Reassuring Truths for the Christian

Grace Fellowship Church

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this sermon is from grace fellowship church in edmonton alberta canada if you would like to learn more about us please visit us at our website at graceedmonton .ca

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you can also find us on instagram grace church y -e -g all one word or on facebook you can also find us on spotify youtube or wherever else you listen to your favorite podcast please enjoy the following sermon let's read john first john chapter five the last few verses beginning in verse 13 to the end of the chapter 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 and whatever we ask we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him if anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death he shall ask and god will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death there's sin that leads to death i do not say that one should pray for that all wrongdoing is sin but there is sin that does not lead to death we know that everyone who has been born of god does not keep on sinning but he who was born of god protects him and the evil one does not touch him we know that we are from god and the whole 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 eternal life little children keep yourselves from idols in this world in this fallen world that we live in there are really only a few if any guarantees and certainties we don't know what tomorrow holds for us the proverbs tell us do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring our lives are nothing but a breath really a mist that vanishes and we're so limited in our knowledge we do not know the the number of our days whether we will live or die even an hour from now if and when we may lose a job and find a new one every aspect of our lives is affected by uncertainty and so we have to make these backup plans that and things in case things don't work out the way we had planned them but these are merely just outward or we could say physical matters of course on top of that we more importantly to us christians we have difficulty with some of this when it comes to the spiritual as well in the midst of trials it seems at times we are right there with the psalmist right we can cry out how long oh lord how long will you forget me forever have you forsaken me why are you so far from saving me we can have our faith shaken at its core and they're even in the world many who have made this their life's mission trying to debunk christianity and to undermine our trust and the promises of god and so uncertainty can easily set in can chip away at us we begin to doubt the truths of scripture of course our enemy attempts to so doubt as well and tempts us with with unbelief and so at times we find ourselves asking do i really have this eternal life can i really be sure and fully trust in the work of christ are really all of my sins forgiven does my father our heavenly father really actually bother hearing our prayers are we just speaking into the air with wishful thinking and so sometimes the blessings of god that we read up in the scriptures fall on deaf ears and doubting hearts assurance can be low for us the churches that john is writing to in this letter have experienced similar difficulties we have seen this already throughout the letter we remember of course the false teaching of the secessionists that had come into these churches that john is writing to they were advocating for the secret this this hidden knowledge denied christ really having come in the flesh him having only appeared so they were trying to deceive these believers and some even left the church and so the confidence and faith of these believers was shaken the certainty of the truth was being severely undermined and so john over and over we see him right you know or we know reminding them of the truths of the gospel and at the end of this letter as we come to it he does not change his pattern in fact seven times he mentions you know or we know in these last few verses and he does not end with a final exhortation or doxology as we might know from the apostle paul but he ends with his purpose statement and some great encouragements for our assurance and perseverance as he summarizes the key truths of the faith and so in first john we we have this letter given to us for our comfort to strengthen us to remind us of the certainties of the faith nothing else may be sure for us but these things spoken of here are guarantees given to us so i want to look at four of these reassuring truths that we've been given here we have the truth of the knowledge that we have eternal life verse 13 and we have a knowledge that the lord will answer our prayer that he will hear that he will answer we have the knowledge that we have victory over sin and the evil one and then lastly we have a true knowledge of the true god firstly then let us look at the knowledge of eternal life in 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 the apostle begins the conclusion to his letter by for the first time really clearly stating his purpose for writing this letter and it fits quite well with with his purpose statement in the gospel of john where you remember he had said at the second last chapter towards the end now jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book but these are written so that you may believe that jesus is the christ the son of god and that by believing you may have life in his name his gospel was written for men to believe and the epistle is written to assure those who do believe look what he writes he says you who believe in the name of the son of god his audience those who believe in the name of the son of god but he's not talking simply to those who simply believe that there is a god or that can affirm one certain truth about christ perhaps that he has existed he's talking to those who actually put their trust in him the word for believe there that he uses includes a faith aspect and entrusting oneself