Life and Fellowship in Chris..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. The first letter of the Apostle John, we are going to continue with our study on this first letter of the Apostle John given by the Spirit of the Lord to the church in the first century and by his providence and his decree. This is the written word of God given to us as the church.

And I hope if the Lord allows that we may be able perhaps to finish these first four verses in chapter one. May the Lord help us to have clarity of thoughts and efficiency and communication, so I will be able to preach this burden to you, brethren. So we're going to be addressing once again the first four verses of chapter one, the first letter of John. What we are going to be doing is that we're going to be reading the whole chapter one. I'm going to be reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible all the way through chapter two, verse two.

And what we are going to be addressing this afternoon, brothers and sisters, and friends who are with us is the message of these four verses. The last couple of times that I had the opportunity to preach to you from this pulpit or as a church together, I tried to communicate to you two important ideas. The first one is that genuine salvation is not so much a condition of the soul, but rather genuine salvation is Jesus Christ. But when we are saved by grace through faith, we have the life of Christ in us. And because we have the life of Christ in us, then the condition of the Christian is categorically different to the condition of Adam in the garden before the fall.

There's no comparison between the life that the Christian has within because he's the life of Christ compared with the righteous life of Adam before the fall. So the first thing that I wanted to share with you is that if by grace through faith you are in Christ, then the life that you leave is the life of the son of God. The eternal life is the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the second thing that I wanted to share with you is that genuine salvation is fellowship. It's not only that it's Jesus Christ, but genuine salvation is fellowship and produces fellowship.

For a person to be genuinely saved, that person must enter into a fellowship or relationship or union with God in the person of Jesus Christ. And that fellowship that we have with him will eventually produce genuine fellowship with those who are by grace through faith saved in the same person. Fellowship with the brethren. The apostle says in verse Six, that if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. Or in verse seven, that if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with the other.

Those are the two things, my dear brother and sister, that I wanted to share with you. That eternal life is Jesus Christ. Glory to the Lord, that if by grace through faith we are saved, then it's not I who lives anymore, but it's Christ who lives in me. And the life that now I live in the flesh will be by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, the apostle Paul says in Galatians chapter 2. that is Christ in us.

And second is that by virtue of that genuine salvation, I can have fellowship with the God of the universe, the one that is so apart, the one that is so different to everything that has been created. He has come descended in Christ in such a way that I can have a genuine fellowship with Jesus Christ that is to be saved. And by virtue of this relationship that now I have with Christ, I can genuinely say that I can love you, not with my love, but with the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, even going above those things that will naturally separate us, namely sin. Those are the only two things that I wanted to say. And in a sense, the last couple of times that I have been addressing these verses, I have been doing it from my topical point of view, just addressing those two topics, eternal life being Jesus Christ, and fellowship being this requirement, if you want, for genuine salvation and the outcome of it.

What I want to do today, and I really hope that the Lord might help me with thoughts and efficiency in words, is to speak about the message of these four verses. We're going to speak about the message of the apostle that is communicating here in these four verses. And I hope that. then from there we will be able to move into the contents of this letter. Remember that I said to you that 1 John is a practical exposition, if you want, of John 17, verse 3, in which the apostle says that this is eternal life, that we will know the only true and living God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, knowledge.

If you want, you could replace that word in John 17, verse 3, with union or fellowship. to eternal life, to have genuine fellowship with the Father and with the Son. And what we have in the first letter of John is just a practical exposition of the manifestations, the realities, if you want, of the Christian life. How are we going to say that Christianity is powerless? How are we going to say that Christianity is just the same type of life that anyone could have if we say that Christianity is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that eternal life is to be in fellowship with Him?

How are we going to conclude that our life is meant to be religious and dead and cold and indifferent, and that even when we hear, as our brother was preaching, that He is the Word of God, our heart will be dull or cold before those words? Not possible, not possible. So this is what I want to share with you, my dear brethren and brothers and sisters and friends and whoever is online. And in that purpose, I ask you that you pray in your hearts that the Lord will give me efficiency of words and that the thoughts will be properly translated to your language as they come through my mouth so that it will make sense. Let's read together chapter one and the first two verses of chapter two.

Let us read as those who have faith and let us read as those who believe the words that are given to us. And let us read as those whose hearts have been taken in affection and love for the creator of this universe. This is the word of the Lord. that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.

that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too might have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy or your joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

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. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin, but if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins.

and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Amen. This is the reading of the Word of the Lord. And brethren, as I said, my desire is to speak to you about the message that we find here in these four verses of this first letter of the Apostle John to the church, this message of the Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, given to the early church, not only, but also to us by the extended providence of the Lord, speaking to us about practical matters of the Christian life. As I have said to you, if we were going to summarize the contents of this book, we could say that this book, these five chapters, address the characteristics of a genuine believer.

If you were going to check the reality of what the Spirit of God has done or has not done in your heart and in your soul, then this book, and of course, the Holy Scripture, a two-edged sword, but in particular, this book will give you a testimony of where your soul truly is. Before the Lord, your soul is left naked. There's no place where a person can hide. There's no place or room in the heart of man where we can run away from the knowledge of God that discerns and knows every single secret of your mind, of your heart, of your soul, of your past, of your present. and even knowing the things that you will do in the future, the two edges or the power of the words of God.

Now, they're clearly seen here in First John. What I said to you is that it's important for us if we are going to understand the practical manifestations of the Christian life, that we will understand the assumptions that the apostle make in the beginning of this letter, namely in the first four verses. And that pertains to Eternal life in the person of Jesus Christ. I have said now already and repeat to you, I'm not ashamed to do it because that helps us in our fleshly minds and also for our souls. That the first idea that I wanted to share with you is that eternal life is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Very important, my dear soul. The soul that you profess to have is meant to be the son of God. The life that you profess to have in your heart is not your life anymore. It's meant to be the life of the creator, the one who spoke and all things came into existence. That is meant to be the life that is in the heart and in the soul of the person who professes to be in Christ.

