 Alright, so before the break we saw one aspect of this finished work of Christ being talked about in 1st John chapter 1 verse 7, where it talks about the aspect of sanctification and purification. So here we are told that people who actually walk in the light, they are not going to be walking in the darkness living in sin. They are going to have fellowship with the other believers and on a daily basis they are going to allow themselves to be purified, to be sanctified. And therefore in line with that he goes on to say in the next few verses, maybe we can look at, if someone could read out for us verses 8, 9, 10 and then also read for us the next two verses which are there in chapter 2. So all the way from verse 8 to verse 10 of chapter 1 and also if you could read out for us chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 because that entire section is one single section. So if someone could read out that for us please, if you can please keep your Bibles open in front of you as this is actually a classroom. I mean even though you don't switch on your cameras, this is a classroom setting. So please have your Bible in front of you and if any one of you could please unmute and read out these verses. If we say that 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 that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Yeah. Chapter 2 verses 1 and 2. My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin and if anyone sins we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for us only but also for the whole world. Yes. So what these Gnostics were saying is that we have a superior mystic divine knowledge that has been given to us. We are the chosen ones. So because of this divine knowledge which has been imparted to us, we no longer sin. They were in fact claiming that they do not sin anymore. And so over here, you know, John says those who actually are walking in the light, they are undergoing a purification process on a daily basis due to the finished work of the cross. On a daily basis they are undergoing a purification process. They don't pretend and say, oh, we have no sin. They admit the fact that they have sinned in case they sin. They admit it and they confess their sins and the Lord is just and faithful and he forgives them. And he continues to purify them from all unrighteousness. So that is the right belief to have. We should not be like the Gnostics who are saying, oh, now that we have reached this place of some kind of divine enlightenment, we are now incapable of sin. That would be a very foolish thing to say. So he says, if you are walking in the light, you will make an effort, you know, not to live in darkness, but to follow the things which have been taught to us in the scriptures. So you will follow what Jesus has taught. And not just that, his work, his blood will continue to sanctify you and purify you. And whenever you sin rather than pretending and saying that you are without sin, if at all you sin, the right attitude would be to confess it. And when you do that, he will be faithful and just and he will forgive you of your sins. And he will see to it that he purifies you from that unrighteousness, you know, whatever it is that you have been indulging in. So he will continue to sanctify you so that you will come out of that completely. Therefore, John says in verse 10, if we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. So this Gnostic belief system is very, very wrong because they were going around claiming that they are not sinning. So in case they do something which looks like a sin, they would say, oh, this is a mistake that I have done, but it's not a sin. Because you see, I have reached this level of secret knowledge, this level of enlightenment. Therefore, I am incapable of sin. Yes, there are mistakes which I make, but it's not sin. It's no longer a sin because I have now arrived. That was their attitude. And so here John is warning the true believers not to adopt that kind of a false doctrine, but to humble themselves and openly admit it when they have sinned and to confess it. Because when they do that, then the Lord will be indeed faithful and just and he will forgive them and he will continue to purify them from all unrighteousness. And then this thought flows into the next chapter where he continues to say, the reason I've told you this is so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father and he goes on to say that this Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. So why must we be willing to confess our sins? Because when we do that, then the advocate can defend us. As long as we are pretending and claiming that no, we have not committed any sin, the defendant, the advocate will not be able to defend us. If we look at these verses, these are the verses which talk about our advocate, our defendant, Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25. And if someone could please turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25. It talks about what our advocate, what our defendant is doing. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25, if anyone could read out please. Therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him since he always lives to make a decision for them. He always lives for this one purpose to intercede for us, to defend us, to be our advocate. Let's look at also Romans chapter 8 verse 34. Romans 8 verse 34. Who we see, who condemns. It is Christ who died and furthermore he is also risen. Who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes indecision for us. So no one can condemn us if we are, you know, humble enough to confess our sin and admit that we have done wrong. Then no one can condemn us because Jesus Christ is there at the right hand of God. He is defending us. He is our advocate. And why is he able to, you know, be this kind of a defendant and advocate for us because he himself became the atoning sacrifice. So that word over there, the Greek word is Helasmus. That Greek word, Helasmus talks about a propitiation. It talks about a work of atonement. And what does it imply? It implies basically three things. It talks about