Blessed Assurance - 1 John 3:19-24

2:37But he left something. He left his parchment. And so he had to race back down the hill to get the parchment. My question to you, especially kids: what did that parchment represent? What was it? What did he leave behind? Did he leave his new clothes? No. Did he lose his salvation? What did he leave behind? I'm going to ask you that after this is over, and I hope you'll have an answer for me. The question comes before us this morning. I'm entitled this message, Blessed Assurance. Blessed Assurance. We've been looking at the proof of a resurrected life. If you'll remember, Resurrection Day, the proof of a resurrected life is love for the brethren, love for the family of God. That is proof of the resurrected life. Then last week, we looked at the proof of the proof of a resurrected life, the proof of that you love the brethren. If love is the proof, then what is the proof that you love? And John makes it very clear that sacrificial deeds done for the benefit of God's people is the expression of love, is the proof of love. Then the question becomes: now, what, so what? So that you're, where does all that lead? Well, it leads to a blessed assurance, an assurance. John's dealing with some very basic questions about life, questions that you need to make sure you know.

4:31Do you have eternal life? Do you have it? Right now, it's not something that comes later. Do you have it now? Verse 14. Remember what he says? We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love their brethren. So, John, do you know you have eternal life? There's another question he asked in verse 19: Are you of the truth? Are you of the truth? Is your faith, is your Christianity the true kind? Is Christianity true? Are you of the truth?

5:07And do you truly belong to the true faith? It's one thing to be in the true faith, then it's another thing for you to truly be in the true faith. Are you of the truth? Important question. Another question: Does God's Spirit dwell in you? Does God's Spirit dwell in you? Or have you confused your spirit with God's Spirit? Can you distinguish between the two? Can you know your spiritual condition? Can any of us be certain of our spiritual condition before we step into eternity? It's a pretty important question, wouldn't you think?

5:54And sad to say, many Christian denominations don't even try. To offer assurance. Look at the history of the church. Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy can give you a good probability, but no final assurance. And they're not trying to. That's not slanderous. You can get a high probability, but you really can never know for sure. Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnessism, many, many denominations under the Christian umbrella would argue that assurance, real assurance, cannot be had. So you must keep striving.

6:45It's good if you want to control people, but it's poor if you want to square your theology with the truth. Because John clearly believes you can know for sure where you stand. In fact, 1 John 5:13, John says this: These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. The whole reason John is writing this book, this letter to these churches, is so that the believers there can know for certain that they have eternal life. So that they can know for certain that they have been born of the truth, that God's Spirit does dwell in them. Biblical Christianity offers something that no other religion really offers, and that is assurance based on truth. Not just a false kind of assurance, positive thinking type thing, but truth.

7:59And an assurance that is based upon the truth. That is what John wants us to have. That is what God wants us to have. Beginning chapter 3, verse 19, let me read our passage. For we will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before him. And whatever our heart condemns us, for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. And whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. This is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. The one who keeps his commandments, Abides in him and he in him. We know by this that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given.

9:10What is this blessed assurance? Well, this blessed assurance, as I define it, is the assurance that convinces Christians that they are in the truth and that all the promises of the truth are true and truly theirs. I'll say that again. Blessed assurance is the assurance that convinces Christians that they are in the truth and that all the promises of the truth are true and truly theirs. Are you confident of your spiritual condition? I want you to have this blessed assurance. I want this blessed assurance to take hold in your life. This is where the Christian life begins, is with assurance. My marriage with Nancy began with an assurance that we were committed to each other. And do you think a relationship with God is anything less? It would be, if anything, all the more, that if we're going to enter into life in relationship with God, that we must have some kind of assurance that he is there, that we are his.

10:30And now we face life together. Well, this assurance can be yours. And I want you to see how you allow it to take hold in your life. First of all, you need to understand its basis. You need to understand its basis. Look back at verse 19. We will know by this that we are of the truth and will assure our hearts before him. We will know it's a future. We will come to know. We will know by this that we are of the truth and we will assure that as we will convince, we will persuade, we will convince our hearts, we will assure our hearts before him in the face of him, as if we're standing before him now. We will be assured. We will assure our hearts before him.

