Please turn with me to the first letter of John we consider this evening, verses 1-4, the introduction, the preamble of John's first letter. We begin with God's help this evening, our new series in this blessed letter, which was written with the very treasured purpose of defending the faith. and promoting the fellowship in the truth in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord willing, we will soon as well begin a doctrinal series in the morning after the conclusion of the series in the book of Acts. We'll have a short series on evangelism and then we'll begin another series, another cycle of doctrinal sermons in the Boundary Confession in the morning worship services. So please turn with me to 1 John 1. We read together verses 1-4 as we seek God's instruction for our lives. Give heed now to the reading of God's holy and inerrant word. Hear it with faith. concerning the Word of Life. The life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you, that your joy may be full." Let's start a reading of God's Holy Word. Let us pray. Almighty Lord, we come to Your Word as beggars, as hungry beggars who are in need of sustenance, who are in need of nourishment. who are in need, O Lord, of your sustaining spiritual food. And Lord, we pray that as we come, that you would visit us powerfully and mightily as you speak to us through your word once again this blessed day. O Lord, may the proclamation of the gospel of Christ tonight encourage and nourish needy souls. May it also, Lord, bring sinners unto repentance. May it, O Lord, transform our lives and may we live as living sacrifices for you, for your glory. In Jesus' name, Lord, we pray. Amen. You see, out of the many economical problems that country faces, one, one special one, it may surprise you, is in the area of forgeries. Forgeries bring great economic hurdle to great companies and sometimes to the common folk. Forgeries involves false signatures and the production of false documents. It involves people in call centers in India or in other countries calling to you, faking to be an agent of some governmental authority, and they end up stealing money or information from you. It extends as well to shoes and pocketbooks, and even to essays and term papers. Forgeries devastate not only economy, but also people's lives. And while forgeries have this devastating effect, the same is also true, but in a more, even more, exponentially more serious manner when we talk about spiritual forgeries. False doctrine, false gospels, false Christs. And this is exactly what this letter of 1 John is all about. It is a battle for the true and authentic gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle John writing this letter is extremely concerned about the early church and about you and me, that we would not be deviated to spiritual forgeries, that we would not be attracted and attempted to move away from the true gospel of Christ and from the true and real Christ to some sort of false Christ, to the fabrication or devices of man. See, just as material forgeries brings bankruptcy and destruction to people's lives, spiritual forgery is the debacle, the bankruptcy of one's soul. And therefore, to address this matter of forgery, the Apostle John, in the very first verses of this letter, he seeks to establish not only his authority, but his message. facing the problem of false teachers and false prophets, false instructors permeating the church. And we are going to see that as the chapters move on, as we consider other verses ahead of us. We notice that the Apostle John not only needs to establish his authority as an apostle, but also he wants to emphasize, to encourage, and to remind the readers of his letter which one is the true gospel. Which one is not a forgery? Which one is the real gospel of Christ? And who is the real Christ? And why they must trust in Him and in no other? And therefore, Christians, as we turn together our attention to these four verses, we have this serious issue of false doctrine and of the bankruptcy that comes with it. And we have the urgency of believing the truth, embracing the truth, and trusting the true gospel of Christ. So what we learn in these verses is that we must trust in the true gospel of Christ. We must believe and embrace and trust in the true apostolic gospel of Christ. For it alone is the message of God for the remission of sinners. No other will save sinners from their sins except the gospel of Christ and Christ himself. We must trust in Christ's gospel, for it alone is the message of God for the redemption of sinners. We notice then this teaching under three headings tonight. First, in verse 1, we notice that we must trust in the message of the gospel, the content of the gospel. We must know it and we must trust it. We must embrace it as the apostolic teaching for the church. and treasured by Christ to the hands of the apostles. Secondly, we notice in verse 2 that we must trust in the agent of the gospel. We must trust in who it is that the gospel announces to us. Who is he? The Son of God, pre-incarnate, but also the Lord Jesus Christ. who is the Son incarnate. We'll notice that that was one of the heresies, a separation from the divinity and the humanity of Christ that was trying to infiltrate and pervert the doctrine and the teachings in the church during this time John is writing. And thirdly, we notice we must trust in the power of the gospel. What are those results? What are those products that comes in the life and in the soul of those who by faith embrace the true gospel of Christ. We must trust that the true gospel of Christ does have power. Power to grant us fellowship and joy. So three thoughts tonight. We must trust in the message of the gospel. We must trust in the agent