to christ and a reliance on him of course john already clarified that what it means to believe in the son of god we know that it involves in affirming that he is the christ that jesus has come in the flesh that he is the propitiation for our sins the savior of the world and that those who believe on him are in children of god christian do you do you understand it struck me when i looked at this he is writing directly to you that you may know that you have eternal life this is not addressed to every man woman and child in the world we understand this so often we pass over this at the beginning of an epistle yes it's written to the saint it might not even be addressed to every person in this room no this is this is a truth a letter of comfort encouragement only to the children of god those who entrust their very souls to him and isn't it beautiful child of god that you have a letter preserved from your heavenly father from the one who is seated on the throne and robed in unapproachable light directly given to you with a purpose that you may know that you have eternal life you see these false teachers were causing these problems claiming this higher mystic elevated knowledge of things but john as an eyewitness tasked with proclaiming what he had seen and heard says i write that you may know you see god is not holding anything back from us that is necessary for life and salvation no he's revealed everything we need to know he didn't have to he was under no obligation but he chose to do so for the sake of his people and knowing implies of course what certainty eternal life is not only a hope or some sort of wishful thinking and maybe or a possibility no it is a certainty for you christian a guarantee and you have it and here and now it began the moment you were saved and it will go on it will not end sure we will die this outer body this earthly tent will pass away but what are we going to do we're only going to exchange it for a heavenly dwelling and so death for us what is it but just a door that we walk through and through the true and the fullest expression of life but why does john tell us this again over and over in this letter already even if we look at verses 11 and 12 he just mentioned that we have life that we have life in the son and that god has given us eternal life so i repeat well we are a forgetful people aren't we think about it we've been given an ordinance to remember our savior but we can forget him how fast how quickly do we lose sight of the fact that this is not all there is that heaven and earth will indeed one day pass away we get so tied up in our earthly affairs when every disappointment every tear every affliction will be one day done away with and sin will be no more no more sinning against or being sinned against truly we'll experience life unhindered fullness of joy to sit at christ's feet to see him face to face but not only do we so often forget we often doubt because too often we look at ourselves don't we i don't know about you but when i look at myself all confidence disappears and so at times it can seem that those who have really no grounds to believe that they will indeed have eternal life have the greatest confidence in it i think they've earned it they've outperformed their failures and sins they presume on the kindness of god or that he would simply turn a blind eye to their sin false converts or believers have often no fear of death at all meanwhile many christians seem to have the opposite experience those that have reason to be confident are terrified not sure though they believe on christ all the days of their life that they will actually truly make it to heaven at times we're more inclined to believe in our own sinfulness than his power to save and i mean you know who you were don't you your sinfulness your rebellion that you were not barely alive no you were really dead before you were saved utterly completely definitely dead there was no sign of life in you just a corpse a dead cold corpse with a cold and hard heart of stone and so the chasm between being dead and eternal life being in the presence of god face to face with him endless joy fully sanctified holy and blameless is so far on the opposite end it can be hard to believe it's true christian your heavenly father wants you to know that it is true there are an infinite number of things we don't know many more that we cannot even know a certainty but the truth that you have eternal life in the sun is something you can take to the bank take comfort in it and notice there's no mention of the strength of your faith there is faith but whether it is weak or strong today is independent eternal life for others independent of how you feel you believe on christ you have life eternal god does not lie to you it is guaranteed and you can be most sure of it the second truth that john gives us to reassure our hearts is the knowledge of answer prayer in verse 14 through 70 we'll begin with 14 and 15 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 the requests that we have asked of him you see though the our fullness of fellowship with the father is still awaiting us we already have access to him such an access that allows us to ask of him and we have confidence that he hears us there's a boldness in our approaching him through prayer it is with confidence that we draw near to the throne of grace as the author of hebrews puts it we come as true children to the father knowing that he hears let me tell you he does not hear as man hears he's not distracted by something else only catching half of what you may be saying or forgetting what you've said because his mind was drifting no here's every word and every single one of your words but notice the important qualifier there as well verse 14 we ask according to what his will that's exactly what our lord taught us isn't it in the lord's prayer our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done it is exactly like our lord prayed in the garden we just read it earlier if it possible if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as