How Will I Know?

0:33But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says, I know Him, but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. But whoever keeps His Word, in Him truly, the love of God is perfected. By this we know that we are in Him. Whoever says, He abides in Him, ought to walk in the same way in which He walked. This is God's Word. You may be seated.

1:18Over thirty years ago, Whitney Houston asked one of the most profound questions of all time: How will I know if He really loves me? She didn't know, although she said a prayer with every heartbeat. She tried to phone, but she was too shy. She couldn't speak. She knew she couldn't trust her feelings, and that love could be deceiving. So she continued to ask again and again for over four minutes, how will I know if he really loves me?

2:00Sadly, the song ends without any resolution, without any concrete hypothesis proposed as to how she would know if he really loved her. Well, friends, today we are moving into the second chapter of 1 John. And so far, we have seen that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. That Jesus' blood is sufficient to cleanse us from all of our sin. And it becomes clear from the first and second chapter that Jesus is the Savior.

2:32You cannot walk away from 1 John 1 or the outset of 1 John 2 with any other conclusion than Jesus is the Savior. But the question that arises is: how will I know if Jesus is my Savior? That's the question that John is going to answer in this second chapter. And it is here in these first two chapters that we see this theme introduced of. How will I know? How will I know if I'm really a Christian? That is, in fact, why John wrote this entire letter of 1 John.

3:07He says in chapter 5, that I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. That's the purpose of the whole letter, is that it's written so we will know. And so, friends, what we're going to learn here in 1 John 2:1 through 6 is that walking like Jesus confirms that we've come to know him. So, let's take a look at the text together.

3:34Chapter 2 begins, and John says, My little children. John at this point is very old. He is an aged apostle. He's probably the oldest, if not for sure, one of the oldest, members of his church and of the Christian community at this point. Remember, most of the other apostles, most of the other early disciples, were much older than John. John was a young teenager when he was following Jesus. And so, John is a spiritual father to nearly everyone that he writes to. And so, this is why he addresses them in this way: my little children. They are his spiritual children. And John goes out of his way to exemplify the kind of love for them that he's going to call them to exercise all throughout this letter. So, he says, My little children. And it's no mystery as to why he is writing to them. As usual, he states his purpose very clearly. Look at what he says.

4:30I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. Well, what are these things? He says, I write these things to you. Well, back in chapter 1, John said that we will have fellowship with God and with one another if we confess our sin. So the key to having fellowship first with God and then with other people is to confess our sin, to acknowledge that we have sinned against God, that we do need forgiveness.

5:01And in that acknowledgement and confession, we are united to God through faith in Christ, and then we are united to one another, the body of Christ, through our common confession that we are sinners in need of a Savior. John says, if we say that we haven't sinned against God or that we have no sin in our lives currently, we deceive ourselves. He says, the truth is not in us. And so John wants to be sure that his readers understand, like Paul taught, that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one who has not sinned.

5:37And furthermore, John wants to be sure we understand that no Christian has or will attain sinless perfection in this life. Anyone who thinks that he or she has rooted out all sin, not just sinful actions, but sinful words, not just sinful words, but sinful thoughts and even motivations and attitudes, anybody who thinks they've rooted out all sin. Of those things from their lives is deceived. That's what John says. And so John is writing these things about the sin in our lives and our need for forgiveness from God through Christ so that we may not sin.

6:17That's John's goal. To help Christians walk in repentance, to turn away from sin and to honor God with their lives. And he wants to be clear because some people, both in the first century as well as today, they will learn about God's grace and forgiveness and then think to themselves, well, if God is going to forgive my sin anyway, what's the point really in obedience? Right? If I'm going to be able to just confess my sin, if I'm just going to be able to be forgiven, then I should be able to live any way that I want.

6:52But friends, throughout Scripture, we see the truth both taught and illustrated over and over again that God's grace changes people. We studied the book of Genesis last year, and you remember back to Jacob, also known as Israel, the father of the 12 tribes. God's grace changed Jacob from a faithless deceiver into a faithful worshiper. Or think about Judah, the fourthborn son of Jacob. God's grace changed Judah from a selfish adulterer into a selfless and humble. Protector.

7:33Or go to the New Testament. Paul is changed from a violent persecutor, a murderer, into a passionate evangelist. All throughout Scripture, we see both taught and modeled through historical accounts, God's grace changes people. In Matthew 18, Jesus is telling this parable about a servant who owed an enormous debt to the king. It's a debt that he couldn't repay in many lifetimes. And so the king is all set to throw him as well as his wife and his kids into prison until he could pay the debt back, which of course would mean he would never pay the debt back. So the servant throws himself down before the king and he pleads for mercy, and the king has mercy on him. He forgives all of that enormous debt that he was never going to be able to pay back in many lifetimes.

