Good morning church family. Happy Lord's Day. And for all the moms who are joining us, happy Mother's Day. You're all incredible and truly a blessing from the Lord. So with that we will begin our service. Good morning everyone. Happy Mother's Day. There are photo booths and little tables with gifts for the moms who are here.

So please make sure to make use of those before you leave. And there's also going to be a resource table there. So if you're not a believer and you're curious about Christianity, our outreach team will be there and you can ask questions. They'll have some books for you and things like that.

Second, all church praise and prayer is going to be this Friday at 7.30 p.m. And so for those of you who have been asking, we will be having a little bit of a space in the front side where we'll be setting up white chairs. And then if you would like to pray kneeling down, there will be a place for that.

So just be ready for that. And then we're going to also be continuing the signups for FAM 245's workshop on May 20th. So if you would like to just ask any questions about that right there, Jason Choi is going to be the one to email. And then an abortion seminar is on May 28th.

So this one too, please carve out time in the calendar as this is such a pressing issue in this day. And it will be very helpful not to exhaustively cover everything, but hopefully helpful to even begin questions and covering some of the basics. This Saturday, we're also going to be having a softball tournament.

So please come and support our teams. And there it's going to be at the Wilson. I can't remember where it is. Wilson. It's in Torrance. So just if you have questions about that, you can message somebody. I'm sorry, I wasn't prepared. So just find out a way to get there.

And so that's this Saturday. Oh, man. Okay. And then. All right. Let's let's let's pray for offering. So we have our physical offering basket in the back there. You can also give electronically. All the information is up here. Would you bow your heads with me in prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank you so much.

We pray that you would help us, God, to have right hearts before you. And God, that we would have intentional moments every Sunday as we give our offerings. A Lord that you'd be honored. A Father that would give you the first fruits of all that we have. God, a simple representation of the fact that we have indeed given over and surrendered our entire lives to you.

Thank you, Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Let us all rise as we sing these praises. May it be our prayer and our encouragement to persevere in our faith, to trust in his sustaining grace, and to cling unto Christ until we see him in full glory. Once again, a happy Mother's Day to everyone.

Today's sermon is actually not going to be about Mother's Day. I just wanted to say happy Mother's Day and we're going to move on. So the stuff is outside for you to enjoy afterwards. The main point of today's sermon will be to evaluate where we are in our love for Jesus Christ.

That's going to be our main question. I came across this as something to speak on as I was reevaluating months ago where I was in my own faith. One of the things that can be very scary if we're not careful is that we make such assumptions about where we are in our faith based upon some arbitrary standards.

Just because we're believers does not mean we're currently living in a love for Christ. We ought to take time here and there just to see where we stand before Him. That is the question that I'm going to ask. If someone were to ask you how you're doing in your faith, what would you say?

If someone were to ask you something a little bit more than that, do you love Christ, what would you say to that? How much do we love Christ? How would you answer beyond this discerning of what is just words versus what is genuine in you? What you know about Christ, the facts and the thoughts and how you've been doing in terms of disciplines, beyond those types of things, how would you answer how you're doing in your faith?

This is very challenging because I know that none of us are where we actually want to be. I'm not talking about our satisfaction. I'm not talking about contentment. What I am talking about is the fullness of our joy found in Jesus and only in Him. It was frustrating for me as I was evaluating my own heart.

But I came to a conclusion secondary to this. One thing I didn't know for sure is that I do want to love Christ more. That's something I was for sure about. Here's where I am, but what I do know is how much I desire for Him to have my whole heart.

I don't want to be satisfied with where I am. I want to grow. My guess is, so do you. We're going to be looking at 1 Peter 1 verses 6-9. I'll be reading this for us. If you could turn there. 1 Peter 1 verses 6-9. "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls." Heavenly Father, I pray, God, that as we evaluate our hearts this morning about how our love for you has been.

God, especially for those of us who have felt such coldness of heart, God, that you would cause us to draw our eyes to you and to long and to pursue and to fight. To love you with not just the best parts or a majority parts, but the fullness of our hearts.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. We're going to four points, and the first point here is going to be context to verses 6-9 that I just read. And the first point is that we are to gratefully praise God for the fullness of salvation given to us. So, in verses 6-9, it actually becomes a response as to what comes from verses 3-5.

So, let me read verses 3-5 for us first. It says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." So, Peter is just simply praising God for us to see.

He's saying, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which are words of gratitude and praise and worship to God." Now, he does this because Peter is full of worship. He's full of thankfulness, and his mouth is opening, and it's just coming out. And he's not just saying thank you for salvation in general, he's very specific about it.

