and all it says on the inside is, you know Him who is from the beginning. You'd probably be a little confused. You'd probably wonder, what does this truth have to do with fatherhood? What does a father need to hear this as a father? Well, let's look at the verse. The verse says, you know Him who is from the beginning. Remember, John is one who is very fond of beginnings. The verse of 1 John is the word which become flesh, which was from the beginning. Recall that famous verse from John's gospel, in the beginning was the word. John is all about beginnings, and he wants to tell the father specifically, you know Him who is from the beginning. Now why is that so important that he would repeat it not once, but twice? Well firstly, let's just pause to recognize that as goes the father, so goes the family. As goes the head, so goes the body. As goes the leadership, so goes those who are led. And one of Satan's oldest tried-and-true tactics is to wage war upon the head. Fathers, plainly put, Satan hates you and hates your family, wants to do everything he can to destroy you and destroy your family. And remember at this time, Satan's instrument of destruction was those Gnostics, right? The Gnostics are always lurking in the background. And why that is relevant is because they claim to have this secret special knowledge, that they were the ones who possessed this kind of spiritually elite knowledge that only they could contain. Well it's not hard to see how that would undermine and threaten the leaders of a church, seasoned saints, fathers of the faith, fathers of a family, the very ones who are supposed to be living out godly knowledge. Well now in come these Gnostics with this counterclaim, saying, these fathers, they don't really know what they're talking about. We are the ones who have this special deep truth. They are not really qualified to be leading their families. And friends, while Satan may not use Gnostics today, he is still very much up to the same scheme of undermining leaders, heads of households, and seasoned saints. It is no secret that we have a crisis of fatherhood in our day. We have a culture of absenteeism in our day. And fathers, the world would have you think of yourself as unimportant, as ill-equipped, and as inadequate. But John wants them, and therefore you, to hold firm and steady in the faith. Let's just hear a simple word to you. Fathers, you really do know Him. You know the Ancient of Days. You know the Eternal God. You really do have a true, saving, experiential, proven knowledge. As Jesus told His disciples, you know Him and you have seen Him. And there is no so-called specialist or expert that could ever replace the true knowledge of God. And that means you are qualified and equipped in Christ to lead and love your family. And so, as if John says, fathers, persevere. Keep modeling it. Keep living it out for the next generation because you really do know Him. Lastly, John now addresses the third group, young men, in verse 13. Again, perhaps literally and or metaphorically. And if literally young men, this might just be the greatest need of the hour, that we are the most deficient in. It is said of our young men today that they are softer than ever, they're more confused than ever, they lack direction, discipline, and guidance. And if we ever wonder, who could we blame for such a sad state of affairs, we'll just find a mirror and gaze into that mirror, as C.S. Lewis famously said in The Abolition of Men. Here is his quote, we make men without chest and then we expect virtue and enterprise of them. We laugh at honor and then we're shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate our men and then bid the geldings to be fruitful. In a more modern language, Lewis is just saying we neuter our young men, we tell them not to act like men, we despise and look down on masculinity, and then we wonder, why are our young men so effeminate and so ineffective? And to compound it all, Lewis wrote that in the 1940s, well before the advent of feminism and LGBTQ and so on and so forth that has only exacerbated the problem. But you see, John is both timely and timeless. John addresses the young men and then he speaks the language that young, aspiring, growing believers, particularly young men, like to hear. He speaks in terms of combat and victory and war and the battlefield, right, young man's love language. You see, in verse 13 he says, I write to you young men because you have, it's done, it's accomplished, you have overcome the evil one. He tells young men, you have already conquered the greatest enemy of all. You have rode out, you have faced down the most formidable opponent, you have lopped up his head, you have stomped on him, you have won as a victorious warrior. That word there, overcome, in verse 13, it's the Greek word nanakekete, where we get our word Nike. Long before that was a woke shoe company, Nike was the Greek goddess of victory, paired alongside Athena, the goddess of war. And so John wants young men to think of themselves as conquerors, as victors. This is how young men so often think. One author said it well, he said, young men go to war, sometimes because they have to, sometimes because they want to, but always because they feel that they are supposed to. All the delusions and deceptions of our world will never drown out the desire of young men who yearn to fight. God has so ordered it this way, that if you give a young boy a stick, it won't be long before it is a gun or a sword or a knife. The question is not, will young men be fighting, but will they be fighting the good fight? Now that said, the sword of war is a sword that cuts both ways. It certainly also means a sword of defeat and dishonor, because every young man is firstly a child of Adam. He shares in Adam's defeat, Adam's failure, that Adam failed to do what he was called to do, to love and protect his wife, to subdue the garden, to fulfill the cultural mandates, to most of all defeat the serpent all to God's glory. And Adam's failure is my failure and your failure. We enter into it, we participate in it. And so fast forward today, the average American young male is likely not attending church, involved in pornography, prolonging marriage, prolonging fatherhood, and has a body mass index one mark shy of the clinical definition of obesity, and is generally speaking confused and tempted to view himself as a victim. And so just hear how refreshing John's word is. He says, young men, you have overcome the evil one. You are victorious. And lest we think that John is just calling for chest-beating bravado, that this is his best locker room speech, that this is just delusional machismo, you can see that what John is actually doing is pointing young men, young believers, and all of us to the true warrior who is Jesus Christ. Because it is solely through Jesus Christ that John can boast that we have overcome the evil one. Because isn't it true that Christ, as the second Adam, did what the first Adam failed to do? That our Lord Jesus succeeded just where Adam failed. And not only that, he succeeded in a far harder theater of battle. That Adam faced Satan in paradise. The Lord Jesus faced Satan in the wilderness of a fallen world. That Adam faced Satan with full rations and well-fed in paradise. The second Adam faced Satan deprived of food, fasting for 40 days. But though he was deprived of food, he was full of the Holy Spirit. And by the Spirit, he defeated the one who had the power of darkness. And that means that for all those who are in Jesus Christ, we share in Christ's victory. For all those who are united to Him by faith, they receive the crown of His victory. That's why John can look these young men in the face and keep a straight face and say, yes, you have overcome because your captain, your commander, has won the war as your representative. Well, that does not