And that is meant to be also seen in a glorious, ongoing, unstoppable fellowship of your soul with your savior, with your redeemer, that is to be manifested in fellowship with your brethren, with your brothers and with your sisters. Now, let me attempt, by the help of the Spirit, to present to you the message of these four verses that we have in front of us. And what I want to do is just simply to do a couple of things. I want to present to you the content of the message of the Apostle John in his first letter, the content of the message, and I hope that I will be... clear in that message that he presents to you, particularly in verse 1 and verse 2.

And then I want to present to you the method of that message. The apostle is giving you, preaching to your soul, a message that I want to present to you from verses 1 and 2. And then I want to present also to you the method in which this message is given from verses 3 and 4, and may the Lord help us. Those are the only two things that I want us to do. Let us start, my dear brothers and sisters, with the content of the message of the Apostle John in these first four verses.

A message that is not only preached and written for the early church, but also for your soul. A message that is not so much by or from the Apostle John, but it's a message of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ for your soul. And there are two important ideas, there are two important concepts that Apostle John is going to present to us in this message. The first one is the eternality of Jesus. That is, that Jesus Christ is eternal, that he is not subject to time.

The eternality of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is clearly presented in verse one, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled. The apostle presents to us the eternality of the Lord Jesus Christ. not only in verse one, but also in verse two, when he says that that eternal life was with the Father. The apostle, the spirit of the Lord, wants to communicate to you.

The first thing is the eternality of the Lord Jesus Christ. Eternality is a word, right? The eternity, the eternality of the Lord Jesus Christ. The second thing that is very clearly seen there in the text, in verse one and verse two, is not only that Jesus Christ is eternal, but that Jesus Christ was manifested in time. So he says, that which was from the beginning.

And then he says, the apostle, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes and our hands and handle concerning the word of life. He says that life was manifested. The second important thing, brother, sister, dear friend, for your soul is that this Jesus Christ that we preach and that we proclaim is not only eternal, but that this Jesus Christ also was manifested in time in the flesh, the two important ideas of the message of the Apostle John in the first two verses. The important question then that we need to ask ourselves is, what does it matter? Why is it important?

How is it relevant for my soul that Jesus Christ, first of all, is eternal? What am I going to learn from this apostolic confirmation, proclamation, that that which was from the beginning or that this eternal life was with the Father? What can we learn as a church? What can we learn as a community from the eternality of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, think upon this first thing, beloved.

For someone to be eternal, then that someone must be God, you cannot have a creature that is eternal. A creature can be given eternity, but a creature, just by definition of what creature is, will have a beginning and then that creature can be given eternity. But someone who is eternal in past, who is eternal in the future is only someone that is God. And then here we confirmed and we proclaim in our heart with the saints from the very early times of the church through the ages, and I hope by the power of the Spirit sustaining the church through the ages until He comes, that Jesus Christ is not only eternal, but Jesus Christ is God. All of these things that we have already preached and confirmed in our hearts, The question that is important there is, how is it important?

Why is it important that Jesus Christ is eternal? Why is it important that Jesus Christ is God himself? Why is it important to acknowledge the deity, the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ? We could give so many answers to that question, but let me just say simply one or a couple of words. It is very important, actually, a necessity that the Lord Jesus Christ is God or may be God for the completeness of the forgiveness of your soul.

It is required that if you are going to be fully forgiven, it is required that if we say that the message of the gospel is the message that brings salvation to the sinner and salvation to the lost, that the person of that message, namely the Lord Jesus Christ, is not only man, but it's also God. The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is a necessity for the completeness of your forgiveness. If you are going to be fully forgiven by God, the creator of heaven and earth, then the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who died upon the cross for your soul, must be not only man, but he also has to be God. And the question is, why? Well, the answer is very simple.

The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. And us, fallen humanity, being in Adam, because of our sins and because of our trespasses, we are in debt with God. And the only thing that we can repay and exchange for the debt that we are before God is our life itself. The only thing that we can give in exchange to God for the debt and the transgression of our sin is our life. The wages of sin or the result of sin is death.

If we were going to be not only partially, but fully reconciled with this God in forgiveness and in retribution or appeasing the relationship between the two, then the one who was supposed to die upon the cross was to be also God. So that the fullness of the wrath of God that you deserve, that I deserve, will be fully absorbed by the person who is upon the cross. If Jesus Christ was not God, then he would be unable to receive the fullness of the wrath of God that we deserve because of our sins and because of our trespasses. Think about this. Once a person dies in their sins and in their trespasses, that person is sent to hell.

And the reason why that person is sent to hell is because the debt that we have with God is so infinite and is so great and is so majestic, not because of the amount of sin that we have committed, but against whom we have sinned. The hell must be eternal. Not even the value of my life is enough to repay the debt that I have before God himself. Not even just dying is sufficient to appease the debt that I have before God. And because taking my life is not sufficient to repay this God, this holy God against whom I have sinned, then my death has to be eternal, eternally dying.

And this eternity will never come to an end. He is holy, holy, holy. And my sin is so great, not because I have the ability to just sin gratefully. Not only that, but because I have sinned against the one that is holy. Hence, not even my life.

is enough to repay this eternal God. And if it was not because of Jesus Christ, then I would spend the rest of eternity in hell trying to repay you for the sins that I have committed against the Lord. But thanks be to the God of this universe. that He sent His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not only man, but is also God Himself. So that when He died upon the cross, He received the fullness of the wrath of God.

