Encouragement (1 John 2:12-14)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Well, good morning. My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. I preach about half the time on Sundays, and Spencer Carey, one of our other pastors, he preaches about half the time. We're working our way through 1 John, the letter of 1 John, so if you want to grab your Bibles and go to 1 John, we're in chapter 2. If you grab one of the Bibles under the seat in front of you, or if you're on the front row, on the row with you, it's on page 592 is where we'll be today.
I was talking with Spencer recently. One of the things that Spencer does is that he talks about movies, and he'll tell you things about movies and movies that he's watched. Most of the time, though, he doesn't call them movies. He calls them films, which is fine. That's fine. And he'd really like to have us all convinced that he only watches films and that they're deep and they have a lot of subtext to them, that most of the films he watches have subtitles, so not only subtext but also subtitles.
And they all end with sad endings, you know, because he's deep and he's like that. He does like those movies, to be fair. He does like that. I'm sorry. He does enjoy those films. But his favorite movie is Mean Girls.
It's definitely in the top five if it's not his favorite. So he can say what he wants to, but he likes Mean Girls. And if you haven't seen Mean Girls, it's like a teen comedy from 2004. But he was talking about it recently, and he said there's a scene in Mean Girls where the main character, Regina George, one of the main characters, and if you haven't seen the movie, it's in a high school. Regina George is a girl, and she's mean. You're all caught up.
She's been mean to everybody the whole movie, and they have this assembly where they're dealing with the fact that everybody's mean to each other. And at one point she stands up and she says, I think we just need to acknowledge that some of the people here, you know, are just victims. And the teacher looks at her and goes, that's a good point. Raise your hand if you've been personally victimized by Regina George. And everybody raises their hand because she was mean. Even the teachers, they're like, the teachers slowly raise their hands in this thing.
And Spencer said that he feels like that's how our church feels right now about John. We're not even through the second chapter, and if we said, who here feels personally victimized by the Apostle John? It's like, he's said some mean things so far. This has been a lot. There's been a lot that I've had to look at and consider. And that's true because what he's doing is he's writing to the church, the church at large.
He's writing to Christians, and he's saying, hey, there are a lot of people around saying they belong to Jesus, but they don't. And so he's adding clarity. But in order to add some clarity, he's drawing some lines, and he's giving some kind of, he's dividing in some ways. And so there is this amount of, as we study this together, it's like, oh, okay, this is heavy. Let me consider this. Let me think about this.
As he's talking about people who've said they believe in Jesus, but don't actually have a life that matches. And so John seemingly understands the tone of his letter, and he does something very interesting and helpful and encouraging in the passage we're going to look at today. He changes the way he's writing to a direct address. Greek people, y'all pumped? Isn't that exciting? Here's what he does.
It's so clear in the Greek that if you're holding a Bible, it actually is now indented. It looks like he's broken out into like a poem or something. It's like in a movie where the characters are all interacting with each other, and then one of them just starts singing about how they really feel inside. It's kind of what this feels like, but what he's done is it's more like in the movie Ferris Bueller where he'll just stop and turn directly at the camera. He's changed the tone of what he's saying to make sure that his readers don't miss this. And so in some ways the whole letter is him standing shoulder to shoulder with us and saying, now you need to understand this, and you need to see this, and you need to be able to pay attention to this, except for this one section where he turns, and he turns our shoulders, and he says, look at my face.
I have something I need to make sure you understand. Because if we miss this part, we'll miss the tone of everything else that's being said here. And so this is foundational for us and helpful, and I'm so glad that John says, hey, look me in the eye real quick. So let's read this, we'll pray, and then we'll walk through it. But you've got to understand that's what he's done here.
That's why it's written the way that it's written. He says this, we're looking at verses 12, 13, and 14 in 1 John chapter 2. I'm writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I'm writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I'm writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. Let's pray.
Lord, I pray that you would help us to hear this, to make eye contact, and to soak this in, and to understand what is true for those who are in Christ. And may we never forget it. In Jesus' name, amen. I want to make two kind of big picture observations, and then we're just going to walk through the main points that he makes here. And we're going to take this encouragement, because that's what he's doing, is he's grabbing them and saying, hold on a second. This is why I'm writing to you.
