Knowing God, Part 3

Hi, this is the Hymn We Proclaim podcast. We're going through the New Testament book of 1 John. The current series is about what it means to truly know God. That sounds simple and complicated at the same time, doesn't it?

Well, bear in mind that many people claim to know God, but do they? We have to ask ourselves how do we treat certain things like the truth, God's commandments, and loving our neighbor. Let's take a deeper look into this passage. Here's John with Knowing God, Part 3. Why do we say after the scripture, you know, this is the word of the Lord, and we say, thanks be to God, right?

So, why do we respond, thanks be to God? This is who I Because the scripture says there's no vision, the people perish. That has nothing to do with being a visionary leader from John Maxwell's books. There's nothing wrong with that if you're a visionary leader, but that's not what that passage is talking about. What that passage is talking about is where there's no vision, where there's no prophet, where there's no word of God from heaven to man.

We perish. If God had not condescended, as Calvin says, to speak to us in the Holy Scriptures, which he calls baby talk to us, we would perish. Why? Because we would not have the revelation of Christ in the gospel. which is the words of life.

What would happen is, we would all remain in darkness.

So, when God's word is read to us in church, and we are hearing the living God address us from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which is inspired scriptures. It's God's speaking to us, and that's good news. And that's why, after God speaks to us, we all together in the church say, Thanks be to God. Could you imagine being left in the darkness with no revelation from God? in your sin.

That's when you do that. I hope that's helpful. If you have your Bibles turn to 1 John chapter 2. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4 that when Christ ascended on high, he poured out gifts to his church. Yeah.

Jesus pours out the spoils of his victory on his church and he gives gifts. To the visible church, which has gifted teachers to bring us God's word so that we're brought into the maturity of Christ.

So, if you're in the visible church today, you are getting the spoils of the ascended Christ victory today. You're being gifted today. Isn't that great? That's the sermon for the ascension. No, we'll come back to 1 John chapter 2.

1 John chapter 2, you heard it this morning, verses 3 to 11. This is what John is talking about. He's talking about knowing God. Knowing God and then having the assurance that we know God, because this is the central purpose of 1 John. This idea, this concept of knowing God occurs.

eight times throughout this letter.

So it's a very important Concept in John's letter. It's the central purpose to his book, which is to know God and to have the assurance that we know God. Why is this? What does he have this focus? Because look at your Bibles.

Now, when I teach through a book of the Bible, let me just give you a tip. The best thing for you is to have a Bible so that you can go through the scriptures with me because I'm trying to teach you what this letter is saying. And so it's very helpful if you can look at it, right? When I point to you and say, hey, listen, I'll turn to 1 John 2, verse 19, because then you know what I'm talking about.

So if you have your Bible, turn to 1 John chapter 2, verse 19. Look at what John says. This verse, chapter 2, verse 19, is the key that unlocks the whole meaning of the book of 1 John. Right here, 1 John 2, verse 19. John is focusing On this assurance of knowing God for this reason, because of verse 19, he says, they went out from us.

But, he says, they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us, but they went out. Right. They left the fellowship of the visible churches, of the apostolic churches that John and the apostles had planted, that John is writing to. This is the purpose when they left the church.

He says something that would be shown that they're not all of us. And so here's what's happening. This is how understand what John is doing. He focuses on knowing God and having assurance of it because some former church members had just recently left these apostolic churches, the fellowship of these churches. But what had happened was, they had left the fellowship of these churches, but they claimed to know God.

But John says they didn't keep his commandments. And their departure with their false claims created doubts in the minds of those who had not left, who had stayed in the churches. Who continued to hold to the apostles' message, chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, that they had heard from the beginning. And what had happened was, these people who were in the churches, watching the people who were in the church with them, leave and come back with these new doctrines. And it was causing great confusion in the people who were left in the churches.

They were confused. They had doubts. They had uncertainties. They had lost assurance of their salvation. And so John writes this letter to refute those who had left the churches, not to cast doubt on those who remained in the church.