And as we sang, as we were starting worship, His wrath was fully satisfied. And the only reason why the wrath was fully satisfied, it was because Jesus Christ is God Himself. What a glorious thought that God himself would die for the soul of a sinner. If you know the things that you have done in the past, If you have a certain level of understanding of the things that you have committed in the past, even the things that are presently in your heart, yet God, knowing not only what you have done in the past and the things that you have in your heart, but even more than that, knowing the things that are unknown to you, that are secret to you even in your heart, and knowing the things that you will do in the future that is to come, if you have a future according to his providence. that he, Jesus Christ, being God himself, decided to go upon the cross to give his life for you.

Now, brother and sister, this is the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the power of God unto salvation. This glorious exchange Because it is not only that Jesus Christ upon the cross received the fullness of the wrath of God that you deserve because of your trespasses, but it's also that Jesus Christ being a righteous man and being the righteous God gives you by virtue of your faith that happens to be also a gift of God, His righteousness. So that you are not only completely forgiven, but that you are completely saved. Your salvation is complete because of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, when the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross, He said, "...it is finished." He was not talking about salvation being finished. He was speaking about the atonement. He was speaking about the work that the father had given him to complete.

He died upon the cross and he was finished. In a sense, the work of salvation was just starting because you were going to come upon a time, you were going to be born and the spirit of God was going to draw you close to the father. And upon the hearing of the message of the gospel, you will be vitally united to this glorious God. and by virtue of the gift of the righteousness of Christ, that is not the righteousness of Moses, that is not the righteousness obedience to the law, but is the righteousness of God given to you, then you can have full assurance that your salvation is completed. Come with me to Revelation.

Perhaps you have not seen this before. And I'm tempted just to show you this very quickly before I move on. Go to Revelation chapter 21. The Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross said, It is finished. It is finished, the work of atonement completed in a sense.

His life given for the church. The wrath of God fully absorbed by the Son of God, who is God himself upon the cross. And then we have here in Revelation chapter 21, I look into the things that are going to come and have place in the future. In Revelation 21, it says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more, and I saw the holy city.

New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. He, that is God, will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.

Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne, pay attention to this. And he who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. This is the consummation of all things. This is the consummation of salvation.

And also he said, write these down for these words are trustworthy and truth. And he said to me, it is done. It is done. that which I promised before the ages began, that promise of eternal life given to my son when no one had been created, that my people will be rescued from among sinners. that a people and deserving people, sinners, corrupt and weakened in the depths of their thoughts, in the depths of their hearts, that they will be rescued by the mercies of God.

And those mercies will be manifested and the father will send his son, the eternal word of God, not only a man, but also God himself to come and live and obey perfectly. Not only the law of Moses, as if the law of Moses, as if the righteousness of the law of Moses would be able to place us in heaven. Not only that, beyond that, the commandment that the Father had given to the Son in eternity past, fulfilling Moses, the entirety of the law, but beyond that, the requirements of the Father. so that those who are in grace and in union with Christ by faith will not only be forgiven from the wrath of God that they deserve, but this glorious righteousness of God in Jesus Christ will be given to them. And by virtue of this divine righteousness of Christ, they will have the certainty not only that they are forgiven, it is finished upon the cross, but also they will have the certainty that new heavens, new earth, where righteousness dwells, It is done, partakers of the new heavens, partakers of the new earth.

Then the Lord, who had been the object of the worship of all the creatures by virtue of being creator. When the Lord Jesus Christ, upon his coronation, enters into heaven as the man who had fulfilled the requirements of the law and as the man who had fulfilled the requirements of the father entering is the one that is worthy. To take the scroll from the one that is seated upon the throne. Now to change the focus of worship in heaven. Once the Lord being worshipped as the Creator, now worshipped as Savior.

Because not even the imputation of the righteousness of Adam in the garden will be able to place us in heaven. But is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who is not only man, but is also God, the one that is able to fully make us partakers of forgiveness and also give us the glorious promise of the fullness and the consummation of our salvation. So that those words that Apostle Paul or the Apostle John brought, it is done, are spoken also to us. Creatures who are within time. Temporal creatures who have not seen tomorrow.

Temporal creatures who cannot experience the next second, yet by virtue of our faith, the substance that apprehends the things that we're hoping for, we can say it is done. Partakers of new heavens and new earth. Why? Because the one who died upon the cross was not only men, but it was Also, God. Now, I'm not going to be able to preach everything that I wanted to share with you.

I just checked the time, but let me just simply go from where the Spirit leads us. And I hope that this is a blessing for your soul, because beloved of Jesus Christ, it was not only that this Jesus Christ is men in the flesh dying, but the apostle, when he's pointing to the eternality of Jesus Christ, he also wants to point and make sure that we understand that even though the Son of God who came in the flesh is God, he's in a distinction with the Father. Pay attention to the text, he says, that which was from the beginning, if you return to 1 John. that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have the unhandles concerning the words of life. The life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life that was with the Father and was manifested to us.

That eternal life or the eternal life in verse two in the end, the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. This Jesus Christ, brother, sister, dear friend, whatever your attention is, this Jesus Christ whom we preached is not only God himself, but being God himself is distinct and different from the Father. And the powerful thing of this is that from the text we conclude that this Jesus Christ who is eternal, was in fellowship or in relationship with the father before creation began. And we are told that this person with whom he was in fellowship is called the father. And then we know from Second John that Jesus Christ, of course, is the son, as he says, the father of the son in truth and love.

The question is, How is this distinction between the father and the son important for the Christian life that the apostle is going to address in the rest of the letter? Well, if the eternity and the divinity or the deity of Christ is vital for the completeness of your forgiveness, remember that I said that because he is God, then your forgiveness is complete. And because he is God, your salvation is complete. Because of the deity of Jesus Christ, you can be fully assured that your sins have been fully forgiven. He absorbed the wrath of God.

