All right, let's get after it. Last week we started our new book study in the Book of First John. So if you have your Bibles, get them out, open them up to the book of First John. If you didn't bring your Bible, we'll get the verses on the screen. We're going to be in this letter. This only has five chapters, but we're going to be in it to the end of June. So there's get a journal Bible or bring your pens and mark it up. But this is where we're going to be. So you guys ready to go? Going to jump right in. There's some heavy, sobering, challenging truth that we have to kind of come to terms with. And that is the church has liars. What I mean by that, there's people in the church that would profess a faith that's not a real faith. They would profess to be followers of Christ, but aren't genuine. Kind of born again, regenerate, new creation in Christ followers. And there's a deception going on. They're deceiving others, they're deceiving themselves, they. But that is the reality in the church. Jesus talked about it. So not everybody who says to me, lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. And that's somebody looking to Jesus and saying, lord, and they're missing something. He tells the parable of the weeds like, there's a field of wheat, but the enemy sows some weeds in there and they grow up together. It's just a reality that in the church there are liars. And as a church, I don't think we're exempt from that. That in our church there are liars, there are people that are deceiving others or deceiving themselves. That there's a profession of faith, but it's not matched with a genuineness of faith. But how can you tell? How can you tell? Cause it seems a little dangerous if you're just like, he's real, she's not. She's real, he's not. Like, if you just kind of go like that seems to get ourselves in trouble. That can be a little bit dangerous. But here's the challenging thing. John wants us to be able to discern. Like they're dealing with false teachers and there's false expressions of faith in their church. And he's wanting them to know, wanting them to be able to discern what's right, what's wrong, what's true, what's a lie. Like he's challenging this. In fact, in John's short letter he uses the word to know over 40 times. Let me show you one towards the end of the letter that just shows kind of John's heart. In this whole book that we're looking at, I write these things to you. Just kind of towards the end where he's looking back, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may what, know that you have eternal life. I want you to know this. But here's the problem. Liars are pretty confident, right? They seem to kind of project a confidence in themselves. But John's like, no, I want you to be confident in the right things. In fact, you see him point this out a few other times. And now little children, this is in chapter two, shows this pastoral heart. Here is this kind of fatherly figure. Little children abide in him so that when he appears, we may have what confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. Or he says something like this in chapter three, Beloved, if your heart does not condemn us, we have what confidence before God? I'll give you one more. Chapter four. By this love is perfected with us so that we may have what confidence for the day of judgment? So John is wanting us to have a confidence. He's wanting us to know. But then you're back in this kind of trap of like, all right, well, liars are confident. Liars are professing, I have fellowship with God. That's where I'm at. So what do we do with that? Because there's another group in the church that they are genuine believers, but they don't have a lot of confidence. I don't know that God loves me. I don't know. Am I really in. Am I not? Like, is it real in me? Do you know what I've done? And they don't have a lot of confidence. And that's why John over and over again is saying, I want you to know. I want you to know. I want you to have confidence. So here's what's going on here. John is out to make liars uncomfortable and Christians more confident. And they're in the same room, it's the same audience. So he's addressing. Sure. This letter's gonna getting circulated to different churches. And there's a problem in the church of false teachers and false expressions of faith, but also a lack of confidence in the salvation that Jesus brings. So John is wanting liars in the church to be uncomfortable, and he's wanting Christians to be more confident. But again, it's like, how do you know how do you know? Like, we're gonna look at some marks of a genuine believer. What are the signs in my life that kind of point to, oh, God made me a new creation. Like, God put a new heart in me. Like, what does that look like? We're gonna look at some marks of a genuine believer. Particularly today. There's a lot in here that we're not gonna get to that maybe we'll reach back next week. Cause it's just a wonderful text. But I want to focus in, particularly when it comes to the issue of sin. And here's kind of the driving question for us. What is the relationship between a genuine believer and sin? What is the relationship? What's the dynamic? How does a genuine believer deal with sin? And now think for a minute. How do you deal with sin? Like, before we get into this, how do you deal with the sin in your life? Do you deny it? Like, it's not really there? Do you hide it? Like, I know about it, but I don't want anybody else to find out. And you can hide it, kind of project that you have it all together. Do you downplay it? Like, it's not that big a deal? Do you justify it? Like, I have cause to act like this. Like, I can be mean to her because she was mean to me. And the reason I'm like, this is because of them. And you're kind of a victim and you justify all your sin. And how should we handle sin, our sin, the sin in our life? Like, how should we deal with it? How should we interact? Like, let me put it this way. What is the way in which we deal with sin that gives evidence to, oh, you're the real deal. What is the way in which we deal with the sin in our life that kind of points to God really did something in your heart, You've been changed, you've been transformed. So that's what we're going to get into. A little bit heavy, but I know you guys are ready for it, right? All right, so let's start where we left off last week. Verse 5. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you him as Jesus. Because John's saying, like, I was there, I touched, I saw, I walked with Christ, and I heard this from him and I'm giving it to you. So this is the message we've heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Now, in the Greek, there's a double negative, that there is no, no darkness, none that's what he says. No darkness at all. Like, none of it. And there's this emphasis. Like, there's not any darkness whatsoever. And what John is talking about is the moral perfection of God. Like, he's light, he's holy. He's different. There's nobody like Him. How many of you guys know a perfect person, right? Like, God alone in his holiness is perfect. And that's where we need to start. We need to start with who is God and He is holy. The way John's put it is, he is light. There is no darkness in him at all. Now, that truth is both compelling and terrifying. It's compelling because who's like that? How awesome would it be to experience fellowship with a perfect God, to enjoy his perfect love, his perfect justice, his perfect grace, his perfect holiness? Like, there's nothing like that offered to us. Like, that should be the passion and the ambition of our life to know him, like, that's compelling. But it's also terrifying because we're not. We're not light, we're not perfect. And that creates a problem. But church, that's a problem that Jesus Christ solved. Like, he atoned for our sins. He gave us his righteousness. We just sang about that. He gave us his righteousness, and that reconciles us back to God so that we can enjoy his holiness forever. He makes us a new creation in Christ. He takes out our old heart, a stone. He gives us a heart of flesh, like we're born again by the Spirit made new. That would have been a good spot for an amen, but we're about to get serious. But what's the evidence he did that for you? Like, how do you know that's real for you in your heart? And what could we learn? Or what's the dynamic of how we deal with our own sin and lie in our life? That would point to be a mark or an evidence. Like, oh, yeah, God has done something in my life. So here's what's gonna happen. John's gonna kind of give us a look at two different types of people. Verse 6. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. John's saying, this is incompatible. Like, if you're professing faith while you're embracing sin, he's like, that didn't jive. They didn't go together. Like Jesus said, you'll know a tree by its fruit. So if a tree is like, I'm an apple tree, right? And you pick a pear, that tree's lying And John's saying, like, listen, if you're making these professions of faith, if you're saying, I'm a Christian, I have fellowship with God, I'm all in that. But then you look at a life that's just defined by a pursuit of sin, of like, I'm gonna do what I want, how I want, when I want, like, I'm chief. He's like, I'm calling you, like, you're lying. Those two things don't go together. But then he makes this contrast to somebody else. Verse 7. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. So you got two types of people. You got those who claim Christ but walk in darkness, and you got people who claim Christ and walk in the light. And notice this is an internal problem. He's not talking to, like, people outside the church. He's saying, like, inside there's people who claim Christ and walk in darkness, and there's people who claim Christ and walk in the light. It's an internal issue. And when it comes to these two types of people, there's two kind of trajectories or outcomes or labels that are put on them. He's saying, for one, they're a liar, but the other is said to enjoy fellowship. Now, why would he. Why would he say it like that? Why doesn't he say, well, one's a liar, so one's telling the truth. If you're going to make a comparison, that's the opposite. Right? He's lying. He's telling the truth. But he doesn't say that. He says he's lying. He's enjoying fellowship. Why does he say that? Well, he's telling us more by what's implied through both statements. Because if this guy's lying, then this guy's telling the truth. And if this guy has fellowship, then this guy doesn't. He's putting more flesh on it. So it's not just that they are lying. They're also missing out. They're missing out on the sweetness of fellowship with God, the closeness with God. And it's not just that you're missing out. You're lying about missing out. You're deceived. In fact, you may think you're not missing out. You may call yourself a Christian. And John's saying, but it doesn't check out. It doesn't check out. But the warning here is not just that you're a Christian who's missing out on Fellowship, which can be the case for a genuine Christian. Here's what you need to know. Let me step away, because that's. I don't think this is John's point, but it's possible to think you're a Christian and not be. And it's possible to be a genuine Christian and not feel like it or not enjoy the fellowship with, closeness with God. We see this in David, when David sinned with Bathshebi. And he says, when I kept quiet about my sin, my bones wasted away. He talks about just the. The guilt and the shame and the brokenness in a relationship. And what does he say when in Psalm 51, where he's like, return to me the joy of my salvation. Not just return to