The Village Church
A Faith That Is Confident - Audio
(soft piano music) God and God alone is all the glory, all the praise, and all the honor. This is true even now we've come to your word. God and God alone is the glory in preaching, not the preaching. In spirit, I pray that you will do that this morning. Take what is said here in glory by our Father, glory by Christ. May He be lifted up, because of what is said this morning. And may I decrease, may He increase. You're crushing my brain, amen. (soft piano music) Well, two weeks ago, no, three weeks ago I posed a question to all of us. And that question was, do you have a faith? Do you have a faith? That was the question that I asked all of us. And we do, as believers, as Christians, as those who have been born of God, we have a faith. A faith that believes, we talked about that. A faith that loves, a faith that obeys, a faith that overcomes. And last week, we talked about a faith that testifies about Christ to other people. Now this morning, John is gonna finish up by telling us that we also have a faith that is confident, a faith that is confident. So if you have your Bibles, open with me the first John, chapter five, beginning with verse 13. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have already, we have the request that we have asked of Him. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin out leading to death, he should ask, and God would give him life to those who commit sin that does not lead to death. There's a sin that leads to death. I've been not saying that one should pray for that. All wrong doing a sin, but there is a sin that does not lead to death. We know that everyone who has been born in God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born in God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God, and the world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God, and He turned to life. Little children keep yourselves from islands. What does it look like to have a faith that is confident? We can say we have that, but what does it look like? The first thing is that you will be confident of your salvation. You will have an assurance that you have eternal life. Verse 13, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. This is John reiterating his overall purpose in this letter, and his overall purpose in this letter was always so that believers would know having assurance of where they still with God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. He wrote all these things, all that he has written, from chapter one, all the way to chapter five, was for that purpose. That was his intent in order that you as believers, you as people of God, were having assurance that you actually do possess eternal life, that you actually have it, and have an assurance of it, be confident of it, to be certain of it. See, does it want us living in a state of uncertainty, combination, or confusion about what you stand with God? How many of you have ever been in an off-again, on-again relationship? One week you own, next week you off again 'cause you got a little fight, and two weeks later you own again. Is that your relationship with Jesus? Is that how you do your faith in Jesus? It's on again, and it's off-again. When I'm doing well, it's on, then I'm not doing well, it's off. No, that's not who we are. That's not the kind of relationship we have with Jesus. You need to be certain of that. It's not on-again, off-again relationship. You can have assurance that your faith in Jesus is true. Your relationship with Jesus is true. Your standing before God, as a son or daughter, is a permanent position because of Christ. It's never on-again and off-again. You drive yourself crazy, that was true. You drive yourself crazy. Do you believe that? Keep in mind here that the church that John wrote to, it had false teachers in that church, that rose up in the church. We talked about that throughout this letter. The false teachers left the church. So what you have here, you have a congregation of believers who saw the congregation split. Some members left the church. Now, if you've ever been a part of a split in the church, those are not nice things to go through. They can be very painful. They can leave a bit of taste in your mouth. Confusion, uncertainty, even about your faith. Especially when you have scandal that leads to a split. What does that do to your faith? Do you have doubts sometimes? Did it give you uncertainty? Yes. And the congregation here is no different than us. They had to be going through some uncertainty, some confusion. If these were people who started with us, eventually left us. Because they saw the teaching things that were not true. They was contrary to the gospel. And so John, with the heart of a pastor, he writes to these believers and tells them, "I want you to have assurance of what you stand with Jesus." You can have assurance of that despite what happens in your life. Despite the things that go, even go down within the church. We following people, things happen. But life should not dictate your assurance in your faith. You can still have assurance. And so throughout this letter, John gives different tests. Different tests that were intended to establish our assurance. Test that was supposed to be means of our assurance. And we know what they are. 'Cause I've talked about them. First John, chapter two, verse three says, "And by this you may know that you have come to know him if you keep his commandments." That's one test. First John three, 14. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Test two. First John five, one. Everyone who believes that Jesus is a Christ has been born of God. Test three. So what are the means of our assurance? Of any guy's word. Love another believers. And believe that Jesus is the incarnate son of God. These are means of our assurance. Evidence that we have seventh faith in Christ. And not the grounds of our faith, but the evidence that shows that we have faith. Now, all that sounds good. Yes, Alice, it sounds okay. But if you read through first John, since I've started, do you have more, is your assurance or your faith stronger because of it? 'Cause you can read first John and not have it leave with stronger assurance. Those are some of the things you talk about. How hard it is sometimes. Do you have assurance, stronger assurance, because you read through first John, if you read through it. Does it give you stronger assurance that, hey, yes, I am a child. I am a child. I know that I possess eternal life. Or do you read first John and feel like, man, my assurance is shaky. I don't know. I don't know where I stand. I don't know if I have it. Are you confident this morning that you have faith, saving faith? Are you confident this morning that you do have eternal life? God does not want you as a son and daughter to live a life of uncertainty or where you stand with Him. He doesn't want that. Well, you always live in confusion or about where you stand. He wants us to have a godly confidence of who we are in Christ and where we stand but, quite, requires. How? How is that possible? You see, we can't, don't confuse the means of assurance but the grounds of assurance. You understand what I'm saying? When you confuse, if you make the means of assurance, the grounds of your assurance, then you're always going to have uncertainty about your faith or where you stand because you're looking at what you do. You're looking at how often you fall short. If the means become to the grounds, you're never going to have assurance of your salvation. You're always going to live in combination, doubt, beat yourself up, wallowing and self-pity because all you see is how often you fall short. So you've got to look at the grounds of your assurance and that is Jesus and what Jesus done for you. The crucified and risen Savior is the grounds for your assurance because of Him you are sons and daughters. One pastor, Tim Keller, the pastor of New York, he says if we confuse our means and grounds of assurance, we turn the Christian faith back into the performance, back into performance and that leads us back to a ban God out of fear and insecurity when it becomes performance. And if you do that and if you do that, every time you fall short, every time you have a bad week, then you're going to doubt your salvation because you had a bad week and you fell short. Doubts and uncertainty begin to creep up to the house because hey, you messed up, you falling short so you're not a believer now. I'm not the only one who struggled with this or am I just preaching to myself here. Oh yes, all y'all must have it all together so I just need to sit down then. Yes, you can't make what you do, the grounds for your assurance 'cause what you do ain't always perfect. And I ain't ever gonna be perfect. So you always gotta look back to the cross. As believers, you have to always remind yourself that you are freely justified in Christ, accepted by the Father apart from anything you do, any of your matters. And that is an act of God's free grace. You've been justified in Christ, accepted by the Father is an act of God's free grace apart from anything that you do. And over here, you have to also remind yourself that being transformed or sanctified more into the image of Christ is a work of God's free grace. You see the difference, one is an act, one is a work and the work is progressive. You ain't gonna have instant signification in your life on this side of heaven where you're always gonna look like Jesus and every single area of your life on this side of heaven. And when you start confusing the two, then you start confusing your Christian faith. Don't confuse the act with the work. Do you understand that? You sure? Okay. Those of us who struggle with assurance, that's why you making the act, you making the work of God's free grace, the means of the grounds for your salvation. You can't do that. You can never do that. Us being transformed into the image of Christ is never gonna be completed until we cross over to glory. Then we will be perfect on this side of heaven. You ain't gonna be. And that's something that you have to learn to itself. Every believer in the same place or in the same place in a position when it comes to being justified in Christ. But when it comes to being sanctified in Christ, not all of us in the same place. Some of us look more like Jesus in certain areas than other people do. Do you agree? You do. That's the nature of it. You're probably gonna look more like Jesus in certain areas of your life than I will. And I'm gonna be vice versa because it's a progressive work that happens progressively throughout our life. Amy Carmichael, she was a missionary to India for over 50 years. She ministered to kids. She set up an orphanage for kids in India. She wrote many books and poems and things throughout her life to encourage folks in her faith. And in one of her poems, she writes, "Not in forgetting life's peace. "Not in endeavor lies peace. "Not in the lawfulness lies peace. "Not even in submission lies peace. "For in acceptance lies peace. "For in acceptance lies peace." You're gonna have to continue to accept the fact that your acceptance before