But now, because and by virtue of the relationship that exists between the Father and the Son, we can claim the genuineness of that forgiveness. because of the relationship between the father and the son, we can be certain that our forgiveness is not fictitious, as some Catholics try to say, that the righteousness that we receive is just not an abstract idea that is infused or given to us, but rather that the righteousness that we have or that the forgiveness that we have is genuine and is real. And then you will say, how do we conclude that I, as a Christian who has, by God's grace, experienced forgiveness and salvation, how can I conclude when I meditate upon the relationship of the father with the son that my forgiveness, that my debt has been genuinely paid? Well, my brother and my dear sister, For your forgiveness to be genuine, the person dying upon the cross had to genuinely obey requirements or commandments. You see, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.

And even though the Lord Jesus Christ is God himself, he was made in the flesh, incarnate in the appearance of man, and he had to submit himself to the requirements of the law. Even with bread, he learned obedience. He grew in obedience. It was required that the Lord Jesus Christ will fully and generally obey not only the requirements of the law of Moses, but more importantly, that the Lord Jesus Christ will obey the requirements of the Father before the foundation of the world. The obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ was genuine.

And hence, when He died upon the cross, His righteousness was generally given to us and we are generally forgiven. How are we going to be forgiven if this admission of the Lord Jesus Christ was not to someone else, but to himself as some claim? You see, there are so many people, actually many, many people who claim that God is only one and that God just simply manifests through times with different names and with different modes and with different manifestations. But that just being one, there's only one person and one God. And the father is the son and the son is the father and the father is the spirit and the spirit is the son and the son is the spirit.

And it's only one God and one person. But that the faith of the Gospel and the faith of the Scripture says that the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father, that the Spirit is not the Son and that the Son is not the Spirit, that all of them are equally God-Q-eternal. But they are distinguished, the persons of the Trinity, the eternal Word. the eternal Jesus Christ who was with the Father. And because this relationship is not fictitious, and because this relationship is not made up, and because this relationship is just not simply an idea of God trying to portray himself as someone that can be understood by humans, but rather the Father is genuinely the Father of the Son, and genuinely the Son is the Son of the Father, then the obedience and the submission of the Son to the Father was real.

In eternity past, the father promised that he was going to set apart a people unto himself. And there was a requirement for that to take place. That is, that someone would have to give his life, that someone will have to enter into creation, that someone will have to take the weight of the wrath of the people that had sinned or will sin against God. Then the son of God says, that is me, O father. I will fulfill your requirements.

I'm the only one who is able not only to love you and to submit entirely to you, but to love these people. That is me." Then the son, in love not only to the father, but also to those people who will be saved, gave himself, the father gave the son, so that this son will submit Genuinely to the Father that this son will come and say, Father, I have completed the work that you have given me to do. Father, I have pleased you in everything that you have required of me. Father, I have followed every single word that you required of me.

I have done everything that you required of me. So then when the gates of heaven will be open or were open, Jesus Christ indeed, Enter the heavenly places by virtue of his genuine obedience to the Father. The Son submitted to the Father for your soul. For your soul, you who know the depths of your soul, the depths of your mind, the depths of everything that you've done, things that you will not even present to your spouse, things that you will not even reveal to us because we will run away from each other. God, knowing the fullness of everything that was in our hearts, knowing the fullness of everything that is in our minds, the Son said, I will submit to you, O my Father, eternally begotten of the Father, eternally the Son of God.

It's not that Jesus Christ became the Son of God, but He is the Son of God. I will submit to you, O Father. And by virtue of this glorious and perfect obedience of the Son to the Father, by virtue of His glorious obedience, not only to Him, but to the requirements of the law that are convicting us and that are a burden upon our shoulders, by virtue of this genuine, full, and complete and glorious obedience, He could fulfill the requirement that without the shedding of the blood, there is no forgiveness of remissions of sin. The Lamb of God now is ready to go to the altar. The Lamb of God, who has completed the work of the Father, ready, fully prepared on that day to go up the mountain and to go up the cross to give his life for those who many times in the future will reject him.

But when they come, a point in time in which the Spirit of God will bring those to conviction and capture them by the power of the gospel. The apostle wants to speak to your soul, my dear brother and sister, that this Jesus Christ of ours, that this savior of ours is eternal because he is God. But he also, he is in a glorious, distinct relationship with the father, that he is the son and he is the father. And that as they have fellowship one with the other, we can also have fellowship with the father and with the son. A great topic that we could discuss.

The second thing that I wanted to speak to you, the second thing that I wanted to speak to you was not only the eternity or the eternality of the Lord Jesus Christ that is seen in that Jesus Christ is God and that Jesus Christ has a distinct fellowship or relationship with the Father. But the second thing that I said to you is that he was manifested, right? That he came in the flesh. We are told there in verse two, the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the father and was made manifest to us. What can you learn, my dear soul, from the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ?

How is the incarnation of this Lord of yours important for your soul? How is the coming in the flesh, the manifestation of the Son of God important for you, dear soul, who in the burden of your sins came upon the cross, came in the feet of the cross, and all your burdens were taken by the Spirit of God? How is this beneficial for you? Let me just point you to something here, that the text and the scriptures do not say that Jesus Christ manifested himself in time. But rather, the testimony of these 4 verses and the testimony of the Scriptures, as I'm going to quote very soon, prove that the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ was the will of the Father.

That the Word of God was manifested. That Jesus Christ, the Eternal One, that was from the beginning, He was manifested. Or as Paul would say in 1 Peter, As Peter will say in 1 Peter 1, verse 19 through 22, that the Lord Jesus Christ has been made manifest in this last day for the sake of you. Or just simply perhaps will do the most popular verse that we know in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. The manifestation, the incarnation of Christ is a testimony to the willingness of the Father to save your soul in eternity past.