8:27But then he walks out the servant, and he finds a fellow servant who owes him a few dollars. And he begins to choke him and he demands payment. And when that other servant couldn't pay, he has him thrown into prison. Well, this comes back to the king, and I want you to look at Matthew 18, 32 through 35 on the screen. Look at what happens. Then his master summoned him and said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy? On your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you, and in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt. So also, my heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from the heart.

9:19See, friends, one of the main points of that parable is that God's grace changes our attitudes towards sin. God's grace changes our attitude towards sin. Because we have been forgiven, we can no longer be the same. We can no longer treat other people as though we are better than them. Because we know what an enormous debt that has been forgiven on our behalf. We now look at the king, God, differently. We now look at other people, our fellow servants, differently. God's grace changes us.

9:58And so, why John is writing this is so that we may not sin. He wants to impress upon us that if we have received this grace, we can't go on living the same way. But every honest person is sitting here today and thinking, but I do sin. He's writing these things so that we may not sin, but every one of us is sitting here thinking, but I do. So what now? Look at what he says next.

10:29But if anyone is sincere, Anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. See, John doesn't want us thinking that after we come to faith in Christ, we'll never sin again. I mean, after all, he just wrote in chapter 1, verse 8: if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

11:03So, if John were now articulating, you are never going to have sin in your life again after you come to faith in Christ, he's contradicting what he wrote in the very first chapter. Friends, the truth is that until we die or until Jesus returns, we are going to continue to struggle with sin. That's going to be a daily battle for us. But the good news for us is that, as John reminds us here, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

11:37Now, this word advocate is a great word. It's layered with meaning. It means helper, intercessor, advocate, one who is called upon to provide assistance in a time of need. And, friends, there's two main reasons that we need an advocate with the Father. First, one is that we need an advocate because we stand guilty before God. We need an advocate because we stand guilty before God. We have sinned against Him by breaking His commands, especially the first command to love Him and worship Him only. Jesus would say that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We stand guilty before God because we have broken His commands. So we need an advocate.

12:34But the second reason that we need an advocate is because Satan is our accuser. Satan is our accuser. I want you to look on the screen at Zechariah chapter 3, verse 1. He writes, Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. Look at Revelation chapter 12, verse 10. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

13:21You see, we need an advocate because we have this enemy, this accuser, Satan, who is always tempting us to sin and then. After tempting us to sin, accuses us before God of breaking his law. We need an advocate because we stand guilty and because we have this accuser. And thank God, we have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is our advocate. He stands in the gap between us and God. And Jesus is uniquely qualified to do that. You see, Jesus took on flesh. He added humanity to his deity. He was tempted in every way and yet was without sin. And so he is able to represent us before God.

14:09And because he was fully God, because he was tempted but was without sin, he's able to stand in the gap. None of our fellow men or women who are sinners could do that for us. And so God sent Jesus to do that for us, to be our advocate. He advocates for us, but not like a human defense lawyer. Because I've heard people talk about this passage in that way. Jesus is our defense lawyer. Well, the problem with that is that when Satan stands to accuse us before God, Jesus doesn't say, my clients are innocent of these charges. That's what a human defense lawyer does. They say, my client is innocent of these charges, and if it appears that they are not innocent, I will give you an explanation that will satisfy any question about that that you may have.

15:00No, instead, Jesus stands before God the Father, and he says, my clients are guilty on all counts. They have broken your law, and they do deserve death. But I, I offer my obedience, my perfect life, in their place. I will bear the wrath and the punishment that they deserve. And in fact, that's the very thing that John goes on to explain in verse 2. He says, Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. Now, that word propitiation is a very uncommon word. In fact, if you've never read this letter before, you may have never encountered that word in your life. It only appears twice in the Bible, both in this letter. It's a very uncommon, unusual word, and the Greek word is difficult to translate. It means something like an atoning sacrifice that bears the wrath of God. An atoning sacrifice that bears the wrath of God. And here's why this is important. Some people conceive of sin as breaking a kind of eternal code, a divine objective standard.

16:17Well, friends, that is certainly true in one sense. When we sin, we are breaking God's law. We are breaking a divine objective standard. But the real issue, the reason that sin is Is so evil is not because we are breaking a divine objective standard, it's because it's personal. When we sin, we aren't just breaking some divine code, some eternal code, we are rebelling against the God who created us to worship and enjoy Him forever. That's the problem. And so, the result is not just that we're guilty of breaking God's law, though we certainly are. At a deeper level, we are guilty of saying to God, You are not worthy of my worship. You are not worthy of my affection or my obedience.