i will but as you will and how good it was that the father's will was done now there are some that actually suggest that prayer is is a is the bending of the lord's will to ours that we can make him do what we want him to do what we think he he needs to do of course that is a lie as if we puny little creatures knew better than the omniscient all -knowing creator of the universe prayer gives us no power to manipulate god in any way no prayer is not bending it's not us bending god's will or bending god's will to ours but it is by faith our submitting our will to his instead it is our saying lord you know best do what you will because that is what we really need and it's what is best for us it is submission to him by faith but how do we pray according to his will well how do we know his will through the scriptures we have given we've been given the revelation of him and so as we immerse ourselves in them we more and more begin to know god's will begin to pray according to it and have our will conform to his there are many places we can find where we can learn how to pray but if you allow me i want to show you one if we go to colossians chapter one the apostle paul often prayed for the churches he wrote to just to be practical maybe give you a place to start to to get an idea colossians 1 beginning verse 9 through 14 he writes and so from the day we heard we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy giving thanks to the father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints and light he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sin what does it look like to pray according to god's will in this case to ask to be filled with the knowledge of his will to seek his spiritual wisdom and understanding is held to walk in a manner that pleases him that is worthy of him that he might not bring a reproach unto him to be pleasing to to bear fruit that he would use you to advance the gospel and his kingdom for his strength for his comfort endurance and patient i'm going to know how to pray according to his will immerse yourself in the scriptures have your will conformed to his and then bring these truths to him use your use your own feeble words if they may seem like this to you come to him as a child to their father he will listen and he will hear and you can know as verse 15 puts it back in first john 5 that we have the requests that we have asked of him to put it plainly and simply he will answer you he will give you that which you ask for if we who are evil

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Christ says give good things to our children how much more will our father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him and so let me ask you this how confident are you really when you're praying do you approach him with boldness with the confidence that you know you believe that he will truly hear you that he will listen to every word that he will give you an answer in his time or is it some sort of magical wish sending of your desires up to the lord hoping they'll get there you pray in faith believing that that god really gives you his ear that he bends his ear to listen and gladly listen president sister's prayer works prayers get answered now john goes on in verse 16 and 17 he gives us an interesting case of of an example of how god answers prayer and so he writes if anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death he shall ask and god will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death there's sin that leads to death i do not say that one should pray for that all wrongdoing is sin but there's sin that does not lead to death we've got a couple of very easy verses here these are some of the most debated in all the new testament there seem to be as many interpretations as there are commentaries let me give you a couple ideas that have been suggested by commentators and then we'll try to have a look at it and do some heavy lifting for a little bit and figure out what it actually means some have suggested that john here is speaking about believers that commit a sin that does not lead to eternal death but potentially to physical death this sin leading to death is interpreted as perhaps the last sin that god would tolerate before punishing somebody with physical death you can think perhaps of acts chapter 5 and anias and saphira who you remember sold a piece of property but held back some of the prophets and did not tell anybody and lied about it to the holy spirit and then peter confronts them rebukes them and they drop dead and are buried or perhaps first corinthians 11 when paul speaks about the lord's supper and warning us not to take it in an unworthy manner and he says taking it in an unworthy manner is the very reason why some of them some of the corinthians were sick and ill and weak and that some have even died so that's one interpretation offered another one suggests that it is some john is referring to some sort of capital punishment where a believer commits a sin that would be punished by death but if the brethren intercede the lord will grant him life whether physical or spiritual some have seen this as well as a distinction between sins committed intentionally and unintentionally there are a few other ones but let's uh let's have a look at the actual text and and do some of the work first notice that in verse 16 john says the one committing the sin is actually a brother a person that as far as we can tell from the outside without being able to see the heart is a fellow christian and that this person commits the sin that does not lead to death now the sin not leading to death i believe and as many many reliable and trustworthy theologians preachers as well have suggested is that this is more or less a christian falling into a sort of sin that he will eventually end up repenting on in other words it is a sin any sin besides the rejection of the gospel now how do we how do we get that from the text because john doesn't even explain what these sins are he just simply makes a statement