11:30So Christian assurance is real. It is real. And in our culture, we ask the question: is certainty about anything possible? Right? Well, our postmodern world believes that there's only one thing that's certain, and that's uncertainty. You can never really know for sure about anything. I mean, you can't really trust hardly anyone. What is true? I mean, you look what you see on the news, what you You know, what is true these days? What can you be certain of?

12:07Well, John certainly believes you can be certain, and he can be certain about that which is most important: that which involves your eternal soul. God expects you to know what the future is. God expects you to know how things are going to be judged, how you will be judged. He expects you to know all that. So, Christian assurance is real. And look at what it can do: it can quiet a condemning heart. It can quiet a condemning heart. Look back at verse 20: In whatever our heart condemns us. So, he's saying, We know by this that we are of the truth, and we'll assure our hearts before Him, in whatever our heart should be condemning us. There's a threat to assurance that John is seeing here. And what is that? It's a condemning heart. What is a condemning heart? Well, it's really the same thing stated another way: a condemning conscience, a conscience.

13:18What is the conscience? What is your conscience? And John includes him in this. He has the same issue as well: a condemning. Conscience. There are times when the conscience condemns him. What is the conscience? Well, the conscience is your soul reflecting upon itself. Think of it like a courtroom in your mind, a courtroom. And there are three actors in this courtroom. There is the accuser. And the accuser says, ah, you didn't do it right. Ah, you did it wrong. Ah, you sinned. Ah, and it's constantly accusing you. And then there is another actor in this, the defendant. No, I'm not. I was good. I was fine. I did this right. I did this right. Oh, no, you didn't. Oh, yes, I did. Oh, you didn't. And then there's a third actor, the judge. The judge. He is that impartial judge that is hearing the evidence brought by the accuser, brought by the defendant, and making a judgment based upon the light that the judge has. And don't confuse us. The judge is not God. It's yourself judging yourself. So if you think of these three actors, they're not three different people.

14:46They're you wearing three different hats, accusing yourself. It's you defending yourself. And it's you judging yourself. That's what the conscience does. And this court is always in session. Isn't it? We go through life, right? We go through life constantly accusing ourselves, justifying ourselves, defending ourselves, judging ourselves. That's what we do, right? And look at what John is saying here: in whatever our heart should be condemning us. Who can quiet a condemning heart? Listen, your conscience merely allows the light of God in. It is not God, but it works, it operates on the light. When truth comes in, your conscience enters into this courtroom scene, and it's allowing the light of God in. And when a good conscience allows the light of God to come in and to inform its judgments, and that's why we are to constantly be exposing our minds to truth, so that the judgments that we make upon ourselves can be true, squared with the scripture.

16:12But look at what he says: In whatever our heart should be condemning us, the avenues that the heart may condemn us are many. Right? A condemning conscience is going to be a frequent occurrence in this life. That's what John. Is saying. And sometimes the conscience is going to get it right. It's going to accuse us righteously and truly, and sometimes unrighteously, and sometimes false. But in every case, God's assurance can quiet a condemning heart. And it does so in truth. In truth. Why? How can it do this? In whatever our heart condemns us, verse 20, because, look back at verse 20, for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Why can this blessed assurance quiet a condemning heart? It's because God is greater than a condemning heart. God is greater.

17:23He's greater in every way. But specifically, he's witness is better. The judge, our conscience, we're left to judge on the light that we have. But when you bring God into the courtroom, when you bring by bringing his truth into the courtroom, and your mind operates on the truth, then his witness is able to overpower a condemning conscience, no matter what you've done, no matter what the sin is. God has provided truth that if you will believe it, And obey it, it will cleanse the conscience.

18:05In fact, what does Peter call a cleansed conscience? He likens it to baptism. He calls it baptism, the baptism that saves. What is the baptism that saves? It's an appeal to God for a clear conscience based upon the resurrection of Christ. That he has taken our sins away into the grave, and he brought Christ out of the grave so that we can be new. Cleansing. In fact, but God is greater than our heart. And look at, and he knows all things. Why can we let him in the courtroom?