You have to get that, or else you'll not have assurance of faith when you read the book of 1 John. Because the book of 1 John is not a series of tests for Christians who are faithfully confessing the gospel, confessing their need for Christ, confessing their sin, chapter 1, right? Verses 8 through 10, that don't deny the reality of sin, that confess their sin. They're confessing their need for Christ, chapter 2, verses 1 through 2. They're walking in the light.

John is not casting doubt on those people. He's casting doubt on the people who have left. This is very significant for you to get because when the book of 1 John is presented to believers who are confessing Christ, confessing their sin, listen. What happens is, people who present 1 John as a series of tests undermine weak, struggling Christians who are actually saved. It's not what John's doing here.

Look at chapter 2 and verses 3 to 11. What John does is he refutes three false claims made by the secessionists, those in verse 19, who have left the church but continue to claim that they know God and abide in him. All right. And so he refutes them. These three false claims are in verses 4, 6, and 9.

And he introduces it with this phrase: the one who says, the one who says, and the one who says, and the one who makes a claim. He's talking about those who have left the church. He is not talking about those who remained in the church. Does everybody get this context? You've got to get this context or else you'll misunderstand 1 John.

And so, what happens is, when John refutes these secessionists' false claims to know God and abide in God. John is assuring his readers. who have remained faithful to his gospel. That they know God and that they abide in him. And so he's assuring his, what he calls him, his beloved, his dear children.

Chapter 2, verse 1, my little children, these addresses of affection and love for these sheep. Who are struggling now with assurance? And John is a faithful shepherd, pastor, overseer of these flocks as their apostle, who has planted these churches and given them the gospel. He's now coming back to them. He says, Don't leave Christ.

Don't leave this message that we gave you. Hold on to that. Don't listen to these false teachers who have come back in and claim to know God and claim to abide in Him. They don't know Him. You see, he's being a faithful pastor.

He is protecting his sheep. He is listening to this. You have to understand this. John is assuring Christians who sin. If you don't understand that, you'll never be assured of your salvation.

I'm going to come back to that, but you need to understand: John is assuring Christians who sin. Look at the first claim just to review really quick in verses 3 through 5. The first part of verse 5, John refutes this claim, the claim to know God while not keeping his commandments. John says in verses three through five that those who truly know God. You're the ones in whom the love of God has accomplished its goal.

What is that goal? It is obedience to the commandments of God. What are the commandments of God? John tells us in his letter, 1 John 3, verse 23. This is his commandment that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and that we love one another just as he commanded us.

Through faith in the incarnate Christ. through love for fellow believers in the church. You see, because the secessionists weren't loving their fellow believers, they were deserting them. John says, through faith in Christ, through the incarnate Christ, through love for fellow believers, by sticking with them. That is such a huge point post-COVID.

He says, You can be assured you know God because you abide in Him. And that brings us to the second refutation. Look at verses 5 through 8. The second false claim that John refutes, the secessionists claim to abide in God while they didn't walk as Christ walked. John says, look at verse 5, by this we know.

See, that's assurance. By this we know that we are in him. And now here he is. He's addressing the claim by the secessionist, the one who says he abides in him, ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. The secessionists were claiming that they abided in Christ.

But John says their talk, their claim, doesn't match their walk, their manner of life. If you just go through the book of 1 John, you can put together what it is that the secessionists were doing that John says refutes their claim. Listen carefully. We're going to come back to that in just a moment, but John says their talk doesn't match their walk. They were in chapter 1, John says they were denying the reality of human sinfulness.

They were claiming sinless perfection. John says, that's clear evidence they don't know God. They don't abide in God. John says in chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, that they were denying the need of Jesus' atoning sacrifice for sin because they didn't think they had any sin. In chapter 4, John says that they denied that Jesus is the eternal Son of God who has come in the flesh to give us the reality and the truth of the invisible God.

They denied the incarnation of Christ. John says that's proof they don't know God. Their talk doesn't match their walk. John says that they are engaging in immoral conduct. Without repentance, that does not reflect the fact that they know God.

And so, what John is doing is by showing the characteristics of those who abide in God in verses 5 through 8. John shows his readers that those characteristics are not found in those who have left the church but claim to actually abide in God. You understand? Do you see how he is assuring those who remain? Because you're going to see in a moment, John says the characteristics of those who do abide in God is actually found in those who remained faithful and didn't leave the church.