that there is a sin that leads to death and one that doesn't he doesn't even elaborate he's assuming that his readers actually know what he's talking about and they would know about what he's talking about if they would have read this letter in other words the context of the letter is going to help us and so sin leading to death if you remember back to chapter 2 and verse 19 where paul writes they went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would not have continued with us but they went out that it might be complained that they're all not of us and then just a couple verses down in 22 and three he addresses the denying that jesus is the christ who is the liar but he who denies that jesus is the christ this is the anti -christ he who denies the father and the son no one who denies the father no one who denies the son has the father and then again in chapter four later at the earlier verses he encourages us not to believe every spirit and that we know the spirit of god every spirit that confesses that jesus christ has come into flesh is from god and every spirit that does not confess jesus is not from god this is the spirit of the anti -christ which you heard was coming and now is in the world already and then he says whoever confesses that jesus is the son of god god abides in him and he and god abides in him and god abides in him and god abides in him and god abides in him and god abides in him and so the sin that leads to death is a denial in the context of this book that jesus is the christ that he has come in the flesh and that he is in fact the son of god it's essentially what this group of people had believed and taught to the point that even some of the believers or supposed believers there had ended up believing the church and so they will not be be saved because they willfully continually reject the true gospel who christ is his atoning work and the outcome for them will be eternal death and so in turn then the sin not leading to death is a sin that a christian may fall into but he will not ultimately reject the gospel this person will confess and repent of it but then there's a second half of verse 16 referring to the sin that leads to death where john adds there's a sin that leads to death i do not say that one should pray for that that does not make any make things easier is john telling us to pray not to pray for those who do not believe the gospel aren't we supposed to pray from believers because god desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth he doesn't want any to perish that could be possibly what john is referring to there might be old testament warrant for this sort of thing the prophet jeremiah for example was told several times during his ministry to israel not to pray for the people of israel they have been so deep and in idolatry and had gone back to the sins of their forefathers provoking the lord to anger by having made these offerings to bail and and then the lord said to his prophet in jeremiah 7 16 and verse 18 as for you do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer for them and do not intercede with me for i will not hear you do you not see what they're doing in the cities of judah and in the streets of jerusalem children gather wood the fathers kindle fire and the women that dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven and they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger there are a couple other references you can look at them on your own time if you want in chapter 11 as well as in chapter 14 chapter 11 verse 14 and chapter 14 verse 11 and so in regards to our text i i believe that this means that we simply do not have a guarantee as we have in praying for the believers that god will hear our prayers for those who have committed the sin of rejecting the gospel of the true christian sins the lord will hear us will hear our intercession for him grant our brother repentance and they will come return to the lord difficulty that we have with this is that we do not know if a person has fully completely rejected the gospel do we can't see a person's heart we do not have a hundred percent knowledge if that really is what's going on in their heart or whether they're simply backsliding for a period of time and will repent after a few years and so what do we do what is what is john trying to encourage us to do here what is he telling us i think john makes clear the seriousness of sin he warns us of its danger and tells us to pray we know it's according to to god's will to pray for our brothers and so when we see somebody in church that is in sin we pray for them yes we talk to them we review come if necessary but we always pray for them we always lift them up to the throne of grace and we can have confidence that if they are a christian that the lord will hear and that he will restore them you want to love the brethren as we have been encouraged all throughout this letter pray for them praying for them is truly the fulfilling of the command to love one another and because we do not fully know who those are that will ultimately reject christ i suggest we'll pray for them as well calvin on this he puts it well much better than i ever could he says it is then right to determine sometimes whether the fallen is without hope or whether there's still a place for a remedy he goes on he says but as this very seldom happens and as god sets before us the infinite riches of his grace and bids us to be merciful to his own example we ought not rashly conclude that anyone has brought on himself the judgment of eternal death on the contrary love shut this should dispose us to hope well and so we pray for one another we know the lord will hear and restore and we pray for those who seem to fall away because we do not truly know if they fall away brothers and sisters sin is serious so let us pray because men's eternity depends on it and then the third truth that john tells us about is that we have victory over the sin over sin and the devil verses 18 and 19 we know that everyone who has been born of