When he knew all things that will come to take place. When he knew the unrighteousness of humanity and the amount of sin and wickedness that we will see and experience. And even the unrighteousness and the wickedness that we have not seen or experienced yet. It was the will of the Father when he could have chosen not to engage himself in this task of redemption. When he could have just remained himself, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

in perfect communion and in glory, it was the will of God to manifest His Son in the flesh and in time, for the sake of Peter, it says in 1 Peter 1, verses 19-22, for the sake of you, for the church, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. If when the wickedness of a person is revealed and manifested to another person, This person at times is so greatly offended by the revealing of the unrighteousness of this person that at times it's easier for this person simply to create a wall of separation or just simply to depart ways and have nothing to do with this person whose wickedness has been revealed. And if we find certain level of righteousness or correctness at times in departing from that which is unrighteous or that person who is wicked, Imagine how much reason and right God in eternity past had not to engage in any task of redemption, not to engage in any work of coexisting with wicked and unrighteous creatures. How much right the perfect and holy and elevated God of this universe in eternity has had not to exercise any decree of creation, but just to remain in his perfection. Yet, because of love and because of compassion and because of mercy, He was willing to give the promise of eternal life.

And in that promise of eternal life, it was required that he would manifest his son in time, the object of his love, knowing that he was going to die upon the cross, knowing that his beloved son was going to receive the unrighteousness of the church, knowing that his beloved son was going to die and experience that, the willingness of the father. I don't know about you, If at many times we are disappointed with the emotions of those around us, if at many times we are just frustrated with the sins and the lack of love and the things and the problems of those around us, how is that going to be now important? If we know that the creator of this universe, when he could have chosen not to engage in saving you and redeeming you, he chose to do so, not only in a simple way, but in giving his son, Jesus Christ. How are the temporary things going to be important? How is the tomorrow, the work, and the money, and the savings, and the future, and the government, and my clothes, now are going to be important?

What other thing is to be pursued other than to meditate and to give oneself into thinking about this glorious love that the Father had for this wicked sinner? That even though, even in the greatest of my prayers, and in the greatest of my messages, and in the greatest of my meditations, there is enough sin to send all of us to hell. That even in that particular moment, He chooses to continue to sustain us by the love that He manifested, not only upon the cross, but before the creation of this world. the incarnation of the son, a testimony to the father's willingness to redeem your wicked son. How was he going to do it?

Through the humiliation of his son, because Jesus Christ did not consider robbery to be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation coming in the likeness of many in the appearance of men. He made himself like one of us, and he humbled himself. even to the point of death, and death of a cross, the humiliation of the one who was exalted in glory. How difficult it is at times for us just to be humble, even with our brothers or sisters who are in the same unrighteous and wicked condition, yet the God of this universe, the one who has the right to be exalted, the one who is glorious, the one that is above all, He humiliated, condescended, He humbled Himself to be like one of us who died upon the cross, coming in the likeness of men, to redeem your soul. Brother and sister, What a glorious savior we have.

What a mighty savior we have. How are we going to call this religion? How is this going to be one other activity that we do on a Sunday? How is this going to be something that I do just to appease my religious conscience? How is this going to be something that I do just not to bother the person who invited me?

How are we going to do this just for the sake of doing it? He loved us. He gave himself for us. And remove the collective pronoun. He loved you.

And if by grace we faith you are saved, he gave his life for you. How can that be summarized? God died for you. Jesus Christ got himself eternal, being him distinct from the father. He died for your wicked soul.

Whatever unrighteousness you have inside of you that nobody else knows, he knows it absolutely all. Yet he chose before the foundation of the world to give himself for your soul. And in dying upon the cross as the divine, he guarantees the fullness of forgiveness of your sins and the completion of your salvation. The message of the apostle, that which was from the beginning. which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life.

The life was made manifest and we have seen it and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. Then, in verse three, if time allows, and I hope that he does allow us to speak, in verse three he gives us the method of how this message is given. My dear brother and sister, it says, that which we have seen and heard. Now, please bear with me. I will really try to complete a message as I had intended to do.

So please bear with me. There's a doctrine that I want to teach you here or that I want us to meditate upon, not being pretentious, just to share with you in verse 3. So please bear with me here. It says, that which we have seen. Who wrote this letter, brethren?

John, so he says here, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you so that you may so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy or your joy may be complete. He says that which we have seen and heard, that we have seen and heard, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim, we preach to you. In verse five, he makes it a little bit more clear.

It says, this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you. You see this? This is the message that we have seen or this is the Jesus Christ that we have experienced. This is the message that we heard. And then we proclaim to you.

The method is simple. It's a message received, right? And a message that is given, a message that is received or heard. A transaction is done and then a message that is conveyed or communicated. And here we have an important distinction.

The apostle is only him writing. We know in verse one of chapter two, if you say, my little children, if you say, if you see verse one of chapter two, it says, my little children, I, singular pronoun, right? I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. Yet, in the first verses, in the three verses, he puts himself in the collective when he says, that which we have seen or that which we have heard, we proclaim to you. And as we have mentioned before, and I'm not going to give much explanation on that, this is just simply the way that the apostles will speak of the apostolic authority in their proclamation and in their writings.

If you want to see a similar example of something that happens like this, you can see 2nd Peter, chapter one, in which the apostle Peter is going to speak to the church, saying that your faith is of equal standing with ours. Speaking of the faith of the apostles that he explains from verse 16 onwards. Here we have the apostolic authority. in the message, how it is proclaimed. Now, bear with me because there's something important that I want to share with you that I think is going to help us to have a greater appreciation of the Word of God and also to defend our faith properly.