So, this passage raises some important questions. What does it mean that, what does John mean when he says we are in him? What does it mean when John says we abide in him? How do we come to abide in him? And what are the effects of abiding in him?

First, what does it mean when John says that we are in Him, that we abide in Him?

Well, both of these phrases are comparable to what the Apostle Paul talks about, of this concept of being in Christ or being in Him. For example, in Ephesians chapter 1. Paul uses this phrase six times in chapter 1, in him. Just listen to verse 7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished on us.

You see, this phrase that John uses, we are in him, we abide in him, refers to the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation, which is called union with Christ. Look at verse 6, this phrase, abide in him. It's part of a broader concept throughout 1 John, which John picks up and refers to 10 times in this letter. This utter concept of the mutual indwelling of believers in God and God in believers. In John's gospel, this is a huge concept.

This idea of this mutual abiding of the believer in Christ and Christ in the believer. He pictures it beautifully in Jesus' analogy of the vine and the branches, and John chapter 15, in verse 5. This is what Jesus said. He says, I am the vine, and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit.

Look, for without me, you can do nothing. You cannot bear any fruit if you don't abide in me. And if I don't abide in you, you can't Bear fruit. You can do. Nothing.

John says, those who keep God's commandments, which is, they're trusting in the incarnate Christ for their salvation. And the fruit of that is that you love fellow believers in the church. John says, those are the ones who are in him. Those are the ones who are in Christ, who has come in the flesh. The keeping of God's commandments is a logically and morally necessary fruit of our union with Christ, John says.

John's point is that those who walk in the same manner as Jesus walked are those who are in Christ, those who abide in Christ. Those who are connected to the vine, John is saying to these doubting Christians who are doubting their salvation, he says, don't doubt. He said the secessionists don't bear fruit. because they're not united to the vine like you are. Second, how did we come to abide in God?

How we brought into union with Christ. John tells us throughout his whole letter how this happens. Let me just summarize it and I'll show you a couple of passages, but this is how John, if you look at the whole letter of 1 John, this is how John says we come to abide in God, how we come to abide in Christ. He says, we come to abide in Christ by the agency and power of the Holy Spirit. He teaches us that the Holy Spirit affects this union with Christ through the gospel and faith.

Look at John chapter 3 verse 24. Listen to what John writes. He says, the one who keeps his commandments abides in him. All right, so John says the logical and morally necessary fruit or effect of abiding in Christ is that you'll keep his commandments, which is you'll trust in his son and love fellow believers in the church. And he says, and he and him.

This mutual indwelling. No, look at the assurance. We know by this that He abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given. given us. Which, as I said today, is Ascension Sunday.

So, what did Jesus, as the greatest spoil of his victory, pour out upon his church? The Holy Spirit. Which we're going to come back to in a moment. But John says the one who keeps the commands to believe in the incarnate Christ as proclaimed by the apostles in chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, who are eyewitnesses of the gospel. and who consequently love fellow believers.

John says that is the one who abides in God. And he says they abide in God and that is the effect of their life because the Holy Spirit brought the whole thing about. We cannot lose sight of John's emphasis upon the Holy Spirit in this letter. Too often, what we do is overreact to the excesses in the church about the doctrine and the person of the Holy Spirit. He is the Lord, the giver of life, he is the eternal God.

We must never downplay God. John says that the keeping of God's commandments has its origin in the Holy Spirit. It is only through the power and work of the Holy Spirit that a person can believe in Christ to begin with. And it's only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can begin to love each other in the church.

So what the Heidelberg Catechism says, he says, do we by nature love God and love each other? The answer is no. We were born because of original sin to hate God and to hate one another. Listen carefully. Love is not a general human possibility.

It is a gift from the Holy Spirit of God. Apart from the working of the Holy Spirit, the gospel itself would fall upon deaf ears. This is what Luke says right prior to Jesus' ascension. He is talking to the disciples on the Emmaus road, and they're looking at the risen Lord and said, Do you know what happened this weekend? And Luke says their eyes were kept from seeing him.