someone who has, you know, cleansed our sins. And because the sins have been cleansed, therefore he can be faithful and just and forgive. Because, you know, the cleansing had not been done. He cannot declare us forgiven because the cleansing has been done because the propitiation has been done. You know, he can forgive us. So propitiation, that act of atoning involves three things. It involves the act of cleansing. It involves the act of forgiving. And it also involves this act of appeasing God's wrath. God was very angry against the sin and against the sinner. But now that anger is appeased. It's put out, you know. So that word, Greek word, Helasmus, it's referring to the cleansing which has now become possible because of the work of Christ. It talks about the forgiveness which Jesus can now faithfully and justly impart to us because of the cleansing which has been done. And it refers to how God is no longer angry. His wrath has been appeased. He has now been satisfied. So now he's no longer, what Jesus did was satisfactory in God's eyes. So now God is no longer angry with those who have placed themselves under this work of propitiation by placing their faith in Jesus. So he says, you know, the reason I'm telling you these things is so that you will understand the privilege that has been given to us. You know, this privilege of being sanctified, purified on a daily basis. And so you will not indulge in sin. But if in case you sin, the right attitude is not to pretend that you have not sin but to openly admit it and confess. Because when you do that, you're defendant. Your advocate goes into action. You know, we had this, I mean, I don't know whether how it is today. But, you know, earlier we used to have this old TV dramas and then you would have the accused standing over there in that box where you have the accused placed. And then you have this defendant who's standing in front of the judge and he says, Milord, this person is innocent. You know, and your defendant starts speaking and he says, this person is innocent because of this, this, this. So in the same way, it's like, you know, Jesus is standing over there in front of the judge and he's saying, you know, Milord, this person is innocent. I declare him innocent because I paid the price. I cleansed him. I have appeased your wrath. Therefore, I declare that he is. So that is what act work of intercession, which the Lord is, you know, it says in Hebrew seven is always living to do this for us. Therefore, we don't need to live in fear. We can come to the Lord with the sense of assurance. However, of course, it's not a license to sin because that is what he's saying. If you really are walking in the light, you will indeed have fellowship with us and you will indeed have fellowship with the Father because that's what people who are, who have been cleansed by the Lord. That is how they live. He goes on to explain that in verse five. He says, okay, verses four and five. He says, whoever says, I know him, but does not do what he commands is a liar. And the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. Yeah, sorry. The NIV is not very good over here. NKJV is in fact better for verse five. NKJV says in verse five. Whoever keeps his word truly the love of God is perfected in him. So the point that John is making over here is if the love of God has worked in a person, transformed them, changed them, then they will automatically walk in the light. They will automatically not walk in darkness. They will automatically choose not to live in sin. But in case they happen to sin, then they will confess their sin and the Lord will know he's just in forgiving them. He has, it is right for him to forgive them because of the act of propitiation which has been done. So he says, the reason I'm telling you these things is so that you will not sin. You are your people inside whom the love of God has done its work. So now you have a love for the Lord. Now you have a love for the things of God. Now you have a love for righteousness. Now you no longer have a love for the things of the world. That is no longer who you are. So I'm telling you these things so that you will not live in sin. But if you sin, please don't claim and say that you are sinless. Rather confess. And when you confess, because of the act of propitiation which Jesus, the righteous one has done, he will be your advocate and he will defend you. And then God the Father will be just in forgiving you. And he will cleanse you from purify you from all the unrighteousness. So this is the train of thought which we see in these verses. So some people what they do is they take this verse 8 of chapter 1 out of context. And they use it in a very wrong manner. Where it says, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So they think that they constantly have to keep thinking of themselves as the sinner. So in fact, even when they approach God, when they begin their prayer, they feel obliged to open their mouth and say, Lord, I am a sinner. My lips are sinful. My heart is sinful. Please, Lord, forgive me. Accept my prayer. That would be an entirely wrong approach to God. You know, it says very frankly openly in Romans chapter 5 verse 1, we have been justified through faith, not because of any great deeds which we did. We have been justified simply because we praised our faith in this Jesus Christ and the work which he did on the cross. So we have been justified through faith and therefore now we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Romans 5 1 says. So we should not be coming to the Lord with that kind of attitude where we constantly think of ourselves as sinners. No, we are not sinners. We have been made righteous in Christ. We are justified through Christ. But what happens is that sometimes, you know, the next chapter, Romans chapter 6, we fail to count ourselves dead to sin. So sometimes even though we have been justified through Christ, we act like as if we are still sinners and we tend to fall into sin. So rather than counting ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, rather than doing that, you know, we tend to go back to our old