me to my salvation. That's not the issue. It's like, no, I want fellowship with you. I want to enjoy your closeness. And the intimacy. And sin has gotten in the way of that. And sin does damage. And that can be true for a genuine believer. But I don't think that's the point John's trying to make here. I think what John's trying to say here is you might not be a Christian. And the reason I would argue for that is, like, the way that John talks. Like, that's not how the New Testament tends to talk about a believer. And for John, I would say for the whole New Testament, but especially for John, fellowship is salvation. We've looked at this before, around Christmas time. But for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have what everlasting life. But then you keep reading, you get to John 17, 3. This is eternal life. That they know you, the one true God, and your son, Jesus Christ. Salvation is all about fellowship. It's all about knowing God and being in relationship with God. And to describe somebody as walking in darkness doesn't seem like you're talking about a believer. In fact, if you go back to the Gospel of John, John, chapter eight, he says this again. Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So I'm like, that's not compatible. That's why John's coming here. He's like, if you say you have fellowship and you walk in darkness, you're a liar. Cause this is the message we've heard from him and proclaimed to you. And he said, that doesn't go together. Right. If you claim to have fellowship and you walk in darkness, it doesn't work that way. And then you get into even his letter in language. We'll get to this verse next week. But two, verse five. But whoever keeps his Word in Him, truly the love of God is perfected by this. That is keeping the Word. We know that we are in him. That word, like in him, that describes a believer. Then you get over in chapter three, verse nine, he says, no one born of God makes a practice of sinning. Born of God? You're talking about spiritual life here. Well, that's troubling. Anybody else troubled with that? Anybody in here just like, done sinning? I don't do that anymore. What is John saying? Is he saying a real Christian doesn't sin anymore? Now, I know we're skipping a lot. We're gonna reach back into these verses next week. Cause there's so much here. But our focus for now is like, what's the dynamic or what's the relationship between a genuine believer to. That's what we want to find out. So let's keep reading verse 8. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Did I read verse seven? Okay, you gotta help me out. It's like sometimes I feel like I already said that. You did. Last service. This is a new service. Okay, so verse 8. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Notice that sin here is singular. It's just like sin in general. If you say sin's not an issue for you, you don't have a sin nature, you don't have a sin problem, you have a sin struggle. He's saying you deceive yourselves. The truth is not in you. But then you get to verse nine. If we confess our sins plural, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins plural, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So this is more like, hey, don't think that you don't have a sin problem in general. But also you gotta deal with sin specifically. And the way that we deal with sin specifically is we confess them. Now, the word for confession is amaligeo. It's made up of two words, homo and ligeo. So homo means what? The same legeo means to speak. So confession just means I'm speaking the same thing. The same thing as what? The same thing as God. God says it's wrong, I say it's wrong. God says it's a problem. I say it's a problem. You are bringing yourself under God and it's like, I agree with God. I got issues, I got problems. That was wrong. Why do you think it's wrong? He said it's wrong. So that's what confession is here. And God is both faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So he's faithful because he promised way back in Genesis 3, he's going to deal with the sin problem. And God keeps his promises. And he's just. Because he didn't just, like, ignore our sin or look the other way. He dealt with our sin. He atoned for our sin. He paid for our sin. What? We'll find out next week. He became a propitiation, a sacrifice that satisfied the wrath of God for our sin. It's justice. And how effective is his cleansing cleanses us from how much unrighteousness. All right. The forgiveness of God is sufficient. Okay, if you don't hear anything else, hear, hear me. Jesus Christ does not cover 99% of your sin. He covers all of it, and he is a sufficient Savior. Amen. All right, this is good. You're with me. But. We get a but in here. We'll get more into that next week. But John can't be saying that Christians don't sin. I mean, he's just calling us to confess our sin. And he just tells us, like, if you say you don't have sin, you're deceiving yourself. So what does it mean to walk in darkness? If that's the description of kind of an unregenerate, like, you're a liar, this faith isn't real type of person. And what does it mean to walk in the light if sin is still a part of your life as a genuine Christian? And we need to get this, like, this is really important stuff. This is like, check your heart, look in the mirror, examine yourself. We're about to ready to take communion after this. And what does Paul say? Hey, before you do this, examine yourself. This is gonna help us examine ourselves a bit. Cause look what he says in verse 10. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar. And his word is not in us. So John is using, like, you know he loves you. You know, he's this compassionate Father. He's saying, my little children, my little. But he's also like calling people liars. Like, there's some heavy language here. He's saying, listen, if you say we have not sinned, we make him God a liar, and his word is not in us. So if you look at verses 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Here's kind of your options. If you say you're a Christian, but you embrace sin, you live in sin, you walk in sin, you're a liar. Those don't go together. And if you say you're a Christian, but you deny the reality of sin in your life, like, that's not something I deal with. I don't really have that problem. You make God to be a liar because he says that all have what sinned and fall short of the glory of God and the cross outs us all. Like, we all have this problem. So it's like, if you profess to be a Christian, but kind of embrace sin, you're a liar. But if you profess to be a Christian and say sin's not a problem in your life, you make God to be a liar. Kind of a pickle, isn't it? So what. This is the question again. What is the relationship between a genuine believer and. And sin? Cause it's a part of our life, right? This room is full of people. It's like, I really believe in Jesus. I feel like I fail all the time. I really believe in Jesus, and I struggle with this. So how do we struggle with this in a way that says, I'm really a follower of Jesus? What's the case that John's making? Notice the parallels that are happening here? Look at verses, verse six compared to verse eight, and we're going to look at verse seven compared to verse nine, because I think he's building his case. And sometimes an author will say the same thing twice or say it in a different way to kind of put more meat on the bones. So in verse six, he says if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Well, that's really similar to saying if we say we have no sin fellowship with God, we deceive ourselves, we lie, and the truth is not in us. We do not practice the truth. See the parallels there? Well, then you get to verse seven. He says, but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Well, verse nine, if we confess our sins. Wait a second. That's different than walking in the light. Now, it's both honorable, but he's. He's filling it in a little bit more. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Just like if we walk in light as he is in life. We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness. So this is the description of a genuine believer that's being contrasted with a liar. Somebody who's professing faith, but it's not really evident in their life or their life doesn't support. And there's two different expressions of the genuineness of their faith. Walking in the light as he is in the light and confessing sins because he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Now, those are two different things. Hear me now, those are two different things. Often they kind of get brought together as in when we say walk in the light, we mean bring your sin out and expose it. Like bring your sin into the light. That is a good godly practice. I just don't think that's what John's saying here. Walking in the light is connected to God is light, and in him there's no darkness at all. And we want to have fellowship with him. So walk in the light, be holy, because your heavenly Father is holy. Like the call to walk in the light is a call to holy living. But then you get down and he kind of repeats himself with different words in verse nine, and he's calling us not to walk in the light, but to confess our sins. So John is advocating for both. Don't sin, confess sin. Don't sin, confess sin. Which one is it? If you think about it, if that's the case, you have to fail in one in order to succeed in the other. I'm not supposed to sin, but I'm supposed to confess my sin. So if I confess my sin, I didn't do very good at the first command. Kind of confusing. Which one is it, John? Do you want me not to sin or do you want me to confess my sins? Yes, but listen, this is the beauty of the Christian life. Here's what John's saying. This should be your pursuit in life, holiness, to honor God in all your life and all your decisions and all your actions and all your thoughts and all your words that you would. That would be your pursuit, closeness with God. But I know we're sinners, so listen, you have security when you fail. We'll get into in a little bit. In verse one of chapter two, we have an advocate, right Jesus Christ, the righteousness. So we have security when you fail. Confess your sins, and he's faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. It's the beauty of the Christian Life. Make this your pursuit. And this is your security, right? Make this your pursuit. Holiness. But you're not perfect. And when you fail, we have Jesus Christ the righteous to advocate for us and to forgive us of all our sins. Isn't that wonderful? But here's the tension, all right? If this is your pursuit, this is your security. If this is not your pursuit, this should not be your security. You with me now, less amens. Like, if you're passionate to pursue holiness in your life and walk in the light and have fellowship with God, relax. You have an advocate. Nobody's perfect. You confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. But if this isn't your pursuit and you just want to live however you want to live and do whatever you want to do, and you claim the name of Christ, you should not have security in the work of Jesus Christ. Like, just because there is payment for sin does not mean there's permission to sin. That's Paul's argument in Romans 6:1, where he's like, hey, should we just go on sinning that grace may abound? What's the answer to that? By no means. Like, if that's the conclusion you've come to, you've completely misunderstand the Gospel. You've completely misunderstand what you're invited into. But still, it's not about perfection. John's not calling us to be perfect. There's not this expectation of a sinless life. But this is about