17:11And that ultimately is the reason that God's wrath burns against sinners. Not just because we've broken His law, though we certainly have, but because we have personally rebelled against our Creator and Sustainer. That's why His wrath burns against us. But thankfully, Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. He is the. Notice it doesn't say an atoning sacrifice. He is the atoning sacrifice. There is no other atoning sacrifice. He's it. He is the propitiation. He is the atoning sacrifice who bears the wrath of God in our place.

17:54That's what propitiation means. And notice that Jesus. Jesus isn't just the propitiation for John's sins or for his readers' sins, but also look at what he says, for the sins of the whole world. Now, of course, John is not saying that Jesus is actually going to bear the sin of everyone in the world. If that were the case, then no one would go to hell. If Jesus actually bore all of the sin for all the world.

18:30John is not saying that everyone is going to be saved. That's not an idea that's found anywhere in Scripture. What John is saying is that Jesus is the propitiation not just for Jews, but for Gentiles. Not just for Israelites, but for Romans. Not just for his readers currently in the first century, but for anyone who had put their hope and their trust into Jesus as the propitiation for their sins. Look at what he wrote in his gospel, in John chapter 3, verse 36. He says, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

19:17So this is an idea that's taught both in John's gospel and in these letters. Whoever believes has eternal life. This offer is open to all, Jew and Gentile, Israelite, Roman. People then, people today, whoever believes has eternal life, but whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life. The wrath of God remains on him. And so John has written these things so that we may not sin. But if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus the righteous, the propitiation for our sins. He is the Savior. That much is very clear from the passage. But now we have to move into that secondary question: How will I know if Jesus is my Savior?

20:11That's what he's going to answer starting in verse 3. Let's look there together. And by this, we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him truly, the love of God is perfected. Can you know if you are a Christian? Can you know if you are a Christian?

20:57Many people would say yes. But then they would offer a reason that is not given in Scripture. They would say, yes, I know I'm a Christian because I am a good person. I try to do more good things than bad things. Or they would say, yes, I know I'm a Christian because I'm involved in my church. Or they would say, yes, I know I'm a Christian because at some point in my life, in my childhood, or when I was a teenager, or even in my adult life, I made a profession of faith. I prayed a prayer.

21:36Something to that effect. They would say that I know I'm a Christian for one of those reasons or another reason. The problem is that the Bible does teach that we can know whether we are Christians, but it doesn't give any of those reasons for how we can know. So the Bible does say we can have assurance of salvation. That's what theologians call this concept, that we can know that we are saved. In fact, look at what Peter writes in 2 Peter chapter 1.

22:06He actually tells them, therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So Peter actually writes and says, be Diligent to confirm your calling and election. Well, it wouldn't matter how diligent you were to try to confirm that if that was impossible. But Peter says, no, be diligent to confirm it. Be diligent to test and see whether you actually are a believer, whether your profession of faith is true.

22:49So, here in verse 3, John says, and by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. So, how do you know if you know Jesus? You obey him. It really is that simple. And to avoid any misunderstanding, in the very next verse, he says, Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Now, friends, some things in Scripture are hard to understand.

23:29In fact, Peter says that about Paul's letters. He says, Some things in them are hard to understand. Some things in Scripture are hard to understand. This is just not one of them. This is crystal clear. There's really no potential for misunderstanding. You either obey God or you don't. And if you don't, you can have no assurance that you are a Christian. That's what John is saying here. Many years ago, there's a quote that. Was attributed to Mark Twain. No one's really sure if he actually said this or not, but it goes like this. Some people are troubled by the things in the Bible they can't understand. The things that trouble me are the things I can understand.

24:16And I think if you are familiar with Scripture, whether you consider yourself a Christian or not, you would say the same thing. The problem isn't the 5% of the Bible that's kind of difficult to make sense of. It's the 95% that's crystal clear. And this falls into that 95%. You can know that you are a Christian only if you obey what God has commanded. Now, John can't mean that Christians obey God perfectly 100% of the time. If that's what he meant, he would be contradicting everything that he wrote in the first chapter. A Christian's obedience will never be perfect in this life. But friends, a Christian's desire, the desire of his or her heart is to obey God perfectly. And his or her life is going to be marked by strenuous efforts to live in a holy way that is seeking to obey God. That's what God commands over and over in his word. Be holy as I am holy.

