Turn with me in your Bibles, please, tonight, as we look again to the book of 1 John, chapter 5, looking at verses 1 through 5. Some of you may not know and may or may not be curious. He said 100 years ago, and it certainly feels that way these days, that was the the first song I ever sang as a special or solo in church at the age of Five. About five years old. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred years ago. That's right. There is a there is a cassette recording somewhere in my mother's house of me singing it about that age. And the most obvious thing that was lacking was the ability to enunciate words through areas where T should be. But we're not at the moment. So you can pick that up pretty easily. Ah yes, childhood memories. 1 John chapter 5. We examine a passage here as we continue on in approaching now the last chapter of this first epistle in speaking with regard to the assurance that is found for the believer. Now remember, as we began this discussion from the very beginning, we established that a verse here in chapter 5 was, in truth, much the theme of this entire letter that is found in verse 13, where he literally says, "...these things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." There has been a continuous emphasis, and will be featured here again tonight in this passage with John, that he continues repetitively to bring up the understanding that our assurance in salvation is absolutely founded upon the fact that we believe that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Messiah. And not only that, that Jesus is the Son of God. Now, in those two phrases that come so easy to us, I pray, I hope, is the absolute truth here of understanding that Jesus Christ is both man and God. The fact that he took on human flesh but did not desert his status as God. And understanding that, that was a key doctrinal issue for the battle that the churches were facing that John was addressing. That was their doctrinal battle. Does that same battle take place today? I think in some form or fashion it does. I think it's still the challenge of doctrine, in that it may not be the fact that those will claim that Jesus was not both man and God, but I believe there is a battle for recognizing that He is, as Jesus, as the Messiah, as the Son of God, sufficient. He has accomplished completely our salvation. And that our belief and trust in Him is completely sufficient for our relationship with God. Because I believe the battleground today is that we're either taking time to take something away from the work of Christ, or we're teaching the idea that we must add something to it. with regard to our lives, and that is historically consistent in all models of those who would be tempted to turn away from what is the true gospel. And you and I can agree to disagree on some doctrinal matters and still be brothers and sisters in Christ, but the one thing that we cannot disagree on is this plain truth that John is presenting tonight, that Jesus is the Christ and Jesus is the Son of God. and recognizing that and the divine work that he has accomplished on our behalf is the very essence of the gospel itself. And so John reaffirms that tonight here in chapter 5 and also in the midst of it gives us something of a of a combination of all three areas of assurance that he's been addressing up to now. Now those three areas of assurance have been that of love, that of obedience, and that of truth or doctrinal truth. And now he has wrapped them all up in these first five verses and I believe importantly so because basically what John is telling us is that they are inseparable. That you cannot have one without having the other if you want to enjoy the assurance of what it is to be a believer and to see assurance in yourself that you have been redeemed, because they are all necessities. They are not optional. And so we need to be looking for evidence of these in our lives to find assurance in the work that Christ has done. Chapter 5, beginning in verse 1, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loveth him that begot loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. for whatsoever is born of God overcome of the world and this is the victory that overcome of the world even our faith who is he that overcome of the world but he that believe it that Jesus is the son of God So, we begin here in verse 1, where he speaks about what it means to be born of God, or the children of God. Now, he says, "...whoso believeth that Jesus is the Christ," he says, "...is born of God." Now, that's the first representation here that is a consistent picture that is given to us in God's Word, and that is we typically have a reference to it as being born again. And notice John is using that same word here, even as we look in the King James, and it's going to be used repeatedly in our text here tonight, or at least in support of it. Those who believe that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, that becomes important for us to understanding some measure of our salvation. And that is when we speak about that we have been saved by grace through faith. That is a typical expression that we use with regard to salvation. But understanding that process becomes a greater challenge for us because we kind of get things reversed sometimes when we want to give more credit to ourselves than to God. But the clear representation that John has given us here is that we are born of God, meaning we have been made alive by God. Because after all, we're in an existence here, in a physical existence. We've been born into this life physically, into a family of some sort. So the idea of being born again is certainly not being born again physically, but born again spiritually. As we addressed a text on Monday night in Ephesians chapter 2, Paul makes it clear when