God is in Jesus alone and never you. And if you never ever do that, you mean ever gonna have peace about where you stand with Jesus. Ever. You're gonna have to accept that. You're standing before the Father. Your acceptance before the Father is always in Jesus and always gonna be Jesus. And ever gonna be what you do. You gotta learn to accept that fact. Remind yourself of that daily. Accept the fact that you have freedom to struggle as believers. Do you know that? You have freedom to struggle. And you call, she's gonna struggle. The Father knows that. He knows you're gonna fall short. But some of us don't like that 'cause he wants something to bring. We wanna resonate to bring. Look at what I've done. Look at all the people I have. Look at what I do. That compares nothing to what Jesus did for you. Nothing. You can't ever act through Jesus in what you do. 'Cause you're not Jesus. You're not the Christ. You're not the Savior. He is. So you gotta learn to accept that fact about Christ. A faith that is confident learns to accept the present realities of living life on this side of heaven. You gotta learn to accept that reality. And in that reality, Christians fall short. Another thing we have in terms of a confident faith is, we can be confident in our prayer life. Confident in the things that we pray for. They get verse 14. And this is the confidence that we have toward, the confidence that we have to approach him. That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. How do you approach God in prayer? Or do you pray? How is your prayer life? John says we can approach him in confidence. That is you have emboldness and openness with God in prayer. Are you bold in your prayer life? Are you open with God in your prayer life? As a child of God, you have freedom of speech when you come to God in prayer. Do you know that? Freedom of speech before him in prayer. You can talk with him about anything and everything openly. Do you do that? Do you? You don't have to censor your prayers with God or limit your prayers. You don't have to. You have the freedom to be real. You can be honest. You can be transparent. And I'll read you through a book right now. It's called "Work of Heart." And it's about spiritual leadership. And I just finished reading the chapter about David. And listen to what the author says about David. He says, "David did not pretend in his prayers with God playing games to avoid confronting the truth about life, about him circumstances, about himself. He hid nothing from God. He viewed his life as an open book. David did not feel a need to sanitize his prayers. He brought to God the raw stuff of his heart. He brought to God the raw stuff of his heart. What about you? Are you raw in your pearl of God? Bring it to him, your frustrations, your fears, your doubts, your unbelief, your issues, your worries, your complaints, your busy and restless life? Are you that real? That raw with God, even your uncertainties. See your life as an open book. With God and talking about anything, it doesn't matter if it's big or small. You have freedom to be bold and open with God in prayer. But John also gives us two conditions here about the confidence that we have in prayer. They get verse 15. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we ask of him. So we have confidence to be bold and open with God in prayer, but also you got to know that God hears you when you come to him, that you're not just praying out hot air, but God actually hears you when you pray. He actually hears you when you've been your heart and been your need before him. This week I was walking through the projects with her lady and she was telling me how she converted to Christianity for Hinduism. And I asked her, what does a family think about that? You know, when she was a Hindu and she convert to Christianity later in life. And she says they all call her when they need prayer. (audience laughs) When they need prayer, they call her. She says her brother calls her often whenever he needs prayer and she said one day she asked him, why do you do that? And he told her, well, I don't think prayer can hurt. I don't think it can hurt. And he's right on, prayers of believers don't hurt. And as James says, the prayers of a righteous person has great power as it is working. You know why it's working? Because it's going up to God who hears. You're not praying to an idol. You're not praying to something like this. You're praying to a living powerful God who hears the prayers of his people. You see, God is our God. He transcends all of creation. He does, because he's God. He's up here, but he's also personally involved in the lives of his people, personally involved in his creation, all of his people, each of you. And so when you pray, he hears it. Do you believe that? Do you believe it? And prayer is, it's not like going into, you know, the boardroom with Donald Trump, you know, where you pretend, where you go in to defend yourself before God, so he won't fire you. You don't bend your knee before God to defend yourself. You bend your knee before God to be honest about yourself because you're already accepted, you understand? You don't, any prayer time does not, you defend in your case before God. Saying, "God, continue that self knee because all about done, no." Proverbs 1511 says, "Death and destruction is light. Death and destruction lies before you, O Lord. How much so does the human heart?" He already knows your issues. And he never tells his kids you're fired. And he says you're already accepted, Jesus died because you don't measure up, because you fall