Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow in
your Bibles with me as I preach this message, I'm picking up
from where I started last week in 1 John 3, beginning at verse
10, and the title of the message is True Children of God. This
is part two. True Children of God. If you
didn't hear last week's message, I urge you to listen to it. You
can go to our website or go to a site called Sermon Audio. You
can find the message and listen to it, download it, or order
it. We can send you a CD if you're
still into CDs. We're going to talk about True
Children of God. In verse 10, it says, In this
the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.
And what is the this? I dealt with this last week.
This, in this, having to do with a person's faith in Christ or
unbelief. Those who have faith in Christ,
who have been given God, by God, faith, and that is, faith is
the gift of God, you understand. Faith is not in us by nature,
because by nature, we're spiritually dead and depraved. and will not
believe. And therefore God has to draw
us by the power of the Spirit under the preaching of the gospel,
and he gives us faith to believe. That's a gift of God. And that's
where, and this, the children of God are manifest. They believe
in Christ and they will not leave Christ. They cannot leave Christ. That's what it means in verse
nine when he says they do not commit sin. He's talking about
a specific sin there. We're all sinners, and sinners
saved by grace and sinners lost in their sins. But those who
are saved by grace, they cannot leave Christ. They cannot forsake
Him. And as I mentioned last week,
they can stray for a while, But the old preacher that I used
to listen to, he said, God's got us on his leash, the leash
of grace. And that's a leash I want to
be on because he will not let me go the full swing of unbelief. If I stray, he'll draw me back
with the leash of love or what the Bible says, cords of love.
And he will not let us go. Christ said, no one shall pluck
them out of my father's hand. He said, they will all come to
faith, stay in faith. And so in this, the children
of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Now, who are the
children of God and who are the children of the devil? Well,
the children of God are those who believe in Christ and the
children of the devil are those who stay in unbelief and die
in unbelief. However, we need to make a distinction
here, and I left off in Ephesians chapter two. Turn over to Ephesians
chapter two, and we'll read this in a minute. But those who are
true children of God, the Bible teaches this now, they were chosen
by God before the foundation of the world and adopted into
his family legally. It's like a legal document. God chose them to be His children. He gave them to His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and placed all of the burden of their salvation
on Christ. Their sin debt, all of that.
And Christ willingly received that charge. He willingly accepted
that task. And He was made the surety of
God's children. And a surety is one who takes
responsibility for the dead of another. And so, God gave them
to Christ, their names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life, the
scripture says, and they were legally adopted into His family.
Now, in order to save them from their sins, Christ had to come
and die on the cross to redeem them. That's why we say that
Jesus Christ is the surety of His people, and he's the substitute
that is in order to redeem them, he had to take into union with
himself a sinless humanity and unite that humanity with his
deity. He is God manifest in the flesh. And he took our place on the
cross to die for the sins of his people. He purged the sins
of his children. He calls them his brethren. because
they are adopted into the family of God legally, but the price
had to be paid. They were sinful people, and
God saw that in the future. He knew that was His ordained
purpose. God is a God of foreordination,
predestination, if you will. I know people don't like that
word, but it's in the Bible. I like the words of God in the
Bible, don't you? He had to pay the price of their
redemption, and the price was his own blood. And he had to
establish a perfect righteousness by which God could be just to
justify them. And if God chose them, and Christ
redeemed them, they're justified, forgiven of all their sins, and
declared righteous in God's sight, and they must be born again by
the Spirit. And so as they are children of
God legally all along, They must become children of God spiritually
in their hearts. And before that happens, who
are they following? Well, they're following the devil.
