Take your Bibles and turn with
me to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 and verses 1
and 2. The Scripture says, 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. And it doth not appear what we
shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."
The title of the message this morning is, Born in Love. in love." Now here, in this text,
the Apostle John seems to break from his train of thought. The
Apostle John here seems to be caught up in such an overwhelming
amount of enthusiasm and praise that he says, Behold! Stop! Listen! Behold! What manner of love! Behold,
what manner of love, the love of God came into his heart and
he saw the greatness of God's love. And he was so overwhelmed
by it that he just said, stop, everyone, pay attention. This is worthy of your attention.
Behold, the love of God. And what moved him to do this
was what is found at the end of verse 29 when he says, if
you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth
righteousness is born of Him. He contemplated spiritual birth. He contemplated what it is to
be a child of God, a son of God. And he says, Behold what manner
of love the Father bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. It was the new birth. The new
birth. And John in that verse 28 and
29, John throughout this whole book, if you read this book,
you will see that John makes a very distinct, in every passage,
he makes a very distinct dividing line between someone who is a
true believer in Christ and someone who is only a professor of Christ.
That's what he's doing in this whole book. This whole book is
geared toward knowing if you are a true believer or you are
a false believer. He is here again dividing the
two. He says, you know that Christ is righteous. You profess that
Christ is righteous. You profess to abide in Him who
is righteous. Well then? If you abide in righteousness,
shall you not perform righteousness? That just makes sense, doesn't
it? If you are in righteousness,
you will perform righteousness. You'll live a righteous life.
Everyone that is born of God lives a righteous life. That's
what He's telling us. All who are saved by the grace
of God are distinct in this one factor. I'll tell you what, a
lot of people can pretend to be righteous, isn't that right?
A lot of people who pretend to be righteous, they can show you
the good side, but they're only deceiving themselves. They may
fool us, but they're not fooling God. Why? Because everyone that
doeth real righteousness is born of God. is born of God. This is the distinguishing factor
between everyone who is lost and everyone who is saved. Are
you born of God? Are you born again? In John chapter 3, flip over
there, in the Gospel of John chapter 3, we have the Lord Jesus
Christ speaking to Nicodemus, that religious fellow, religious
man of the Pharisees. And he's speaking to Nicodemus,
makes this declaration in verse 3. Verily, verily, surely, surely,
truly, truly, I say unto you, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Friends, do you not think that
being born again is something that we should know something
about? Are you born again? How then
is a man born again? What does it mean to be born
again? What is he talking about? Some say to be born again, you
must exercise yourself in some religious manner, in some religious
thing. And this is what brings about
birth. Some people say that. Some people say that if you just
live an outward life of obedience and righteousness, it's by that
outward works that God regenerates you and makes you a new child
of God. Some say if you follow the commands
of Christ. I preached on the commands of Christ. And some
men say that if you are following the commands of Christ, then
you will be born again. Remember, the commands of Christ
were to be baptized. The commands of Christ were to
partake of the Lord's Supper. The commands of Christ were to
be joined to the local church. And some people take these things
as instruments of regeneration, and that's not true. That's not
true. I tell you that a man who is
born again will obey Christ in these things. He will be baptized. He will take the Lord's supper.
And he will join himself to the local church. Those things are
sure. And people who say they are believers
and have not done those things, they are living in disobedience.
And John says they don't know Him. But see, these things are
not the cause. of birth. These things are not
the cause of the new birth. These are just products. This
is what happens after someone is saved. Now there are some that say that
it is the exercise of the will. Some say it's not just outward
deeds, it's not just baptism, it's not just the Lord's Supper,
but it is a mental, cognitive decision that causes God or moves
God to regenerate us or cause us to be born again. Some people
believe that, that it is the will that saves them. That if
they're just willing, then God will save them. according
to their will. That the will is the power by
which men are born again. But this too is a lie. This too is a lie. You know what? I really don't
care what men say. I have no interest in men and
their thoughts and opinions about the new birth of God. The only
person I have any interest in hearing anything to do with the
new birth is the one that gives it. What does God say about the
new birth? What does God say about becoming
a son of God? How is it that man is born again? Look at verse 12 in John 3. Verse
12 in John chapter 3, Jesus said, If I have told you of earthly things,
and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of
heavenly things? And no man ascended up into heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is
in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." I think I read the wrong passage.