18:51Why does our minds accept his testimony when we expose and believe the truth? Why? Because he knows all things. We don't know all things. He knows us. He knows our sin. He knows our weaknesses. He knows the areas that we have specifically offended him, and he knows how bad we've offended him, and he knows how to deal with that. We scarcely understand the depth of our offense, but he does. And he knows how to remedy that. He knows himself very well. He knows the coming judgment. And he knows how to save people from him.

19:31And from themselves. And so we accept his testimony as true. And if you accept his testimony, he can cleanse, he can set your heart at ease, at rest before him. Matthew 11, 28, Jesus said, Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke up on you, and you will learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

20:12Christ knows how to quiet a condemning heart. So Christian assurance is a real thing, but how does it work? So we can see it's a real thing, but how does it work? We see it quiets a condemning heart, but how? How? Look back at verse 19. We will know by this that we are of the truth. By what? By this. What does by this look back to? Well, it looks back to everything that he's just said in verses 16 through 18. Specifically, look at verse 18. Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and with truth. We will know by this that love that doesn't just speak words, but love that shows up in actions, and a love that Back verse 16, we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brothers and needs and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and with truth.

21:21The evidence, the deeds of truth, convince us that we are from the realm of truth. That's how you know. We will know by this that we are of the truth. When you start seeing deeds of truth show up in your life that can only be explained by Christ-like love, then you know you've been born of that love. When Christ-like deeds start showing up, when genuine Christ-like deeds start showing up in your life, guess what? That can only be explained because you are in the truth. You are in a relationship with Him.

22:03As I said it last week, the proof of love for the church involves worldly goods given from a sincere heart to meet real needs in tangible ways that make sense to the one being loved so that God's love is gloriously displayed. So the question comes to you: Do you love the church? Listen, a love for the church, a love for the people of God, doesn't come from the world, it comes from heaven. It's what Moved Christ to come. So, a love for the church is a reflection of your standing in the truth.

22:41And not just the church, capital C, but individual members of the church. Do you love the church? And can you point to measurable deeds? That's the basis. Can you point to measurable deeds that indicate that you love the church? And sometimes we confuse it. Sometimes we can make the church out and make it be something that loves us or something that we use to promote ourselves. But I'm talking about if you can see deeds that really are about you loving the Christ, loving his church. That's the kind of deeds that assurance works on. You see, simple profession isn't enough. Warm feelings will not silence a condemning heart. Your kind sentiments that maybe you once had, or some noble intentions that never materialize, even if they are good, they are not going to silence a condemning heart.

23:48We need tangible deeds that prove to the world and to ourselves that we have been born from above. And that's why John is saying. Let us not love with just tongue, word, or with tongue, but in deed and in truth. We're talking about the kind of love that involves self-sacrifice, like Jesus' love for his people. That does not come from a fallen world, but it comes from the very presence of Christ through the indwelling of his spirit.

24:28You see, we can love like the true Christ only if we belong to the truth. Lots of Christ come and gone. Lots of Saviors out there, lots of movements. Talk about noble things. But the only ones that are of Christ, the true Christ, are the ones that love like him. You can apply that to movements. You can apply that to individuals. You can apply that to anything. The ones that have no love are not from Christ.

25:02Period. No matter how articulate their rhetoric is about Christ and about the justness of their cause. Blessed assurance. Understand that it operates upon deeds, deeds, deeds that can only be understood in the light of Christ's love. Second way to. Let this blessed assurance take hold in your soul is to realize its benefits. Realize its benefits. Look back, verse 21. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. The very first benefit of this blessed assurance is confidence. Beloved, if our heart is not condemning us, we are having boldness or courage, outspokenness, a confidence before God.