Just as we can just be grateful for the salvation that has been given to us, when we sit and meditate of the riches of what we have in our salvation, it causes a change of heart. Peter, he shows you the quality of this faith, or this salvation, the length and the depth of this salvation, the power and the precision, the cost of this salvation, and he's been meditating on it.

I have a list for you here. In verse 3, he says, "He has shown us mercy." You sit there and you just meditate just on that fact, that I deserved hell, but he has given us mercy. Verse 3 further goes on to say, "He has caused us to be born again.

I am alive in Christ. Before I was dead in the trespasses and sins in which I once walked. He has given us a living hope." We have hope. For anyone who says that they struggle with some form of depression, we have a living hope. Verse 4, "He has accomplished it through the work of Jesus Christ.

He has given us an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, unfading, reserved in heaven." Verse 5 further goes to say, "He is protecting that salvation that we have by his very own power." So Peter just displays a gratitude that naturally flows out of when you see salvation for what it is. This is a past salvation purchased, a present salvation working out in his life, because of a future salvation that is guaranteed for us.

We see that the believer is saved and given new life immediately in the here and now, and so there is gratitude there. But in this passage, what he's pointing towards is actually something in the future. He's pointing towards something, he's thankful today because of something that's coming. That needs to be clearly seen.

There's something that we're still waiting for is what he's saying. We can certainly say today that we're complete in God, that our sins are fully forgiven, and that we're satisfied in Christ. But the reality is, and it's undeniable, that there is yet something incomplete. Because we still deal with the difficulties of this sinful world.

We still deal with the reality of our own sin today. And so there is great hope in reminding us that there is something that is coming. So next slide here, verse 4, it says that this is reserved in heaven for you, and in verse 5 it says it's a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

This is all what is coming. Which brings us quickly to the second point, which is the result of the reality of salvation. So what does it result in? When we see salvation for what it is, and this fullness of salvation that is going to one day be complete in us, what is the result?

Great rejoicing. Now up to this point it's really easy to nod. Yeah, and we're thankful. But the words being used here in chapter 1, verse 6, he says, "In this you greatly rejoice." You can't just nod to that. Because have you or have you not? Right? Isn't this frustrating?

This passage isn't asking us if we believe this. It's asking us if we believe it to the point of joy. Because if we fully and truly believed it, would we not have great rejoicing in our hearts? How can we ever complain about anything? If we knew this, what would happen of depression, of loneliness, of desires to place our hearts in the things of this world?

What would happen with everything that we see around us if we truly, actively lived in this reality? This word, "greatly rejoice," it's not the common word for joy used in scripture. It's just "kara." "Kara" is the common word. Joy. This one is more intense type of joy. It's "greatly rejoice," which means to experience the state of great joy and gladness, often involving, I thought it was kind of funny, verbal expression and appropriate body movement.

You can't contain it. Later on it goes on to say inexpressible joy. It's this joy that just oozes out of somebody who is so happy. And he says in this, "you," right? Like he points a finger at the reader. Says, "you greatly rejoice," and you're kind of like, "oof." This is not small joy.

This is extreme, overjoyed. It's not a soft reaction of joy. It's a joy of deep quality. It's not something that can be flippantly substituted with a shallow joy. If we've ever experienced joys, there are small joys that we all have experienced. Little things like if you wake up on Thursday and you think, or you wake up on Saturday and you think it's Thursday.

Something like that, right? You wake up and you're like, "ah!" That's joy. Lame joy though, right? It's a very short-lived joy. Why? Because Monday's coming, you know? Great, you had it for a moment. There's small joys in having a full stomach, a good night of sleep. Small joys of finding unexpected cash in your pocket.

Small joys that are here and there everywhere around us. But where there is shallow joy, there is shallow praise. For Peter, he's speaking of a deep and profound joy that is stemming out of salvation. And one that is to come. This is one of those life-altering moment types of joys he's describing.

In fact, in three passages, the first one here, Mary's Magnificat, in Luke 1:46, this was a life-altering moment for Mary. She says, "My soul exalts the Lord and my spirit has greatly rejoiced in God my Savior. For he has had regard for the humble state of his bond slave.

For behold, from this time on, all generations will count me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me and holy is His name." It's a great joy that's being described here. And when the Philippian jailer converts, and he just went from, "I am going to kill myself," to eternal life.

It says in Acts 16:34, "And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and," there it is again, "rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household." This is huge joy. And this is the same joy found in Revelation 19:7 that describes the joy we'll have when we're finally with Christ.