he speaks of our condition before Christ that we were dead. dead in trespasses." Now you've heard me say that many times if you've been listening. And that means because he declares what happens to us spiritually is the fact that as we are being saved and before we can believe, we have to be resurrected from death unto life. He has to make us alive so that we can be enabled to believe. So the process here that takes place is God coming to us, as John is pointing out, those who are born of God, meaning he's saying you've been begotten by God. God has brought you by divine spiritual conception to life. In doing so, he causes you to see, see your own sin and even more importantly, see the Savior in Jesus Christ and believe upon him and express that belief and that faith. So The child that's been made alive by God and as a result comes to believe on Christ. Now we see here by virtue of where he's been taking us in these first four chapters. That is the one who pursues righteousness and desires to love the brethren. So what we're saying here is, is that he's giving us a process or an image here of being born into the family of God and because you are of the family, you believe and you pursue those things that are important to the family, including the love of the Father and even the other siblings that we have in the family of God. Consider the image that he gives us, this pattern that we see in scripture of this divine conception, if you will. In James chapter one in verse 18, James writes of his own will. Once again, he uses the same terms of having of having children of birth of his own will. But God, he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. All right. So in that terminology, we see here that he tells us that we are born again. And he also tells us what instruments he uses to achieve that new birth, the word of God, the word of his truth. So once again, this process of divine conception coming by God to bring us alive to the understanding and the means and empowerment to believe John chapter one in verse 12. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become what? The sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. But this is the even more important verse in verse 13, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but they were born of God. So once again, if John makes it clear here, the gospel does that we have been given life by God and God alone. Now, First Peter chapter 1 in verse 23 even more I blunt here I in graphic it says being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. Now in the King James it may not be so obvious to you but in point of fact in blunt language what Peter is just described is conception the very idea of how a child is born. And what he's telling us is in what I see here, and I'd like to present a picture to you when we think about the birth of Jesus. We understand that Jesus was born of a virgin, right? So that means Mary is innocent, never having been with a man. She is a virgin and that the conception of Jesus Christ may have been carried in her body, but it was conceived by God. Now we have the exact same process of salvation. Christ has given us the perfect example, even in His physical birth, of our spiritual birth. We now see, as Peter describes it, that God divinely conceives life, our spiritual life, as being born again. We are brought to life and brought to belief. And everything about scripture describes our life as an infant when first born again. And then it describes the process of you and I growing up. Paul even writes to the believers when he compares their maturity by saying, you're not ready, even though you should be for the meat of the word. Instead, you're still on the milk. Every bit of that picture describes the process or the stage by which a Christian has achieved in their spiritual maturity and their growth as a believer. So everything lines up with this picture of being divinely conceived in our spiritual rebirth. So John says, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And then once again, he takes us back to this three pronged assurance here and evidence of who we are in Christ. He says, and everyone that loveth him that begot loveth him also that is begotten of him. So we have gone from understanding the children of God to now examining how a child of God acts. What a child of God does. He says in verse 2, by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. All right. Well, let's start with the idea of the principle of love here in verse 2. John presents the picture that to be born of God is to be born into a family. He says for those who would love the one who has begotten them, they also love all those who have been begotten. So the idea is this, that when we are born into a family, think of this from a natural process. And that is the fact that when you're born into a family, you are, no matter, now John is assuming some natural course or normative course of what a family ought to be. I understand that doesn't always play out that way. But the picture that we have practically in a family is when you're born into a family, there is a natural inclination of the child to love their parent. To love, in this case, the father. There is also a natural inclination to love those other siblings in the family as well. In fact, one of the other things that we note about this is we can we can always look when we have multiple children, you'll hear parents say and say, you know, so-and-so and and so-and-so, man, I don't know who their parents are. They are not alike. You know, and we realize it's a stretch of the truth just a little bit because in all honesty, probably not any of us in our children that cannot look or other people cannot look and see some characteristics that identify themselves with us. They are not so unique that you can't