26:07You see, a condemning heart will paralyze the soul. Much like a father who's always flying off the handle. He paralyzes his family, right? Anger, rage, everyone gets so timid that they hardly do anything, right? Or if people are so easily offended, it's the same principle. It paralyzes people. And that's exactly what a condemning heart does. It paralyzes the soul into inactivity, afraid to do anything. But an uncondemning heart revitalizes the soul. It revitalizes the soul. And look back. It's not just the peace of an untroubled conscience, but the joy, but the joyful confidence that comes from being instead.

27:01In step with God Himself. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence. It's not just we have peace, our conscience is leaving us alone. No, if the conscience is leaving us, you alone, guess what? It's producing something. It's producing a boldness, a joyful confidence that comes by walking in step and knowing that you're walking in step with God Himself. It's this confidence that a child has with the parent. Even if dad is a king, a child can march right into his presence, right?

27:43The same is true. Confidence in the relationship. If our heart is not condemning us, we have confidence. Confidence. Remember, Christian on the hill of difficulty. Timorous and mistrust looked ahead. They saw the lions in the way, and they were frightened, right? Anxious. One's anxious over everything. The other just doesn't trust God. And so they're running the other way. And what does Christian do? He goes back down and he gets his parchment and he reads it. And what does it give him? It gives him a confidence. Truth has now entered into him once again, and he is operating on the truth. His assurance is renewed, and he goes forth. Forward, and he faces the lions, regardless of what is put in your path.

28:36Confidence before God will take you to the next step, take you through whatever difficult times. We're facing some very strange times. I'm seeing several kinds of Christians, some who are like Timorus. They're anxious, very anxious, and their activity is anything but peaceful. It goes beyond just preparing ahead, but a paranoia of what's ahead. And then there's the other one, mistrust, as if God doesn't know what he's doing. You've lost something. You've lost a confidence in your relationship with God. You've lost an assurance that God knows exactly what he's doing.

29:28So, the first benefit of this blessed assurance is confidence. The second is effective prayer. Effective prayer. Look at verse 22. And whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. And whatever, the language is all in the present tense here. Listen to this. And whatever we should be asking of him, we are receiving because we. Are keeping his commandments and we are doing that which is pleasing, that which is desirable in his eyes. It's what Jesus said in John 8:29. He says, I always do the things that are pleasing to him.

30:19This is the condition, but look at the promise. Whatever we should be asking, we receive. This condition of intimate relationship and answered prayer is the characteristic of the blessed life. We get answered prayer very confused. We think that somehow we've got to manipulate God into doing all these things, one, two, three, so that we obligate God to answer our prayers. And what John is saying here is: look, those who are always striving to do what is pleasing to him are getting to know him, are being drawn into that intimate relationship with him as a child before their parent. And as the child knows the parent and understands the relationship, they start asking things that the parent really wants to give.

31:20Listen, John is not saying that we have what we're asking for simply because we have a clear conscience. If you can clear your conscience up, then go ask God whatever you want and you're going to get it. That's not what he's saying here at all. That's the power of positive thinking. Or that's something that doesn't have power, by the way. Truth has power. No, but God wants us to be in this close relationship. He wants fidelity. And as you're looking ahead and you're wanting to do what pleases him, there are no limits.

32:03And Jesus says some of the clearest teaching on this. Listen to what he says. In John 14, 12, Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do because I go to the Father. Is Jesus lying? No. Then he goes on, Whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

32:41He says, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. See that? Keep my commandments. Do what is pleasing. Love me and ask me for anything. Let it be an expression of your love for me, and I will grant it. Listen to what he says in John 15:16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give to you. He gets, I chose you, I appointed you so that you would bear fruit, and that whatever you ask, what? What's the fruit? Whatever you're asking in his name may be granted to you. And then he says, This, this I command you, that you love one another. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. This I command you that you love one another.

33:48Effective prayer is about an effective relationship and a heart that is fidelous to God and wants to please him. And there are no limits. Let it be an expression of love for one another. Let it be an expression of obeying his commandment. Ask, ask. God is glorified in this, that you receive this. The problem is, we love ourselves. And so much of our prayers are laced with love for ourselves. So blessed are she. You need to understand its basis. You need to realize its benefits. And third, you need to continue growing in it. Continue growing in it.