"And he said to us," this is the word, "Greatly rejoice, rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready." And so this concept of great joy, we can wrap our minds around. But when we think of the salvation that we have in God, and what is awaiting us in God, what this passage in 1 Peter is telling us is that the only appropriate response is, "Great joy day by day." And that feels unfair.

Because who can live like that, right? Who can live with that kind of profound, deep, life-altering joy? Not shallow joy, not a stale joy. And this is so difficult for us to get on. And quite honestly, I'm not even 100% sure, even though I've studied this multiple times, what that's supposed to even look like, honestly.

But what I do know is that when I read this, I want it. I want that joy. I'm not satisfied with how my joys have been pulled by cheap substitutions in this world. When I read it, there is a feeling of what I feel when I think of holiness.

When God is so far, and He calls us to a life of holiness, it's so far. And yet, it doesn't leave me in a state of, "Well, what can you do?" In the same way, we see a joy that is so huge, this great rejoicing, that even though I might feel somewhat far from that, because day after day, "Come on, how do you actually live like that?" When I see it, but I want it, and that drives me.

I don't want to put my joy in the cheap substitutions, in the shoddy imitations. We can't be satisfied with that. Though in the weakness of our flesh, that may be the reality, that there's going to be this temptation to not have that joy, to put that joy in other things.

There's a difference between recognizing our flesh's weakness, and then giving up, as if all that's there for us. Christians are people who are called to long, yearn, pursue, hunger and thirst. We're desperate. We're people who, Christians are clingers. We cling. Because though we know that that is awaiting us, we are currently in that process.

Let there be. This is a joy, so great that it lasts even through suffering. This is a joy, a great rejoicing that will anchor the Christian. It's not supposed to be something you just come to, like after times of trial, which though that is good, but it comes on the front end.

It's a joy that we strive for day by day, that even when sufferings, even when trials and persecution comes, it will cause us to remain immovable. And so in 1 Peter 1.6 it says again, "And this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials." A few chapters later in chapter 4 he goes on to say, "But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exaltation." Peter has to exhort the believers to keep on rejoicing.

Why? Because there is a temptation to lose the joy. But if God has always meant for us to have fullness of life and full, abundant life in Him, then we have to know that we are then in for a war. That's why we Christians are seekers and pursuers here in this world, is we're not yet there.

See how important it is to see the end. We're not there. I know we're satisfied in Christ alone, but we are wholly dissatisfied until we reach Him. Peter has to exhort them, because he recognizes there is a spiritual war. And this war is against outside forces, it's against our sin, but it's also a war against growing jadedness and apathy in the midst of trial, struggle, and persecution.

It's a struggle against folding. It's a struggle against giving up. Because once we give up and having the fullness of joy in Christ, the only place where it leaves us is to put our joy into cheap imitations. There's no other place it can go. This is a deep joy in Christ that we are trying to look for here.

And so if I were to ask you how you are doing in your faith, how would you answer? What would cause you to evaluate your faith? What would be the standard and the rubric? Would it be Bible reading? Would it be consistency of prayer life? Would it be evangelism?

Would it be service to church? How would you answer that question? And what I'd like to pose for you is, wouldn't the state of your joy be a more appropriate evaluation of where you stand in your faith? Where is your joy? Peter understands that this is just for a little while.

That's what it says in verse 6. Just for a little while. And it is necessary for us to go through distress. He knows that it's going to be difficult to keep up the joy for what's to come when Jesus returns. In struggle, in trial, in persecution, if your great joy is not in Christ, then you're going to fold.

We're going to give up. We're going to turn to things that actually give us joy. And he says these trials are necessary. Necessary. And so it's a present joy because of a future reality. Now again, we have to stop thinking that this great joy is to be found in something that is to be fully had in the here and now.

What I'm saying is that joy that we're looking at is going to be something because of something that's coming later. So how does that help us now? Well, we have some ways to look at it. I used to, in high school, I was like a cross-country runner and we would run long distances and things like that, right?

And in the middle of it, if you did not know where the end was, cross-country, like it's, people already think it's like a crazy sport. Why would you submit yourself to such things? But if you didn't have a finish line, it would be unbearable, right? So I remember we would sometimes be running these long distances during practice and it would be only the finish line that would cause me to endure.

Sometimes I'll just think about, oh my gosh, it's going to feel so good when I'm able to stop, when I'm able to drink water, when I get to go home and take a nice shower and get in my bed and, you know, like when I'm able to do all these things, we have these thoughts of a future thing that's going to help me in the here and now, right?

But it's not enough because when we're living and walking our lives right now, thinking that great joy is to be fully had, to be had somewhere in the future, then we can't have that great joy in the fullness here and now. I couldn't think of any example that would help me illustrate this.

