the first epistle of John chapter
3 and read in verses 1 and part of chapter 2, sorry, verses 1
and part of verse 2 for our text this morning. 1 John 3 and verses 1 and part
of verse 2. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. 1 John chapter 3 and verses 1
and part of verse 2. John here in this epistle is
reminding us of a tremendous truth. A tremendous truth that
of who we are, the status of true believers in Christ. That is that we should be called
the sons of God. And how are we to be called the
sons of God? Well, you see, if you look in
the first chapter of Ephesians, we have this, Ephesians 1 verse
4, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself. So you see, we are the sons of
God by adoption. We have been adopted into the
family of God. If we are truly the people of
God, and the characteristics that we hope to go through here
as to show who is the people of God, what are their characteristics?
You see, there's a glorious theme here. of the adoption. And you see, John starts off
with this by saying, Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of
God. This is something out of this
world. You see, it's one thing to, we've sung of it, the wonders
of salvation, that the Lord Jesus has purchased his people. He's
set them free from the bondage of sin. and liberated them. But you see, today you can have
people, you can go and sponsor a child in Africa, for example,
you can pay so much a week or so much a month and you can pay
for that child to be supported and to be fed and to be educated
so that they can have a good upbringing. It's a great kindness
to do such a thing. And you see, you can think of
what the Lord has done for his people in rescuing them from
all their sin and paying the price that was due for them to
pay. And that's a wonderful thing
for the Lord to do. But here it's saying, behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that he
hasn't just done that, but that we should be called the sons
of God. There's something Beyond, you
see, just sponsoring a child in Africa, just paying the debt
that somebody's in. You see, Christ has paid the
debt of his people. He set them free. But he's now brought them into
his family. You see, and this is the great
theme, that the Lord's people are not just set free, but there
is a relationship. It's like that. when you think
of it with marriage, isn't it? If you say, well, you know, marriage
is so it's very important to have the documentation, it's
very important to have your registrar at your marriage, you need the
documents to be signed correctly, and so forth, that you are legally
a husband and wife, and so forth. And these are very important
aspects to the marriage day. But if you were to say, well,
marriage is all about documents and registrars and just getting
the documents signed, you'd say, well, you've missed the point.
Marriage is a relationship. Yes, it does have the legal side.
And the Lord Jesus needed to legally purchase his bride, like
Boaz did with Ruth. He needed to pay the price that
was necessary to redeem Ruth and the land. But did it stop
there? No, you see, it was, he then
purchased Ruth, and then there was that relationship. And this
is really what is, I believe John here in this epistle is,
behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God, and of course the
daughters of God, as for the women as well as the men, the
boys as well as the girls. Sons and daughters of the most
high guard. You see, this is a different
level, isn't it? Just paying some money to help somebody in
need is one level of kindness, and it is kindness, and it's
very helpful. But it's a totally different
level to go and get that child and then bring them into your
family and then bring them into all the privileges of that family. And of course, the family that
we're talking about here, you think of it in an earthly sense.
If you had a royal family, and all the privileges that go with
having a royal family, and all the inheritance, and all the
wealth, and all the privileges of such a family, for somebody
to be adopted into the royal family would be a tremendous
privilege, wouldn't it? And it would have all sorts of
effects the rest of that child's life, and all sorts of privileges. Like Moses was adopted into the
court of Pharaoh, and he was called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
But you see here, We have what God is saying that we should
be called the sons of God. Now this is a different level.
