It's good to see everyone up close and personal tonight I'm really hoping that We can have a lot more interaction than normal My my idea for these classes I know we're live streaming them but this is not for those watching on live stream and This is for us that are here tonight. And that's how I'm approaching this. It's how I hope to format it and implement it. you know, praise the Lord that we're able to live stream it so that those that are sick and all that can't be here, but there's really, I'm not giving any thought to a recording. I'm wanting for this to be for us that are here and present. We're not gonna be able to pass the microphone around but hopefully we can have some some interaction tonight But before we get started, let's pray Father, just thank you for tonight. Thank you for those that are able to be here. Father, we do pray for those that cannot be here or in sickness and work schedules and all sorts of things that hinder some from being here. Just pray you would be with them or those that are sick, that it would pass quickly so they could get back to work. and their duties at home and just being able to be here and fellowship and all of that, Lord. And we pray that you would be here. Lord, send your spirit. Challenge us. Stretch us. Lord, help us to see that these basic truths of the gospel are so far above all of our heads. They are deeper than than any mortal man is able to grasp and to find the bottom of. It's like trying to free dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, Lord. It's so far out of our reach because it's the good news of your son, the infinite one, the holy one, the one that made us. All things are made Through him by him for him Or the one that spoke everything that is into being Father help us to see that Lord that That while the the focus of this class is going to be on on baby Christians on new believers that these are These truths are foundational for all of us. For the oldest Saint. Lord. Father, I pray that you would. That you would help. That you would come that you would give liberty and freedom Help us to see ourselves As we truly are as you have said we are help us to see you As you have revealed yourself in the sun in your son Help us to see You for who You are, Christ for who He is, Your Word for what it is, the very living words of the living God, the God who speaks. Father, help tonight. Lord even as song that we sing all is vain unless the spirit of the Holy One comes down And so we ask because you tell us to ask and you tell us that if we ask anything according to your will that you hear us, that you answer us. And Lord, we're asking that you would get glory for yourself, and that is most certainly your will. We ask that your people be helped and strengthened, and that is most certainly your will. Lord, that your word would go out clearly, that our lives would be transformed by the spirit, your spirit. Lord, so come hear us and answer, I pray. Amen. So as I was planning, I have somewhat of an outline for the class, but I also know that I don't really want it to be scholastic. I want it to be beneficial for us, for all of us. And I was looking around, I wanna, I wish we could like circle the chairs up and we may do that, who knows. But I want this to be like we're in your living room with God's people, looking at his word as a family, open. That's why I prayed that there would be freedom tonight. We're starting off the class with a test. Your faith is gonna be tested tonight. First thing, if anything is to be accomplished for our good and for God's glory, leave your pride at the door. Kill your pride right now. Put aside any temptation to appear more knowledgeable than you are. Take the mask off. Be transparent. Be open. This is a family discussion. This is a family gathering. We are the household of God. We are children of God. Christ is our head. God is our father. So don't allow fear. To get the best of you to control you, don't be intimidated by by people sitting around you. We all know each other here. Probably we know each other better We'll put it this way. You probably know me better than I think you do. And I probably know you a little better than you think I do. Don't be afraid to be wrong. Listen to this. Don't be afraid to say something wrong. One of the ways we grow and learn is from being proven wrong. By having our misconceptions, our false ideas, things that we have wrong, having that exposed so that we can be corrected. I mean, how many of you want to hold on to your errors? No, we don't want that. So don't be afraid of giving an answer and it being a wrong answer. That's to your benefit that it can be exposed and there can be correction. And no one here is looking down on you. I certainly don't know it all. I certainly don't have all the answers. I, as painful as it might be, it can be embarrassing when you say something and someone pops up with an answer and shows you from scripture that you're wrong. It can be embarrassing, but that's just pride. That's all that is, is pride. We don't want that. So don't be afraid to speak up. While this class is for everyone, it's for our church, it's for all of us, it is especially for new believers. Children, adults, it's especially for the new believers. For weak believers, for immature believers. So anytime something that is said that you don't understand, raise your hand. If I don't call on you, wave at me. If I don't see you, then go, hey, I got a question. I'm being dead serious. I may not stop immediately, but when I look at you and I acknowledge you, I'm coming back. I'm going to get to you very shortly. Okay? And I mean it. Don't