god does not keep on sinning but he who has but he who was born of god protects him and the evil one does not touch him we know that we are from god and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one again john reiterates a theme that he previously already laid out for us that those who are born of god do not keep on sinning he's not talking here about some form of sinless perfectionism that once we're saved we'll we'll never sin again no he already made that clear that we do sin that we confess our sin and that we have a mediator with the father jesus christ the righteous what he's saying is that the regenerate those with a with a new heart those who have passed from death to life do not continue in a in a pattern of unchecked unrepentant willful sin and isn't it true that as children of god we no longer have a will enslaved to sin but we no longer want to satisfy every evil desire of the flesh we have a renewed will a desire to be pleasing and useful to god we delight now in obeying him we hate our sin and we can't actually please god we have been enabled to will and to do that which is pleasing to him and those not born of god have no such desire they're completely enslaved to sin they love it they search it out they make plans to sin to the degree that it is even shameful for us to speak of the things that are being done in secret but then at times as christians we feel like we're somewhere in the middle we truly want to please the lord we want to obey him but we're so aware of our sin aren't we some of them seem so persistent it's so hard to shake them to really kill them and we can get this sense of utter defeat disgust with ourselves it seems the sin has such a tight grip on our heart that we cannot possibly ever escape it president sisters don't despair there is hope there is forgiveness for you christ is still willing to receive and forgive if you confess he will forgive and cleanse you of all unrighteousness never stop running to him take heart by the power of the gospel you can persevere because as the second half of verse 18 tells us he was born of god protects him and the evil one does not touch him some of your translations might say he was born of god keeps himself the difference there largely depends on how one interprets the he was born of god immediately prior to keeping him whether it refers to a believer or to christ questions is the believer keeping himself or is christ keeping the believer certainly we can affirm in some sense that the believer keeps himself a christian is to keep himself pure as paul writes in first timothy unstained from the world and in the love of god however i believe this is a reference to christ now i grant john nowhere refers to christ directly as he who was born of god but he does refer to him as the only son of the father who was made manifest in the flesh and the one doing the protecting here does so in a way that the evil evil one cannot touch the person being protected we're talking about a a literal gripping or clinging to that person the evil one cannot get a grip on you christian because the good shepherd will protect his flock and he will lose nothing of all that the father has given him but he will raise it up on the last day of those that are given him he will truly lose none just like he guarded and kept the apostles he keeps you second thessalonians 3 verse 3 says but the lord is faithful he will establish and guard you against the evil one and that is why you can have hope and persevere in your fight against your sin because your savior consent continues to keep you the enemy no longer has the ability to get a lasting grip on you this does not mean that we will never be tempted that he will not stop shooting his fiery darts at you and then you don't have to resist him but he cannot ultimately pull you away from your savior and are we so keenly aware that if it was truly us keeping ourselves it would take less than a second for us to fall away to return to the clutches of the enemy but because of christ this cannot happen to you he will raise you up on that last day but not only can the enemy not touch us verse 19 tells us that we are of a completely different world the whole world is under the power of the devil is hostile to god as well as his people it follows the power of the prince of the air there are really only two types of people those who are the children of god and those who are children of satan but once at one point in time we too were part of that world weren't we when we were of the devil unwilling incapable of leaving it behind loving unrighteousness but that is until by the grace of god he transferred us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son because we are born of god not by our doing but by his and we know that we are from god we have a new owner a new master a new father do you see how god is a god of comfort in these truths not only in our physical trials and afflictions but in our doubts in our times of weak faith he hasn't just proclaimed a truth to us and leaves us abandons us to wrestle with he wants you to know that you are really his as i thought about this i think this is sometimes this might be one of these cases where we're so well aware of this truth that we're in danger that it has no longer any effect on us think on it we were part of this world blinded minds at war with our creator we're enslaved to it sons of disobedience having no hope we were part of a twisted and crooked generation from the day we were born the only thing we worship the self and then it is into this very world so hostile and opposed to god that the father sent his only son to redeem you to purchase you to get you out of this world and bring you into his kingdom to make you one of his children knowing very well the cost and he wants you to know that he wants you to be sure of that to believe it and to take comfort in it god is saying know this in christ you really are mine and no one else's anymore we have a god that is a god of all comfort lastly john reassures us with our