But then, after Jesus took the means of grace and explained to them Himself, beginning with Moses all the way to Malachi. And then gave them the Lord's Supper, the means of grace, word and sacrament, which we get here this morning. Word and sacrament and sacrament at the baptismal font, word and sacrament. It said, Luke says, their eyes were opened and they recognized him. knew who he was.

We must pray for and expect by faith the powerful working of the Holy Spirit in our midst. We we all of us have bondages that we need to be set free from. Every one of us in this room, we need to be set free. from the darkness, which I'm going to come back to in a moment. Jesus will set you free.

And he'll set you free because the power of the Holy Spirit, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 8. The gospel is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It's exactly what Paul says, 2 Corinthians 3, verse 8. The gospel is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And because of that, we're a people of the Spirit.

As Calvin says in his institutes in book three. Paragraph one, sentence one. The Holy Spirit is the bond that unites us to Christ. Through the gospel and faith, we are brought to abide in God as the Holy Spirit works in us powerfully. Third question: What are the effects of abiding?

And God, look at verse 6. This is the effect. John says, The one who says, the one who makes this claim, he abides in him, let himself walk in the same manner as he walked. What does it mean to walk by Jesus? Walking to you what it doesn't mean.

It doesn't mean WWJD. We have no idea what Jesus would do.

So don't get in his shoes and try to figure that out. His life was unique because it was sinless. His life was unique because it's what saves us, because that is the imputed righteousness that forms the basis of the foundation by which I am forever justified before God. My life doesn't do those things. Let me tell you what it means.

The context in verse 6 makes it very clear that to walk as Jesus walks simply means this: We're called to obey God's commandments. We're called to obey, He obeyed, we obey. If he is in us, What kind of life do you think he's going to be producing out of us? His life. This mutual indwelling.

It's just obeying his his commandments. The Old Testament background, this is so important for you to get. The Old Testament background of John's teaching is found in the promises of the new covenant relationship that the prophets prophesied in Neremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel said that this new covenant relationship that will be brought about by the Holy Spirit. Through the accomplished work of Jesus, it involves a new knowledge of God, knowing God, which is what he's talking about.

And it involves the transformation of the believer who is by the power of the Spirit caused to graciously conform his or her life to obedience to the commandments of God. Listen to what the prophet Jeremiah prophesied, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares that, Lord, I will put my law within them. And I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. That's Genesis 17:7, the promise, the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. Verse 34, and no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, know the Lord.

Why? For they shall all know me. From the least in them to the greatest, declares the Lord. Why would they know him? Because I will forgive their iniquity.

And I will remember their sin no more. I won't hold their sin against them forevermore. That's why they'll know me. And that's exactly what John's saying here in 1 John. Ezekiel 36, 26 through 27, the prophet Ezekiel prophesies in the new covenant.

He says, God speaking through the prophet Ezekiel says, I will give you a new heart. And a new spirit, and I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. That is you and Adam. Right, the heart that doesn't obey, that rebels against God. I'll take that out, I'll remove it.

and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you. And listen, and caused you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

So, what is the effect of abiding in God? The effect. Is the effect of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Is that the Holy Spirit gives us a new heart and causes us to keep God's commandments, causes us to trust in His Son. and to love one another in the church.

John says that the one who abides in Christ is the one who believes in God's Son and loves fellow believers, as Christ commanded. And so the keeping of God's commandments. Is the effect of the Holy Spirit's new covenant work? John keeps making this very clear in verses seven through eight, where he now addresses his readers directly. Trusting in Christ, loving fellow believers is precisely what John's readers were doing and what the secessionists were not doing.

Look how John assures his readers in verses 7 through 8, verse 7, beloved, that is, dear friends, beloved. He says, I'm not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, he says, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you. Because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

This passage is immensely comforting and assuring. And I want you to see it as I unpack this quickly for you. Look at verse 7. John addresses his readers with great affection and great love. Beloved, dear friends, chapter 2, verse 1, my little children.