34:42Look at verse 23. This is his commandment that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. So it's one command with two inseparable parts. First, a call to greater faith. Second, a call to greater love. So, first, there's going to be this call to this greater obedience that manifests in a greater faith in his name and a greater love for each other. Let's just look at both of these. Notice this is his commandment that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ. Notice the emphasis of the name. The name. He doesn't just, I want you to believe in the Son, my son. And that son, his title, Jesus' title as Son, speaks of his relationship to God. He is the only unique Son, the one in whom all the glory dwells. Authority. He has authority as God has authority. He is to be worshipped as God. The Son speaks of that.

35:54But he's also Christ. That's a title. Christ speaks of His. Relationship to humanity. He is God's anointed Messiah for all humanity. He is the judge of all humanity. He is the king of all humanity. He is all that. So he is son and he is Christ. But notice the emphasis is not on the son or not on Christ, but on the name. The name. It is the name of Jesus that unites the Son of God and the Christ into one historic person. Who is the Son? Who is the Christ? He is Jesus. The one from Nazareth. That's his name. The peasant from Galilee. That's his name. That's the historical individual whose personality rules the universe and rules humanity. It's that personality and it's his name.

37:08There is only one Christ, only one Christ that the apostles proclaimed. Only one. Jesus. That's the one they knew. And there have been a lot of Saviors, as I said a moment ago. There's been a lot of Christ. There's been a lot of good movements. There's been a lot of things out there, but none of them. None of them can save. None of them can reassure the condemning heart. None of them know how. There's no love.

37:43God wants the residence of our trust to be in the name of this specific individual, His personality. He's the one that's judging. He's the one that calls us to follow Him. He's the one whose personality we are to put on. Let me say this: it is His personality that His Spirit is putting on us. So, righteousness before God manifests itself in sacrificial love for His people. Not only are we to have a greater depth, our obedience is to obey and to put our trust more and more in the name of Jesus, but it's also to embody the love that Jesus embodied. That's sacrificial love. You're going to hear this over and over again. It's nice reading John because here's John, some 50 years after the fact that he actually heard these words. He's relating to them, he's making sense out of all them, and he has put it into effect.

38:51Obeying His commandments involves righteousness and sacrificial love. So we continue growing, but there's a second area to continue to grow in, and that is greater assurance. Greater assurance. See, confidence leads to effective prayer, and that effective prayer leads to greater intimacy, then a greater awareness of who Christ is, greater faith. And that in turn results in a greater understanding, greater levels, and new heights of obedience, which then turn into greater heights of assurance. Look back at verse 24. The one who keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in him, and we know by this, that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us. Jesus is echoing all the teaching on the vine and the branches. Who abides in the vine? Who abides in God? Who does God abide in? Where does God abide? Well, it's pretty easy. You look at the fruits. Listen, what Jesus said in 15:7, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. Abide in me. Listen, I'm not a very good gardener, and you all know that. If you've been around for any kind of time, but I love to garden. But I've noticed this much I can tell. I can tell when one of the branches on one of the vines has broken off. I can look down the row and I can tell what a shriveled up branch looks like pretty easily, right? I can also tell which ones are thriving, which ones are really connected to the main vine.

40:57Somewhat, how in the world do we see the Spirit of God? How do we see Him? How do we see Him? Well, Jesus answered that question. John 3:8, the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. We see the Spirit of God by the effects of the Spirit of God, by the fruits of the Spirit of God. Fruits of the Spirit of God are prayers, desires that accord with God's character and formalize in requests and desires that manifest in sacrificial deeds for his people.

41:46So, what are the effects? Keeping his commandments, loving one another. You see, Christianity isn't just a matter of some biased confession of some sort of another. It's about measurable proof. The fruit is the outward conduct of righteousness and deeds of sacrificial love. Listen, if Jesus had not proved his love for us in a tangible way by tangible deeds, we would have no hope of understanding his love for us. Likewise, if you do not prove your love for other people through tangible deeds, they will have no idea or no hope of understanding that you love them.