This is not just an earthly royal family. This is something that
really, if God didn't say this about us, it would really be
the height of presumption for us to call ourselves sons and
daughters of the most high God. It would be an insult really
to him for us to do that of our own of our own making. But this
is not us doing this. This is what God calls us. And
therefore, we are not to despise this indeed. It would be quite
painful, wouldn't it, for a family that have adopted a child if
that child then never owns that family and never really considers
that they are part of that family. That would be a sadness to the
family that adopted them. Well, you see here we have a
picture. of this great adoption that is going on to God's people. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. So as the Lord helps me, I want
to go through this, looking at this, how God has changed, so
our relationship has changed in so many ways. Firstly, we
think about the relationship has changed between what God
is to us, that God is now claims to be our father. It's a wonderful
thing, isn't it? To think of him as being our
father and all the wonderful thoughts that come through with
a father that cares, that looks after, that preserves. And you
see, this is a great privilege for God's people that we should
be called the sons of God. And of course, in verse two,
it goes on, Beloved, now are we the sons of God. This is not
just something that, well, when you come to glory, you will be
considered the sons of God. This is something today for the
people of God, for true Christians. This is true today. Now are we the sons of God. Well, you see, our relationship
with God has changed. You see, you think of it naturally
with adoption. A child goes from being part
of its original family that has a problem. You may know children
that have been adopted and we know some of them and their parents
have perhaps died or not able to look after them anymore. And
then new parents have come and adopted that child into their
family and cared for that child and been a wonderful blessing
to that child. Well, you see, spiritually, we
need adoption. Because spiritually, we're all
part of the wrong family. We're all part of a very sad
family. Ephesians chapter 2 it says this
Ephesians 2 and you have he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
in sins whereas in time past you walked according to the course
of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air
the spirit that now worketh in the children disobedience among
whom also we all had our conversation in time past in the lusts of
our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind
and were by nature the children of wrath not the children of
God the children of wrath even as others you see by nature we're
in the wrong family by nature we are children of wrath Jesus
said to the Jews that were questioning him at one time, ye are of your
father, the devil. And the lusts of your father
ye will do. John 8, verse 44. And how that
this is what we are by nature. And you see, this is God's great
work to take his children and take them, lift them out of that
family that they were in, which is the family having the devil
as their father and plucking them as brands from the burning
out of that family and bringing them into his own family. And
you see, this is the great work of redemption. Were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, when we're
dead in trespasses and in sins, hath raised us up together with
Christ. You see, this is the great work that God is doing
for his people. He is adopting them. See, it's
a very great blessing, this, isn't it? And adoption, you see,
is different than fostering, isn't it? To foster a child,
take them into your family for a little while, and they stay
there for some time, and then they go elsewhere. It's a temporary
looking after them. But you see, we're not told here
that we've been fostered by God, but we've been adopted. You see,
it gives a stability. It gives a sense of security. You see Satan always is trying
to present God as a bad father, an unkind father, a limiting
father. Right back in creation, in the
Garden of Eden, this was his this was what he was trying to
tell Eve you see if God was really good and really sought your real
good you would not just you would have no restrictions you could
eat all of the trees of any of the trees there wouldn't be any
restriction this restriction is holding you back it's a bad
thing it's it's keeping you back from being as gods You see, Satan
would constantly try and represent the laws of God, the commandments
of God as restricting us and stopping us and limiting our
happiness and our fulfillment. But you see, Satan's a liar. Satan is a liar. And Satan lied,
you see, to Adam and Eve, or to Eve, and then Eve passed that
on to Adam. He lied about the goodness of
God. God is good. They're good that they were not
to eat of that knowledge of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. It was for their good. And it's for our good that we
keep the word of God. The commandments of God are for
our good. Those 10 commandments are a blessing for society and
for us individually. They're the way that leads to
happiness, not away from happiness. Of course, we come short and
we cannot keep them. And we need to go to one that
can, one that has kept. and one that does keep. Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God. We read in Psalm 103, like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. He knoweth our frame, he remembereth
that we are dust. You see, a son, to be a son of
God, you might say, well this is too high for me. How can I
take such a thought on? This is too great, God, to be
the son of God. Surely this is too great to call
God father. Well, you see, think of it naturally. If you have a child that's recently
been born and as they start to grow up, one of the first words
they often say is, mommy or daddy, in some sort of form. And you
see, when they start forming daddy on their lips, is the father angry with them
because they've started using his name and they don't fully
appreciate all that a father has done, is doing, and will
do for that child? Surely not. That would be foolishness. And you see, as we come as sons
of the Lord and we speak to him at our father, Surely there's
an encouragement that though we don't understand everything,
though we don't understand all that he has done, Robert Murray
McShane, that famous preacher who died at the age of 29 but
was such a blessing to the church, wrote that hymn that he would
not till he got to glory would he understand what he owed to
God. He wouldn't, until then, he wouldn't
realise just how much he owed, just how much God had done for
him, that eternal salvation that there is in Christ. But you see,
that we should be called the sons of God. And it says, beloved,
now are we the sons of God. Now, even today, those who truly
know the Lord, We are the sons of God. And that, you see, once
a son is always a son. You see, when you think of it
in an actual family, if a child misbehaves, it doesn't mean that
they stop being your child, does it? Yes, they may come under
chastening. They may be reproved. They may
receive the frown. But it doesn't stop their status,
does it? It doesn't stop their status.