He doesn't address the secessionists like that. That is exactly how Jesus addressed Pharisees versus sinners. Right? Harsh words for Pharisees. Comfort.

for those who are trusting him but still sin but are trusting him and bearing fruit. Look at what John says. He says, in contrast to the secessionists, John assures his dear friends in verses 7 through 8 that they're keeping God's commandments. Look at verse 8. He says, the keeping of God's commandments is true in you.

That's why I said, understand 1 John, he is not calling into question the believers in the church that remained and didn't leave. He's comforting them. He's giving them assurance. Look at how John in verses 17 and 8 does this. Look how he assures them that they're keeping God's commandments.

Verse 7. The first thing he tells them, he says, I want you to understand, readers, dear friends. I'm not exhorting you to keep something that is novel that you've never heard before. Novelty belongs to false teachers in the church. Not to faithful proclaimers of the apostolic message, chapter one, verses one through four.

John says, I'm not presenting to you something that you've never heard before. Why does he assure them like this? Because Some secessionists had come back into the church who were former church members with their new enlightened doctrine of knowing God and abiding in God, which has led to their sinless perfection, and they no longer need Jesus' atonement for sin because they're so pure and godly now, because they have the secret knowledge of God that John's readers don't have. And they say, John is teaching you a novel command. That was not part of the received tradition from the beginning.

He's making something up new. They were casting doubt again on these poor believers in the church. And so John responds and he refutes this calumny, this false charge of imposing novel commands upon his readers. And he reminds them. You have known this from the beginning.

This is this, what I'm talking to you about is what you have heard from the beginning. What is that? Since the time when the readers first heard the gospel that John and the apostles proclaimed to them. You have heard this from the beginning. John says, The old commandment isn't the word which you have heard.

What is the old commandment that his readers have heard? Chapter 3, verse 23: Trust in the incarnate Christ and love fellow believers. You heard this from the beginning. This isn't new, we're not making something up. But this old commandment John says that they heard from the apostles.

It goes further back to the teaching of Jesus. Then it goes further back to the teaching of the old covenant, the Mosaic covenant that God made with Israel. Listen to this. This is where John's coming from. The heart of the old covenant, the Mosaic covenant, was love for God and love for others.

Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 5. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Leviticus 19:18. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Jesus takes those commandments from the old covenant and he summarizes them in the great commandment that you have heard this morning by which we responded, Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy. And he says in Matthew 22, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. All along the prophets depend on these two commandments.

And so, in chapter two of First John. In verses 3 to 6, John has taught us how to love God, how love for God is expressed. It is to trust in his incarnate Son for our salvation.

Now, in chapter 2, verses 7 to 11, he's teaching us, he's addressing the second greatest commandment of love for one's neighbor. Johanna's just summarizing what's always been this old commandment. He's not making up anything novel.

So, in response to the secessionist charge of novelty, John says his apostolic teaching isn't new, it isn't novel, it's the culmination. Is the culmination of and is consistent with what God has been teaching since the time of Moses. What of God? What's your neighbor? Then, look at verse eight.

John assures his dear friends. Look what he does. that they're keeping this old commandment. Listen to what he says. He writes these very certain words.

On the other hand, I'm writing you a new commandment to you, which is true in him, that's in Jesus, and in you. It's true in you. He's not doubting their salvation, you see. Does everybody see this? Why is it true?

Because, he says, the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. What is John saying here? Listen. John assures his readers that they're abiding in God. Because he says, as you are trusting in the incarnate Christ for eternal life.

and you're loving each other. He says, your abiding in God is bearing genuine fruit. John 15:5. And it is in this respect that John's readers differed clearly from the secessionists, in whom John says that fruit is sorely lacking. And so in verse 7, John's not contradicting what he says in verse 8.

So, in what way is the old commandment in verse 7 a new commandment in verse 8? What is he talking about? Listen carefully, because this is very good news. The heart of the old covenant, the Mosaic covenant, was love for God and love for neighbor, which we just heard. But what is new about this new commandment.

This is what John's talking about. The old covenant. could c man love, but it couldn't create it. It couldn't give what it commanded. Conversely, John says, What is commanded in the new covenant.

is freely given. What God's laws require the gospel freely. Gives. Why? Because Ezekiel said he'll put his spirit in us and give us a new heart that causes us to walk in his statutes and keep his rules.