short. And so our assurance of our acceptance has a consequence of assuring us that God hears us when we pray. And he enjoys your fellowship. He enjoys your fellowship. Our God is a personal God. As opposed to some of the other God and some of the other religions. Our God is a personal God. He likes his people. He enjoys his people. He accepts his people. And that is you. God dances over his people with shouts of joy. That's even, he adores you, he does. Verse 15 says again, "If we know that he hears us and whatever we ask, we know we have the request that we have asked of him. He'd only hear your prayers, he answers your prayers. And you can have confidence in that. Has God answered prayer in your life? Can anyone testify that God answers prayer? Yes, he does. Now you might not always come when you want him, but what? He's always on time, right? Right on time, all the time. The second condition is, we pray according to his will. Verse 14, "And this is the confidence that we have to approach him. That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. For as John said, we must believe that God hears us when we pray. Secondly, he says, "We must pray according to God's will." Don't you just love John? I mean, he covers all of his bases in his letter. He covers all of his bases. And he never leaves himself open for misinterpretation. What do you mean by that, Alex? If he didn't add his second condition, what would you believe you can do with prayer? Now I can get whatever I want to. It's my gravy train. All I got to do is go to God and ask whatever I want to ask. Can I already have it? John says, "No. Pray according to his will." And if he didn't add that, then we all be left with a false assumption that prayers might mean to get whatever I want. Whatever my sinful heart desires, I can use prayer to get it. But John does not allow us to go down that road. He tells us, "Pray according to God's will." Now we live in a fast-paced, quick-service culture, right? It's a culture that is filled with gimmicks and quick-fix solutions to everything. Quick-fix, to lose solutions to weight, 10 steps to have a better marriage, 10 steps to raising your kids, right? I mean, you have, pretty much you can go to in the bookstore and go to the self-help section and then have you a quick-fix, where area of your life. Pray ain't that, but it's what we want it to be. Quick-fix solution to all my life's problems. And prayer's not that because God is not that. He ain't a microwave God where you go get what you want in five minutes or less. He don't work that way. God moves his hands, but he's in his own timing. And sometimes he moves slow, but he's always on time. And to me, prayer is more like grassroots because it requires me to be patient and wait on God to move. And another thing is that you can't trick God into moving any sooner than he wants to move. And what do you mean by that, Adam? Because there are books out there that say, I found this secret formula that you pray and all of a sudden you can tap into those secret blessings of God if you pray this way, pray to your best. I pray this prayer and all of a sudden I tap into the secret things of God and all of a sudden blessings are gonna flow. Or I see you are a prayer cloth in the mail and if you hold that cloth and pray, then you're gonna have all these blessings of God. You can't trick God into moving any sooner than he's gonna move. There are no gimmicks in prayer. So that doesn't work. And what I call these is like Christianized pyramid schemes of prayer. That's what they are. Get enough people praying this way, praying a certain pattern and all of a sudden we're all gonna have what we want. Because we just trick God into giving us what we want. He don't roll like that. And you've broken up the wrong tree if you think that's the type of God that we have. But he's a good God, but he ain't a pushover. He ain't your ATM, he's your God, you're loving God. Psalm 37 says, "The light yourself in the Lord "and he'll do what?" Most people don't quote that part of it. The light yourself in the Lord and he'll give you the desires of your heart. Commit your ways to the Lord, trust in him and he will act. If you are delighting yourself in the Lord, committing your ways to the Lord, trusting in the Lord, then what's gonna happen to your will is gonna conform to his will, not the other way around. And that will reflect in what you pray for when your will conforms to his will. It's like your heartbeat is in rhythm with his heartbeat in your prayer life, and it ain't ever gonna be the other way around. That's praying according to his will. And if you're wondering how you can know the will of God, if you never ever read the Bible, you ain't ever gonna know. You ain't ever gonna know. You ain't ever gonna know, if you don't ever spend time in this word, you gotta spend time in it. This is not a burden. This should not be seen as a burden. It should be seen as God's wisdom to his sons and daughters. This is his wisdom to you. It's food to you, and this is how you know his will. This is how you know what concerns God when you open up his word and read it. And one of the things that concerns God is the spiritual need of his people. This is what John told that we should be reflected in our prayer life. If you look at verses 16 and 17, it says, if you see a brother committing a sin, not leading to death, and if you ask God, God would give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There's a sin that leads to death, let it out so you won't should pray for that, all wrong doing a sin, but there's a sin that