Look at Ephesians chapter two and verse one. He says, and you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in time past, before you were quickened, the quickening there's
the new birth, born again, wherein in time past you walked according
to the course of this world, the ungodly, cursed world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, that's Satan, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. A child of disobedience
is an unbeliever. Verse three, among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of our
flesh, in the lust, in the unlawful desires of the flesh, and understand
now that can be religion just as much as it can be debauchery. It can be religion. Like Cain,
we're gonna talk about Cain as we go on in 1 John. Cain was
a religious man. but he was walking according
to the lust of his flesh. He came to God seeking acceptance
and blessedness from God, seeking communion with God based on his
works. Whereas Abel came through the
blood of the Lamb, which pictures Christ, the grace of God in Christ.
So Cain was a religious man. Any religionist who's seeking
salvation by their works or their decisions is walking, having
their conversation in the lust of the flesh, go on fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath even as others." Now the children of
wrath there are the non-elect children of the devil. But what
he's saying here is that before we're born again by the Spirit,
before we're quickened, By nature, in our natural state, the natural
man, see, 1 Corinthians 2, 14, the natural man, in that natural
state, we're no different than the children of the devil. We're
following the deceptions of the devil. Over in John chapter eight,
here's the Lord speaking to some religious people, they're the
Pharisees. And you need to understand, now, at one time, one of the
most prominent of all the apostles, the Apostle Paul, before he was
converted, he was a Pharisee. And listen to what it says here.
This is John chapter eight, in verse 41. And Christ is speaking
to the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the Jewish nation.
He says in verse 41, you do the deeds of your father. And then
said they to him, we be not born of fornication, idolatry and
all, we have one father, even God. Now look at verse 42. Jesus
said unto them, if God were your father, you would love me. Now, how can I know? that I'm
a child of God and that God is my spiritual saving father. How can I know? It's because
I love Christ. Now, I don't love him perfectly.
There's nothing about us imperfect in ourselves, but I love him.
How do I know I love him? Because I trust him alone for
salvation. I mentioned this last week, how
that's doing righteousness is resting in and following the
Lord Jesus Christ. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And so he says, if God were your
father, you would love me for I proceeded forth and came from
God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. He says in verse
43, why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot
hear my word. They're spiritually dead. They
don't have spiritual ears. They heard the words he said.
They heard the words, but they didn't believe them. They didn't
love them. They didn't follow them. You
see, that's the way it is. If you wanna talk about spiritual
death and depravity, find out how you respond to the true preaching
of the gospel. The sovereign grace of God who
chose a people, gave them to his son, adopted them legally
into his family. wrote their names on the Lamb's
book of life, the Lamb slain. And he did that from the foundation
of the world. That God, listen, salvation's
not conditioned on you. It's not conditioned on me. It's
all conditioned on Christ. And Christ fulfilled those conditions
and secured the salvation of every sinner for whom he died
and was buried in a rose again. There'll not be one person perish
for whom Christ died on that cross. How do you respond to
that? Now, that's what the Bible teaches.
You say, well, I don't believe that. Well, you don't have ears
to hear. He says, you hear what I'm saying,
but you don't believe it. I'm telling you what God's word
says. And so he says in verse 44 to these Pharisees, because
they didn't hear his word, he says, you are of your father,
the devil. and the lust of your father you
will do. He was a murderer from the beginning.
Now, how did Satan murder in the beginning, in the garden?
He told a lie. He says he was a murderer from
the beginning and abode not in the truth, he told lies. That's
what false preachers do. That's what children of the devil
do, they believe a lie. And he says, because there's
no truth in him, when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own,
for he is a liar and the father of it. What he's saying there
is that when Satan speaks a lie, when his ministers speak lies,
when those who are under his deception believe lies, they're
just doing what comes natural. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Well, I wanna know how I became
a child of God and am I truly a child of God? That's what this
message is about, true children of God. And John said, in this,
the true children of God are made manifest and the children
of the devil. The children of God cling to
Christ, rest in Christ, plead his righteousness as their only
ground and hope of salvation. They don't plead their work.