tell that they're in your family. So you're not born independent, you're born attached to that family, in this case the family of God. We look at sibling love, and I realize that's not a perfect thing either, but it usually finds itself in some way, form, or fashion. Kids can be... I remember someone talking about the story in their siblings of seeing their brother or their sister hugging their dad, and the dad's head is turned, of course, because all they can see is the face. They're standing behind dad, and they're sticking their tongue out at the sister while they're hugging dad and showing him they love him. You know, that's that's the sibling relationship. I understand that. But still, most most always you see in some regard, even when there's some tension there, they are typically one to run to the defense of one another and caring for there's a love and there's a bond there. The same must be true of God's family. John is presenting that picture here. He's saying the one that loves God is also the one who loves all those who have been begotten of God, just like you have. So again, what is John asking us to do? John is commanding us here to recognize that because of who we are in Christ, this is what we're going to do. In fact, I believe there's there's a two possibilities here in looking at verse two, two facets of this. Number one, the principle of the fact that our love for God would determine our attitude to others. Amen, I prayed it would. Now. The idea of our love for God, because Jesus says, if you love me, What does he say? I want you to love one another as I have loved you. He speaks about obedience, he speaks about all these things being tied to the idea of love. And so John is saying that your love for God will determine and influence your love for others. It cannot be the opposite. It cannot be the opposite. Why? Because we're not that loving and not that lovely. Right? We have some pretty bad days, some pretty bad habits. We've got some ways that we don't really appreciate and enjoy about one another. And so, therefore, the love that we have for one another as a brother and sister in Christ cannot be determined, cannot be determined by what we estimate or measure as the worth of that brother and sister in Christ. It has to be determined by the measure of love we have for God the Father. Now that takes the emotion out of it, it takes the feeling out of it, and some people think it takes the fun out of it. It is talking about fun. There has to be a willful action here with regard because as a result of the love we have for God and our love for others has to be A direct result of having become one of God's children. Now you say, wait a minute, doesn't that contradict each other? No, it is the constant tension here that we have to understand in this life is that one that we must determine ourselves to love one another. And we must recognize, too, that we're still not going to put it off no matter how determined we are, except for the fact that God will enable us and help us to do it. We're helpless to carry it off. This is his constant, constant burden of understanding that as surely as God had to raise us from death to life in order to believe, God is also has to strengthen us in order to love. That life has to be what what what drives us and carries us to the point of understanding that. So there is a need of understanding here in this assurance, this this almost combination here with regard to all the things that God has given us and all that John has given us to examine in ourselves to see the evidence and therefore find the assurance of what God has done in our hearts and our lives. Now, At the end of verse two, he tacks on loving God and keeping and keep his commandments. Verse three. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous. It's a couple of interesting statements being here now from the beginning. This is I. This is very simple. We've been over this repeatedly. The idea of keeping his commandments as a as a means of seeking assurance of God's love, meaning if we possess God's love and if we possess God's life, we're going to have a desire to keep his commandments. We're going to have a desire to be obedient to His Word. Not as a matter of show, but as a matter of life. And so he adds to this that his commandments are not grievous. Now, how do we understand this idea of his commands not being grievous? To try to put this in some measure of perspective, I believe in one facet of this, John could easily be speaking of the fact of the same thing that Jesus addresses in the Gospel of Matthew. That the commands of God, when we compare them to what the commands of the scribes and the Pharisees in the time of Christ surely would not have been grievous. For the scribes and the Pharisees had adopted a system of do's and don'ts called the Talmud that had taken even the measure of the Mosaic Law and had expanded it beyond recognition. They had continued to add laws onto it such that it was a ridiculous, restrictive form of living that had now been determined as a measure of someone's righteousness. This was all false, by the way. Created and crafted by man. Notice the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Next verse take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest under your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Paul and Peter seem to address the same issue here, even as he addresses believers in the church, wanting to understand the freedom they have in Christ, not the freedom to live as they please, but understanding the command of God, and knowing that it's not simply a command he wants them to obey, it's a command that he will help them strive to obey. Alright? For instance, Galatians chapter 5 and verse 1. Paul says, Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again, notice, with