This is what I need you to hear. As we talk about all this other stuff that you need to be aware of, and you need to pay attention to, and you need to be mindful of, I need you to hear this, because this is why I'm writing. First off, he gives a lot of addresses, like personal addresses. He says, little children, fathers, children, fathers, young men, young men. He does this a couple of times where he's specifically kind of singling out people. And so there are some who've looked at this and said, okay, little children, young men, fathers.
He's talking about like stages of Christian development. I think this is very generally to the entire church. First of all, little children is just the way that John addresses the church. If you take these two times out, where he says little children here, he says it 11 other times in this letter. He says that we're the children of God a couple of times, and then he also just says children, little children, my little children, children, little children, my little children, 11 times. He's 80 to 90 or so at this point, and he's saying that we belong, if you belong to Jesus, then you belong to God the Father, and we've been made a family.
It's the same thing Paul says over and over again, where he calls us brothers, brothers and sisters. When he writes, he's saying I'm writing to the family. That's what he's saying, is that we're a family. And then a few times in here, he also says fathers and young men. Now, it's possible. He's specifically wanting to talk to those actual groups, those who have been a father and parented children and young men.
Other people say, no, it's more like he's talking to just young believers and older believers. And all the things he says apply to all Christians. There's not a thing here that isn't true for all Christians. And so I'm more inclined to think he's just continuing to arrest our attention. He's just continually saying, look at me, look at me. It'd be like if I grabbed my son and said, son, I need you to know something, son.
Listen to me, boy. I need you to know something, son. Like if I just did that over and over again, he'd be like, OK, I get it. You want me to keep looking at your face up here? I look at me. You know, that's kind of what he's doing is he's just saying, hey, I need you to see this.
And so we won't spend a lot of time paying much attention to those understanding that he's writing to the family. He's writing to those who believe those who are children of God. And he wants us to hear this. Observation number two is that he kind of uses a formula. He says, I'm writing to you because I'm writing to you because I'm writing to you because I write to you because I write to you because I write to you because. And he changes this verb.
They're writing me. And I'm actively doing it. I write to you means I've already done it. And again, he's just saying, hey, I want to make sure if someone later says, why did John write this letter? You have an answer. What was the point?
Why did he write? He said, no, I'm writing to you because I need you to see this. I need you to know this. This is the reality for you. That word because could be translated that I'm writing to you that meaning I'm writing to you because this is true, whether you know it or not. So if someone called you and said, hey, I'm calling you because you've you've completely paid off your bill.
You sent us payment, but your bill is paid off. It's like I'm calling to you in case you don't know this. It's true whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not. And that's what he's saying is I'm writing this because this is true about you, because this is the reality. And the other thing that he's saying when he says I'm writing to you because, because, because. Is that we wouldn't get confused about what was the purpose of his letter.
Is he anxious? Is he frustrated? Is he upset with us? Does he think that we are actually Christians? And he says, no, this is why I'm writing to you. So we're going to look at what he says and he repeats himself a couple of times.
So we're going to kind of batch these together as we go. But the first one's just first 12. I'm writing to you, little children. Because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. So the first primary reason that I'm writing this and he says little children, meaning those who are Christians.
So if you're here and you're not a believer, this is what's true for Christians, but not true for people in general. But if you're here and you're a Christian, he's writing to you because. Because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. John wants us to know that if we're in Christ, our sins are forgiven. If you're in Christ, your sins are forgiven. Now, this is a church.
We've gathered today as a church family to talk about Bible stuff, to say things about Jesus. Odds were we were going to talk about forgiveness of sins. At some point, we were going to mention it. It was going to be said. But there's the ability for us to hear that over and over again and fail to comprehend what that actually means.
Your sins are forgiven. The entire storyline of the Bible is what is God going to do with all of these sinful humans? Because he's perfectly just and just destroying us. Perfectly just and just eradicating us. Because I don't know if you've known this, but you've just run around causing problems. Ask your friends, your roommate, your spouse.
If you need a cosigner, there have been things that you've made worse. There's stuff that you've failed at. Stuff that haunts you. Stuff that you're like, it's bedtime. You're laying down. You're like, I'm going to go to sleep.
And your brain's like, or you can think about this thing that you did. He says, that's forgiven. I'm writing to you because your sins are forgiven. I'm not writing to you so that your sins might be forgiven. I'm not writing to you so that you might keep it together. I'm not writing to you so that you'll know that you've got to be good enough.