mean that there's nothing left for the young man to do. So John has a second word for the young man in verse 14. He says something that once again, it makes the heart of a young man swell with courage. Something that every young man aspires to, longs for, wants to cultivate. You see verse 14, he says, I write to you young men because you are strong. Mothers pay attention. He wants young men to know you're strong, you're powerful, you are mighty. Our current culture wages war against this idea with its so-called toxic masculinity that would have men preferring to be wallowing in weakness, if not reveling in self-pity. But you ask any young man, and if he is being honest, he will tell you that he does not want to be weak. He aspires to be strong, whether physically, intellectually, emotionally, in terms of stability. As Proverbs says, the glory of young men is their strength. And so the old man John, himself wants the young men, tells them, you are strong. And unless we think that John is again giving this locker room speech and telling them you're strong in yourself, in your own might, we'll just keep reading along. As you see, his thought continues in verse 14. He says, yes, you're strong, but here's why and here's how your strength abides. Because the word of God abides in you. That is your real strength. You might remember how God commissioned the young Joshua, when Joshua was taking control from Moses to lead the people of God in to fight the Canaanites. God told Joshua these words, be strong and very courageous. And then God continued, as if to say, Joshua, here's how and only how you're going to be strong and very courageous. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. Meditate upon it day and night and night and day. And so to our young believers, now is the time to be strong. It is only by the word of God and as the word of Christ dwells in you richly that you go from strength to strength. It is only through Christ that you have strength to put off the old man, to put off lust and malice and hatred and envy and jealousy, and to put on the new man, to put on kindness, humility, meekness, patience, steadfastness, and discipline. It is only through him that you can be strong in him and in the strength of his might. And now is the time to do that. Well, church, let's behold for a minute the goodness of our God. Maybe you can imagine a father, he calls a family meeting together in the living room and he starts to hand out gifts that are perfectly tailored, perfectly suited to each child. Here's a gift for the oldest son, here's a gift for the middle daughter, here's a gift for one of the young ones, here's a gift even for the nursing infant. No one is overlooked in this father's household. Well, that is what God, our Father, has revealed to us this morning in and through his word. Well, children, your sins are forgiven and you know your heavenly Father. Fathers, despite what the world might say, you really do know him who is from the beginning. And young men, despite whatever personal doubts you might have, despite what the world might say, you really have overcome the evil one because Jesus Christ has overcome the evil one. And you really are strong as you're strong in him and the strength of his might. And all of this is true for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, indeed we praise you for the truths you have revealed to us through your word, that for God's covenant people that we can go from hope to hope, from strength to strength, and in none of it by our own doing, none of it by our own might, none of it by our own righteousness. That's what we've seen this morning, that it's solely because Christ as our head, the second Adam, that he has done what we failed to do, that he has done what Adam failed to do, that he was born of woman, born of the law, that he walked by faith, that he fulfilled all righteousness, and then by his perfect death, by his resurrection life, by his ascension into heaven, he is our victorious king. And so we do pray for faith to follow in his footsteps, solely by your grace and your grace alone. We pray that we would lay up this word in our hearts and practice it in our lives. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen. Well, let's continue on in worship as we give back to our God what he has firstly given to us in our tithes and in our offerings, as well as we fit only stand to sing, Soldiers of Christ Arise, on page 8. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, All Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, All Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, All Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, All Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, All We hope that you've been challenged, encouraged. Even right now, we tell you that this God in heaven would be your Father should you turn, repent, confess your sins, and come in childlike faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. He will have you as his son or as his daughter. But we would ask that as people are getting up around you and they're coming forward to partake of the bread and the wine that you would simply remain seated. We say this unto your own benefit. Scripture says to eat and drink unworthily is to eat and drink judgment upon oneself. As a reminder, it's the first of the month, as is our custom. Deacons will be dismissing you row by row to come up and partake of the bread and the wine up front. With that, let us prepare our hearts to commune with Christ. Heavenly Father, we do praise you for this meal that you have given to us, instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And as he said, take and eat. How wonderful it is that we've got these physical sign and seal that we can see and touch, that we can taste. We pray that we indeed grow our assurance that we would have more and more of heaven upon earth, knowing the things freely given to us. That right here we can see you have given us bread. You have given us wine. And how much more true and certain is it that you have given us the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we pray that you would nourish us that we might have strength to fight the good fight, to be strong in you and in the strength of your might. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. In the same way also we took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Elders and deacons coming forward. In the same way also we took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Elders and deacons coming forward. In the same way also we took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Elders and deacons coming forward. In the same way also we took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Elders and deacons coming forward. In the same way also we took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Elders and deacons coming forward. In the same way also we took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Elders and deacons coming forward. In the same way also we took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Elders and deacons coming forward. In the same way also we took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Elders and deacons coming forward. In the same way also we took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Elders and deacons coming forward. In the same way also we took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Elders and deacons coming forward. In the same way also we took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Elders and deacons coming forward. In the same way also we took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Let us rise to sing the doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Let us rise to sing the doxology. Let us rise to sing the doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.