That the fullness of joy that I'll have then needs to be apprehended today. It has to happen as we're waiting. And so until we get there, the present day brokenness, as real as it is, as real as the pain is, the difficulties in this day, we have to know that there's going to be a fight for this joy, that there's going to be a war when it comes to this joy.

And if we don't know or if we don't live in the reality of coming glory, then we're going to succumb to the temptation of what we have around us. We will satisfy ourselves. We will find joy in the things that this world offers. Sheep imitations, shoddy substitutes that ultimately take our eyes off of real joy.

Again, the great divide is the fact that we know it. And the fact that we know it is actually what becomes most dangerous to us. Because as soon as we ask ourselves, "Where has our joy been?" It's not always the nicest answer. Letter C. This rejoicing becomes a proof of faith.

Verse 7 says, "So that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable even though tested by fire." Do you know why? Because if you don't really believe, if your faith is not genuine, then you cannot have this joy. And you can't endure in this life.

You can't endure suffering. You can't endure persecution. You'll fold every time. You'll run to the world every time. If you do not actually believe that joy is to be had in the future, that this world is not it, if you don't actually believe that that is coming, then today you are going to find yourself placing your joy in whatever you want to fill the blanks with.

And we need to honestly answer that question. Have I been greatly rejoicing in what I have in Christ? Or have I been taking joy in the things of this world? And so it becomes a proof of faith. It tests the genuineness of your faith. This joy is going to show you.

Because at the end, only those who actually believe it are going to be able to have that joy. The second half of verse 7, it continues by saying, "That it may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Praise, glory, and honor here is not talking about God's praise, glory, and honor, but ours.

Now it can be seen over-archingly as one and the same, that God's praise, glory, and honor becomes ours and vice versa. But here in the context, Peter is encouraging the readers to a heavenly reward, an inheritance of Christ. And that when Jesus Christ one day is revealed, there will be praise, glory, and honor for me.

In Matthew chapter 25, verse 23, it says, "His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.'" That's praise. That praise is awaiting us one day when we get to God.

Colossians 3.3, this is glory. "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." Revelation 4.21 talks about this honor that's awaiting us. "He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." So all of this to say that there is something waiting for us. I think we've gone through that enough. And so we greatly rejoice today for a future reality. But this passage, the great thing about this passage is it starts to kind of pull it together and show us a little bit better how that happens today.

Because we find ourselves trying to convince ourselves we ought to have that joy, which is very different than actually having that joy. Nodding our heads to the fact that we should be joyful people that look like this versus the fact that I'm not looking like that. Which brings us to our third point.

"You don't see Him now, but you love Him now, and you believe in Him now." You don't see Him now, but you love Him now and believe in Him now. In 1 Peter 1.8, "And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him." This is talking about a day when Jesus will one day be fully revealed in all His glory.

And we're going to see it, and we're going to see Him face to face. We have some of our favorite praise songs, I bet you. The moments that really catch you in the chest is when we start to sing about the time when we will see God come down into this world.

When we see Jesus face to face, right? Am I the only one? Those times when we sing those things, like, "Oh, I can't wait." Let me pose for you today that if you do not love Jesus today, then I don't know if we can say we will have that joy when He comes.

Because that's the same Jesus. All of a sudden, it's just going to flick everything on. I'm not saying that's not going to happen. I'm not allowed to because it says one day that's going to happen. We're going to find a fullness of joy. But today, that needs to be there.

See, what Peter is doing here, he makes comments in verse 8, assuming what is true of the believer. Not something that you want. It's not conditional. He's not saying if you love Him, if you believe in Him. It's not conditional. It's not something you want, and it's not an imperative.

It's not a command to us. Love Him. Believe in Him. Right? I mean, can you see it in verse 8? He's just stating a fact. You love Him. You feel that rude finger of Peter pointing at you? You love Him. You believe in Him. But do you? But do I?

He says you do because this is the true of every believer. This is the natural state of the Christian. This is the reality, not the theory. And it's not just joy. It's great joy. It's fullness of joy. It's dissatisfaction with the things of this world and satisfaction in Jesus alone.

That is the base nature of the Christian. Our love and belief in Christ is our reality. And when Peter says this, it shows that if our lives do not reflect this reality, then we must not be comfortable with where we've gotten. So do you love Christ? Do you believe in Christ?

If you only look to future joy, then it's going to just be theory. Right? It's going to come one day. We'll cross that bridge when it comes. How does that relate to me today? Because he's showing us that it does relate to us today. And so this only happens as we walk with Christ today.