does not lead to death. Praying for the spiritual need of other believers is one way to pray according to God's will. Intercession. Intercession on behalf of other brothers and sisters, struggling with sin. If anyone sees his brother, and here's the thing, you can't see your brother struggling with it if you don't spend time with other believers. If you're not in fellowship with other believers, that's why coming in, being part of the church is important. Fellowshiping with the body. Did you intercede for other people, or the Christians who are struggling in your prayer life? Do you see yourself as an intercessor? Now I know reading these verses, the tendency is to focus on what was a sin that does not lead to death. And what was a sin that leads to death? The way that I think to look at that is to see that in context to what John has been talking about in this whole book. And to sin at least to death, I believe it's referring to a hard heart that has absolutely just rejected anything of the gospel. They said, you know what? That ain't for me. The heart is so hardened, the sin of Pharaoh. I mean, harden his heart toward the things of God. And I believe that's what he's talking about there. And one pastor, Tim Keller, I like Tim Keller, so I quote him a lot. He says one thing you can say with certainty about this sin is that if you are concerned that you might have committed it, then you must certainly have not done so. A person who has hardened their hearts to the truth to this degree would not have enough tenderness before God to even imagine himself guilty of it. They're not even thinking about it. And so let your attention be drawn closer to the fact that John is encouraging you to make intercession for other believers. That's what he's calling you to do. Other Christians who are struggling with sin, pray to God to get them victory over it. Victory over those things in their life that holds them back, that tries to hinder them. We are just standing the gap for other believers, for one another. Are we standing the gap for one another? Do we love one another through our prayers? We need to do that. Or do we gossip and slander about others when we see them in sin? Or do we pray for them? Not just us, not just this church, any church, any church, when we see a pastor falls from grace, do we say, "Uh-huh, I knew he did something wrong." Or do your heartbreak and pray for that pastor? Which is it? You should pray for them. They gotta have mercy upon them. 'Cause what? We all got issues. Who got issues? All right, who got issues? That's right. And if you think you can't fall, then that's an issue. 'Cause she can. It's only by God's grace that you haven't. It's only by his grace that you haven't. So a confident faith, that you're confident of your salvation, confident in your prayer life, and finally you're confident in your understanding of the Christian life. John tells us three things that we are supposed to have an understanding of. And these three things, you know, these are things that he has already talked about throughout this letter. So this is not really new information. And the first thing is that you have a confident and understanding the fact that believers do not continue to live in sin. That's what he says in verse 18. So we know that everyone who's been born in God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born in God protects him and the evil one does not touch him. We know and understand that believers, those born of God, that child of God, does not continue to live an unrepentant sin. That you, and basically what that means is you're not gonna live in sin not for any conviction of it. You will be convicted when you start, when you sin. That's what he's talking about. There will be signs of conviction. And as one person says, a child of God in sin can not live in harmony. You don't get together in the same cool by y'all. Oh Lord, you will be convicted of it. You and you will repent of it. Of the things that you, when the arrows that you fall short of them. As John said in verse John 1, he says, "If we confess our sins, God is what?" Faithful and just to do what? To forgive us of our sins. And then cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so based upon all that John is saying in this verse, even though we still struggle with sin, sin can not damage your position with the Father because you are accepted in Christ. That's what he said. He said, "Everyone born of God has not continued to sin, but he who was born of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him." What does that mean? We know he's gonna still struggle with sin, or what does it mean, who does that continue to protect us? That is Jesus. Because of Jesus, your continued struggle with sin does not damage your position as a child. And the evil one, even though he attacks you, can't change your position as a child because of Jesus. Romans 834 says, Jesus is the one who died. More than that, he rose again. Who is at the right hand of God? And who indeed is interceding for us? What does that mean? He's inhaling right now, interceding on your behalf, on my behalf. How does he do that? It's basically for his shredded blood. And because of that blood, your sonship and your daughtership are for the father never changes. Do you realize that? Is that good news? Now that's not saying, well, I just go do whatever I wanna do. Then no, if that's what you think, then you misunderstand what I'm saying. Nothing can snatch you about it. Nothing can snatch you out of the hands of Christ. Your status is locked in the blood of Jesus, still