They don't plead their experiences. They look to Christ, the author
and finisher of their faith. Well, how did I become one? Well,
I've already told you. You look at passages like Ephesians
1 and other passages, and Romans 8, and it talks about how God,
before the foundation of the world, chose a people in Christ,
legally adopted them, just illegally now. It's like if you would go
to adopt a child, you have to do some legal work. to adopt
that child before you go get the child and bring him into
your home. Well, God legally adopted his people into his family,
and even though they were born in trespasses and sin, dead in
trespasses and sins, he sent Christ to redeem them on the
cross, pay the penalty, satisfy justice. You see, God legally
adopted them, but there's some issues that have to be settled
because of their sinfulness. And see, the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord. But those wages have to be paid.
We can't pay them, but Christ paid it on the cross. We sing
a hymn at our church, Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. There's
another version of that. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow. He paid my debt. in full, not
just part. He didn't save me and then leave
it up to me to make the decision. He did it. And if that's the
case, He will send His Spirit to bring us under the preaching
of the gospel. And under that preaching, in
the power of the Spirit, the gospel is the power of God and
salvation to everyone that believe it, He'll give us life from the
dead, spiritual life, and he will give us faith to believe.
Romans 1.17 says, for therein is the righteousness of God from
faith, that's knowledge revealed to us by God, to faith, that's
faith given to receive that knowledge, to believe that knowledge, as
it is written, the justified shall live by faith, looking
to Christ. Well, over in John chapter one, now listen to this. He's talking about how Christ,
who is God, God the Son, co-equal with the Father and the Spirit
in every attribute of deity, He was in the beginning, the
Word, He was with God, He was God, and all of that, and now
He's the light, the light of truth. And it says in verse 11
that Christ, well look at verse 10, John 1, he was in the world
and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. Now when Christ came into the
world, his people, they didn't know him. but he has to reveal
knowledge to his children. And it says, he says in verse
11, he came unto his own. Now, a lot of translators or
commentators say that's his own nation, but I believe it could
be his own people that God gave him because by nature, we don't
know him, know him savingly. We may know him historically,
but we don't know him savingly, okay? He came unto his own and
his own received him not. What that's talking about is
if left to ourselves how we're naturally born into this world,
we will not receive Him. But look at verse 12. Now listen
to this. But as many as received Him,
now there are some who received Him. Why did they receive Him
and others not receive Him? That receiving Him means to believe
in Him, to rest in Him. to love Him, follow Him. If I've received Him and some
other fellow has not received Him, why is that so? Am I a better person than that
fellow who doesn't receive Him? No. No, because if left to myself,
I'd be in the same boat as that fellow who didn't receive Him.
So it says in verse 12, as many as received Him, to them gave
He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name. His name is that which identifies
and distinguishes him to be the true Christ of the Bible. Last
week I mentioned this, that in self-examination the two issues
are, if I claim to believe in Christ, Number one, do I believe
in the true Christ of the Bible? Do I believe what God's word
says about Him in the glory of His person and in the power and
accomplishment of His finished work? Or do I believe in a counterfeit? And then secondly is, do I truly
believe in Him? has God given me the gift of
faith and repentance and perseverance, and those are God-given gifts.
So to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Now
that word power is an interesting word. To them gave he power.
That doesn't mean ability. That means the right, the privilege. And the issue is this, as many
as received him, They have the right and the privilege to say,
I'm a child of God. If you say you're a child of
God and not a child of the devil, if I say that, what right? I'm a sinner now, I don't deserve
to be a child of God. I've never earned any right to
be called a child of God. I've never met any condition
on my own to claim to be a child of God. It's not in my power.
It's not in my ability, because by nature I'm spiritually dead.
But here he says he gave them power. They have the right. What right and privilege do I
have to call myself a child of God? And it says, even to them
that believe on his name. Do you believe on his name? Do
you believe in the true Christ? Not just historical facts about
him. Somebody says, well, the gospel
is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Well, those are historical
facts that are in the gospel, the good news. Christ did die
on the cross to save his people from their sins. He was buried. This was no hoax. It was reality. And he arose again the third
day because he accomplished the work. Those are historical facts.