I did. I'm sorry. If you would go to
John chapter 1, that's what it is. John 1, verses 12 and 13. I was wondering how that fit
in there. I was just wondering that. John 1, verse 12 and 13. It says, "...but as many as received
Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name." Here it is. "...which were born."
How? Not of the blood. not of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." This new birth, salvation of
the soul, Life does not come by blood. What does that mean? It does not come by your physical
birth. It does not come by who you are
or where you were born. You were born in a wonderful
place. My friends, if your parents have
brought you to hear the gospel, you are born into a wonderful
family, and you should be thankful that God has given you parents
that are concerned about your soul, that would have you here
to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. You should be thankful for them.
But I'll tell you what, God will not save you because your parents
are saved. God will not save you because
of who you are or who your parents are. We read this morning, God is
not a respecter of your persons. Isn't it? Look at your persons
to save you. You say, oh, well, that person, you know, look at
his parents. His parents are real good. So I guess I'm going
to bless his parents and save his children. No! God doesn't
do that. It's not of blood. Nobody is born of blood. My Son
will not be born again because He is my Son. If God will give
Him birth, it is not because of me and it's not because of
Him. It says, not of the will of the
flesh. Friends, there is nothing more that I wish for in all this
world than for my children to know Jesus Christ. Nothing in
this world. I don't care what they do in
this life. I don't care what jobs they have
or what education they have. That is minimal compared to this. I want them to know Christ. I
want them to know the Savior. I want Him to bless them and
save them. But it doesn't matter about my
flesh, the will of my flesh, of what I want. It doesn't matter. I cannot save them. I can't do
it. And neither can you save your
children. Friends, you can't even save yourself. Not of the will of man. The new birth does not come by
the will of man. Why? No man is willing. No man is willing to come to
Christ by nature. There is none that seeketh after
God. Not one of us ever sought after
God. If God had not come to Adam,
there would have been no hope. Adam would have never come to
God, and neither would we had God not come to us. Salvation
comes from above. It doesn't come from within.
Salvation doesn't start with you and go to God. It starts
with God and goes to you. You see, it's only the will of God
that anyone is born again. It is only by the will of God
that men desire to come to Christ. John chapter 3 and verse 6, Jesus
said, "...that which is born of flesh is flesh." In other
words, anything of the natural flesh,
including the will of man, cannot produce a spiritual effect. Men think something by nature,
men think something tangible, something physical, something
that they think, something that they do is going to move God
to do something for them. And that's not the case. What have you ever done that
deserves God's working on you? You see, even our will is contaminated
with sin. It's enslaved to our sins. And the only hope is if God wills
us to be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth. You hear the sound of it? But
you can't tell where it's coming and where it's going, so is everyone
that is born of the Spirit of God. Friends, I do not know where
the Spirit of God will go this morning in this congregation.
I do not know if He will touch anyone here with life. But I know He does. I know He
does! And maybe He might do that this
morning. He blows where He wills and He
saves whom He wills. But doesn't man have to be willing,
they say? Oh, you creature, you're talking
about dragging a man to heaven. What kind of foolish nonsense
is that? No man is dragged to heaven. Friends, God comes and He fixes
the will. Our will was only bent to run
from God. And when the Holy Spirit comes,
He changes the will of man. He says, I once willed to run
to sin, but when the Spirit came, I now will to come to Christ. God doesn't take a man like a
robot. Oh no. God forbid that any should
believe that salvation is apart from faith. Apart from a willing
faith. No man is saved apart from faith. All who come to Christ come willingly. It's just foolish to think that
a man would come to Christ unwillingly. Lazarus, when he laid in the
tomb and Jesus called him forth, he said, Lazarus, come forth! Do you suppose for one minute
Lazarus would rather lay in that tomb than came forth? No. Friends, he could do nothing
else but follow the commands of Christ, but he didn't want
to do anything else but follow the commands of Christ. The will
and Christ's commands now run together. As once they were diametrically
opposed to one another. Friends, we believe whosoever
will. I say whosoever will come. I
believe that Jesus died for whosoever will. I just believe He didn't
die for whosoever won't. That's just simple. That's just
simple. I don't want to come. Don't.
Don't. I'm not calling you. I'm calling
people who need salvation. I'm calling people who need atonement,
forgiveness, pardon. Do you need that? Then come.
By all means, come. Come quickly. Come now. Come today. Friends, if you ever do come,
never give yourself glory for coming. It is because God made
you willing in the day of His power. He drew you with cords
of affection and drawed you to Himself. That's how God saves
a man. He didn't save me kicking and
screaming. He did save me against my will. My will was bent against
Him and He saved me against my will, but when He saved me, I
was willing. I was willing. It's not the other way around.