of the gospel. And we must trust in the power of the gospel. We must trust in the complete gospel of Christ. For it alone is the message of God for the redemption of sinners." The first thing I trust you will observe in a letter or in this letter is the absence of that which traditionally we observe in the letters of the Apostle Paul. Greeting and an introduction. Do you notice that there is none of those here? There is no greeting. And there is no presentation. The Apostle John does not take the time to present himself clearly and does not take the time to present also those to whom he is writing. He does not greet them. There is a sense of urgency in the letter. You see, the Apostle John really wants to get down to job immediately. This sense of urgency is clearly associated with the message of the gospel. You see, I trust that you have already observed that verse one is very similar to the gospel of John, to the very first letter of the gospel of John. If you would turn with me briefly to the first letter, to the first gospel, the gospel of John, you notice that the very first verse in chapter one does have a similar composition. It says, in the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Now, while in the Gospel of John, John is addressing the person of Christ, John is addressing Christ Himself. Notice that in the first letter, he's not talking about Christ specifically, but as you observe at the end of verse 1, he's talking about that which is concerning Christ. Notice, that which was from the beginning. What was from the beginning? That which is concerning the word of life. That which we heard. What is that which we heard? That which is concerning the word of life. In the first letter, John is not addressing the person of Christ, but he's addressing that which is concerning Christ, that which is concerning His blessed person, that which is concerning His blessed work, His work of redemption, and also His blessed person as the divine incarnate Son of God. Now, what is it that John really wants them to understand about the message or concerning the Word of Life, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ? Notice that the very first thing, it's very evident in the very first verse, is how John seeks to emphasize that he is not alone in his thinking. Do you notice how repetitively he uses the pronoun we? Notice again, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, we have seen, we have looked upon. And he will continue to use we over and over again. Look again in verse 3, that which we have seen. The Apostle John is appealing to the apostolic authority, not to his own authority, but the authority of the entire apostolic body. You see, Christians, this is one of the ways in which we are quickly able to acknowledge, to recognize false teaching. One of the ways in which we can easily spot false teaching is when it's not in accordance to the Catholic Orthodox faith of the church. When people individually and spuriously make their own doctrines, their own interpretations, their own ideas, and they begin to spread them as if they were true, challenging orthodox, and by Catholic I mean universal, That which the church has repetitively repeated over the centuries, and that's one of the reasons why we continue to use the Apostolic, the Apostles' Creed, and the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. That's one of the reasons why we continue to study the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, the Westminster Standards, is because the church is universal. The church is united in one thought. You see, John is appealing to this unity. It's almost as if he's saying, do not listen to the one or two who in your midst is trying to destroy the true gospel of Christ, is trying to infiltrate you with that which is not true, but listen to us, the apostles that Christ himself has commissioned to teach his church. He's appealing to the apostolic authority. That's one of the reasons why we Bless the Lord and praise His name for the Reformation." The Reformation was nothing more than a scream of freedom from the enslavement and bondage of novelties and the return to the apostolic faith, given once for all to the church. Let us learn this tonight. How do we spot false teaching? How can we be alert to false doctrine? The Apostle Paul is urgent about this, isn't he? And he's bringing us to this understanding, we, we, we, we who? The apostles of Christ. We need to go back to apostolic teaching. Every time we hear something that doesn't sound right, we need to go back to apostolic teaching. And every time someone comes out with some sort of novelty, we need to go back to the history of the church. What has the church always believed? How the church has always interpreted the Word of God? Let us go back to the we of the apostles. But why should then we believe the apostles? Why are they the Christ chosen authorities to teach the church regarding Christ himself? And that's what we see again in verse 1. That's why we can trust in the gospel that the apostle John and the whole apostolic body gives to the church. because they have personal and first-hand experience with the message. Look again at verse one. He begins by saying that what he communicates, that which is concerning the word of life, is from the beginning. Now there is a bit of dispute. What beginning is this that the Apostle John is emphasizing? Is it the beginning of the Christian walk of the original readers when they first heard the gospel? Or is it the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ when the gospel was spread in Judea, Samaria, and to the neighboring regions? Well, regardless of the position one may take, what the Apostle John is calling our attention to, once again, is