knowledge of the true god in verses 20 and 21 he writes 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 eternal life little children keep yourselves from idols this group that was teaching these falsehoods in these churches it seems they were assaulting the christians with all kinds of doubts and questioning even to the point that john ends closes his letter now in the similar way in which he began he reminding he reminds them that christ really had come that the apostles had seen and touched him as he described in the opening verses that this is a fact to reassure his readers he begins with christ and he ends with christ and when christ came he writes he gave us understanding so that we may know him who is true christ makes god known to us he gives us understanding in the gospel of who the father is the attributes of the father are on full display in the gospel christ is god manifested in the flesh in christ we have a fuller and clearer understanding of the father of his love and his grace mercy purity power perfection righteousness justice wrath and much more he opens our minds and eyes to to see the truth we can now see the the glories of god it is a renewal of our minds unbelievers don't see god and truth as he is we know by the illumination of our minds that he is the true and living god who made all things and that knowing him the true god and jesus christ is life eternal and not only do we have a true knowledge of the true god we are in joyful union with him through christ and it's only through christ that we can be in this union only in him are we a new creation we have this new real spiritual existence that we enjoy a real personal relationship with god let me ask you do you really live in light of this you live like you actually know him and are in him resident sisters our faith it's not a theory you can walk with god as enoch did knowing that god wants to walk with you you know moses abraham the prophets all the examples in the old testament they did not have a potential walk with the lord they had a real faith in a real god there's more for us to be experienced there is more for us to be seen and to behold he has more glory and mighty works than he can display to you and he is really active not just in theory we can be closer to him still we can know him more we can love him more we can see more prayers answered in a more profound way we can delight in him even more because he's real and he is true but we must believe it and expect it we must expect him we don't have a merely intellectual and theoretical faith but we understand and we affirm certain truths about us and god and that's in and we that's it we move on it's not how paul and the apostles lived but then john closes by affirming christ's deity urging his readers to keep themselves from idols seems like a rather strange ending to an epistle but idolatry was very prevalent at the time christians were surrounded by it everywhere and even in ephesus from which from where john was likely writing this letter was a massive temple of the goddess of artemis it was a hotbed for idolatry and so there's there's a sense of an external form of idolatry a worship of false gods gods that are not the true god but then there's also the internal idolatry this false teaching of the secessionists by their denials of who christ is that made themselves an idol of a false christ a christ who did not bring eternal life and so as christians we must flee from the false gods of the world as well as the false christs that some want us to believe it we must be on guard the most popular so -called christ is the one fashioned by men not the one we find in the scriptures and we see this when we speak to people don't we they have no problem affirming truths about him they might even appreciate him as a good moral teacher but when it comes to his being very god his being supreme over all his authority their need to repent and believe on him and to obey his commandments and forsake their sin it turns out he's not the christ they really want we see we cannot fashion our own christ the way we'd like it we must worship the true god the true christ put forth in the scripture and nothing else can take his place in our lives whether it's our hobbies or work our spouses even our children our possessions the study of scripture can become an idol if it becomes more about the knowledge than the god revealed in the scriptures now christ must be on the throne of our hearts because by him and through him and for him all things were made because he is preeminent in all things the angels worship him because his throne is forever and ever he is the first and the last the living one he was slain and by his blood he ransomed the people for god from every tribe people tongue and nation and everything else that tries to compete with that christ we have to smash to pieces and worship christ brothers and sisters there are many uncertainties we don't know what tomorrow holds a faith will be shaken at times but we can be sure of are these things that john lays out for nothing in this world is sure except the promises of god in his word they are the only true and the only sure thing that we have and he wants you to know that you have eternal life in christ that your prayers are heard and answered that as a child of god you are truly and surely one of his treasured possessions and that christ will keep you to the end that christ is the true god that you have union with the father and the son and so let us trust in these truths let us hold on to these truths and never cease to stand in awe of them what a god we have who's not hidden who has not hidden his face from us but he revealed himself to us for a very comfort a very strength assurance and persevere let's go to him in prayer thank you for listening to another sermon from grace fellowship church if you would like to keep up with us you can find us at facebook at grace fellowship church or our instagram at grace church y -e -g all one word finally you can visit us at our website grace edmonton .ca