let something go by and you don't understand what's being said. The goal for this class is not to get through the lessons. The goal is to learn. and to delight in what we're learning, to glory in the things that we're going to look at. That's the goal. The goal is not to finish the lesson. The goal is not to get through what I have prepared for tonight. The goal is for us to learn whatever we do get through each time. And not being afraid to speak up. You know, this is especially for new believers. But it's not only new believers. If you have some years with the Lord, contribute. Speak up. You have a comment. You think of a comment to make. Raise your hand. Wave at me. Offer your insights into different topics and different passages. Maybe offer a more clear passage to look at. Don't be afraid to be vulnerable and let people see you're weak and that you don't have all the answers. Truth be told, there are probably only a few people here weaker than I am. And I'm not, that's not hyperbole. There are probably only a few people here weaker than I am. I mean that, sincerely. I know something of my weakness. When Paul told the Corinthians God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, he meant that. He meant that. Third, third thing. Ready for the test? How many of you tonight are willing to admit that you struggle with assurance? Praise the Lord. Turn to Mark 9 24. Large crowd is gathered around. There's argument going on with scribes. Jesus is there. Verse 17, one in the crowd answer him, teacher, I brought my son possessed with the spirit which makes him mute. Whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told your disciples to gas it out and they could not do it. And he, Jesus, answered them and said, oh unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me. They brought the boy to him. When he saw him immediately, the spirit threw him into convulsion and falling to the ground. He began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And he asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, from childhood, it is often thrown him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, if you can, all things are possible to him who believes. Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, what? I do believe. Help my unbelief. There's a crowd. There's scribes. Jesus' disciples are there. Jesus is there. And the man cries out, I do believe, but help my unbelief. He admits he has doubts. He didn't hide it. He cried out. He didn't allow his pride to get in the way of coming to Christ with his unbelief. Let me ask those that you admitted, who's willing to share why you have doubts? Not personal detail, not personal details. Oftentimes it's sin in our lives. So I don't want anyone to share personal sins. But if it's sin, then you can say, yeah, I'm struggling in an area. Whatever it may be, is anyone willing? Anyone willing to share, Josh? to other compromises. I can use a recent example from a study where again he was talking about Judas and John the Apostle and the difference between the two and how they looked so strikingly similar from the Anyone else want to share? Matthew? Anyone else? So let me ask those that do. Are you? Are you wrong for reading the Bible for what it says it is? Yeah. The temptation. Temptation. Yeah. Do you believe that it's wrong for a woman to preach? Why? It's what the Bible says. Yeah, so it's not so it's not a it's not so much what you're describing really isn't doubt It's temptation to believe something. That's not true Right, that's what you're describing because I said is the Bible true yeah, I Do you believe it's wrong? Yeah, why the Bible says so that's not doubt That's temptation to believe something false to believe something wrong There's a temptation pulling you trying to deceive you trying to trying to get you Yeah Yeah. Yeah, temptations are real. Yeah, shy. Yeah, so let me ask this. Those that those that have struggles with assurance. How many of you doubt Christ's ability to save? How many of you doubt Christ is able to save? Anyone? Yeah. What makes you doubt his ability? that he, let me be clear, that he's not strong enough to save. That he doesn't have the ability. Okay, then hold that thought, because this is what I'm asking right now. Who doubts his ability that he is able to save to the uttermost all those who draw near to him in faith? That's typically not something you find in someone that struggles with assurance. How many doubt Christ's willingness to save? That he's willing to save you? Got a couple people there. Where can you find answers that Christ is willing to save? What scripture can you go to to show, to demonstrate that he's willing to save? Turn to John 6. This is actually a passage that that some give some people trouble. But this is a place to find assurance. Verse 35, Jesus says that he is the bread of life. Let's just read it, 35. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger. Is that what he means? Or is there something veiled in that? that he's actually saying the opposite of that. He who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. Did he mean that? Is that a promise that you can look to? And can you say, Jesus said, if I come to him, he won't cast me out. If I come to him believing, trusting in him, he will not cast me out. What does that say about his willingness? He doesn't say, not everyone that comes to me will I receive. Says the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. In Matthew 11, 28, another place. Jesus declaring that everything has been handed over to him. His Father has given everything to Him. No one knows the Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. So there are some that the Son wills to reveal the Father. Who is that? We don't have to guess, it's the very next verse. Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. Do these verses talk about Christ's unwillingness To save. Or does it talk about his willingness and in fact he promises to save everyone that comes to him believing? No, he does not save unbelievers. But if you come to him believing. He promises. Says he's willing to save. Why did God send Jesus? To save. I did not come to judge the world, but that the world might be saved. That means He's willing to save everyone that comes to Him. Those that He has saved, what was their condition when He saved them? What was the condition of those that Christ has saved? Sinners. Dead. Enemies. Against Him. Those that were enemies. Romans 5. Verse 6. while we were still helpless. At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. But my sin, you don't know the depths of my sin. Oh, so you're ungodly? Congratulations, you qualify. That's the only ones he came to save. Jesus said, I did not come to call the righteous to repentance. I came to call sinners Does that sound like unwillingness to save or willingness? He's willing to save. He promises to save all who come to him. Verse 8, God demonstrates his own love toward us. So this is the love of God demonstrated towards us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us much more than Having now been justified by his blood. We shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Let me ask those that said yeah. I struggle with believing that God is willing to save. I'm gonna ask you a very similar thing. Is that what you really believe? Do you really believe he's not willing? Or are you tempted to doubt that he's willing? If you really do believe He's not willing, do you pray? Do you call God your Father? Do you come to Christ to help you? Do you call on Him to help you? That's not evidence of unbelief. That's evidence of faith. Weak faith. I believe, help my unbelief. Isn't that exactly? I know when I have been tempted in that way, I realize that's what it is. It's temptation to doubt. How many believe your sin is greater than God's grace. That your sins just, it's too much. You remember a guy in the Old Testament named Samson? He was a good, upstanding man, wasn't he? Full of righteousness and good deeds. He's in Hebrews. He's one of the faithful. Christ did not die and suffer for his sin for hundreds upon hundreds of years after he was already dead. He had already seen his life from beginning to end because he had already lived his life and died before Christ paid the penalty for his sin and suffered for him and died for him. What about Jacob? He'll get your supplanter. There's another guy just full of goodness and upstanding and moral character, right? Yeah. Need the cue card, sarcasm. No, he was a deceiver. If you look at his life, so much of his life was just failure upon failure after God called him, after he received a blessing. so much of his life was just marked by failure. It wasn't until a couple thousand years later that Christ died for his sins. You realize every Old Testament saint, everyone that lived and died before Christ died, every saint, their sins were not paid for, were not atoned for. They were not redeemed until Christ died and paid the price. They were justified by faith. Abram was justified by faith when he believed God. Payment for his sin was not made until Christ died for him. God saw their entire life. Christ saw their entire life. And he paid for all their sin. Romans 520. The law came in so that the transgression would increase. But where sin increased. Grace abounded all the more. Something about the law coming in. Because. Because no one is held accountable for breaking the law where there is no law. I was just talking to someone the other day. Before the law came, where could you worship God? Anywhere. You could build an altar anywhere and worship God and offer sacrifice. On the high places, under trees, out in the field. You could worship God, you could sacrifice anywhere. When the law came, that became sin. And if you did it after the law was given, you would be held accountable for that. Why? Because now the law has been given that declares that is not acceptable. But before that, no one was sinning against God. How many believe your sin is greater than God's grace? How many believe that? Getting back getting back to this thing again. Do you believe? God's grace is not sufficient to pay for your sin. Or are you tempted? To doubt that God will be gracious to you. Because of your sin, because your sin is just so big. So I have another question. Those that struggle with assurance. Are you doubting God? Or are you doubting yourself? Most people that my experience from my own struggles with assurance in previous years even while a pastor here, going through times of struggling with assurance, it's not that I never believed God. My doubt had to do with me. I believed the gospel. My doubt was because of me. You may say, man, this is a new believer's class? This is the first lesson from a new believer's class? This is such an important lesson. Get your eyes off of yourself and your sin. When you sin, what does Scripture say to do? Repent? Lay it aside? What else? All those are true. Confess. What does that mean? First John. Chapter one. Listen to this. So many times are. our doubts, our lack of assurance, so much of the time, so much of the time, it has to do with our own sin. So much of the time. What are you going to claim? Are you going to