authenticity. Like, is there genuine heart change? Do you now have a passion to be close to God and to honor him in all your life? Like, is there an authenticity in here? And you'll notice John uses throughout his letter here phrases like walk in darkness or practice sin. And it's more than just a lifelong struggle, because until Christ comes and makes all things new, welcome to the struggle, right? But it's a description of a lifestyle and a pursuit. Like, I want the flesh. I want what this world has to offer. I'm going to call myself a Christian, but. But this is my pursuit and this is my lifestyle. John's saying that doesn't jive. Like that doesn't support that doesn't line up. That doesn't point to a new heart, that doesn't point to being made into a new creation in Christ. In fact, here's what he says. Chapter two, verse one. My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Now John is not saying that a sinless life is possible. What he is saying is, I'm writing these things to you so you don't think that sin is just no big deal. Because remember what they were dealing with, with the false teachers, with the Gnostics that were coming in? They thought the body was evil, but the spirit's good. So it doesn't really matter what you do in the body. You do it. Live however you want. Does that sound like a familiar message? Today you do, you. You live however you want. And people do that. Embrace that and still try to hold on to the name of Christ. I'm a Christian, but I'm in charge of my life and I'll do what I want. And John's saying, like, no, no, no, no, no. Don't think that sin is no big deal. Sin is a big deal. And I'm writing these things to you so that you don't sin. I don't want you to sin. Don't engage with that. Don't think about that. Don't go there. Don't look at that website. Don't get involved in that. Like, I don't want you to sin. Like, that's what John is clearly saying. But he also knows, I know we're sinners. I know nobody's perfect. So don't get too discouraged when that's the pursuit of your life. You got an advocate. We got an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. There's another way. Jesus Christ, who is completely sufficient to be our advocate. He's righteous. He's got you. He intercedes on our behalf for the Father. So what does this practically look like in the life of a believer, though? Because you get this call like, don't sin. Walk in the light. Pursue holiness. Confess your sins. I don't want you to sin. That's why I'm writing this. But you have an advocate if you do sin. Like, what's the tension? How does that go together practically in the life of a believer? Well, here's what we need to know. Genuine believers both seek to avoid sin and confess sin. Genuine believers both seek to avoid sin and confess sin. And there's so much there I want to talk about, but maybe we'll get deeper in the beyond. The message of, like, how do we go about fighting sin? Or what are some guidelines or wisdom in practicing confession of sin? We don't have time for that now, but let me kind of advocate it for both of those things briefly. And I just want to say that, guys, we need to reignite a passion in our lives for holiness. Like a zeal to actually fight sin, to kill sin, to put it to death. We can't be passive in this. Like, it has to be an ambition of the Christian to be holy and not engage in sin. And if you think I'm being a little dramatic, here's some Bible verses to support this. This was Paul in Colossians 3. Put to what? Death. Death. Therefore, what is earthly in you? Sexual immorality, impurity, passions, evil desires and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these things, the wrath of God is coming in these. You too once walked, communicating. There's been a change when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth. Put it to death. Here's another one. Romans 13. Let us walk properly as in the daytime. Not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual morality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. Give it no room, no provisions for it. Hebrews 12. This is interesting. Consider him. This is Jesus who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, that you may not grow weary or faint hearted. Weary or faint hearted in what? In your struggle against what sin? In our fight. In our struggle against sin. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood, which is what Jesus did. Did anybody in here have like an old school dad? This is an old school dad verse. Here's what he's saying. You need to fight sin. And if you're not bleeding yet, what are you whining about? Get back to the fight. That's what he's saying. Just to clarify, that's my paraphrase. 2nd Timothy 2:22. So flee youthful passions, like run from it. One more. This is in Matthew, Sermon on the Mount. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members, that your whole body that go to hell. Jesus is saying there should be a severity and a seriousness in how we deal with sin, as we need to recapture a fight for sin. And for a lot of us it seems like we can fall into sin. Like, I didn't mean to do that. I didn't want to do that. It just kind of happened. But that's very different than fighting sin. Like actively, strategically trying to rid sin of your life, suffocate it, to get rid of it. And part of the fight against sin is confession. Confession. James 5, 16. James says, Confess your sins to one another, that you may be healed. Why didn't he say, confess your sins to one another, that you may be forgiven? Because you confess your sins to God for forgiveness. But he's talking about our growth spiritually, that we would be healed, and that is a community effort, that we would be held accountable by one another, that we'd be spurred on by one another. Like, this is a part of our fight to sin. You do bring it into the light with