a specific yoke. Do not become entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Acts chapter 15, verse 10 and 11. Peter writes, Peter states, Now therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they. Now. What is it that Christ is saying here? Is he is he dismissing all the law of God? No. In fact, he says, I didn't come to do away with the law. He said, I came to fulfill the law. That's a statement he made in the gospel. Now. We hear Jesus saying to us, Come unto me, all ye that are weary from laboring so hard. Laboring so hard for what? This has to be a testimony to those who are trying to achieve righteousness by the law alone, by some external measurement of righteousness. He said, Come and take my yoke. He doesn't say it's not a burden, but he does say the burden is light. This is this is this is a confounding statement for us, because let's be honest, most of us who are honest with ourselves certainly feel at times that even following that which we know is right, the commands of God can feel burdensome. I mean, after all, how do we how do we how do we correspond with Paul when he speaks about his frustration? Not doing the things he should doing the things he shouldn't. So what is it that Christ is saying when he tells us that they're not grievous and the burden is light? I believe it's what he's telling us is, is that the life of God within, that which God has given us, is to be the encouragement to us because it makes the obedience of his commands possible. And, coupled with that, the love we have for God and other believers makes that obedience desirable. That's the one-two punch here. What is it that Christ said when he was questioned about the two greatest commands? One of them was loving the Lord, right? With everything you got. What was the second command? Love your neighbor as yourself. So the Lord himself, as he spoke in the Gospels, did not do away with the rest of it, but he says everything else should flow from these two things. Love for God, love for one another. So if we understand that truth, that's the very beginning of understanding and appreciating the assurance that we have, and that fuels. What does it do? It fuels our desire because those things that we do to obey Christ should be with a desire to please Christ. Not please you, not please me, but please the Lord. If we please Him, then others will be blessed by the witness and what we display. Why is it that we are commanded to love others as we love ourselves? Well, Jesus said, love one another as I've loved you so they can see that you're my disciples. We're to see it for ourselves too. So again, the idea is to be pleasing unto the Lord, and in turn, you and I have some measure of understanding that we are believers based on that desire and that determination to do so. But more importantly, there is an important reason we must know why we're doing it. Why we're doing is going to change how we do it. Amen. If I'm doing it under the Lord, then I'm not so concerned about whether it impresses any man or not. So it changes how I do it. It changes the sense of satisfaction and peace and encouragement that I get from it. Because I'm no longer living and dying on the applause of men. I'm now thriving off the blessing that God might give me, having desire to honor and please Him. These become the driving factors of my life. So this love As he puts it here, this love without obedience is not really love at all. They're inseparable. Because of that love, we desire to keep His commands, and His commands are not grievous. So the idea here is that God empowers us to have any notion of fulfilling these commands. And let's remember what happens in our life in new birth. God brings us to life. We are now able to see our sin, believe on Christ for the forgiveness and the and the removal of the condemnation of our sin. And then the Lord says that from that day forward, we're no longer not. Not only we no longer condemned, but we're no longer under the dominion of that sin. Meaning there is a means here. There is a power. There is a strength to resist. And to avoid now, will we always do that? No. For we're encapsulated with this body of flesh and that's always going to be a struggle for us in our life. But the power is there. And the source of assurance is there. Such that we have the opportunity and the privilege to cultivate our love for God and our love for one another. As it bears out in our life and that it bears with regard to obedience to God's Word and God's commands. Those commands that edify Him, by the way. We're no longer under. We're no longer under the dietary restrictions and the rituals and the ceremonies of the Mosaic law. Do the commands of God versus the Ten Commandments? Yes, nine of them are repeated in the New Testament. And we are established for us that we should should keep always at the forefront of hearts and minds to obey because obeying those commands pleases God. There are other instructions that were given by God through his disciples and his apostles that are important for us, beneficial for us, always in our life. These are things that we should strive to adhere to. Not because they bring salvation, but because salvation has already come. There is an importance here that that is put as established with regard to this in this understanding of of obedience, that we recognize that if we believe in God, we must believe in this. So it is absolutely inseparable from a saving faith that is given us by God. So once again, let's turn our attention to that that principle of faith. for he says here in verse four I whatsoever is born of God overcome of the world and this is the victory that overcome of the world even our faith who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the son of God so as we look at verses four and five coupled with verse one It says, for whatsoever is born of God overcome of the world. And this is the victory that overcome of the world, even our faith. Now, this is a wonderful verse that we look at time and time again. But if we put it in perspective from what John has already told us here in the previous verses, it becomes all the more important. Remember the world, how the world is described. First of all, I look at chapter two and verse 15. where John said, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him. All right, so as it's already been established, you cannot love God and love the world to. Those things are irreconcilable. All right, so what's the world for 16 for all that is in the world? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. These things are not of the father. but they are of the world. The world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. All right, so if we go back over here to verse 4, it says, Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And then we're now hearing a pronouncement that that which is born of God overcomes the world. We hear the description of the world and the flesh, and we're told not to love it. Now, once again, in the daily life of a believer, have we escaped on any measure of the daily basis completely from the lust of the flesh? No. Have we escaped on any given day completely the lust of the eyes? Have we escaped on any given day completely the pride of life? No, we have not. So what is it that's overcome the world in us? Christ. It is the life that has been given us the new birth that is within us, and so when we say when it asks the question here. Or makes a statement, and this is the victory that overcome the world, even our faith. We want to look at that last three words. And we want to say, well, it's our faith in God that will help us overcome the world. You know how that sounds, don't you? That sounds possessive. It sounds that it's a faith that you generate. But is it? So whose faith is it? It's the faith that's been given us by God. Because that's the only one that stands victorious on any given day. Right. How else do we make sense of this? If we know we're failing on a daily basis, and then we're charging up and saying it's our faith that overcomes the world, well, we're failing miserably. If you want to be discouraged and doubt your salvation, then adopt that phrase of thought. But that's not what he's saying. He's talking about the faith that we possess. The faith that we possess is what overcomes the world. The faith that we possess is that which was given us by God. As he made us that he when he brought us alive and enabled us to believe and trust in him. That faith that is given us, I affectionately through the imparting of his Holy Spirit being sealed within us. That is there to help us, strengthen us, guide us, teach us even even not only just pray with us, but even pray for us. Those are all factors of God doing a divine work in us and sustaining us by it. So, the conclusion here is, it is impossible to have either love or obedience without belief in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. So, John wants us to know then just the opposite, that to know that when we have love and obedience for others, it becomes an evidence to us and to others of the fact that God has saved us. It's not proof to God. God doesn't look for nor require any proof. He's the initiator, the keeper, and the sustainer of it for all eternity. I want to take you back. We read this passage of Scripture when we first began this study. It was a great statement that John writes here toward the close of his gospel that gives us the theme of that gospel. Notice what he says. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But now we see an almost parallel phrasing. This is what we saw in 1 John 5 and 13. Notice what it says here. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. So there's something here from the very beginning that I want you to see in the structure of verses that makes this all the more important in our understanding. In verse 1 of chapter 5, it says, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. In the Greek structure of this sentence, which is kind of hard to get in the English translation, the one thing we need to understand is that when the word believeth in the Greek is structured as a continuing action, you continuously believe, right? You continuous believe because a perfect, complete action has taken in your birth. Because what he's saying here is that Jesus Christ is born of God. In that phrase in the Greek where it says born of God, that's not a continuous action. That's a perfect event. It's settled, it's done. And because of the new birth, you are to continuously believe that Jesus is the Christ. It is a result of it. All right, so everything is turning the action here to our assurance is found. Not in what we have done. But because we trust and rest in what God has done in us. And seek the evidence for ourselves to see by virtue of our willingness to love one another. Brothers and sisters in Christ and love those that are not brothers and sisters in Christ. This is not exclusive to suggest that we only love brothers and sisters in Christ. It is the place where we begin. I've said it before. How can we expect to love a sinner if we won't even love a brother? The scripture almost says that makes no sense. In fact, the scripture is already told us, how can we say we love God and not love our brother? Those are irreconcilable. So here it is. Faith is the victory. Not our faith, so much that we have developed, cultivated, or come up with. It is the faith that God has given us. That faith that is wrapped up in belief plus trust. Faith that is wrapped up in belief plus trust. It's one thing to believe, but trust, trust is evidenced in