Here we have the apostolic testimony as the method through which this glorious message of the gospel is proclaimed. Everything that I said before, Jesus Christ being God himself, eternal, Jesus Christ coming in the flesh, being distinct from the Father, all of these glorious message of the gospel, the method by which this glorious message is given to us, the churches, the apostles receive the message. And the apostles communicated that message. What is the apostolic ministry? What is it?

If we were going to summarize the apostolic ministry, we would just simply say that the apostles were those men whom Jesus Christ chose or appointed with the purpose to be with Him. To be with Him. What concept comes into your mind? Fellowship, as the apostle has it here, that which we have seen, which we have heard, which we have looked upon and hence can handle. So apostles of the apostolic ministry are those whom the Lord chose to be with the Lord Jesus Christ to preach or to communicate the message of the Lord Jesus Christ with the presence of the miraculous.

You see those four elements? The apostolic ministry is those or the apostles are those men who were chosen or appointed, if you want, by Jesus Christ to be with him, to have fellowship with Christ, to preach the message of Christ and then forward with the presence of the miraculous. So let me just show you that from Mark chapter three. And I hope that from there I can make the argument of what I want to present to you. Please, to Mark chapter three.

The apostolic ministry, men chosen by Christ, right? First thing to be with Christ, to preach the message of Christ with the presence of the miraculous. In Mark chapter three, if you go to the choosing of the apostles in verse 13. So please pay attention to what we're going to read from there. I will just try to make the point that I want to share with you so that we will be able to finish on the time that we have.

And he went up on the mountain and called to him, that is the Lord, those whom he desired. And they came to him, verse 14, and he appointed 12. You see that word there, appointed by Christ? He appointed 12 whom he also named apostles. You may have a different relation there, but the same in Luke.

So that day that is the chosen ones, the appointed ones. Who is this? The apostles, right? Rather, the apostles that they may be with him. The purpose of the choosing of these apostles initially was that they will be with him.

In other words, that which we have seen, that which we have touched with our hands, have fellowship with him, that they were with the Lord. Right. That they will be with him. First. Second thing.

Third thing. And he may send them out to preach. That is the message that they were going to be taught. That is the message that they were going to preach. And verse 15, have authority to cast out demons or to heal sickness.

Perhaps a different translation that you might add there, with the presence of the miraculous. Can you see it there? So these apostles, what is the apostolic ministry? This apostolic ministry, these apostles are just men that are appointed by God. to have fellowship, to be with the Lord, to be instructed by the Lord, to receive from the Lord.

Remember the message that we have heard that we receive from him, we declare to you for the purpose of preaching this message, the message of Jesus Christ with the presence, with the authority to do the miraculous. Now, Be with me here. I don't even know what I'm going to say next, but please be with me because I want to share this very important thing with you, my beloved brother and sister. One would say that upon the calling of these apostles in this particular moment here in Mark chapter 3 and whatever other passage in the other Gospels, that whenever they were called and whenever they came in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, that these apostles did not only start to learn from this Lord Jesus Christ of theirs and ours, that by being with him they were instructed and taught, but also one would say that they were getting equipped and ready to go and do all the things that they were supposed to do. Imagine being with the Lord Jesus Christ, living and having fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, having theological questions about those things of the Old Testament that took place.

You have the best teacher of the world. You have the Word of God to teach you, to instruct you, to guide you and to give you of His power, so that when you preach the message, people will see that you have been with this man, Jesus Christ. Yet, as we progress through the Scriptures... I know we're not going to read it, but as you progress through the Scriptures, You will see, actually, let me just show you one, just to have peace of conscience. If you go to chapter six, as you progress through the scriptures, you will see that these 12 men who were appointed by the Lord, who were chosen by the Lord, who were instructed by the Lord, who were having fellowship with the Lord, who had all this knowledge that was coming from the Lord and that had this authority to do all of these miraculous that many times during their ministry, actually, for a prolongated, if that is a word in English, elongated perhaps, for a long portion of time, that they simply did not get it.

Go to chapter 6, verse 45. Bear with me, please. I have not mentioned what I want to share with you, so please bear with me as I build the foundation of what I want to share with you. Immediately, in verse 45 in chapter 6, After he had performed a miracle, the feeding of the 5,000, in verse 45, immediately, this is just right after that miracle, immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up to the mountain to pray.

And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out.

For they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid. Verse 51. And he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased and they were utterly Astounded, for they did not understand about the loves, but their hearts were hardened.

They did not understand the purpose of the miracles. They had seen it, just seen it. They had witnessed this. They did not understand about the loves because their hearts were hardened. Heart hardened?

understanding, the ability to understand, gone. Heart that is dulled and indifferent, not even the presence of Christ, not even witnessing with the eyes the miracles of Christ, is enough. Senses overlapped or passed over, whatever the word is. Heart that is hardened, will prevent them, in that case, to understand the intention of the Lord with their miracles and the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. That happens a few times.

Go to Mark 16. Even after the resurrection, if you go to Mark 16, please. I was supposed not to point to you so much the Scriptures. Go to Mark 16. One will say, yeah, but it's a matter of time.

Just give them a little bit of time for them to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. And then they will hear the teaching of the Lord many times. And then they will learn and experience the Lord so much. It's just a matter of time. Here, after the resurrection, in verse 14, chapter 16, it says, after He appeared to the eleven themselves, after the resurrection, as they were reclining at a table, and He rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw Him after He had risen."

Resurrect the Lord Jesus Christ, apostles, these apostles on whose shoulders the spreading of the gospel is? Who have the responsibility of taking this message upon the outermost part of the earth? Hardened of heart, they do not understand the purpose of the miracles. They do not understand even the resurrection. They do not understand all of these things.