ways. And when we do that, what do we do? We're just supposed to repent and come back to Him and like it explains in Romans chapter 6, we again choose and we make a decision and say, I will not give my body as an instrument of unrighteousness. Rather, I will give my body as an instrument to be used for works of righteousness to honour God. So this is something that we do on a daily basis. So even as we are walking in the light in this manner, He continues to purify and sanctify us. So we should not be living in this attitude of thinking ourselves as sinners. We should be thinking of ourselves as people who have been justified. And so now we count ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God. And we choose to daily present our members of our body as instruments of righteousness to the Lord, rather than offering it to wickedness. So having said all this, He continues the same line of thought and He says, in, yeah, so now we're entering into chapter 2 and this is what He says, Dear friends, I'm not writing you a new command, but an old one that would be verse 7 and He goes on to say, you know, in verse 9, anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. So He says, you know, do not live in hatred, you know, live in love, have fellowship. Don't be like those people who have gone after false doctrines because they pretend to be walking in the light but they are full of hatred towards other believers. They are not living in love towards the others, so do not be like them is what He says. And then He goes on to give some new instructions. This is what He says verse 12 onwards. Alright, so if we can have someone read out chapter 2 verses 12 to 14, maybe up to 15, yes. Chapter 2 verses 12 all the way to 15, yeah. I write to you little children because your sins are forgiven you for His namesake. I write to you fathers because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you little children because you have known the Father. I have written to you fathers because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you young men because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one. Do not love the world. Yeah, 15 also. 15 and 16, yeah, please. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. Yes, thank you. Thank you so much in fact for reading all the verses. It's very helpful. So yes, here in this section, he is talking to the little children. So here all the believers are being referred to as little children. It's not saying that they are immature. It's not talking about spiritual maturity over here. It's just referring to all of them as little children of the Living God. Okay, so therefore he says over here, dear children, little children, your sins have been forgiven on account of His name. So, you know, he talked about how they are forgiven, the proposition which was done for them, all that is talked about. So he said, because all this has now been done for you, now I am writing to you. I'm writing to two categories of people. Fathers, he's talking surely about age. He's not talking about maturity. Fathers, the older people, you are people who have known Jesus from the beginning. And then he says, I'm writing also to you young people who are still young in age. But even though you're young in age, you are strong. The word of God, you know, this word of life that he's talking about, he lives in you. And because of that, you have overcome the evil one. So, these are the kind of people that I am writing to. People who have known this word of life from the beginning of their spiritual walk. I'm writing to people who have the word of life living in them. And through that, they have overcome the evil one. To such people I'm writing and saying, do not love the world or anything in the world. Because if anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. Why is love for the Father not in such people? He explains in the next works. I know these things of the world. They do not come from the Father but from the world. So, if you love the Father, you will not be following the things which come from the world. So, anyone who's following the things which come from the world and is pretending to love the Father, they are in no way actually walking in the Lord at all. If you love the Father, you will not even touch these things which are coming from the world. And so, he talks about three things which are the things of the world. How the sinful world manifests itself in the form of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. So, looking at that entire train of thought, these things he's writing so that they will not live in sin. But in case they live in sin, immediately get back on your feet. Don't wallow in guilt. Get back on your feet. Confess. Repent. God will forgive you. God will continue to do his work of purification inside you. And because of all this which you have, this privilege which you have, because your dear children who have been forgiven of your sins on account of his name, therefore, because of the high status which you have, don't be like these false doctrine people. You know who are pretending to be walking in the light, but they go after the things of the world. Don't be like them. Do not imitate them. Rather, avoid lust of the flesh. Avoid lust of the eyes. Avoid the pride of life. Now, these are three terms which we looked at in great detail when we were doing the course on holiness last year. So, we will not look in much detail at these terms, but just to kind of revise what those terms meant. Lust of the flesh basically is talking about flesh. You know, the five senses of the human flesh that we are all born with. You know, we all have this sense of hearing, of seeing, of touching, taste and smell. So, when satisfying these five senses becomes more important than satisfying God, it automatically is a sin. Okay. So, as part of your human flesh, it is required for you to sleep. But what if I sleep to the extent where, you know, I decide I'm not going to go to church. I'm not going to spend time in God's presence there. So, what you're doing when you're doing that, you know, you are satisfying your flesh