that what he's teaching is not new. That is what marks the truthfulness of his message. What he is proclaiming to them is exactly that what they heard in the beginning. is exactly what was spread and cast out in the highways and byways from the very beginning of apostolic ministry and the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. There should be no room for novelty in the church. You see, be very suspicious when someone comes with something that nobody else ever heard of. Be very suspicious when someone says, you know, now I'm seeing something in the text that nobody else ever saw before. Christians be very suspicious when someone says that. Because this, the Word of God, God's revelation has been given to the church, not to the church in the 21st century. It has been given to the church in the 1st century, in the 2nd century, and in the 3rd century, and in the 4th century. This very same word must be understood the same way our fathers understood it in the past. For the Word of God does not change. For its meaning does not change. And therefore, when someone comes to you and says, well, you know, I have this new insight. I have this new understanding. Beware. Beware. That's what the Apostle John is trying to bring to the attention. He's bringing them through this letter all the way back to the beginning. But there are other reasons. It's not only the original message, but also is the message that he himself experienced. Look again at verse 1, that which we have seen with our eyes. That which we have touched with our own hands, that what we have heard. He begins to talk about this sensorial experience. The Apostle John saw the miracles. The Apostle John heard the parables. The Apostle John saw the crucified body. The Apostle John saw the empty tomb. The Apostle John saw the resurrected Lord. He is an eyewitness of Christ's gospel. Everything that relates apostolic teaching, John is an eyewitness of all those things. beginning from the initial ministerial life of the Lord Jesus Christ, all the way up to His ascension. What John is speaking is that what he saw with his own eyes and heard with his own ears and also touched with his own hands. But there is more. There is a word here that... In English, it really doesn't transpire its theological significance. Please turn again to verse 1. Notice that he says, that which we have looked upon. Perhaps you have already seen someone who is unable to see, a blind person trying to recognize another person. Have you ever observed how this person tries to touch someone else's face? And through the senses, they touch the face so that the blind person can know the other person through the touching. And in this way, it's not only an abstract knowledge, but it's a more intimate knowledge of the person that the blind person can apprehend. You see, the Greek meaning of looked upon has something to do with that. looked upon as a deep, experimental, intimate knowledge that goes beyond the senses. You see, the Apostle John is saying, what I communicate to you, what I announce to you concerning the Word of Life goes way more than that which my senses captured during the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it goes into a spiritual knowledge, spiritual discernment, fruit of the Spirit in my heart, convincing me of my sin, convincing me of my death, and convincing me that He who was born in Nazareth is truly the blessed One of God, who came once for all to die for the sins of His people. The reason why we must trust in the message of the Gospel is because it bears apostolic authority. And it does bear the seal of apostolic A confirmation. The apostles moved by the Spirit of God, not only saw and heard and taught, but they gained spiritual knowledge so that they would communicate those things concerning the Word of Life to the church. And you see, Christian, what we notice here in the very first verse is this care and concern for true knowledge of Christ, isn't it? Do you notice how urgently the Apostle John is seeking to demand and to impart, to grant to the original readers that they should abandon any falsehood regarding Christ and His gospel and turn to the apostolic teaching regarding the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation. The very same thing is serious for us as well tonight. That we should be discerning regarding false teachers. that we would not trust in our own experience or in other people's experiences. You see, verse 1 reminds us that we need the real gospel and the real Christ. And the real gospel is that which is revealed in the Word of God through the work of the apostles. And the real Christ is the one who convinces and converts us from the kingdom of darkness, bringing us to his own kingdom. Let us therefore make sure that we are aware of agents of falsehood. Isn't that mind-boggling that we are not even done, right here in 1 John, we are not even done with the apostolic era and already the devil was trying to subvert the truth about Christ. That is mind-boggling to me. The audacity, the way disguised and at the same time full of deceit in which the devil sought to destroy the foundation of the church from its early beginning. Would that be different from our own age, from our own time and day? Would we in some sort of a special way be free from the same sort of snare, from the same sort of strategy of the evil one to try to undermine the church? Of course not. You see the very first verse of this letter brings us to the urgency that we are always in the true gospel, always going back to the apostolic truth, always returning to the Word of God, and always making sure that what that which we believe is in harmony with the church has believed throughout the centuries. But there is a second