25:21So over the years as a Christian and as a pastor, I've had so many conversations with professing believers where they are living. In a way that is clearly contradicted by Scripture. They're openly participating in sin of some kind. And so I have tried to show them from Scripture: listen, God's word says that what you're doing or what you're saying or how you're living is sinful. And the response ends up being: I know that that's what it says, but I'm going to keep doing this anyway.

26:03What does John say to that person? Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. And when I point that out, they become angry with me. Sometimes they'll tell me that I have no right to judge them. But I'm not judging them. It's called 1 John, not 1 Alan. I didn't write this. This is simply the Word of God. John wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So God is judging them, not me. And furthermore, they're condemning themselves because their life does not match up with their profession of faith. See, the problem isn't that they're sinners. We're all sinners.

26:48I'm not coming to them and saying, you need to be perfect like me. I'm saying, you need to be repentant like me. That's what a Christian is, a repentant sinner. And so as long as we're all in. In agreement with that, that we can say to one another, yes, there is sin in my life, but I'm seeking to turn from that. I'm confessing it, as he said in chapter one. I'm acknowledging it, and I'm seeking to live differently to honor the Lord. That's who the church is for. The church is made up of repentant sinners, and that's what we all need to seek to be and to call one another to be. And friends, I'm so passionate about this because this was my story. I mean, for the majority of my life, I was growing up in the church, I was professing to be a Christian, and yet I was not making any effort really to obey the commands of the Lord.

27:40And I think that's for two reasons. First, I didn't obey God because I didn't want to. I loved my sin. And so, if following Jesus meant that I had to give up certain stuff that I loved, I wasn't going to do that. Just plain and simple. But the other reason that I didn't obey God is because I didn't love God. I didn't obey him because I didn't love him. And that's a critical connection. In fact, that's the connection that he makes in verse 5. Look at what he says. But whoever keeps his word, in him truly, the love of God is perfected.

28:27Do you see that connection there? He connects love and obedience. And he does that because Jesus himself did it. Look at John chapter 14 on the screen. Look what Jesus said. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Isn't that amazing? If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Think about how many other words that Jesus could have used there. If you fear me, if you want my blessing. He could have filled in all of these different words or phrases, but what he says is, if you love me, you will obey, you will keep my commandments.

29:15There are so many reasons that we might try to obey God's commands, fear of punishment or duty or obligation or a million other things. But what Jesus taught is that love for him would lead us to keep his commandments. And here's the thing: the people who love Jesus the most are often the ones who have the greatest understanding of and appreciation for what he has done on their behalf. Those are the people who often love Jesus most.

29:52In Luke chapter 7, there's this Pharisee named Simon, and he has Jesus over for dinner. And so they're eating probably. Outside on the patio, and there's this sinful woman who walks up, and she kneels down beside Jesus and she starts wetting his feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, and then anointing them with oil. And Simon, the host, this Pharisee, is just disgusted. And you know, there are people who are like feet people and not feet people, right? I'm not a foot person. If you know that, I don't want to see that.

30:31Like, so if you, if you love me, okay, Jesus says, if you love me, you'll obey my commands. If you love Alan, just no more feet pictures on the beach. Just, if you're at the beach, show me the beach. I don't need to see your feet. I know it's you. Like, someone's holding the phone. Like, I can get there. Like, oh, it was, but it's like, oh, I see the feet. It was them. It was them. They were doing it. You know?

30:56Feet in the first century were totally gross. There was no sewage system. The sewage system had another word. It was called the street. So human waste and animal waste and all of that stuff is literally running through the streets. And they didn't have like steel-toe work boots. Everyone is walking around in Birkenstocks. So your feet are disgusting. And this war. Is kneeling and wetting Jesus' feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, and then anointing them. So Simon is disgusted because it's a disgusting act, but even more so, he is disgusted because she is a woman of the city.

31:46That's the description that Luke gives her. It's kind of a euphemism. She's a sinful woman. And he's disgusted by all of this. And so Jesus looks at Simon and he tells him a parable. He says, Simon, there were two men who both owed money to a moneylender. One owed 500 denarii and one owed 50. And when neither one of them could pay, the moneylender forgave them both. Who do you think is going to love the moneylender more? And Simon says, I suppose the one who had the greater debt. And Jesus says, you're right. And then look at what he says in Luke 7.

32:26Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little.