And we read, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth. If you are without chastening,
then are you bastards and not sons? You're like those illegitimate
children. William Gadsby would tell that
account that happened to him once. And he was in a house looking
across a street, and there was a big fight going on in the street
outside this house that he was in. And after a while, that with
all these young people fighting in the middle, the door opposite
him opened and a big man came out and grabbed just one of these
boys and pulled him in the house and shut the door. And he thought,
well, I wonder why that boy was singled out and pulled out of
the fight. The others were misbehaving big
time too. But you see, he found out that
that boy was the child of that father. And that father wouldn't allow
that boy to behave like that. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. It was not out of hatred to that
boy that that father grabbed him out of that fight. It was
in love. And you see, this is, behold
what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we
should be called the sons of God. There's a change of relationship
to God, that he is now our father. We've come, been adopted into
the family of God. What a blessing that is to God's
people. You see, we read that in Galatians. I can just pick that
up. Galatians 4 and verse 5, we read
this. Galatians 4 and verse 5, to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because ye are sons, God
hath sent forth his Spirit of his Father into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God. through Christ. So there's a different, as I
want to go through this, open out this precious portion in
John's epistle. I want particularly this morning
really to focus on the change of relationship to God the Father
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. But you see, then it has other
effects. We think in the latter part of
verse one, which we possibly won't get to this morning, but
there's a change in relationship to the world. It says, therefore
the world knoweth us not. There's a change in relationship
to the world as we go from the family of Satan to the family
of the kingdom of God's dear Son. There's a change in relationship
to the world. It says that clearly at the end
of verse one. And then in verse two, it says
that we're not, we haven't read as a text, but it says, and it
does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when we
will appear, we shall be like him. There's a change in relationship
to the future. Our future is so changed by this
sonship. And you see, it's all because
we're part of a new family. We've been adopted into this
family, and this is a wonderful privilege. I remember once at
one of the royal weddings that I was in London for, forget now
which one it was, but it was many years ago and when all the
royal family came out on the balcony and I was somewhere down
the Mall looking And there was this family, it seemed such a
happy family there. And you really felt what a privilege
it would be to be part of that family. And you felt somewhat
left out, as it were, that you weren't part of that family.