It wasn't I was willing and then God saved me. No. No. God saved me and then I was willing. Thy people shall be willing.
When? In the day of thy power. Let me ask you this. Did you
ever will in your physical birth? Did you have any say-so about
that? Do you have any concern about
that? Many times we say, well, man,
maybe I wanted to have something to say about it. But you didn't.
You didn't have any say who your parents were. And friends, so it is with the
will of God in salvation. When God saves a man, He does
it according to His will. We are born, John says, of Him,
not of ourselves. If you're born again of yourself
or your will or something you did, friends, you are lost. And John here divides that line
and he separates you right now. Are you born of God? Or are you
born of your will? If you're born of your will,
get over there, get away from us. He separates us and says we are
born of God. Jesus said this, He said, Therefore
I said unto you that no man can come unto Me except the Father
which hath sent Me draw him. except it were given to him of
the Father. This word speaks of lack of ability. Man has a
lack of ability to come to Christ for salvation. It is only when
the Sovereign Spirit comes in power to a man and gives him
life that he has birth. It is by seeing Christ who has
been lifted up on the cross. He said, as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. And this is the means by which
God can be just and still save worthless, ungodly riches such
as ourselves by the blood of Christ and Christ alone. That's
it. There's no other hope. And when
Jesus Christ was lifted up and God poured out His wrath on Christ
for my sins, He poured out the wrath of God on my sins. But He didn't pour out the wrath
of God on me. He poured it out on His Son.
And this is how men are saved. This is how God can justly come
to His people and give them life and faith in Christ. When the Spirit of God comes
and gives life, you know what? I see something that has already
been done for me. You see, God saved me before
there was ever a world. God purposed to save me before
the foundation of the world. And in time before I was born,
Jesus Christ came and He died for my sins and God accepted
His blood as payment for my sins. And yet I was born dead in spiritual
sins and trespasses against God. I was unwilling and unable to
come to God. But in time, God came to me and
He revealed to me. This is what the new birth is.
It is a revelation. It's a revelation of God. He
is revealing something to me. He revealed to me that Christ
had already done what I could not do for myself. He already
paid for my sins, even before I committed them. Even before I committed them,
they were paid for. What then is there anything for
me to do? What is left for me to do? Nothing. Jesus paid it all. What else is there? But to bask
in the glory of this, behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us who are born of the Spirit of God. What
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us in the Spirit
of God. It is from this birth, it is
from this thought, that John here expresses this great thing
of the love of God. So let us for a moment, who are
born of the Spirit of God, let us for a moment bask in the
eternal glory of the love of God that He had for us. I want us to look at the love
of God in three things. I want us to see the manner of
God's love. He said, behold, what manner? Behold, what manner? The manner
of the love of God. Second of all, I want us to see
the objects of the love of God. And third, the results of the
love of God. First of all, what is the manner
or what sort of love is this? Oh, my soul, what wondrous love
is this? Oh, my soul. that caused the
Lord of bliss to give His life for my soul. What manner, what sort of love
is this? You know what? This type of love
is foreign to us. This is something we have to
meditate on because it's not something we can readily see
in ourselves. It's not something we can see
in ourselves. What manner, what sort of love is God's love? First
of all, God's love is eternal love. Eternal love. God's love is eternal. Just as
all the characteristics of God are everlasting and eternal and
bound to His person, so then everything about God is eternal,
and the Scripture says that God is love. 1 John 4, verse 8. God is love. In other words, God never hates a man and then
loves him. God never hates a man and then
loves him. Otherwise. His love would be
non eternal, it wouldn't be eternal. God's love is eternal. His love
cannot be separated from himself. It is forever. And God's love,
because it's eternal, it's also immutable. Anything eternal is
immutable. Isn't that right? I mean, if
it's not eternal, if it changes, then it's not eternal. If it
has any variance or shadow of turning, it is not eternal. So
therefore, God's love is not only from all everlasting to
everlasting, God's love is also unchangeable, immutable. When we think of love, we think
of passion, don't we? That's the only way we can really
experience love, right? I mean, we may love someone at
a lower level than another person, isn't that right? We have certain
people in our lives that we consider, hey, I love this person a lot.
And then we have people who say, oh, I like this person just a
little bit. And then you've got people that
really annoy you and people you don't even want to be around.