That we love Him today. That we believe Him today. Just as much as we will believe in Him as we see Him face to face. Just as much as we will love Him with all of our hearts one day when we are in glory. That that is what we are striving towards.

That kind of joy. That kind of love. That kind of belief. And anything less than that, we are not okay. Christian, we cannot be okay with that. Even when we don't see Him, there needs to be something tangible in our love and our belief. Or is there something else that you've been loving?

Something else that you've been choosing to place your faith in? Something else that you've been believing in to bring you life? To bring you joy and happiness and satisfaction? Whatever you love, whatever you believe in, you can rest assured that's where your joy is. That's what you take joy in.

No wonder our joy for Christ can be so fickle. No wonder that this will begin to mute our love and our belief in Christ. Where we sow, there we reap. And the more we place our love and belief in the things of this world, then our joy will be found in the things of this world.

And joy in Christ will then grow cold. It will be apathetic. It will be jaded. It will be going through the motions. It will be passionless. And we will try to coach ourselves in theory. And tell ourselves of truths that we ought to believe. If there is apathy and jadedness in us, how can we be okay with that?

If we are living a joyless, supposed Christian existence, how can we be satisfied in that? If we are always looking back to a time where that was a time where my heart beat for Christ. And we think those are just bygone days. How can we be okay with that?

It can't be because that is not the Christian. We long for him. There must be a longing in our current apathy. A longing in our current jadedness that needs to be found. There must be desperation and a cry to the Lord to draw near to God. And to get rid of all the things that would keep us from Him.

Today the things that we might run to in the flesh, the things that we love and believe in, are things that we can actually tangibly see. That's why it's so easy to go astray. Because we see it. And it's so inviting because we believe it and we love it.

And he says, "Jesus, though you do not see Him now." So it's difficult. What is so difficult to place our love and belief in Christ is that we have never placed our physical eyes upon Him. Peter makes it a point to remind us of that. Though you have not seen Him with your physical eyes.

We haven't physically touched Him. We haven't physically walked with Him. But here's the thing. While some that we read of in scripture have actually seen Him and walked with Him, it didn't necessarily mean that they actually saw and believed in Him. Right? Faith has nothing to do with physically seeing and physically walking with the actual Jesus.

Because it's described to us in that manner. It was given to these apostles and then they pen words. And we think, "Boy, but if I walked with Jesus, if I were able to just eat with Him and hear from Him and all these things, then my love for Jesus, of course it would be vibrant." And that's a big, "Ugh!" No.

Because even those who are there, it showed that it did not mean that there was actual belief, actual love. In fact, isn't that the whole purpose of the word "faith"? Matthew 28, verse 16 says, "But the eleven disciples," and this is minus Judas, you know? "The eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.

When they saw Him, they worshipped Him. But some were doubtful." What a funny little comment to add there, you know? Some were doubtful. Probably Thomas. Maybe more. Because in the human heart, we see what sin is. Just as the Israelites saw with their eyes what Yahweh did to Egypt.

Just as the people who are following Jesus saw with their eyes the multiplying of bread, the healing of lepers, blind people, the lame, the deaf. Just as He was able to, with their eyes they saw Him, cast out demons and to stop the storm. Just as with their eyes they saw Him bring a man back to life.

And now just as they saw the resurrected Christ, they worshipped Him, but some were doubtful. It's the same. In Scripture, Jesus warns the disciples that He'll be leaving them. And later on, after the resurrection, they see Jesus leave them. And then from that point on, Jesus did not walk with them on earth again.

And He is not walking with us physically on earth today. But something greater is given to us. The Holy Spirit, the Helper, the Comforter, who will be with the very presence of the Spirit of Christ in me. As it says in Colossians, "Christ in me, the hope of glory." He is in us as believers.

And so we have something better. We have something greater than physical sight. We have something better than just seeing what He's able to do there. We have something better than just seeing what He can do apart from us. Or the fact that I can walk next to Him. We have as believers today as far better, not even just a little bit better, but far better than physical sight.

Christ in me. Forever. He can never leave us or forsake us. And so we have spiritual sight as we walk by the Spirit. So our fleshly eyes continue to lay eyes on nice cars and houses and careers and things where I can finally rest in this world. Where I can finally take joy and peace and comfort in this one.

Those are your fleshly eyes. Your fleshly eyes saying what you believe in. Your fleshly eyes saying what you love. But He says, "Though we do not see Him, we love Him. Though we do not see Him now, we believe in Him." We have something greater. It's called faith. Faith of something that's to come, but something that's so powerful that it makes an impact today.