You see. We have seen from verse 6 that the background for abiding in God is found in the promises of this new covenant relationship from both Jeremiah and Ezekiel. This new covenant, this mutual indwelling of God in the believer, and the believer, and God involves this new knowledge of God who forgives our sins and remembers them no more. For Christ's sake, he does this. And who gives us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who begins to transform us into the likeness of Christ to keep His commandments.

So, in contrast to the old covenant, the new covenant provides this internal renewal by the Holy Spirit. What happened to Israel? They failed to bear the fruits of righteousness under the old covenant. But John says, God's people would be abundantly fruitful in the new covenant because of the work of the Holy Spirit.

So, this old covenant is actually new now because the Spirit produces in his people what they're incapable of producing in themselves. Causing them to walk in new obedience. With the new covenant, John says the Holy Spirit brings the new creation into the present. The light begins to shine. 2 Corinthians 5:17, you know this: if any man be in Christ, he's what?

A new creation. The new covenant coincides with the age to come, and the Holy Spirit working through the gospel brings the good things of the age to come into the present in the church now. And so John says. This is a new commandment, and it's true in him. It's true in Jesus.

It's true in you. And here's why it's true, because the darkness is passing away. And he says, the true light is already shining. This old commandment is new. Because the coming of Jesus in the flesh, the incarnate Son, which the secessionists denied, he says he transforms this old covenant into something new.

The coming of Jesus in the flesh is the light that is now shining. This is exactly what John says in his gospel in John chapter 8, verse 12. Listen, Jesus says, I am the light of the world. The one who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have light. of life.

John told us back in chapter one, verse five, that God is light. And he tells us that this God has come into the world in the person of Jesus, who is the light of the world.

So profound was the coming of Christ and his work for us and for our salvation. That this coming gives new meaning to this old command, so that John can speak of it as a new command. He says, with the coming of Jesus, the dawn of the new creation has arrived. Listen very quickly, and we're done. He says, the darkness is passing away with the coming of Jesus through the gospel.

The darkness is passing away. What is that? It's this present evil age. In all of its sinful fallen desires. We see such great evidence of this passing evil age now.

That it is shocking when we look out into our country to see the level of sin that is becoming so clearly evident. Where you have people testified: what is a woman? And I'm not a biologist, I don't know, I can't tell you. We're told on Capitol Hill that a man, can a man have a baby? Yes.

Glooming children. This is the evil. And John says, this darkness, this present evil age, and all of its sinful, fond desires. is passing away because the true light has begun to shine. Jesus has come in the flesh, Jesus has lived, Jesus has died, Jesus has been buried, Jesus has risen, Jesus has ascended, Jesus is coming again, he says at the end of this book.

This incarnate Christ, he says, is the true light coming into the world, and the darkness cannot overcome it. And as God moves history towards his final consummation, darkness and all that is associated with it is passing away. And John says, as you leave the visible church like these secessionists, you're passing away. John says, don't Leave the apostolic gospel that we gave to you as eyewitnesses. Don't leave it because there's the true light.

Don't depart like the secessionists. Stake your eternal salvation on Jesus come in the flesh. Love each other till Jesus comes back. Darkness is being extinguished as more and more people come to faith in Christ, come to abide in God, come to live out God's love to their fellow believers in the church and in the world. And so in verse 8, John assures his dear children, he says, the genuine love is now being seen not only in Jesus, but in them, because they have been united to Christ.

By the power of the Holy Spirit. What was not possible under the Old Covenant. Is now possible with the coming of Jesus, who is the dawn of the new creation, because it's arrived in him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this comforting word.

And I pray that all of us today can leave here with our hearts comforted. with the fact that the darkness for our life and forevermore is passing away. And that we are abiding in you, and that you abide in us by your Spirit. Through the gospel and faith, may we all have this comfort today, and as we come now to your visible gospel, take on all the good news that we've heard. Apply it to our hearts by your Spirit.

And by faith, unite us to Christ and let us have fellowship with Him and fellowship with each other as we receive your sacrament. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks again for listening to the Hymn We Proclaim podcast. Please subscribe if you haven't already for all our new episodes.

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