But you see here, we have a family that we can be part of, which
is far more precious, which has a far better kingdom, which has
a far better inheritance than our natural royal family. You
see, to be in this family is a wonderful, wonderful blessing. And you see, in verse 3, we will
have a change of relationship to ourselves. And every man that
hath this hope in himself purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
So there's a change in relationship to ourselves. But then in verse
14 of of this chapter 3 in John's epistle, there is a change in
relationship to fellow believers. We know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. So we see here
that this adoption into the family of God has an immediate effect
on our relationship to God the Father, God the Son, And the
Holy Spirit is so involved in revealing Christ. We see that
in Romans. In Romans 8, we have that. Romans 8, verse 15. For ye have
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received
the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are. the children
of God. And if children then are joint
heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him so that we
may also be glorified with him. So you see, as we think of this
relationship then, a change of relationship with God, God is
now our father. And if we've come into that family
of God, you see where the reason we've entered that family of
God is because of the elder brother. see we become now a way that's
called the sons of God but there's one son of God that is different
than all God's people and that is the eternal son of God the
Lord Jesus Christ who was not adopted into the family of God
he was a natural true son of God and you see it's because
of him that we can join that family. It's because of what
he has done, because the price that he has paid, because he
has done so much for his people, therefore we can come into this
family, therefore our sins can be cleansed, therefore there
can be a way made, whereby sinners, rebels, God haters by nature,
children of wrath even as others, can become part of this family
of God, whose father fills the throne. see the Lord Jesus is
that great one. I know our old pastor LSB Hyde,
who some of you will perhaps remember, but he used to tell
a story of when it was a time, I think it was in Scotland, when
it was illegal to go to worship. the government at that time would
not allow you to have a Christian place of worship. And this woman
was going on her way and wanted to go to this place of secret
worship with other Christians. And on her way, she met one of
the soldiers on the streets. And they asked her, where are
you going? Well, if she said I'm going to a Christian place
of worship, she'd have never got there. So she said this. I'm going to hear my elder brother's
will read, and I want to know whether there's anything in it
for me. Of course, the soldier said,
yes, you go and go to that then, yes, that's fine. Well, she was
talking about her elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, his last
will and testament, and she wanted to know whether there was anything
in it for her. And you see, this is being adopted into the family
of God. We have a new relationship with
God, the Father. We have a new relationship with
God, the Son. He becomes our elder brother.
He is the one that has, you see, it has done so much for his people. In Hebrews 2, we read these words. verse 10 and it became him for
whom are all things this is hebrews 2 verse 10 for it became him
for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing
many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings for whom he had for for both he that
sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause
he is not ashamed to call them brethren. So you see here that
the Lord Jesus, the elder brother, is not ashamed to call sons and
daughters of the Most High his brethren. He's not ashamed of
it. Even though, as we read in one of the, sing in one of our
hymns, ashamed of Jesus. That dear friend on whom my hopes
of heaven depend Oh, how could we ever be ashamed of him? But
we are at times. But you see, he was not ashamed
of us. And so there is a new relationship to the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he now becomes that elder brother, that one who has
paid the price, who has gone before, who has satisfied all
the claims of law. And so that this one can be brought
into the family of God. So it's not just a case of cancelling
their debt. when all our debt of sin that
was so great was laid on Christ, he did pay the price. But you
see, if he paid the price of all our sins, then we would be
neutral. We would have no debt, we would
have no merit. But he did more than that. He
then gave us his righteousness. So instead of being zero because
all our sin was gone, he gave us a righteousness not our own. His righteousness, the righteousness
of God, that which was accepted by the Father, that which was
a perfect righteousness he gave to his people so that they should
be sons of God, that they could be part of this family whose
father fills the throne. This family on earth whose father
fills the throne. So there's a change in relationship
to God the Father. He is now truly, we are sons
and daughters of the Most High. He has brought us into that family
by adoption, not just paid the price, not just done that. You see, for God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
eternal Son of God. He gave him that we should be
saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. But you see, Christ
then is our elder brother in this family. And of course, then
our fellow Christians, as we want to speak of perhaps this
evening, are those brothers and sisters in Christ, because they
have the same father. That's what makes us brothers
and sisters naturally, isn't it, when we have the same parents,
when we have the same father. And you see, if We are then each
sons and daughters of the Most High. Then we're brothers and
sisters. We have the same father. It's interesting, isn't it, that
when the Lord seeks in the word of God to explain the love of
God to us, he uses all of the closest relationships that we
know naturally. He speaks of a father and a son. One of the closest bonds that
there can be on this earth is a father and a son. He speaks
of a husband and a wife. the bride and the bridegroom,
isn't it? One of the closest relationships we have on the
earth. Another close relationship. This one is the friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. A friendship. You see, all these
close familial and friendship ties are all used as pictures
of how the Lord loves his people and seeks their good. Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should
be called the sons of God." May the Lord help you to see the
amazingness of this as we gather around the Word of God today.