Hebrews 11.1, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." That's what faith is. Things that we cannot see. Ephesians 1.18, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe." 2 Corinthians 4.16, "Therefore we don't lose heart." It's talking about the difficulties that are going on around us.

The decay that's happening inside of us. "But though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal way to glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." And lastly, John 20.27, "Then He said to Thomas," There he is. There's our guy. "Reach here with your finger and see My hands, and reach here with your hand and put it into My side, and do not be unbelieving but believing.

Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God.'" There's his confession. "And Jesus said to him, 'Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed.' Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." Full life.

This belief is so strong. That even though we know Christ is coming, that we're walking with Him today. How do you believe in someone you don't see? How do you love someone that you don't see? Well, simply put, it's by communing with God through spirit, by word, and prayer.

In John 14.25, it says, "These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you." I love that.

"Not as the world gives do I give to you." The peace that we're seeking in this world. His peace is different. So it says, "Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." But He says, "I'm leaving you." But your heart does not need to be troubled.

Your heart does not need to be fearful because His very presence is with us. So that's why Matthew 28.20 says, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Let's keep moving forward here in this passage. 1 Peter 1.8 now, "And though you have not seen Him, you love Him.

And though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him." And that very same word, "You greatly rejoice." And then He adds more to it. Remember, great rejoicing was for something that was way over there. Now He's saying that this very great--this "You greatly rejoice," and He adds with joy inexpressible.

This is just the joyful joy that is joyfully, joyfully. You can just put whatever you want in there. It's a huge joy. This is just joy. "Obtaining as an outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls," He's saying that this happens as you believe in Him now and as you love Him now.

It's not just looking to a future thing. It's now. Great joy because we're walking with Christ today. Okay, so have we been walking with Christ? Do we do a lot of talking about Him? Or do we hear His words? I'm not getting charismatic here. Do you hear His voice?

Do you commune with the Lord? So we have to be very careful of something called practical atheism. Christianity is not practicing Christian things. It's not simply thinking Christian thoughts. It's not having Christian beliefs. Christianity is walking with our God. It's not simply knowing what He says. It's knowing Him.

This is stated so many times. We are so thick. I know how thick I am. So we know what He says. We know why He says it because we're in relationship with Him. We know His heart because we commune with Him. If we know many things about God, there is such great danger in becoming apathetic and jaded if we just have facts roiling around in our head, right?

We need to learn to question, "Do I love Christ and do I believe in Christ?" We can't skip this step of knowing what Christianity is and then just jump to this, "Give me the list of what I need to do to grow." There's no shortcut to this because it's the whole heart of what it is.

You would jump over the entire thing if you don't have this. It's not just knowing that I'm supposed to. It's not just knowing that I'm supposed to not love the things of this world. It's not just knowing that I'm supposed to love God with all my heart. It's not just knowing that I'm supposed to find fullness of joy in Him.

It's the reality of where I stand. Do I love Him? Do I believe in Him? Do I have joy in Him? Is He all that I want? And there will be no satisfaction in me until I get that, until the day I see Him face to face. What makes us think we will be so joyful then when we don't take joy in Him now?

This is the Christian. We do love Him. We do believe in Him. We have to learn to wrestle and realize that we're in a war, that our joys are being tempted away. We need to desperately seek God Himself. Otherwise, we lose our Christian heartbeat and we cannot grow. Practical atheism.

Knowing a bunch of things but living as if He weren't real. This passage, that's why it just jumped out at me as I was reevaluating months ago. Do I live as if God isn't real? I know He is. That's not the point. How am I living? Romans 3, 10.

It gives us this long thing of what a non-believer looks like. But that's not me. But listen to some of what it says. "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" That's the psalm. "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" Have we been living as if there is no God?

When we go after foolish pleasures of the world, is that not the fool saying that there is no God? In fact, the more we believe that, the more we proclaim that with our mouth, but then we don't believe it in our heart, and so we're going after the things of this world.

Does that make us seem more foolish? It also says, "No one seeks after God." Are we seeking after God? Stephen Charnock said this once, "Men can have atheistic hearts without atheistic heads." There is danger in practical atheism, where we profess God, but we live life practically as if He weren't real, which can cause Christianity to be no different than any other ideology.

That's what creates such a huge gap in our convictions. We can know that something is wrong to do, but it doesn't bother us to do it, so we create our own law. We say, "As long as we stick to these things, and we don't follow after these pursuits, then I'm okay with the lesser sins, or the lesser things.

I'm okay with being where I am." Because God's not real in those places. We're creating our own religion. We're creating our own God. It doesn't bother us to do it, because we don't really believe that He is who He says He is, and that He does what He says He does, and that He will do what He says He will do.