I'm writing to you because your sins are forgiven. And he already said, it's not just past tense because he says that our sins are forgiven. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Meaning that our present sin and our future sin is forgiven in Christ. There is no debt for you. There's nothing between you and God.
It would be like if tomorrow, for fun, you went and showed up at magistrate court and just stood in line. When you got up there, you're like, I'm here. And you told them your name. And they were like, we don't have anything on you. Some of you probably shouldn't try that because they might have something. But the point is, Jesus doesn't.
Because he's paid for our sins. And when we stand before the Father, there's not like he knows all about it and he set it aside. And so it's like, I'll forgive you, but I'm going to kind of hold it against you in some way or things are going to be awkward between us. He's put all of that on Christ. And there is nothing on your record. Nothing on your account.
There is no debt left to be paid. Bone Weed is in our church family. They're leaders in training. He and his wife. Bone told me one time that his brother, at one point when he found out that identity theft was a thing, said, man, I wish somebody would steal my identity. Then the debt collectors could call them.
Bone. And that's what Jesus has done. He took our debt. Our identity was a terrible one to swap with. And he swapped with us because he's good. There is no sin left on your account if you are in Christ.
You need to take a deep breath. Your sin is forgiven. But what if I did this? What if I do that? What if I missed? No.
Your sin is forgiven. And it gets better. He says, I write to you because your sin is forgiven for his name's sake. It's not forgiven for your sake. It's not forgiven because of your work or your worth or your intelligence or your ability or your goodness. It's not to your credit or your reputation.
If it were that, you'd have some work to do. To keep it. To tend to it. You potentially could mess it up and ruin your reputation. Guess what? He's staked his name on it.
He's put his reputation on it. So when we think, okay, I've sinned. I've done so terribly. In some ways, maybe I'm going to lose this. Do you realize that's not humility on yourself? That's actually an accusation against the work of Jesus that it somehow can't handle the ability that you have to sin.
That he somehow is out sinned by you. That he can't save to the uttermost those who call on his name. He's put his name on it. He's staked his reputation on it. It's for his sake, for his glory, for his praise that you are forgiven. It's not going anywhere because he won't be belittled.
It's not. Your forgiveness isn't being taken away because he is saved fully and completely. When you sin, we praise Jesus that he forgives sinners. I told somebody this past week that I've written the first line of my funeral. And they can say whatever they want to after that. But they've got to walk up and say it's on days like today that we're very thankful that Jesus saves sinners.
Without it, he'd have no hope. And that's the reality that he saves sinners and he does it for his name and for his glory. And so he says, I'm writing to you because this is true for you in Christ. Second thing he says, this is in verse 13 and twice. And in 14, he says, I'm writing to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you children because you know the father.
I write to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. Him who is from the beginning is God, but more specifically Christ. That's the way he refers to Christ, that that which was from the beginning, which we have seen, which we have heard. It's this Jesus, the word incarnate, Jesus, God incarnate. And then he says, you know him. And he talks later, he says that if you know the son, you know the father.
And so he's saying that we have the father and the son. We know the father and the son. And he says, I'm writing this to you because you belong, because you've placed your faith in him, because you are Christians. And that we actually know him who is from the beginning. And we know the father. And I think there's two things that are extremely encouraging.
There's a bunch, but we're going to talk about two. They're extremely encouraging from this. First, there's something about us that desires to know what's really going on. Something about us that desires to be in on the secret. To know what's at work behind the scenes. There's something so wonderful when Toto ran behind that curtain and they snatched it back.
And there was just a guy talking into a microphone. And that big green face wasn't that scary anymore, was it? He's like, man, just push that old guy to the ground. You're like, you got an axe, do your thing. But they didn't do that.
That's not how the movie ends. But there's something about that. And there's something about us that kind of desires and thinks, do I really know all there is to know? Do I really have the information I need to have? Am I right about this? Is there more to this?
And you'll meet people sometimes and they'll go, well, you know, you really need to know how to really read the Bible. You really got to start figuring out the Numbers. Or I know the secret secrets. And he says, no, I'm writing to you because you know him who is from the beginning. The mystery has been revealed in Christ. The mystery is him who is from the beginning coming to join us and to become human.
Don't demystify that. Don't grow used to that so you fail to see how beautiful that is. That we know the creator of the universe in Christ who has died for us. And we have the hope that lasts for all eternity. It's him who is from the beginning. There is no secret secrets.