42:33So, why has God placed you in this little body? Sometimes you maybe even think, why has God placed me in this crummy little body? What does he have for me here? To give you ample opportunity to convince yourself of the genuineness of your faith. Look around. We are not a noble sort. We are a people in need, right? And you will look around. You will see ample opportunity for you to love without getting in return. It's all around us.

43:11And God has placed you here for your own assurance as well as for the edification of this body. Make sure your love materializes in measurable deeds. That's what John's saying. It will produce a greater obedience. It will produce a greater assurance. I said earlier, John or Peter, in 1 Peter 1:7, said that the proof of your faith is more precious than gold, which is perishable. Now, if you could have a bag of gold, or maybe a whole bunch of money, or maybe evidence of proof of your faith, what would you go with?

44:02Well, we'd probably say, well, kind of take the gold, you know, spend it on something good, you know. No, Peter's saying, the proof of your faith is far more valuable than you have any idea. Give yourself to the proofs of your faith. Not in order to be saved, not in order to become a child of God, but because you are a child of God and you embody him. And that's what he's saying. We know this, that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us. Does the Spirit dwell in you?

44:47Immeasurable proofs. Let's go back to the courtroom in your mind. What did Pilgrim lose that day? He lost his assurance. And so he had to go back down the mountain to be reassured so his fate wouldn't be that of timorous and mistrust, so that he could be reassured in the truth, reassured. And so that gave him the courage to face the lions and go forward. Let's go back to the courtroom in your mind. There are two ways you can go from a guilty conscience. There's two paths.

45:28You can go down the path of searing your conscience, make it insensitive to God's standards. You can let that judge start saying, no, that's not sin. Forget the standards. You're fine. You can even go down the direction of a defiled conscience. That is, no, and that is calling evil good and good evil. What are you going to do with the conscience when that accuser comes before you and that judge is trying to sort all this out in your own mind? How do you go from you could easily go from a guilty conscience to a seared conscience to a defiled conscience, but there's another path, and that's to go from a guilty conscience to a good conscience to a pure conscience. A guilty conscience is a conscience that, upon confessing, upon dealing with With sin according to the way God has laid it out for us, can cleanse. In fact, as I said earlier, 1 Peter 3:21, the baptism that saves you is an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It can cleanse the blood of Christ. And he's already said if we confess our sins in 1 John 1:9, he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and cleanse us. So when your conscience is right and it is calling out to you, declaring you guilty, what do you do? You agree, you repent, you obey, you forgive others, you restore, you make things right. Let's see, one of the best things that will, one of the best proofs is repentance with restitution. Make things right when you can.

47:33You can go to a pure conscience. That is an innocent conscience. And that innocent conscience moves on, moves forward in greater deeds of obedience and greater deeds of assurance. I put this up on a chart just so you can kind of get an idea, summarize this whole concept. Christ-like deeds of love. That's the basis. This is what John's exhorting us to after all that he said. This is how you can tell who the true prophets are, the false prophets are, who's really in the church and who's really not in the church. That's what he's writing to these people to understand: Christ-like deeds of love.

48:14If you see those, if you see those in your own heart, it brings assurance. Assurance that you are of the truth, that God's Spirit dwells in you. And that assurance leads to confidence. And that confidence leads to effective prayer, an effective relationship with God that knows how to pray. And that leads to greater acts of obedience, greater understanding of Christ, greater understanding of who He is leads to greater acts of obedience. And greater acts of obedience lead to more Christ-like deeds of love, more Christ-like deeds of love with more profound in depth and breadth, which leads to greater assurance, which takes you back again to assurance and confidence and prayer and obedience and assurance. And you see how the whole sanctification process works.

49:13And so, this call to loving the church is at the very heart of the Christian message: loving the Christ of Scripture, loving the community that He formed. Go hand in hand. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us to respond rightly to the truth that we have heard. We ask this in Jesus' name.