which is asking for sleep rather than satisfying the Lord who wants to have fellowship with you along with the rest of the believers in a church setting. So, anything that you do to satisfy your flesh rather than satisfy the desires of the Father automatically is of the world. So, we are not talking about any evil things over here. We are talking about the things which these five, you know, senses of the human being crave. And there's no harm in fulfilling these desires of the human being because that's basically how we are programmed, you know. We like to see pleasant things. We like to listen to lovely music. You know, we like to enjoy good food. All these things are fine. I mean, that's basically how the human flesh has been programmed to function. But when we're satisfying these fleshly things is becoming more important than satisfying the Lord then automatically that thing which you are doing is sinful. So, it can be something as innocent as sleep. Sleep is a good thing. We need sleep. But if you are overindulging in the sleep and neglecting the responsibilities which the Lord wants you to fulfill, then that becomes a sin. The same way, it is perfectly good to listen to music because music brings joy to the heart, to the mind. That's how we are programmed. We are meant to enjoy listening to good things. But if you are listening to something which dishonours the Lord and if that is bringing you pleasure, music which dishonours the Lord is bringing you pleasure then no, automatically that is something of the world. So, pleasing Him, pleasing the Lord should always come before pleasing these things of which the flesh is asking for. If you are not, you know, dishonouring the Lord in any way or disobeying Him in any way when you are fulfilling these cravings, fine, you know, go ahead, fulfill the desires of whatever your flesh is asking for. But the minute you allow these things to supersede pleasing the Lord then automatically that becomes a sinful thing. So, that will be the lust of the flesh. Anything where your flesh becomes more important to you, satisfying your flesh becomes more important than satisfying the Lord, automatically that is the lust of the flesh. You are not just fulfilling the needs of the flesh, you are fulfilling the lusts, the kind of, you know, driven passions that stubborn desire to be fulfilled at whatever the cost. That is a lust. Desire is just something that you, you know, you desire ice cream. But a lust for ice cream would be where, you know, you're obsessed with it and you don't care what you're doing to your health, you don't care what you're doing, you know, to the principles of God, you want to have it. So, there's a difference between just a normal desire and a lust, which is like a obsessive longing to fulfill that thing no matter what the cost. That, of course, would be wrong in God's eyes. Lust of the ice, on the other hand, you know, it's simple enough, we look at things, we want those nice things for ourselves. But then, if that becomes a greed, if that becomes a covetousness, then that would be lust of the ice. But lust of the ice is also talking about what you see inside your mind that also is lust of the ice. So, it's not just things which you're seeing physically, outwardly. That alone is need not be lust of the ice. The inner seeing which goes on inside your mind, that also can be lust. So, the contemplations, your thoughts, that also falls under this category of lust of the ice. You know, for instance, you're looking at the fancy car which your neighbor has bought and you know, you now begin to lust for it. You know the limitations of your income. You know it's not something that you can afford, but now you have become greedy because that person has it, you also want to have it. And so, now you're willing to sacrifice all the other important priorities which your family requires and sacrifice those to acquire that expensive car. Now it's becoming a lust. So, on the outside, it's a lust of the ice. But what's going on on the inside? Inside, are there pictures of jealousy? Are there pictures in your mind where you think, I hope he goes in his car today and has an accident. Hope the car gets wrecked. That's something that you're seeing inside your mind. It's a picture which you're painting in your mind where you're seeing that person's beautiful property getting destroyed and that brings you joy. So, it's not something outwardly that you're looking at but it's an inner contemplation of your mind in the same way. It talks about physical lust. Where somebody is lusting after a person that they are not married to. Now that, of course, would be lust of the ice. But what if they do not commit any physical act of adultery at all? But inside their mind, there is a lot of lustful thoughts. So, that's an inner contemplation but that is also lust of the ice. So, lust of the ice will not just be outward greed and covetousness for the things that you are looking at. It can even be an inner lust where you have thoughts of contemplation where you have these negative sinful pictures of something that God would not be honored by. Pride of life basically is pride. It is you regarding yourself as self-sufficient. You regarding yourself as not needing God. It's pride where you say, I can take care of myself. I can depend on myself. It can also be you just placing yourself as somebody higher than other believers. So, it can be pride in different forms but it basically is you exalting yourself and you also saying that I can do this on my own. I don't really need God. And so, even when the Lord blesses you and gifts you and helps you to do certain things, you take the credit for it and you think, I have achieved this by myself rather than humbly admitting that the Lord enabled you to do those things. So, that would be pride of life. So, John says in verse 17, the world and its desires pass away but whoever does the will of God lives forever. So, these things, you know, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, all these things, they are temporary. They will pass away. A day will come when you will no longer even feel those