Their hearts are hardened. What is the hope now of Christianity with these men who are unlearned, who don't have letters, who do not understand? What is the hope of Christianity with men who not only not understand, but whose hearts are hardened? Well, there was something that was missing and you may know something that was. missing still to empower them so that they will have the fullness of understanding.

The Lord Jesus Christ says in John, Chapter 14, that it's good for him to go, because if he goes, then he will send another helper. He will send the comforter. This is the spirit of God, the spirit of truth that will guide the apostles and that will remind them of the things that the Lord Jesus Christ had taught them the Spirit of God was to be given. And once the Spirit of God was given, it will dwelt in them and the Spirit of God will guide them to all of this truth. That comes in Acts chapter 2, remember?

The Spirit of God comes upon the apostles and these apostles who were cowards and who were at times very difficult for them to share the gospel, were not only empowered and were encouraged to preach the gospel, but also a new light was given to them. Even they spoke in different tongues and with different languages so that other peoples will come and understand the mighty power of the Spirit of God. The Comforter came upon them, was outpoured. in their hearts, and they were enabled now to preach the gospel with might and with confidence and with boldness. But even there, there was something that was missing.

This is the point that I'm trying to make here, brothers and sisters. I'm in a very poor way communicating here. The apostles, please bear with me and pay attention to this. The apostles were appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, to preach the message of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then be partakers of the miraculous as they were preaching and receiving the authority. However, the apostles received the revelation of Christ and what Christ came to do in a progressive way.

And there was a purpose. The apostles, the ones who were with the Lord Jesus Christ, received the revelation of the purpose of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This that was in eternity past and has come and made incarnate dwelling among the disciples. They received the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and the purpose for which he came in a progressive way. Think about a glass.

The apostles were a glass and the revelation that God wanted to communicate to the world was going to be through the apostles. But the apostles were like this empty glass that slowly started just to be filled and filled and filled with the water of revelation of the message that they were supposed to preach and to communicate. And this was progressive and slowly, progressive and slowly, progressive and slowly. And the purpose of that was that once they received the fullness of the revelation of that which they were supposed to preach, once the glass was completely full, the fullness of this glass will become the standard of truth upon the which the church will be built up and stand. I have said everything that I wanted to show you from the Scriptures.

Now bear with me and now be with me and remember this. Even though the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in Acts chapter 2 in Pentecost, it took the apostle Peter 8 chapters, remember? With Cornelius to receive the fullness of the message that the people and the apostles did not know. Come with me to Acts chapter 10 and perhaps escalating from that verse will help me to make my case. Go to Acts chapter 10.

In Acts chapter 10, you have an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ who had been with the Lord Jesus Christ in the ministry, who had receiving forgiveness and restoration from the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and who had received the coming of the Spirit of God upon him on Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, and who was the head of the church in proclaiming the gospel, as you may remember, in Acts chapter 2. Yet, The apostles were growing in understanding about something that God wanted to communicate to the church. And if you go to Acts chapter 10, if you go to Acts chapter 11, actually, after I'm assuming and I hope that you remember the story of Peter and Cornelius and the conversion of Cornelius being a Gentile. And then Peter had returns to give the report upon the conversion of a man who does not belong to Israel. A Gentile has been converted and the whole household.

And then we have here in verse 18, the response of the disciples when they hear the report from the mouth of Peter. I said chapter 11, chapter 11. When they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified God, saying them to the Gentiles. Also, God has granted repentance that leads to life. Brethren, what I'm going to say or what I'm going I'm trying to say to you here is vital and it's important for the foundation of the truth of the church.

the apostles who were the ones that were in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, grew in understanding of the revelation that God in Jesus Christ came to finally communicate to the world. What was the message that Jesus Christ came to the world to finally communicate? that he is not only God and he's also man, but by coming now he came to save not only the Jews, but he came to save the world. Now, because we are Gentiles, we assume that this salvation is ours. But this was a complete shock for the people of Israel, because now this Messiah of Israel is the Savior, not only of Israel, but he's the Savior of the world.

And what God wanted to communicate to the world is that in Christ, salvation was available for everyone to the outermost part of the earth. And that included the Gentiles. Bear with me and come to Ephesians chapter three, please. Bear with me in your flesh, please, and come with me to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3.

Chapter 3, Ephesians chapter 3. Let us read and pay attention to the reading Here, brother and sister, for this reason, I, Paul, this is Paul, an apostle, right? Paul, the apostle, a prisoner for Christ, Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, You can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which, verse five, which the mystery was not made known to the sons of men in other generation, as it has now been revealed to who? To his holy apostles and prophets.

By whom? By the spirit. Pause there. Did people know of this mystery that Paul speaks about in other generations in the past? No, it was revealed by the spirit to whom?

To the holy apostles and the prophets, it says, verse five, which was which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations. And it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit. Verse six, it tells us the mystery. This mystery is that The Gentiles are followers, members of the same body and partakers of the promise that is the promise of salvation in Christ Jesus through the gospel of this gospel. I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace.

And he continues and he continues and he continues. My dear brother, my dear sister, there was a mystery that was hidden through the ages, a mystery that was hidden. The Israelites will come with their ceremonies. The Israelites will come with their system of religion that was God given to perform religion activities that were pointed to their God. But there was a mystery that was hidden.

And that was that this God was not only the God of the Israelites, but this God is the God of the world. And he has promised that he will make a way to everyone for them to be saved in the person of Jesus Christ. from whatever they come, every nation, every tongue, every people at the outermost part of the earth will have access to the God of heaven through Jesus Christ, who is not only the Messiah of the people of Israel, but is the Savior of the world. And the apostles grew in understanding of this mystery. And when Peter learned this with Cornelius and with his family.

The fullness of the revelation that was going to be given to the apostles was given and something important happened. Because once the apostles understood the fullness of the message of the revelation that was hidden and now revealed to them and to the holy prophets, what happened before is true now. If you go to chapter 2, in verse 18. Thank you so much for burying your flesh through this. Verse 18.