aspect in this first verse that should capture our attention as well. It's how the Apostle John describes his knowledge of that which concerns the Word of Life. He knows it deeply. Christian, is that the way you know Christ? Is that how your soul has embraced the gospel of Jesus? as you understand His life and death, as you understand what we call the hypostatic union, the union between the blessed Son of God and Him embracing humanity, and the mystery of the incarnation and the power of His death. As you seek to study and understand these things, can you say tonight that you know Christ just as John knows Him? You know Him with the eyes of faith and with the hands of faith and with the mouth of faith. And you have looked upon Him, the knowledge of Christ and of His salvation, of His love for lost sinners such as you. Move your soul to a fervent love and service to Him. That's all that verse 1 is all about. Is that true of you? Is that true of me? We must trust in the message of the gospel. And to trust in the message of the gospel, we must know the gospel. We must know it not simply intellectually. We must know it not simply through memorizing catechism questions. We must know it knowing its meaning. We must know it appropriating its message, appropriating its agent, as we confess in the very first question of the Heidelberg Catechism, that Jesus is mine and I am his. That is the kind of knowledge that the Apostle Paul is talking about in verse 1. And that's the kind of knowledge, Christian, you are saved to experience. We must trust. and the message of the gospel. And we must trust in the agent of the gospel. And that's what we see now in verse 2. For now in verse 2, what we notice is that the apostle moves from the message to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He begins to talk about the manifestation, the physical, the material manifestation of that which is eternal. Look at verse 2. He says, the life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declared to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. You see, this was one of the heresies, and we're going to see that very clearly as we go through the letter together, one of the heresies that we're trying to infiltrate the early church and that John is addressing here. What is the heresy? The separation from the Son, the one who is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, and Jesus of Nazareth. The heretics would say that Jesus of Nazareth is a person different from the Son. That at some point in Jesus of Nazareth's life, that's what the heretics would say, the Son then came to Him. And that before His crucifixion, the Son departed from Him. You see, that notion came out of the idea that the matter, that the flesh is good for nothing. And that the divine would never take upon Himself a humanhood. Well, notice in verse 2 that the Apostle John says, There is no doubt that you, Christian, must understand the person of Christ. You see how John is seeking to make the original readers understand who Jesus is? Sometimes when we think about this union, and again, remember, we confessed together the Nicene Creed this evening, which clearly expresses these ideas. Who the Lord Jesus Christ is, and sometimes we get challenged by these notions. Sometimes we even avoid studying deeply what the Word of God reveals to us regarding the union of the divine nature and the human nature in one divine person, the Lord Jesus Christ, because we say it's too complicated. Perhaps we even say, well, even if I don't discern these things very clearly, what is this going to contribute to my spiritual walk? Well, the Apostle John thinks differently. The Apostle John says you should really care about this blessed divine person of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the unity of his divine person and human person, human nature and divine nature. This must be something treasured and cared, and you should seek to understand and delight your spirit in it. And that's the reason why we declare, notice again in verse 2, we bear witness and we declare. That's the content of the apostolic teaching. It's how the eternal Son of God came and became man. The very same one who was eternally with the Father invaded history. and took upon himself flesh. The Son is preexistent, but the Son as well is incarnate." Oh, for those who would say that the flesh is nothing. And we will notice in the letter that that was one of the contents of the heresies. That we can do whatever we want with the flesh because the flesh ultimately will descend to the grave. It doesn't matter if we live an immoral life because ultimately the flesh will be destroyed. What really matters is the spirit. The Apostle John says, No! The Son of God came to redeem your body and your soul. And He who was the eternal Son took upon Himself a real human body. flesh, blood, and spirit. And it was precisely the very eternal Son of God who sacrifices Himself at the cross. God dies at Calvary. What a mystery. But the only mystery that saves. What a mind-boggling truth. But the mind-boggling truth that releases souls from the condemnation of sin granting them the atonement and the justification that so desperately need. And you see, Christian, this is the reason why we must trust in the agent of the gospel. You see, even today in our midst, not in our midst in our congregation, but in our midst in America, there are those who deny the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are those who are similar to... The heretics in the time when this first letter was written continue to deny that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly God. Or attribute to the Lord Jesus Christ a lesser deity than the one which the Father possesses. There