the Holy Spirit, and you will be delivered into heaven safely, God the Father, when Jesus comes back, all of us, if you have saving faith in Christ. That's the first thing that we have to understand. Second thing is, you know that believers are to live in the world as those not of the world. Verse 19, if you know that we are for God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, notice here that the treatment of God are not touched by the power of the evil one, but the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And they need to take from this is the fact that you were by marks of those who have been saved by God. You have those marks in your life because you are from God. And you do not lie in the power of the evil one, but you lie in the power of Christ. And as such, you will begin to reflect that in your life. That will happen. That will happen, 'cause remember the Spirit who lives in you is greater than he who lives in the world. And that's the promise, and that's the truth. Power, they ain't gonna be like gonna fall short, I mean, you gotta go and struggle, then we're gonna do those things. But the Satan cannot steal what you have in Jesus. He may try, but he ain't can't do it. He can't do it. Life can't do it. Locked in the blood of Christ, sealed by the power of the Spirit. And thirdly, you know that believers are to live and fellowship with God, verse 20. And we know it as Son of God, that is Jesus, has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. We, on this side of heaven, something I said last week, we live in fellowship, and we live in union with Christ, who is the true God. This is what you have. You can actually know God on this side of heaven. Fellowship with God on this side of heaven. Be in a relationship with him. Are you fellowship? Are you fellowship? Are you? Are you enjoying it? Or do you see it as a burden? And I go to church with my Bible. I don't do that with my spouse. I don't enjoy my spouse. I enjoy my wife. I love my wife. Shouldn't I also enjoy and love my Savior, who died for my sins, who saved me from the pit of hell? Yes. It's a relationship. It's not just religion. It's a relationship that we can have the Creator universe on this side of heaven. And we should be enjoying that relationship. Falling in love with Jesus, more and more. And again, his word. His word is how you fellowship. Prayer. You fellowship with him through prayer, fellowship with him through his word. You can't ever get away from the word. Take it off the bookshelf and open it up and hear from your father. Hear from him. See, John has made it clear to us, you know, we, that we have a confident faith, that you can have assurance of your salvation. You can be bold and open with God in prayer, and you can be confident in understanding of Christian life. Do you have assurance? Do you? And, you know, you would think that John would end his letter there, but, you know, he doesn't. You know, he doesn't end it with verse 20. So he goes on to say in verse 21, "Little children keep yourself from idols." And that sounds like new information, John. It's not really how you write a good letter. You know, you don't introduce new stuff at the end. (audience laughing) I think it's a fitting conclusion. You know why, because, if believers know that they are to live in fellowship, if you know that you are to live as one not of the world, and if you know that you can actually live in fellowship with God on this side of heaven, that knowing means you're actually striving to do it. And if you're striving to do that, then guess what's the consequence of that? You're going to fight off idols. You're going to fight off idols. If I know that my status before the father can never be changed because of the enemy, and if I know that I can live in fellowship with the father, and if I know that it's a child of God, that I'm in the world, but I'm not of the world, and I'm actually living that out, then the consequence of that is I'm going to keep myself free from idols. Meaning I'm going to fight them off when I see them. We all got idols, things that we worship other than God. But you have the freedom to repent of those things when you see them. And I end with this. The best example of that is seeing in Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve sinned against God, what's the first thing they did? They try to cover themselves with fig leaves. And that's what our idol is. It's a fig leaf in which you try to cover yourself and make yourself independent of God. But it ain't enough. Fig leaves is not covering your sin. Idols cannot save your soul. There is only one. And that is Jesus and Jesus alone in this prayer. Jesus and Jesus alone is the one who saves, the one who keeps us, and the one who will deliver us to glory. Now thank you for that Father. Thank you for that truth. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for all that you do for us. Now this is because of Christ that we can have a confident faith. It's because of Christ that we can actually have a testifying faith. It's because of Christ that we have a faith that we can overcome. It's because of Christ, Lord, they would have the type of faith that we have. That's because of Jesus. And I pray for my heart. And I ever want it's heart here that spirit you will help us love Jesus more than we do. And we will grow in our relationship with him. It's not just rules. It's not rules and don'ts. Do this and don't do that. It's a relationship. Help me to love him more than I do today. Christ, I'm gonna pray. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]