say you have no sin? Is that is that how you're going to be accepted by God by not having sin? Verse 8, if we say we have no sin, we're deceiving ourselves in the truth is not in us. Verse 9, if we confess our sins, what does it mean to confess? Whoever knows, say it. Agree with God. That's basically it. I did something, say that I, my boss at work asked me, hey, did you do this chore yet? And I go, oh yeah, yeah, I just did that a little while ago. And you rush off to go do it because you haven't done it and you lied to him. What does confession look like in that case? What does confession look like? No? What does confession look like? Talk to God about it. You say, ah, Lord, I lied. That was sin. I was wrong. And then you go. A different confession. But this confession here is confession to God. It's agreeing with God that was sin. I was wrong. To God. If we confess our sins, he the father. Is faithful and righteous. He's in the right. That's what that righteousness there is. He's faithful to forgive our sins, and he's in the right to forgive our sins. And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Everything here is in the present tense. If we are saying we have no sin, We are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not right now in us. If we are confessing our sins, when I sin, if I don't hide it, I don't cover it up, I don't go hiding from God, I don't deceive everyone and I remain in that lie, I don't mean that maybe it's not for five minutes or an hour or five days. That's not what I'm talking about. That's not what scripture is talking about. If you stay in that state. There is no confession taking place. And there is no forgiveness and there is no cleansing from unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not be sinning. But if anyone sins, commits sin. We have an advocate with the father. Jesus Christ, the righteous and he. is the satisfaction for our sins. He is the propitiation for our sins. He satisfies the just demands of the righteous God. He himself How? In his death, when he died for his sheep, when he died for his people, when he died for sinners in their place to pay the penalty for their sin. Again, those that are doubting, that struggle with assurance, Confess your sin and believe God's Word. I don't care what you feel like. I don't care what your conscience tells you. Your conscience is lying to you if it's not agreeing with God's Word. And it says, if you confess your sin, Lord, I sinned against you like David against you and you alone have I sinned. You confess it. Who's faithful? God is faithful. To forgive and cleanse. So go about living your life like an innocent man. Because you are in God's eyes. Yeah, praise the Lord. There is no condemnation for those who have mastered their sins. No? Man, what kind of Bible are y'all reading? Sounds like salvation is a gift freely given. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ, depending on Him to save you, not for you to save yourself, not for you to be good enough, not for you to clean yourself up, not for you to reach some higher level to where you're no longer struggling with sin. You're going to struggle with sin till the day you die. just like Abraham, Moses, Israel, everyone who lived before. Methuselah was not without sin. He found favor with God. Noah found grace with God. Job found grace with God. There is none righteous, no, not one. Those of you Turn to Genesis. I'm gonna share with you what got me through times of struggling with assurance. Genesis 32. If you don't know the story, Jacob, who was about to get his name changed to Israel, Jacob was wrestling with someone, wrestling with a man, except we know he was wrestling with God. Verse 24, then Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until daybreak when he saw that he had not prevailed against him. He touched the socket of his thigh, so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, this is the man he was wrestling with, let me go for the dawn is breaking. But Jacob said, I will not let you go. Unless you bless me. You struggling. Fight. Follow the Lord and tell him you. You're going to have to throw me into hell, cause I'm following you. I'm coming to you. I'm not going to stop. I will not let you go unless you bless me. Then he asked him his name. He said his Jacob. Says your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel. He who strives with God. For you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. You struggle. Are you saved by assurance? Or does Christ save sinners? Is lack of assurance a sin? Yes. Yes. Lack of assurance is sin. Why? Because you don't have your eyes fixed on Christ, and you're not fully believing in Him. Oh, but guess what? Christ saves sinners. There's only one mention of one unforgivable sin, and lack of assurance is not it. You've probably all heard the story about the bridge, right? bridge over a deep chasm, and one guy walks out on the bridge, just whistling as he walks over, singing and laughing and happy and not a care in the world, and he walks across the bridge. Another man is scared to death that the bridge might cave in from underneath him, there might be an earthquake, he might lose his balance and fall over the edge, and so he crawls across the bridge, terrified. Which one of them got to the other side safe? Both why? Because the strength was in the bridge, not their faith in the bridge. If you can lay hold of that and get your eyes off of yourself. And onto Christ. This too will pass if you if you tell the Lord I am not letting go of you until you bless me. Hold on. What is your choice? It's either hold on, follow