are those who still continue to misunderstand and distort and twist who the Son is. And what they end up with is one who cannot save them from their sins. Unless the Savior is God, our sins cannot be forgiven. Unless the Savior is God, there is no reconciliation. Unless the sinner is God, our debts cannot be paid. So why can we trust Christ? Because who can? Who else can fit this description? Who else can fit the description of verse 2? The one who is eternally with the Father but was manifested in flesh to us. Who else can fit this beautiful description, this powerful description? The agent of God's gospel, the Son of God Himself is the true and real Savior that sinners so desperately need. Therefore, verse 2 comes to us as a call to surrender ourselves entirely unto Him. See, verse 2 reminds us of the foolishness that it is to trust in anyone else. After these days of visiting Brazil, me and my family once again were immersed in a very Roman Catholic environment. Oh how they need to read this letter all over again. How they need to understand that there's no saint, there's no one who fits this blessed description of verse 2. The one who lived eternally with the Father but took upon himself human flesh so that he would save sinners from their sins. O Christian, may your heart burn with love and zeal and great praise and awe towards the Son, the Son of God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That's the reason why, notice in verse 3, do you notice how the Apostle John crafts or expresses the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son, Jesus Christ. The Son and the Christ are not separated. They are one blessed and single person. And that's the fuel of our faith. That's why we're saying together this evening, O Jesus, we adore Thee. Upon the cross, a King. We must trust Christian in the gospel of Christ for it alone is the message of God. But it is the message of God with one purpose. You see, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, when it is embraced by faith, when the Spirit of God grabs a hold of the heart of sinners and divests it out of its stubbornness and removes it from its blindness, when the gospel of Jesus and this blessed Savior comes into sovereignly the heart of sinners, there is an effect. And that was another apostolic proclamation. Look at verses 3 and 4. In these verses we see the power of the gospel in the life of those who believe. Notice that the ideal of proclamation, evangelism, declaration continues. That's so important for the Apostle John. You notice again, verse 2, he said, that which we have witnessed, we bear witness and we declared. Verse 3, that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you. There is a real care, a real burden for that message to be proclaimed, to be declared. This morning as we were considering the Apostle Paul breaking bread in the midst of a storm and praising God, thanking Him for sustenance and food, what a phenomenal example of witnessing and bearing witness to Christ in whatever the circumstances. Is that your concern, Christian? that when people visit your home or when they sit to talk to you and when they listen to words that come out of your mouth, the comments that you make about the country or about other subjects, that it is the witnessing of Christ that is coming out of you. What a blessed concern. What an evangelistic concern, which was an apostolic concern. Should not that be your and my concern? That we are to bear witness and declare where it should. It should not only because we are bearing witness and declaring the truth, but look at the powerful effects. The first effect is the effect of fellowship. Look at verse 3. That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Now sometimes we have a very superficial understanding of fellowship. Fellowship is much more than cookouts and field trips. That involves fellowship, but fellowship goes beyond that. Fellowship, as a commentator defines it, he says, fellowship is a specially or a specifically Christian word that denotes that common participation in the grace of God, that common salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ and the indwelling of His spirit, which is the spiritual birthright of all believers and the common possession of all those who belong to the only triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit making us one. That's a long definition, isn't it? Let us break that down very briefly. Fellowship is more than simply sharing a meal. Fellowship is true belief in the true God, in the true Savior, and in His blessed gospel. When the true gospel is believed and the true gospel is embraced, then fellowship, this union, takes place. Why is it? Look again in verse 3. Because first of all, it restores our relationship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Fellowship is ultimately about having this relationship now. It's an immediate result of the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. When that which is concerning the word of life is believed and truly lived, then fellowship abides. Now the contrary is also true, isn't it? And that's very scary, isn't it? Because when then I profess to have fellowship with the Father and with the Son, and this is going to be a recurring teaching in this letter. If I profess to have this fellowship with the Father and with the Son, look at the natural consequence. Then I will have fellowship with the church, with us. Notice once again, verse 3, I declare this message concerning the word of life so that you may have fellowship with us. But ultimately, this fellowship with us is grounded on what is in the fellowship that we have with the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ. Later on in this letter, we