33:08See, friends, John in 1 John 2 is making the same connection that Jesus makes, the connection between love and obedience. Why did this woman love so much? It's because she was forgiven much. That's why she loved Jesus so much. We will only obey Jesus as much as we love Jesus. And we will only love Jesus as much as our understanding and appreciation for what he has done grows. This woman understood. She knew how much she had been forgiven. And do you think that this woman, after experiencing the great love and forgiveness of Jesus, went on to live a very different life? A life of obedience? I guarantee you she did.

34:06Because her obedience was motivated by love, by understanding and appreciation for all that Jesus had done for her. And so John wraps up this section. Look at the second half of verse 5. He says, by this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk. In the same way in which he walked. Well, how did Jesus walk? He walked in obedience and submission to the Father's will. And in his gospel, John records several instances where Jesus said, I came not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. That's why I'm here.

34:59You see, friends, the good news of the gospel is that Jesus is our example and the propitiation for our sins. Jesus is our example. He showed us how to honor God in every area of our lives. But we needed far more than a good example. We needed far more than a good example. So Jesus was also the propitiation for our sins, an atoning sacrifice who bore the wrath of God on our behalf. Jesus lived sinlessly. He went to the cross willingly. He died and was buried, and on the third day he rose victorious over sin and death. And he did that for us, to bear the wrath of God.

35:56Friends, today there are three types of people in the room. The first type of person doesn't claim to be a Christian. And so maybe that's you. You may be here because someone invited you or because you're exploring Christianity. You want to learn more about Jesus and what he said and did. And that's wonderful. My hope is that you have seen today that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, that he is the propitiation. He is not a way to God. He himself said in John 14, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. My hope for you this morning is that you would see that Jesus is the propitiation, your only hope to be reconciled and forgiven by God.

36:58The second type of person in here is one who claims to be a Christian, and your life backs up that claim. So it's not just that you claim to be a follower of Jesus, but you're actually seeking to live a life of holiness and obedience. Are you doing it perfectly? No, of course not. Every single day you are made aware of different ways that you fall short in your thoughts, in your words, in your actions. But as you are aware of those things, you are seeking to confess your sin to God. To others and to walk in repentance. And if that's you, let me encourage you to press on to know God through Jesus more fully. Because the more we grow in our understanding of and appreciation for what Jesus has done, the more we will love Him. And the greater that our love for Jesus becomes, the greater our obedience will be as well.

37:59And finally, the third type of person in this room is one who claims to be a Christian, but your life doesn't back up that claim. And maybe you've considered yourself a Christian for a long time. Maybe you grew up in the church or around Christians. And maybe you've considered yourself a Christian because you try to be a good person or you try to attend religious services regularly or you pray to prayer at some point in your life at vacation Bible school or with your parents at home or as a young adult.

38:35If that's you, John says that your life is telling you something. If you are claiming to follow Jesus, but you're not obeying him, your desire, your effort is not towards obeying him, your life is telling you something. Your life is telling you that your profession of faith isn't valid, that you have said, I am a Christian. And I am a follower of Jesus, but your life is not backing that up. And so I don't want you to leave today determined to try harder to be a good person.

39:09No, what you must do is look to Christ. Look to Jesus, who is our advocate, who is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Look to him. Put your trust in him. And as you put your trust in him, as your appreciation for his life and death and resurrection begins and then grows, your obedience will follow. We don't obey God to earn his favor. We obey God because we have his favor in Christ.

39:45And so that's my hope and my prayer for you. Friends, this passage presents a great truth that Jesus is the Savior. And it asks an amazing question that we have to answer: How will I know if he is my Savior? Walking like Jesus confirms that we've come to know him. Let's pray. Father, after we read a passage like this one, One of the greatest things that we could ask you for is clarity. That we would see the word and hear the word and that we would clearly understand where we are.

40:52God, you have said to us that Jesus is the only Savior. And you've said that we can know if we have been saved by him by looking at our life and what our life communicates to us. And so, Lord, I do pray for each of those groups of people. I pray for Christians first that we would press on to know you. Because the more we come to know you, the more we come to understand all that you have done on our behalf, the greater our love will become. And the more we love you, the more we want to honor you through our obedience. And so may that be the case. May our church always be growing in holiness.

41:55And God, I pray for the men and women, the children in the room today. Who are not yet Christians and either know that or don't know that? I pray that you would give them clarity. Clarity that Jesus is the Savior that they need. Clarity about their profession of faith if they've made one. And clarity about what needs to be done. Do they need to repent and believe? And if so, would you bring them to repentance and faith today?

42:34God, we thank you that you sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins. That there is no more wrath, no more anger directed at us at all because Jesus bore all of it in his body on the tree. Thank you, God. And I pray that our lives would reflect the gratitude that we should have from such a sacrifice. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.