him, trust him, believe the truth, find find trues, find promises. Find a promise. It's all it takes is one. It's all it takes is one. Set your mind on things above where Christ is. Fix your eyes on Christ, the author and perfecter, completer, finisher of faith. How many of you know you belong to Christ? No doubts. How in the world could you possibly not have doubt? Bunch of arrogant people. Right. Don't have doubt now. Yeah. Yeah. Why don't you have any doubt? Who is willing to share? How do you know you're saved? In two minutes or less. And that struggle with assurance, I believe, is the end of the line. I mean, I went through, I never contemplated, literally, faith, progress and everything. It never failed me. I have no reason to doubt All right, again, how many of you at this point in time, today, this season, you're not struggling with sin? I'm sorry, you're not struggling with assurance? Hold your hand up and keep it up. How many are right now not struggling with assurance? Put your hand down if you're not struggling with sin? Again, put your hand in the air. If right now you're not struggling with assurance, you know you're a Christian. Put your hand down if you're not struggling with sin. What does it mean to struggle, Jason? Strive against, fight. In other words, it's there, because you're fighting it. It's there. You can't struggle with something that's not there. There's a fight. It's present. Keep your hands up. Bunch of lazy people. All right. How many of you struggle with new sins every day because the ones you struggled with yesterday are gone? Not a trick question. I mean, you're not committing that same sin again. The same sin, you're fighting it over and over, and you fall, and you get up, and you fall, and you get up, and the same sin over and over. I do that all the time. Pride. Lack of contentment. These are wicked sins. Oh, but lust and oh, I just, you know, these things make me feel dirty. You should feel dirty out of over greed. You should feel dirty because you're not perfectly content with Christ and it doesn't matter what happens to you. You should feel dirty because of that. Now, I'm saying that to compare with the gross sins. I struggle with lust. I struggle with anger, losing my temper. I struggle with saying things I shouldn't say. But doesn't 1 John say that if we're born again, we don't practice sin? Those born of God don't practice sin. Yeah, what is practice look like? It's your living in it. You're walking in darkness. You're you're saying it's not there. You're you're planning on how to sin. You're you're conniving. You're trying to hide it from everyone around you. You're trying to hide it from God. You're you're holding it like something dear. You're not trying to cut its throat and kill it and throw it off of you. You're trying to find ways to keep it hidden in your pockets. To keep it hidden. Practicing. There's only so many sins that we can commit. We all commit the same sins over and over. Whatever that sin is, you fell to it yesterday and you fell to it again today. What do you do when you sin? If we confess our sin. He is faithful and just right to forgive and cleanse us from unrighteousness. How do I know I'm a Christian? Because God calling God my father is more natural than calling Linda my wife. Because I run to Him always. I go to Him with my failures, with my sin, with my success. Because His Spirit bears witness with me that I'm a child of God. Because there is an inward witness of that. There is a peace. Because I believe his word. Because I'm not looking for any other way than Christ. That's it. It's the only place I go is to Christ. That's what believers do. Is knowing incompatible with faith, or is our faith based in knowledge? So is your faith based in ignorance then? And being without knowledge? We're talking about faith in Christ, faith in the Gospel, faith in God, saving faith, faith that delivers us from the wrath of God. That faith. Right, but is that faith based in knowledge? Then you don't have faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is based completely in the absolute knowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is knowledge, it is faith based in knowledge. The knowledge of who God is because Christ has revealed him. Christian faith, saving faith, Bible faith is not blind faith. Yeah, so that blind faith is faith without knowledge. Bible faith is faith based upon the purest knowledge that there is, knowledge that is actually from above, given by God, revealed by God, made known by God, made manifest by God. It's the truth. It's faith in certain, absolute, knowable truth. Mm-hmm. It was true. It was based in reality. It was based on truth. Remember me when you enter into your kingdom. We know he believed Jesus was king. He was over the kingdom of God. That that when he died, he's going to be with the Lord. Remember me. Bring me with you. When you enter your kingdom, today you will be with me in paradise. Yeah, so he had very little knowledge, but that little bit of knowledge was bottomless because it was knowledge of Christ. Josh, was that your hand? everybody who looks like this. And that's something super impactful. And when I don't love the president, on the contrary, when I'm being selfish, when I'm being sinful, when I'm not seeking to love my president, I feel that sense of, as you say, I'm not making my call to the election to sacrifice me. I continue to think that he who does not love a violent death, everyone who We know love. We know love by this. Mental, mental knowledge, mental ascent. Hector? So those that are not having, and we're gonna end with this very quickly, so nothing long, like five seconds, speed round. Those of you that are not struggling with assurance, you know Christ, you know you're a believer, you know you're going to heaven when you die. What would you tell those that are struggling with assurance? What help would you give them? Look to Christ. Yeah, get your eyes off yourself. Believe God's word. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Seeking, finish it. Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in your heart to the Lord. I'm not gonna mention any names, but I shared this with someone. If you struggle with a certain sin in your life. Stop watching sermons about it. Stop going to these places where that's you're just consuming things that are just constantly reminding you of your sin. Tell you what, put some praise and worship music on and worship the Lord instead. Read your Bible, pray, Go mow the yard. Go mow my yard. No, but I'm dead serious. Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on the earth. Your sins here on the earth with you. Set your mind on things above where Christ is. Stop being consumed with your sin. Confess it and go about your life free from it. No condemnation. Christ forgives. Righteous man may fall seven times, but he gets up again. Should I? I would say no. Set your mind on Christ. I'm talking about, again, I'm not saying don't listen to a sermon. Okay, listen to a sermon. Then go practice it. and get your mind off of your sin, stop focusing and going, finding another sermon on that sin, another sermon on that sin, another sermon on that sin. What are you setting your mind on when you do that? The sin. The sin is dictating your actions. A particular sin. Yeah, go listen to messages on the glory of Christ, on the glory of God, on joy and salvation. in prayer on so many things, so many things you could listen to that will help you put your mind on Christ and get it off of your sin. Anyone else, what would you tell someone struggling, Jim? Get over yourself. What do you really mean? Never get over Christ. Yeah. New believers, if you're a new Christian, maybe you're a child and you're like, man, what's all this talk about lack of assurance? Man, I love Jesus. This is great. I can't believe he saved me. Remember these things. Because you will be tempted. I'm not saying that you'll not everyone has struggles with assurance. Not everyone does. A lot of people do. For the unbeliever. Repent and believe the gospel. If you're here and you don't know the Lord, what's keeping you from Him? It's not your sin because He saves sinners. Come to Him with your sin. Do not try to clean yourself up. You can't. Run to Him. He's the Savior. He saves you from your sin. He delivers you from sin. He cleanses from sin. The wages of sin is death. Everyone is going to die and stand before God. And if there is any guilt of sin in your life, you're going to pay for it. You're going to be judged. You're going to give an account for everything that you have done. God is going to treat you the way blasphemers deserve to be treated. Liars deserve to be treated. Those that deny Christ deserve to be treated. That is a scary thought. If you've heard of Christ in the gospel and you reject it, That's a scary thing. God gave his son to die and suffer and you say no, thanks. I'll make it on my own. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But when you come to God on the basis of Christ having died for your sin, to pay the penalty for your sin, to give you new life and freedom from the wages of your sin, from punishment, it's nothing but life. And when we stand before God, hear those words, well done, good and faithful servant. Why? One reason. Christ died for my sin. He paid the penalty. I trust him. God looks at my faith in his son and says, I count that as righteousness. Perfect life lived. You're trusting in Christ, not yourself. Well done, good and faithful servant. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Lord, help us to be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. Lord, help us to hear from you, to recognize the voice of the enemy, the accuser of the brethren, the slanderer, the one who brings accusations against your children. And you are a loving father and your voice always speaks love. And and you always draw your children to yourself. Never once do you send them away. You may you may go off. You may you may leave. But the words you speak are follow me. Come with me. Father, help us. Help us Lord. All of us. To see you as you are. To not believe lies, but to believe the truth to believe the Gospel. To believe your word and Lord those that. Those that do profess to be. To be Christians and they're not and they are deceived. Lord, show him their deception. Let them see that they're not coming to you in faith. They're not trusting you. The trusting and something else, but it's not you. Father, help us see that. This is this is the way to to grow it's to become weaker and weaker And to be more and more dependent on you There's no need to put on pretense in front of men Because that men are of no account And you see us as we are, more clearly than we see ourselves. You know, every fault, even faults we have never recognized as faults, sins we've never recognized as sin, you see it all. There's nothing hidden from your sight. And what a glorious thing that is for a God who is loving and pouring out grace and mercy. on those that draw near to him in faith, trusting not in themselves, but in Christ. What comfort there is. Lord, help us to help us to see more of your love, more of the love of God in Christ. Amen. We're dismissed.