our actions. Remember I said it before, I might believe that chair is going to hold me up, but the measure of my trust is when I plop down on top of it. Right? The same is true in our daily lives as believers. We can say we love God, but the evidence of whether we truly trust God is whether we're willing to love one another as he loves us. That means care, that means concern, that means investment, that means sacrifice, that means the idea of spending time ministering to, not just waiting for someone to ask, but actually asking about it. Believe me, if Jesus did not wait until you ask him to come to you. Now, that comes across odd for some people. Jesus came to you, you didn't come to him. Isn't that what we're seeing here? Isn't that what John is saying? If that's not the way it happened, then John's got it wrong. Because John keeps describing the process that God has come to you and made you alive. He has given birth within you of spiritual life the same way that he gave birth within Mary of Jesus Christ. Now he turns to us and says, I want you to instigate the same measure of love, concern, and care in ministry to one another and see it as an evidence of Christ when you're doing it, not because. Now again, the heart and the attitude is everything. Are you doing it to to to to increase your righteousness, to somehow make some kind of name of yourself or anything? No, it has to be designed. It gives you no peace and no comfort if it's not if it's not driven by a desire to please God first and foremost. Now, please don't don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Everyone loves to be appreciated. Everyone benefits from being encouraged. Don't don't take what I'm saying to say that we don't need to say thank you to anybody or express our appreciation to them. And you and I are not to to get mad and say, don't you do that and rob me of a blessing. All right. Instead, you are the one in your heart and your mind that needs to be remain grounded and settled. You are the one who are not to ask, nor to expect, nor to be disappointed and discouraged, but instead recognize that God is going to bless you, whether anyone sees it, whether anybody appreciates it, whether anyone knows anything about it or not. This is the love that he wants you to express, a love of the will, a desire to love and care for somebody. Now. So what, again, was the point? What has been the reference here? I read you the passage and noticed the phrasing. These are written. These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. I go back to verse 13. John writes the exact same phrase. These things have I written. unto you that but that believe on the name of the Son of God those who have been the recipients and the beneficiary of the God of the truth of the gospel of John he says now in the epistle of John and these people who do believe on the name of God I wanted I've written these things that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God notice again the operative word believe We tend to think that believing in the Son of God is what ushers salvation. But believing in the Son of God is the result of salvation. It is a continuous process. It's not a once and for all event. It's a continuing action of eternity. This is the this is the trap that sometimes we fall into. If you've ever come across somebody in your life, it's a very discouraging thing. I have you have you ever found somebody that I that you you talk to them and the visible evidence concerns you because you don't see the love. You don't see the love for God. You don't see the love for others. You don't see the desire to to fulfill his commandments. And yet when you question him with regard to their salvation. Oh, yes. Oh yes. I'm saved. Why do they believe they're saved? Because they look back to an event and a moment and a place and a time. Now, that's all well and good. I understand. I hope you've got a birth certificate somewhere. I that records your your physical birth or so. Some of you may not have one. You may have. That's right. I remember some of you may have written in a book, recorded in the county, not have certificate. That's fine. But there's a record somewhere. That somebody look at the time and place. Got no problem with that. People put that in their book and their Bible or family Bible on the table that there's there's absolutely nothing sinful about that. But my friend, that's not the evidence of your salvation. That doesn't guarantee your salvation. John never once says, make a mark on the scroll of the date and time. No. He said, this is what you need to look for. You need to look for the love. You need to look for obedience. You need to look for a precious guarding of the truth, of God's Word. And marking it not simply as advice, but as a command, he said, these are the things that we're looking for as evidence of salvation, not not a certificate. I. Folks, I let me tell you something, and again, I have no objections to them whatsoever. We do them with the best of intentions. Many of you at home may have a certificate of baptism. You know what that's valuable for? To help you remember the day you were baptized. And that's great if that provokes a memory, if that provokes a moment for you to remember what took place that day. But no one's going to be checking that certificate before God. And there's nothing convincing about that certificate to tell me or anyone else that you're saved. There's nothing in scripture that says that's the evidence that you want to produce. This is the evidence. That you want to produce. It's a challenging thought. Believe me, it is not my intent to torch all those things because I probably got some at the house somewhere myself. And that's fine. But they don't prove anything. Does anyone have any questions or comments on these verses tonight?