You can't believe the gospel without believing those historical
facts. But if you stop short of believing the reality of the
power of God and the salvation, and just believe the historical
facts, you give no evidence of being a child of God. Who is
Jesus Christ? God, manifest in the flesh. That's who he is. That's who
he had to be in order to save sinners like us. And what did
he accomplish? Now understand what I'm asking.
Not what did he do as far as dying. He died, he was buried,
he arose again. What did he accomplish when he
died? When he was buried? When he arose
again? The Bible says he accomplished
the redemption of his people. They became His by right of His
merits, His righteousness, His death, burial, and resurrection,
and He will have them. He'll lose nothing, but He'll
raise it up again at the last day. Do you believe on His name,
the Lord our righteousness, the Lord of glory? Now, look at verse
13 of John 1. Those who believe on His name
who have the right and privilege to be called children of God,
Which were born. Born, yeah. Well, I was born,
my birthday, I was born September 7th, 1953. Is that what he's
talking about? No, he says, which were born not of blood. He's
not talking about my physical birth here. He's not talking
about your physical birth. So it's not of blood. And that's
really important when you consider that the Jews, one of their boast
of salvation and being children of God was their physical connection
to Abraham. But it's not of blood. Being
a physical descendant of Abraham meant nothing as far as being
a child of God. So they were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh. I believe that's the works of
the flesh. If you're born again, you weren't
born again by the works of the flesh. No work you can do, no
work I can do can give me spiritual life. That's a gift from God.
And then he says in verse 13, now listen to this one, because
here's where a lot of people today are deceived. Which were
born not of blood, nor the works of the flesh, nor of the will
of man. If you're born again, if I'm
born again, it was not because of my free will decision, as
people say. Somebody, some preacher comes
along, preaches his message, and then you decide. Well, that's
not how the new birth comes. It doesn't come by your will
or my will. Unless we're born again, we will
not. We'll be like those who received him not. So read it
again, which were born, verse 13, not of blood, nor the works
or the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Born of God. And how do you know
if you're born of God? Well, go back to our text, 1
John 3, 10. In this the children of God are
manifest. How are they made manifest? They
cling to Christ. They hold on by the grace of
God, by the power of God for dear life. They will not let
go. Christ is my only hope. I've
got no other one to trust. If I trust myself, I'll be disappointed. If I trust in you, take the best
person who ever lived on this earth. If I trust them, the saints,
the Catholics, they trust Mary. They look at God as being some
kind of an angry God and that Jesus, that in order to get to
God, you go through his mother. That's a lie. That's not the
true Christ of the Bible. It's idolatrous to pray to Mary
or to pray to the saints. There's one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. You say, well, that's just a
difference in doctrine. No, it's a difference in God's. When God reveals himself in the
person and work of Christ, he's revealing his glory, which he
will not share with another. So verse 10 again of 1 John 3,
in this the children of God are manifest, made known. And the
children of the devil, whosoever doeth not righteousness is not
of God. Whosoever does not look to, cling to, follow, and latch
on to Christ by faith, God-given faith, they're not of God. Neither he that loveth not his
brother. Now we'll get into that next
week, but look over at Romans chapter eight. Let me give you
another verse here, dealing with this issue of being children
of God. In Romans chapter eight, verse 13, Romans 8, 13. The apostle Paul, writing by
inspiration of the Spirit, he says, for if you live after the
flesh, you shall die. Now what is it to live after
the flesh? It's any life lived. where a person does not look
to and rest in Christ. And so he says in verse 15, you've
not received that kind of spirit, but you received the spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. That means God's our
Father. And the spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Now
I'll come back to that next time, because we're gonna continue
through 1 John chapter three, we're gonna talk about the love
of the brethren. And that's the love of the family of God, that
love that exists between the children of God by His grace
in Christ. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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today and may the Lord be with you.