It was ready to be revealed at the last time it's been revealed in Christ. That is our hope. It is beautiful. Magnificent. Glorious. And it's pretty straightforward.
There's hope in Christ. And there's hope nowhere else. And we know him who is from the beginning. And in knowing him, we know the father. And we get to become children. Children.
And I don't know your family situation. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you got to walk into a house. Where the sounds and the smells and the voices helped untie you. That you just got to loosen up and you were free. And maybe there was extended family there. And you were just excited to get to talk to everybody in the room.
You didn't meet a stranger. You just went from person to person that you belonged to. And they belonged to you. And it was just free and joyous. And where you could hear laughter in the other room. And everything was warm and safe and good.
And you felt finally like you were in the place you were meant to be. And there were times where you just caught that for just a moment. I don't know your family situation. I don't know if that's true for you. But I know that if you're in Christ, it will be eternally true for you.
We don't wear name tags in heaven. It's not a glorious, eternal meet and greet. Which I know some of y'all have to gear yourselves up just to be here on Sunday and talk to a person. You're like, I'm going to do it. They said I'm supposed to. We're a family.
We're going to do this for eternity. I'm going to meet a person. I'm going to meet a person. I got this. I got this. I got this.
Hey, my name's Chet. It's me tonight. You. I'm going home. I'm done. That was it.
I'm never talking to another person. I'll see y'all in eternity. I'm going to go sit over here and drink coffee until my eyes cross. In heaven, every time we get at his glorious table, every time we're in this house, he went to prepare a place for us where we all belong, where we're all children and brothers and sisters. There is no time where you're uncomfortable or where you're around someone that you haven't longed to be around and would enjoy for eternity. There's no time where we aren't in where we're meant to be.
And he says, I'm writing this to you not because you need extra secrets. And I'm writing this to you not because you don't belong, but because you do belong. That you're in. You've been made into the family. That's the tone of this letter. He says, look me in the face.
You're supposed to be here. And if you're a Christian, you're supposed to be here. You belong. I make things awkward. I feel uncomfortable. So what?
People in our church gave me a cup that says I came, I saw, I made it awkward. I make things awkward all the time. I have the benefit of not feeling real uncomfortable about it. But we belong. If I'm in Christ, if you're in Christ, we eternally belong to one another because we eternally belong to him. And that's not being changed because it was accomplished through the work of Christ.
We know him who is from the beginning. And we have the father and we're children. Third thing he says. He says this twice. The first one's kind of the headline. And then he gives a little more information.
But he says this, I'm writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. And then in 14, I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. So you have overcome the evil one is the headline. There's more to it. You're strong. The word of God abides in you.
You have overcome the evil one. So we're going to go in that order. You are strong. If you belong to Jesus, that's biblically, eternally true for you. You are strong. Spencer stood up here and said 500 years ago, we're celebrating Reformation.
It's Reformation Day. Some of you are like, I thought it was Halloween. Same day. A hundred years ago, Albert Halloween. No, I'm just kidding. That's not true.
We got some reformedness in us. So if I say you're weak, yes. You're small, yes. You're dead in your trespasses and sins, yes. Like that's the stuff, like I'm ready to hear that. You've sinned, I have.
You're ugly, I know. We have some of that. You're strong. And you want to say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Without Christ, I'm weak. Without Christ, I'm small.
Without Christ, I'm frail. Without Christ, I'm vulnerable. Without Christ, I'm dangling over the pit of hell. Yes, but you aren't without Christ. You are not strong. You are not weak.
You are strong in Him. We're weak in ourselves. We're strong in Him. You are not vulnerable. You are not about to be lost. You are not about to be overcome.
You are not about to be sunk or swamped or stolen or captured or taken. Not if you were in Christ. None of those are even remotely close to being true for you. You are in an unpluckable hand of the Father who you have been purchased by the blood of the eternal Son of God. You are strong. Now, you say, well, okay, I'm strong in Him.
Yes, but you're in Him. You're in. So I don't mind if mentally you have to walk out the I'm weak on my own, but I'm in Christ. I'm not on my own, and so therefore I'm strong. That's what Paul says. He says, I glorify my weakness because when I'm weak, I'm strong.