We don't believe it. We dehumanize God. If we're talking about relationship with God, we're dehumanizing Him. We're not walking with Him. There is no personal relationship with Him. Just as much as we would talk about somebody in theory, because we've never really known Him, that's how we talk about God.

Where we dehumanize, and we can see this in the abortion debate, that that's the very reason why the dehumanizing happens. It takes our feelings and our heart away from it. I was talking to Hudson a couple weeks ago, and I asked him, "Hudson, do you believe in God?" That's my son.

Hudson's my son. "Do you believe in God?" He's six. Just for some context. He said, "Yeah." I was like, "Okay, cool." I turned over. We're just lying in bed together, just the two of us. I turned back over, and I was like, "Wait." I asked a question like, "Sometimes I don't want to ask, because I just don't like the answers that come back sometimes.

They're scary." He said, "Hudson." I was like, "Yeah?" I go, "Do you really believe in God?" Then he said this thing. He said, "Well, I kind of." He said, "But sometimes I kind of don't." He says, "Because I don't see Him." That's the state of the sinner's heart, right?

It was so dumb. I was being so dumb. I sat there with a six-year-old boy, and I start pulling out all my apologetics. I'm like, "Hudson, if you went downstairs and you saw Legos that are all built, what would you ask?" He'd be like, "Uh, who did it?" I was like, "Yeah." "So when you see a building, does it just pop out of the ground?" He goes, "No." "Then what do you think?" "Oh, somebody probably built it." "Okay, so when you see trees, and when you see the sky, and when you see the world, then that proves that God is real." I was thinking about that afterwards.

I'm like, "I'm such a fool." For all the evangelizing that I do with college students and things like that, I know that apologetics does nothing to change a person's heart. I was sitting there, and I started thinking, "Does Hudson see that I believe in God, that I love God with all of my heart?" Because he can't use his physical eyes to see.

But what would he say of me? What would he say brings me the greatest joy? What would he say that I wake up and live for? At least if he's not real to him, would he be able to confidently say to daddy, "It's so real." I got that feeling of the need to not just pass on knowledge to my child.

I have nine different children's Bibles at home. We've gone through them all multiple times. We're on our second set of curriculum right now. I could tell him all I want about God. I could tell him about--we spent weeks on the Trinity. I could tell him about the facts. And I could logic and reason with a six-year-old boy.

But this relationship that I have with this living God, not just God but a living God, not just hope but a living hope that I have, everything is so sure. I ask, "What have I been leading my family to?" We had a men's ministry event. If you did not come and you are a man, you missed out yesterday, please come to the next one.

So challenging. I left going, "Who am I? What am I doing? Where am I leading my family? Where am I leading my wife? Where am I leading my kids?" Not with my words. I have the words down. But with my heart, with my life, with my belief, with my love, where am I leading them?

Do they know what I love? Am I leading them to the Christ my heart loves? Do I talk about Christ as if I believe in Him, as if I walk with Him, as if He were real, as if He's not somebody that I just think is sitting up there in Heaven?

Am I walking with Him day by day? Am I abiding in Him? Am I understanding what it is to have friendship with Him? Or have I created a Christianity that is no Christianity at all at these moments? I'm not satisfied with that. And neither should you. We are not people who think thoughts about God.

We need to know why. Not just the whats. There are so many whats we like. "Oh, just tell me what to do. Tell me what I have to do to be a Christian." No, it's why. Your heart needs to change. And this is not for--this is not the goal of the Christian.

One day when I become a very mature Christian, I'm going to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I'm going to walk with Christ in this manner. This is the Christian. You want to see? It's really scary. Are you ready to see a very scary passage?

1 Corinthians 16.22. "If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed." That's crazy. That word is "damned." "If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed." And he goes on to conclude by saying, "Maranatha." Look at his heart. This is Paul's heart. "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

My love be with you all in Christ Jesus." Again, in Ephesians 6.24. "Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love." Grace is for those who love Christ. Salvation is for those who love Christ because that is who we are. It's not something that we're working our way up towards.

It's something if we are not there, then we are not satisfied until we have full, the fullness of love in Him. And so in 1 Peter 1.9 to conclude the passage, it says, "You greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, present day joy for the walking with Christ in the present." Belief in Christ in the present.

Love for Christ in the present. Not just for something that's coming, but a great joy that is for the future things. And then now a great joy that is because we walk with Him today. The already, not yet, being fully espoused into our hearts. That though we will see Him one day, we are still walking with Him today.