desires because, you know, you will be dead, you will no longer be in the flesh. But there is something more, you know, on the inside that inner person who will continue to live for eternity, that person can either choose to live with God forever forever or be, you know, condemned to hell forever. So, he says, the world and its desires pass away but whoever does the will of God lives forever. If you are, you know, running your entire life chasing after the desires of the world to fulfill them, you are chasing after something that is temporary. A day is going to come when you are not even going to be needing that car, you are not even going to be needing those other things, material things. The thing which can make a difference is following the will of God. If you do that, you in fact will be living forever in eternity, in the presence of God. So, he is basically telling his people pursue eternal things. Do not pursue temporary, temporal things is what he says and therefore he wants them in verse 18. So, he says, Dear children, this is the last hour and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming even now, many Antichrist have come. So, yes, in the end time there is going to be the Antichrist who will come, who will set himself up as an alternate God and he will expect to be worshipped and he will think that he can bring down the living God. So, they will be the Antichrist who will come in the end but right now, there are many Antichrist who are already coming. So, he is saying, you know, be aware of that and who are these Antichrist? They are all the people who are bringing in this anti-doctrines about Christ. You know, I mean because the Gospel says the Jesus Christ came in the flesh and he lived as a human and he died and he rose. That is basically what Christ is proclaiming. But the Antichrist, they will say no, no, no, he was never fully human or they will say, oh, he only temporarily became divine when the spirit of Christ came upon him and they will say, knowing this understanding this revelation knowing the secret mystic things which God will reveal to you that will bring you salvation. These are the Antichrist who are preaching something which Christ did not proclaim. They are preaching something which is against what Christ proclaimed also regarding such people, he says. You know, have you noticed something about them? They went out from us. They are going showed that none of them belonged to us. If they had really been of the true faith they would have stayed with us. They would have followed what we believe the true gospel which was first preached to us. They would have continued walking in it. But you know what? They went out from us. They did not remain faithful and stay with us. So that alone should show you that these are Antichrists. They are not somebody to be admired. You know, even though their philosophies sound so sophisticated they are talking about these secret revelations which make you very superior. But don't get led away by that that kind of a thing because these are people who refuse to continuing fellowshiping with us. They chose to go out from among us and that shows their true colours. So he says do not go after them. Rather what he is saying is you have an anointing from the Holy One. He says in verse 20 and all of you know the truth. So if we can have someone read out this section Chapter 2 verse 20 up to verse 23 Chapter 2 verse 20 to 23 please. But you have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth but because you know it and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ is Antichrist who denies the father and he is Antichrist who denies the father and the son. Whoever denies the son does not have the father either. He who acknowledges the son has the father also. So he says now you know those of you who have continued to stay with us those who are continuing to fellowship with us. You have an anointing from the Holy One. You know the Holy Spirit with whom you have been anointed he will teach you all things. So you know all things. You know the truth so you do not need to be led away by the lie which these false teachers are teaching. You do not need to be led astray because everything that you know need to know all things. That's what it says in verse 20 that you know all things. So there is nothing which these false teachers can teach you which will add value to your salvation and to your walk in the Lord. They have nothing to offer no words which can add to what you already have. All that you require is has been revealed to you through the Holy One who lives in you. You know who's anointing you carry. So you do not need any extra teachings from the outside world. You know so it is good for us to listen to TED Talks and you know all these inspirational positive thinking speeches and all of that but be careful you know so because as you are listening to those things do not absorb those worldly principles which are coming through. If they have any good words of advice that you can take take it but be very very careful because the Holy One inside you will help you to discern what is of God and what is of the Prince of the Air. You know because I have been noticing all these all these very inspirational talks which they give especially in this TED Talks sometimes they are preaching worldiness. I mean worldly principles they package it very nicely it sounds very good but at the core of it are they promoting self are they promoting loyalty to the Lord so whatever you are absorbing into your system let it be something which is exalting the Lord rather than exalting self because if promoting yourself and fulfilling your ambitions becomes primary that can lead to lust of the eyes it can lead to pride of life there is a danger he goes on to say he speaks further on this topic and he says in verse 24 as for you see what you have heard from the beginning remains in you so don't get led astray by all these other fancy teachings that are coming in continue to make sure that the Gospel which was first taught to you that is remaining in you and he says in verse 26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray now he talks about 3 types of you know in these 3 epistels that John writes he talks about 3 categories of people who tend to lead believers astray there are 3 terms that he uses regarding them he talks about false prophets this actually would be in the 4th chapter so we will be talking about it later so in chapter 4 verse 1 he talks about false prophets they are the ones who say that they have had a false divine revelation some kind of secret knowledge has been revealed to them and so they speak with great power and they are powerful enough to actually lead believers astray because they are speaking through the spirits through whatever the special revelation that has come to them through whatever spirit they are speaking in the power of that and so they can lead believers astray if believers are not careful and therefore he says in chapter 4 test the spirits with what spirit is that person speaking so he says there are false prophets who sound like as if they are really prophesying the truth but test the spirit and find out of which spirit are they are they of the holy spirit or are they of these false spirits which are promoting false things so he talks about being led away by false prophets he also talks about in fact in the 2nd epistel 2nd John verse 7 he talks about deceivers now these are people who know the truth but they don't want you to find out that so they deliberately deceive you even though they know the actual gospel and even though once upon a time the true gospel had been taught to them they have now gone into false teachings and now they want you to accept the deception rather than standing on what you were originally taught by the original gospel so they are deceivers they want to lead you astray from what they know was the original truth which was taught to the church and then the 3rd type which we talked about he saw he talks about antichrists so these antichrists are basically those who are teaching any kind of doctrine which goes against the full divinity and full humanity of Jesus Christ so when he says I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray he most probably is referring to these 3 types of people who lead believers astray false prophets who are speaking under the inspiration of some false spirit deceivers who know what the true gospel is but now they want to deceive you and lead you into false teachings which will take you away from Christ and then you have the antichrists who are preaching wrong doctrines which are not speaking about the full divinity and the full humanity of Jesus Christ so he says do not be led away do not be led astray by these people so then coming to the last portion of this chapter if you could please read out for us this last 2 verses verses 28 and 29 and now little children abide in him that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming if you know that he is righteous everyone who practice righteousness is born of him okay so now in this verse 29 he is kind of introducing a new thought and he is going to develop this further in the next chapter so in verse 29 he is saying if you know that he is righteous you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him those who know Christ and are born through Christ they are the ones who will do righteousness so there are 2 aspects to our Christian faith knowing God being born of him and knowing him in that personal sense where you are literally born of him that leads to your doing righteousness so because you see in chapter 3 there is going to be a lot of talk about doing righteousness but all this doing righteousness is going to emerge out of who you are you are somebody who has been born of Christ and you personally know him and so now all the acts all the actions are going to emerge out of your status of who you are so he starts talking about these things because in that way you will get to know who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil because the children of the devil also pretend to be doing many many good things but their origin is not that they have been born of God they don't have that divine origin they have not been birthed by through Jesus Christ so even though they may be doing good works they will actually lead you astray so he goes on to talk about these things and of course we will look at them in the next chapter when we cover it next week yeah no questions were posted so maybe we can just conclude with a word of prayer Lord we just thank you so much for the many things that we could learn today from this first epistle of John we pray O Lord that today even today even as we are living in this current age and there are so many false teachings going about we pray O Lord that because of the anointing of the Holy One whom we carry inside we pray that Lord we will stay with the truth that we will not be led astray we pray O Lord that we will continue to place our faith in that first gospel which was taught to us that first gospel in which we believed and which led to our rebirth into your family we pray that we will hold on to that and not be led away by fancy teachings just because they are catering to the flesh so we pray O Lord that through your anointing through your sanctification which happens to us every day on a daily basis we will be able to continue fighting against the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and the pride of life O Lord because we want to remain in you we want to remain in your love we don't want to be part of the world so we pray O Father that you would help us to walk in the light and remain in the light even as you are in the light help us O Lord to also have an attitude of love and fellowship towards one another because O Lord only such people you regard as part of your family so we pray that we will be very serious in our interaction with other believers in the way we treat them the way we think about them help us O Lord in all of these things because you are the one who is sanctifying us and purifying us on a daily basis thank you O Lord in Jesus name amen thank you so much and thank you pastor John for reading all the verses for us thank you pastor