I don't mind if you have to do that so that you feel like your theology is right. That's fine. That's fine. But don't walk around feeling weak and small and vulnerable with bad theology. To the glory of God. Put your shoulders back.
Stick your head up. To the glory of God. Walk like you are free and purchased and you have hope and nothing can get you. Because you walk in Christ. One of the things that they say about Americans when they go abroad is that they're extremely loud. That Americans don't know how loud they are.
They walk around just being loud and they use loudness to translate to other languages. There's something about the ethos of Americans that they just kind of feel safe wherever they are. Right or wrong. Jesus is better than America. We're safer in him. You are strong because you are in Christ.
There's no room for fearfulness, for pitifulness, for I'm so small. None of that. None of that that doesn't roll into the glorious praise of a king who has made you not that in him. You can start there. I'm fine. I'm fine with that.
That's the beginning of a good sermon. I'm weak. I'm sinful. I'm pitiful. Come on. Let's go.
And you get the end. No, boo. Get your Bible out. That's not the end. I'm weak. I'm small.
I'm vulnerable. I'm in Christ. I'm gloriously victorious for eternity. I'm strong. I have hope. And nothing can get me to the praise of his glorious grace.
He says you are strong. I'm writing this to you are strong. And I want you to hear that. He's not saying I'm writing this to you because you're weak and you're vulnerable. And I had to write this. And I hope it gets there in time.
That's not what he's doing. I write this because you are strong. And the word of God abides in you. Here's what he's saying here. This word of God that abides in you is not small and simple and fit in your pocket. This word of God that he's talking about that abides in you is the written scriptures.
But it is not limited to the written scriptures. It includes that. See the written scriptures are an expression of the word of God. But the word of God has existed from eternity past. The word of God has become incarnate in Christ. The word of God created all of eternity.
The word of God is the gospel that has come to you as Paul says. This word of God is an eternal hope filled conquering truth. And he says it's in you. And he's later going to talk about the anointing that's in you. It's this empowered by the Holy Spirit that seals you and keeps you. He's going to tell them later, I'm not worried about y'all.
I don't even have to teach you things because the word of God's in you. Because this anointing is in you. Pentecostal brothers and sisters are like, yes. And our reformed people are like, well, you do have to teach. You're going to have to teach the things. Here's what he's saying.
This word is in you. The truth of the gospel is in you. You know this. And I'm not worried about you. Because he's in you and the gospel has captured you, nothing else can. I know where you end up.
I'm writing. I think he gives some instruction. He's teaching them and says, I don't have to teach you. But it's helpful. But I'm not fearful.
If it doesn't make it to one of the congregations, if they belong to Jesus, if the gospels actually come to them, if the Holy Spirit's actually there, they're going to get it okay. They're going to make it to the end. Because he's the one who keeps it. He's the one who authors it. He's the one who works it. He says, the word of God is in you.
I'm not sweating this. Do you ever think, am I going to mess this up? Am I going to get this wrong? Am I going to... You ever reading back through your Bible and you see something and go, how did I not know that before? Oh my goodness, how long is it going to be?
How often am I going to keep learning things that I needed to know? How often am I going to be so confused and wavered? Am I going to mess this up? John says, no. Do you belong to Jesus? He's going to get you there.
Yeah, you'll have to learn. He's going to teach you. He's going to correct you. But if the word of God's in you, the correction will work. You'll hear it. You'll change.
He's already perfected us and he is perfecting us. All right, back to the headline. You have overcome the evil one. We believe in a literal devil, Satan, who's the enemy of God, humanity, God's people, who actively steals, kills, destroys, harms, lies, accuses. He's an adversary. He's powerful.
Harmful. If you don't understand that, then you don't know how beautiful this is to say you have overcome the evil one. South Carolina fans still talk about beating Alabama. Alabama. Because it was awesome. But it's only awesome because Alabama is big and good.
We don't talk a ton about beating some of these random teams that we can't even remember their name. Sometimes because we didn't beat them. So we don't talk about it. The reason he lists this is that we've overcome the evil one is because that is the enemy. It would be like if you watched through the whole Avengers franchise, movies, the things I like to watch and talk about. If the subtitles are on, I have pressed the wrong button at my house.
It would be like if they defeat Thanos and they save the world. And in the next movie, they're like, we found out that there's a kid named Mikey who's being a bully at this middle school. Avengers assemble. Avengers assemble. We've overcome the evil one through Christ. Who else is scary?