Wow, that's the mystery of the Trinity at work. But it's full. Now remember that he doesn't just say greatly rejoice, but with great rejoice and with joy inexpressible, full of glory. This brings us to our final point. How to do this. How do you keep this up? I can't go through everything, so I'm just going to read the passage and I ran out of time.

So, "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, and set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." He tells us, "Take your mind off the things of this world and place them on the things of Christ." Not the things of Christianity, on the things of Christ. Where you're hidden with Christ.

You and Christ are one. We're the body of Christ. I don't know, you can just pick, take your pick. Not just what do I have to do, do I have to serve now? Do I have to, like, do I have to go and love people? Like, what is it that I have to do?

It's Christ, everything is Christ. So, anything that is keeping you from Christ, stop. Anything that helps you put your mind on Christ, do it. So easy, right? So simple. But now apply it. You know what has been keeping you from Christ. Kill it. It's actually fairly simple. I think we make it really complicated.

Stop. If you're a Christian, you have the ability to say no to unrighteousness. Stop. And then, turn your eyes to the one you love. And walk with it. Now there's a difference between me saying it's simple and me saying it's easy. The concept is simple. But we need to be able to do this together.

This needs to be collective. Because we actually do continue to take cues by what we see with our eyes. So we take cues by the people around you. If they live a certain way, we think it's okay to live a certain way. Right? But you know if that certain way of living is actually keeping you from Christ.

So they cannot be your standard and rubric. You need to look and see where you actually stand. And if there's anything getting in the way between you and Christ, it does not matter whether something is permissible or not. Will you get rid of what it takes? There are so many filthy things.

So many distracting things. I'm going to read for us a quote from John Piper where it says, "What gives joy its quality? I don't mean merely its intensity but its moral character. What makes joy ugly or beautiful, depraved or noble, dirty or clean? The answer is that the thing enjoyed gives joy its character.

If you enjoy dirty jokes and bathroom language and lewd pictures, then your heart is dirty and your joy is dirty. If you enjoy cruelty and arrogance and revenge, then your heart and your joy have that character. For the more you get your joy simply from material things, the more your heart and your joy shrivel up like a mere material thing.

You become like what you crave." So as we take a look and try to apply those things, the things that we need to kill, remember there is, again, no shortcut to this. The two things that need to be accomplished is we need to read our Bible and we need to pray.

We have to read the Word as if these are Christ's words, that He is speaking to me today, that it is alive and active and sharp. It might not be easy but we know these are the words of our Savior. We need to pray not as if just going through a list of prayer requests because we know we're supposed to.

We need to pray as if we're communing with Him, desiring to be in His presence. We need to serve and love the church. We need to share the gospel, all of these things, as if we're walking with Christ, that He is near. I want to be this kind of father.

And before I want to become this kind of father, I want you to remember that I don't want to be like this just because I want to be this kind of father. Jesus Christ is everything to me. And so whatever endangers that, we need to protect it, let the fruit grow, and then people will begin to notice.

And I'm hoping my son does. Stop trying to make yourself into something you think you're supposed to be. Be a Christian. Believe and love Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, our love does grow cold very often. And Father, I pray that at least for today, as we move forward, that we would not be okay with that.

And Father, the fight would begin. There are many of us who have already been fighting and warring in our hearts. I pray God for endurance and perseverance in us, and that we would see it as worth the struggle. Help us to stop wanting to get to places of non-struggle, where we find false senses of joy and peace, comfort and convenience.

That we would be resolved to fight every day of our lives until the day we are reunited with our Savior. God, help us because we are weak. And our flesh, many times, feels so strong. Help us to have faith in that what you have given us, have given us all we need for life and godliness.

That we have the strength of the Spirit inside, that Christ walks with us day by day. Help us to strive and to struggle and to fight, to love Him, and to believe in Him with all our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Stand together. When peace like a river, When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, It is well with my soul.

It is well, It is well with my soul. It is well, It is well with my soul. Though Satan, though Satan should buffet, Though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And has shed His own blood for my soul. It is well, With my soul.

It is well, It is well with my soul. My sin, O the bliss, My sin, O the bliss, Of this glorious thought, My sin, not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, And I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.

Amen. It is well, With my soul. It is well, It is well with my soul. And Lord, haste the day When the faith shall be sighed, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll, The trough shall resound, And the Lord shall descend, Even so, It is well with my soul.

It is well, With my soul. It is well, It is well with my soul. It is well, It is well with my soul. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, both now and forevermore.

Amen. God sent his Son, They called him Jesus, He came to love, Heal and forgive, He lived and died, To buy my pardon, An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives, Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, Because He lives, All fear is gone, Because I know, He holds the future, And life is worth the living, Just because He lives.