will notice that those who declare themselves to be enlightened and the true gospelers, if you will, are those who hate the brethren. And that's why John, with his apostolic authority, will say, if you say you love God but hate your brother, you are a liar. If you profess that you have fellowship, relationship with the Father and with the Son, but you don't have fellowship with the one who sits by your side, what kind of fellowship are you having? It's challenging, isn't it? It takes us away from our zone of comfort and challenges our Christianity, as it must be challenged. Let us make this self-examination tonight, Christians. This is the effect of the true gospel of Christ in the life of the believer, his fellowship with the Father. We delight in our Heavenly Father. We delight in His attributes. We delight in His salvation. We love talking about Him. We delight in what He has revealed of Him to us in His Word. And we go to the Word and we spend hours meditating upon it. And we delight in the Son and we talk about His work. And we talk about His person. And we want to learn more and more. But it doesn't stop there. That fellowship that we are having with the Father and the Son, says the Apostle John, has the purpose of bringing fellowship with one another. That's the purpose of the gospel. Is that purpose true in you and in me? That is the question of this text tonight, isn't it? May the Lord grant us a spiritual maturity. through His Holy Spirit so that we are not deceived by false gospels of our own imagination, but that we would truly abide in the apostolic gospel that preaches fellowship with the Father and with the Son. And out of that fellowship flows the fellowship with one another. That's the immediate power of the gospel. fellowship with the triune God and with His church. But lastly, there is a second element, there is a second consequence, and it is joy. Look at verse 4, and these things, look, the purpose, the purpose for which we have written to you these things, is so that you may have joy. And these things we write to you, says the apostle, that your joy may be full." What a different notion of joy than that which the world proposes to us. Aren't we tempted to believe that joy is found on the things of this world? We are tempted with that all the time. We're tempted to believe that joy, the true fulfillment, that's the bottom line meaning of the word joy here in the Greek, is true fulfillment in the soul, is ultimate, genuine happiness and satisfaction. The world tries to spin this notion of joy and satisfaction, pointing us to all sorts of pinnacles as idols erected before us. A prosperous career. A bank account with millions of dollars, a prosperous business, a house full of children. Where is joy? The Apostle John reminds us tonight, joy is found in the gospel of Christ. O Christian, do you lack joy? Are you seeking joy tonight? Listen to God's Word. Genuine happiness and satisfaction different from that which is available now in the 21st century and different from those options available as well in the 1st century. True, ultimate satisfaction that fulfills the heart is found in Christ and in His gospel alone. That's the path to true joy. And it's only Christ Himself who makes us walk through that path of joy. Perhaps you sit here tonight and you're struggling with sadness. And one of the reasons why Christians struggle with sadness is because their eyes are fixed on that which do not grant joy. They are seeking their joy somewhere else. And here comes the apostle John to our aid and say, stop, open your eyes, look to your Christ and look to his blessed salvation. And then joy will fill your heart. Because ultimate, that's the power and the purpose of the gospel. These things are right to you, that your joy may be full. Therefore, Christians, let us be reminded tonight. that we must trust in the message of Christ's gospel proclaimed to us from the apostles. That we must always go back, reject novelties, and always go back to the apostolic teaching and preaching. Let us be reminded that we must trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the agent of the gospel, as the one who was always with the Father, but took upon himself flesh in the eternal invaded history. Let us also be reminded that we must trust in the power of the gospel that brings fellowship with the Lord, fellowship among His people, and true joy. We must, Christians, trust in Christ's gospel, for it alone is the message of God for our redemption. Let us pray. Almighty God in heaven, we thank You for Your Word and for its clarity. for its challenges and comfort for us tonight. Thank You, Lord, for reminding us of where can we find the true gospel in Christ Himself and in His incarnation. Help us, O Lord, to reject and to rebuke whatever it is that is false, whatever it is that makes us turn away from the true gospel of Christ and from the true and blessed Savior. But lead us, O Lord. and to fulfill fellowship with you and your Son through your Spirit, as you make us embrace and know, deeply know, not simply catechetically know, not simply intellectually know, but knowledge of heart, soul, and the deepest areas of our heart. Father, we pray for the fellowship in the midst of your people. that as, O Lord, we profess to be in fellowship with You, that that fellowship would be indeed portrayed in the way we live with one another. May we take that challenge seriously. May we listen to Your voice tonight and pursue that even in our midst, in the midst of our family, with those who perhaps we are estranged with. O Lord, be merciful with us and grant us, O Lord, Grant us that joy that ultimately Your Son, our Savior, through His gospel, can impart to us. In Jesus' name, Lord, we pray. Amen.