For through him that is Christ, we both, Jews and Gentiles, have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God. Pay attention to verse 20. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. I'm not going to burden anymore your mind.

My dear brother and my dear sister, this is the message that we hear and that we proclaim. The message that was fully committed to and fully preached and taught to the apostles. The apostles are the vessel that received the fullness of the revelation of the gospel. And then it's through the apostles that then the church knows what is the will of the Lord in his word. Jesus Christ speaks to the church through that which the apostles have preached.

Now, we don't have the apostles, but we have the writings of the apostles. That's why verse 4 of 1 John chapter 1 says, And these things we have written to you, the things that he proclaimed, the things that he declared, these things we have written to you so that your or our joy may be complete. Now, if you bear with me for the last five minutes, then I can show you the connection between Christ, the apostles and the church. If you come with me, please, to Hebrews. Chapter one.

Bear with me, please. Hebrews chapter one. Here we have the famous passage that even our brother also mentioned Christ being the word of God. So let me just do this exercise and please pay attention to this. Hebrews chapter one, pay attention to the message of the Scriptures.

It says long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. That is the past. God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. Verse two. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son.

Now, God has spoken to the church and the means by which he has spoken to the church is through his son. Now, one who speaks is one who is expected to be heard, right? He says that in Latin, long time in other ways, he spoke to the fathers through the prophets. He spoke audible words through the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us audible voice, audible words through the son.

So the expectation is that if God speaks to us through the son, that we will hear or that we will listen. Jump to chapter two. In Hebrews, it says, therefore, after he compares Jesus Christ as greater than the angels in chapter 2, therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard. Why do we have to pay careful attention to what we have heard? We have to pay careful attention to what we have heard, not only because it's true, but it's God Himself speaking now, not through the prophets, but like the prophet, like unto Moses, that is Jesus Christ.

So now we are to pay attention to what God has spoken. We are to hear the words because it's God speaking to us through His Son. He says in verse one, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was, pay attention, it was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard.

Who are those who heard? The apostles, verse four, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his wills, attested the message of the apostles who were those who Attach him. I was with him. I heard the message. They are the ones that receive the message.

And the scriptures are telling us now, pay attention to the message that God communicates to us through the Psalms, through the apostles. Then the author of Hebrews is going to say that Jesus Christ is the high priest. But now please bear with me and come to chapter three. Chapter three, it says. Here, up to this point, the author of Hebrews has said that God speaks through Jesus and that Jesus is the high priest.

So it follows that he says in verse three, therefore, holy brothers and sisters, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus. The apostle. Why do you think they call him apostle? Because he is the one through whom God has spoken. The apostle of apostles and high priest of our confession.

He follows and it's necessary that he will compare him with Moses, who was the initial prophet. And he is the prophet like unto Moses. Brother, my dear sister, my only Concern. And my only desire is what Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 3. Come with me quickly there and I will finish there.

2 Peter chapter 3. This is the burden of the Spirit for us. This is now the second letter that I am writing to you. The apostle Peter says, Beloved, in both of them, I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the words of the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

My brother, my sister. God has spoken. And what God has spoken is not only a set of principles that we are to follow. He's not only an empty religion that has absolutely no power. God has spoken to us through Jesus Christ.

from every nation, from every tongue, from every single corner of this earth, that every single human being, now by grace, through faith, they can have absolute certainty that God can forgive the fullness of their sins. the fullness of their unrighteousness, that they can have absolute certainty that this God, that was only the God of Israel, can be their God and can be also their Savior, that if by grace through faith they genuinely come in before Him, they can have absolute certainty that if they close their eyes in death, they can be taken up in heaven, not by virtue of their good works or religion, but by virtue of the eternity of Jesus, who is man and God, only one mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ, the man Christ Jesus. He is the one that has given us not only the righteousness of God, but has given us the promise that if we are in Him through the gospel, then you and me are seated at the right hand of the Father in throne. Humanity had not access to the throne of God, but in Jesus Christ and by virtue of union with Him and fellowship with Him, Sinners like us have now the greatest and highest status that every single creature will ever have. The angels will see to us and they say, these are the redeemed of Jesus Christ.

These are the redeemed of God. God initiated everything, even created us for the sake of this. We are the ministers of the salvation of the redeemed and brother and sister. What any other encouragement can your soul take? What other virtue can be provided to your heart?

What other power can be provided to your soul that you will meditate upon this Jesus, upon this God who gave his life to save us, to redeem us, to remove the stains of sins from you and to give you the promise that independently of what happens in this world, independently of the passing away of the body, independently of the passing away of the mind, independently of the passing away of this world, that your soul is in the hand of the one who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them, and that you can call Him not only Creator, but you can also call Him Father, lover of my soul, as we just sang, Savior, that you can come before Him with the certainty that there's one that is seated at the right hand of the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, the advocate, constantly and ongoingly interceding for your soul. Now, this is the message that has been proclaimed. Where are you going to nourish your soul? Where are you going to nourish your heart? Where are you going to feed your thirsty soul?

Other than the words of Jesus Christ given to the apostles, given to us in the scriptures. How silly will we be if we just go to a different place, to a broken cistern that cannot hold water? How silly we will be if we just simply go to our own meditations, our own heart to seek peace and to seek rest. rather than going to the feet of Jesus Christ, the better portion, where every single Christian should be, to be empowered, not with muscles, to be empowered, not with wisdom, to be empowered, not with intellect and with being smart and being good looks, but rather to be empowered in godliness, Christ-likeness, love, humility, that even if we are to give our lives, we will give our lives to the power of Jesus Christ, who gave his life, not only for us, but also for the world. Amen?