other brothers and sisters that we may be healed, that we may grow. But here's the key. Here's the key to fighting sin. It's the why behind all of this. It's fellowship. He says, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. What things? Well, in the immediate context, it's this call to fellowship. I got something that'll make your joy complete. I want you to be close to God because we're not just being called away from something. We're being called to someone. And if you make the fight against sin all about sin, it will not go well. You make the fight against sin about God. You pursue God because God is light, and in him there's no darkness at all. And John's talking about a joy that'll make our joy complete. And there needs to be a passion for closeness and intimacy with God. And that is what kills sin. That's what suffocates sin in our life. So you can maybe adjust the big idea. Genuine believers both seek to avoid sin and confess sin in the pursuit of fellowship and church. Let me just tell you, there is nothing sweeter than closeness with God. And it's possible even now, there's no level of joy, peace, contentment available to you in this world than what is given to us in a close relationship with our Maker. It should be the pursuit of our lives. Like, there's nothing more important than that. There's nothing else that can deliver like that. But for a lot of us, we've made Christianity about heaven and not about God. So we talk about it, Are you in or are you out? Rather than, are you close or are you far? Are you in, Are you out? That's not the way John talks about salvation. It's not the way the New Testament talks about salvation. Eternal life is to know him. The One true God and his Son, Jesus Christ, to be reconciled back to him. And there's nothing better than that. And sometimes we talk about the sweetness of fellowship, the joy of closeness to God, the peace that he brings, the contentment for a lot of people, a lot of church people. That just sounds foreign. It sounds foreign because it's like, I believe in God. I believe in Jesus. I don't know that. I don't know anything of that. And maybe. Maybe you're lying. You're lying to yourself. Maybe you've told yourself you have fellowship with God and you don't. And John is saying, I got something that'll make your joy complete, that he's calling us to. And I bet you want it and you want to know how to get it. Think of it this way. How many of you in here like roller coasters? I know some of you don't, but I love roller coasters when I fit in them. Sometimes I get the special seat. I almost died on one. That's a story for another time. All right. I love it. Like, you're, you know, up to that kind of anticipation, and then you drop and your hands go up and your stomach goes up and you turn and you go upside down. It's just this thrill. Like, I love that feeling. Can you imagine talking to somebody in the office around the water cooler? And they love roller coasters. And they just start complaining a little bit. Like, I don't feel that anymore. I don't feel the stomach drop. I don't feel the adrenaline. I don't. I miss that. I want that. I don't feel that. What's wrong with me? And you're like, well, you're not on a roller coaster. Like, that's not a tough question. Like, that feeling is connected with that activity. And we think that's really simple. How often in church do you talk with professing Christians? It's like, I don't know, Joy. I'm not content. I'm angry all the time. I'm worried all the time. I don't. Like, I miss. I don't have closeness. Like, what's wrong? And for John, he's saying, well, you're not in fellowship. Like, those feelings are connected with that activity. You're flirting with sin. You're entertaining yourself with smut. You're far more devoted to lesser things than a holy God. You're greedy. You don't give anything at all. Or if you do, it's like 2%. You have no devotion to his church. You're hiding sin. You're wrapped up in this world, you're more passionate about politics and the kingdom of God. And you want to know why you don't feel the joy of fellowship of God. And John comes along like a loving pastor. He's like little children. I want you to know something. God is light, like he's perfect. There's no darkness in him at all. And he's real. And you can know him through Jesus Christ. You can know him. He will be a forgiver of your sin. He will be your advocate. And you can walk closely in fellowship with God. And there's nothing sweeter than that. And we need to recapture, not just to fight against sin. We don't want to turn into just a bunch of legalists, but we need to recapture a passion for closeness to God and hate anything that gets in the way of our closeness with Him. And you can see a passion for closeness with God in the lives of people who avoid sin and confess sin. And as we get ready to take communion, I want you to hear me, Church. You can confess sin. You can. He's faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And you have an advocate who pleads your case before the Father and invites you into fellowship with himself. And if you see that as the sweetest thing that could ever be offered to you, you get it. You get it and it's real. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would do what only you can do, that you in this room right now would convict of sin. I pray that for every one of us by your spirit, you would give us that uncomfortable feeling of guilt and shame for the ways that we've sinned against you. You would bring specific sins to mind. You would break our heart over those sins. And I just want to thank you that we're in the sweetest place for that to happen right now. As we remember your sacrifice, your body, your blood that was shed. And we would come before you in confession knowing we can. You are faithful and just to forgive. Pray this in your name. Amen.