This is a tremendous title. Do you think if you were told
that you are now being adopted into a royal family, and mansions
are your inheritance as a result. You'd say, what a privilege.
But all the mansions of this world are passing away. You see,
Peter describes it to an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and
that fadeth not away. Those three objectives you cannot
describe anything here below as. They are passing away. They lose their fame and glory.
But you see, this is the inheritance. This is what it is to be part
of this family. And may you, may each see the beauty of this. Those who do not feel as yet
that they are part of this, they may see what a family to be part
of. What a thing. What to have a
father that cares, a father that loves, a father that organizes
all things for the good of these children. a father that's given
his elder, his only begotten son, but the elder brother to
pay the price for the sins of all his people. But you see, as we look in verse,
towards the end of verse one, therefore the world knoweth us
not. The world knoweth us not. Why
does the world know us not? Well, you see, the world's got
a different agenda. The world is living for the things
of this world, time and sense. We read of it, you see, in the
earlier chapter, 1 John 2, verse 15, it says, love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. for all that is
in the world. This is 1 John 2 verse 16. For all that is in the world,
the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of
life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world
passeth away. I understand there was a courtier
once that was given this job to put a plaque, a notice that
could be put on all the great things that the king was building
around the land. And he was a godly man. And I
don't know whether the king appreciated it, but the plaque that he came
up with, the phrase that he came up with is, this also shall pass
away. You see, all our glory is going
to pass away. But you see, and the world passeth
And so he's saying, little children, don't make this your rest. Don't
make the things here below your rest, because they are passing
away. But if you are part of this family, you have an inheritance,
incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. This is
a wonderful family to be part of. We live in a day when, sadly,
there are those dysfunctional families. They're very sad. But
you see, this is no dysfunctional family. This is a family whose
father fills the throne, who love, where love is the commanding
power in the household. Love, the love of Christ, the
love of the father. For God so loved the world, the
motive is love. Love to his son, love to his
people. This is the great theme. Therefore
the world knoweth us not. See, the world doesn't know.
And in Peter's epistle, second epistle of Peter in chapter one, sorry, it's the first epistle
of Peter, chapter four, and it says this, Verse 3, for the time,
so 1 Peter 4 verse 3, for the time past of our life may suffice
us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles. When we walked
in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine, reveling, banquetins,
and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange that ye
run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil
of you. The world knoweth us not. And we're to not despise the
world in that sense, we're to pity the world. That's all they've
got. All they've got is the pleasures
of sin for a season. That's all they've got. But you
see, may we be amongst those who are able, as God gives us
grace to be, to win souls, to be, he that winneth souls is
wise to say, look, there's an inheritance that is far better
than all the things that the world calls good or great. You
see, there's that lovely hymn, 257. Ye humble souls, complain no more.
Let faith survey her future store. How happy, how divinely blessed. The sacred words of truth attest. In vain, the sons of wealth and
pride despise your lot, your hope deride. In vain they boast
their little stores. Trifles are theirs, a kingdom
yours. And you see, that's the point.
It's a kingdom of immense delight. To be part of this family is
a tremendous privilege. They've been brought into this
family, you see, because of what Christ has done. We read in the
first epistle of John and chapter nine, if we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. This is what God does. This is
how the Lord is able to do this. If we confess our sins, so we're
not to cover our sins. We're not to pretend that our
sins are not great. We're to come and confess them.