What else are they going to do? What war has to be won? Ultimately. We should. Christians should not be fear mongers. All right, this is coming.
This is going to happen. Oh. Yeah, we can make wise decisions. And yeah, we ought not to get into. I mean, the real war happens and causes problems, but we don't. We're all terrified.
We're conquerors, more than conquerors through Christ who loves us. We've overcome the enemy, the evil one. There's freedom and hope and life. No one can get us. So if you've been walking through life and you're like, I'm scared, I'm anxious, I'm fearful.
If first John has made that worse, John stops, grabs you, says, look at my face. No. Not if you're in Christ. I'm writing this to be helpful. I'm writing this to clarify. I'm writing this with my shoulder next to yours so that we can look and make wise decisions about how to live in the church.
And yeah, there's some things you need to consider and apply. But look at me. If you belong to Jesus, your sins are forgiven. You know Christ who was from the beginning and you've been brought into the family. You know the Father. You are strong.
The word of God is in you. And you've conquered the evil. Not on your own, but through Christ. So all glory to Christ. But we glorify Christ by living like this is true.
If I'm walking with my sons through some place that is scary and they say they're scary and I say, don't worry about it. I'm here. Hold my hand. They do me great honor by stopping being scared and looking at me going, OK. And if they kept being scared, eventually I'd be going, don't you? I got this.
That's what he's saying. He said, you belong to Jesus. You're OK. He's not wringing his hands. He's not fretting. What?
If this is true for us in Christ. If you if you can't sin and mess this up. Which if you're afraid of things, your own sins got to be a big category, right? But if you belong to Jesus and you can't sin and mess this up because he's going to forgive us and that ultimately he'll get us to the end. If you're not going to get wayward because the word of God is in you and so that at some point you'll be brought back. Belong to church family.
Someone to correct you. There'll be something. The Holy Spirit will bring you back. Like if you actually belong to him, he's going to keep you. You say, OK, well, like an actual like physical harm. Yeah.
OK. Jesus at one point says, don't be afraid of those who can just kill the body. It's pretty big, though. Killing my body is the thing I'm actually afraid of. Like. But we know him who's from the beginning and we're a child of the father.
That's a glorious reunion. We finally go home. And if the enemy's already been conquered. You're unconquerable. That's the hope we have in Christ. So the band's going to come back up and we're going to sing to Jesus about how glorious he is.
We're going to sing like our sins have been forgiven. We're going to sing like we've been made strong in the work of Christ. We're going to sing like the word of God dwells in us and keeps us and guides us and leads us. We're going to sing like the enemy has been conquered and there is no fear any longer about how things are going to work out. Because Jesus is a glorious king who saves to the uttermost all those who would call on his name and will not lose one. You are not hanging by a string.
You are not dangling at the edge. You are not wondering to be lost. You are not a blemish that somehow snuck in. You are not marked or scarred or covered or fearful or to be lost. If you are in Christ, you are clean and holy and righteous and beautiful and welcomed and loved and guarded and kept to a glorious eternity where we praise the glorious king who redeems sinners like us to the praise of his glorious grace and his glorious work that he's accomplished on the cross. So we gather to learn.
Yeah, there's some things we're going to read and study we need to take seriously. But we need to take it seriously like people who have had their sins forgiven and who have hope in Christ that's unconquerable. We need to take it seriously like this is real and it matters, but joyously and confidently in Christ. With smiles on our face, with our heads held up. Walking not in our sin because we don't walk in our sin anymore. Walking not in our shame because our shame has been taken away.
Walking not in fear because he's conquered the enemy. Walking with joy and delight and hope that is not grounded in you, your temperament, your behavior, your wisdom. But to the praise of Jesus. He takes a ragtag group like us. And gets us to eternity. Amen.
A ragtag group like us. And he brings us to an eternal home where there's joy and hope and life. Let's pray. Lord, may we not forget this. And in our moments when we feel weak and small and scared and sinful. May the Apostle John grab us by the shoulders and say, Don't you know Christ?
Aren't you in him? Praise be to his glorious name that he saves sinners, that his word abides in us, that you have conquered the evil one, and that in you we are strong. And we belong to you as your children forever. We know Christ. May we worship and live like it. In Jesus' name.
Amen. Y'all stand listening together. Amen.