And there is a way back to God, you see, from the dark paths
of sin. Behold what manner of love the
Father bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons
of God. This is a great privilege to
be adopted into the family of God. And adoption is, you see,
if you have an adopted child into a family, as they live in
that family, They start to take on the characteristics of that
family, the way that family does things. And you see they're starting
to be molded, you see, and started to take the resemblance of that
family. And that is, you see, the great
aim of God in this family, is to make those children, those
sons and those daughters, conformable to the image his Son. That is the great end and aim. Not to give them just all the
pleasures of sin for a season. The Lord is able to give us here
many things richly to enjoy and we're not to despise any of them.
But his great end, his great aim in bringing us into this
family is to prepare us for heaven. To prepare us for to make us
conformed to him, to make us useful in his service, to make
us serve him, to make us Christ-like. to make us love our enemies,
to make us do all the things so different than the world would
encourage us to do, to be selfish and self-centered, and seeking
our own glory, seeking our own preferment, seeking our own end,
seeking our own way. None of those things are God's
characteristics of the people of God in their right minds.
They all declare, I nothing am. My all is bound up in the Lamb.
They desire to put the crown on God's head, not unto us, not
unto us, but unto thy name give glory. This is the family characteristic
of being a son and a daughter of the Lord God. And you see,
this adoption into God's family is linked and cannot be separated
from sanctification. So for somebody to say, oh, yes,
I'm a son of God, and show no reverence for God and for his
ways. You see, we read it in 1 John 2, verse 3, and hereby
do we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. In
verse 4, he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments,
is a liar. the truth is not in him but whosoever
keepeth his word in him verily is the love of god perfected
hereby know we that we are in him he that saith he abided in
him in other words those that say yes we are the sons of god
ought himself also so to walk even as he walked yes but you
say well that's my problem i come short i sin is mixed with all
i do Paul the Apostle knew that too in Romans 7. He knew the
flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.
It was a warfare and yet you see it was a constant warfare
must maintain. It was not to give in to the
flesh but to seek to serve the Lord in our lives and this is
the great the great thing you see. You might say at the time
of Jesus's death there was two that betrayed the Lord. There
was Judas Iscariot that betrayed the Lord, didn't he? But there
was also Peter that denied him with oaths and curses. What's
the difference? Well, Judas we read sought opportunity
how he could betray Christ. He got up in the morning thinking,
now, when's the opportunity that I can actually betray Christ
to my enemies and get this money? His whole aim was against what
was right. Peter didn't get up in the morning
and say, well, how can I deny my Lord? How can I? He didn't
do that at all. From his point of view, he would
be willing to die for him. But Peter was overcome. He sees
me often overcome, and pities my distress, and bids afflictions
drive me home to anchor on his grace. And that's the difference,
you see. The difference was that the Lord's
people, when they sin, it's always contrary to what they want to
do. But for Judas, his only sadness was that he couldn't fulfill
that sin. Big difference. You might say, well, they both
fell. But you see, there's a vast difference. And you see, may
the Lord bless these thoughts. I'll perhaps just, to illustrate
this, give just one more illustration that our late pastor used to
say of a lady that came to the communion season in Scotland. And their practice was there,
because they don't baptize. But she sat down at the Lord's
table. After, if you do that, the elders will come to you and
ask you why you feel that you could do that and give a testimony. Well, these elders, they knew
she was a godly lady and they said, well, what have the Lord
done for you? And she seemed to be speechless. She couldn't
seem to say anything. So the elder said, well, are
you a sinner? And she said, yes, I'm a sinner.
And she said, the elder said, well, have you always been a
sinner? She said, yes, I've always been a sinner. He said, well,
is there any difference between you being a sinner now than what
you've always been? She said, yes, there is. She
said, once I was a sinner, and I love sin. She said, sadly,
I'm still a sinner, but I hate it. You see, the heart was not
in it. Yes, she fell at times. Do you
see that the whole desire of her life was not to sin now?
Yes, she did sin at times, and we sin at times, and we hate
it when we do, and we need to repent when we do. But you see,
there is forgiveness with God that he may be feared. Well,
behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called the sons of God. What a privilege. Amen.