You say, well, I love them, but it's just on a lower end scale
and I don't want to even be around them. You know, if they come
in contact with me, I'll smile. But our love is passion. And
I'll tell you what, we can like someone one minute and the next
minute we could turn around and hate them because of something
they did. God's love is nothing like that
at all. Nothing. Don't compare God's
love to yours because it's nothing like that. God's love is unchangeable. God's love is perfect. And it
does not go up or down. Think about that for a minute.
Before the world was, God loved a people. And His love for those
people throughout all time and eternity never changed, it never
lessened, or it never got greater. It can get no greater than the
love of God. And God, when He loves, He loves
with all of Himself. He loves with all of Himself.
He is love. does not go up or down like ours. The Scripture says He is the
same yesterday, today and forever. So then, because God's love is
eternal and God's love is immutable, therefore all of the objects
of God's love, He loves all of the objects both eternally and
unchangeably. both eternally and unchangeably. As I said, God doesn't hate a
man and then love him. Otherwise, his love would have
changed. Isn't that right? Is that not
correct? I mean, I'm just trying to make
this as simple as I possibly can. If God hated somebody, and
then at some particular point in time, He changed His hatred
to love, then His love is not eternal. His love is not immutable. His love would be imperfect. See, men really like to make
God much like themselves, don't they? They like to make God some
kind of passionate being that goes up, it's hot, and He's cold.
He's indifferent, and then He's passionate. No. God is the same. He is constant all the time. And He never changes. And His
love never changes. Jeremiah 31, verse 3 says, "...the
Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love." When does everlasting love begin? When does everlasting love begin? If it has a beginning, it's not
everlasting. It's not eternal. If it has a
beginning, behold, the great manner of God's
love That His love is not like ours, that His love is both eternal
and unchangeable. To all those He loves, He is
now loving, and He shall ever love them. And there is nothing
that shall ever separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus. Neither height, nor depth, nor
any other creature. Paul got to the end of his list
and he just said, any other creature. I don't know what else there
is. But if there's something else somebody else makes up,
you know that that will never separate someone who is born
of the Spirit of God from the love of God. Nothing will separate
us. How many times have we been separated
from people we love? How many times has this world
turned us upside down and broken our hearts concerning that? We
love somebody and they left us or they hurt us. God is never
like that. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us who are born of the Spirit of
God. His love is always the same. Who then are the objects of this
great love? Do you not? Is that not the desire of your
heart to be the object of this love? To whosoever He has drawn with
lovingkindness. Isn't that what He said? He said,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. Have you been drawn by the love
of God in Christ? If you have, you are the objects
of His everlasting love. To all who are born of the Spirit
of God, to all who believe on Jesus Christ as their atonement
for their sins, they are the objects of God's eternal and
unchangeable love. Oh, the greatness of His love,
that He would all from all eternity love such wretches as we are. Such unworthy objects as we are. We who believe know the greatness
of our depravity, don't we? The weakness and vileness of
our sins. We know that if God had not set
His love on us, If He had not sent His Son to
die for us, there would have been no hope for us. If God had not by His Spirit
quickened us, we would have never loved Him at all. When our father Adam sinned, Would God not have been just
to leave him there? Did he not deserve it? Did not
God tell him in the day, Thou eatest thereof, Thou shalt surely
die? Did He tell him the law? Did
He not make it clear to our father Adam? Yes, He did. But what was God's response to
such a rebellious act? Adam, where are you? Son, where'd you go? Why would you do such a horrible
thing as that? I gave you everything. And you
rebelled against me. But I've got a promise for you.
The seed of the woman shall destroy the head of the serpent. And
God killed an animal and covered their nakedness. And that's exactly what God has
done for all who are born again. He calls you by name, convicts
you of your sin, and points you to His Son. Isn't that the experience of
every believer in this room? Everybody here who believes in
Christ. Is that not the same exact experience? The experience
of our father, Adam, is the same as ours. The same as ours. Because of God's great love,
he sent his own son for the objects of his mercy. and sends forth his gospel even
now, declaring, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved." To you who are dead in trespasses
and sin, I preach to you this morning like dead bones. You
are nothing but dead carcasses. You say, well, it's kind of foolish
to preach to dead things, isn't it? No, because dead things are
what God gives life to. Dead bones are what God calls
forth and gives life. Today, hear the voice of the
Son of God crying, come forth. Come unto me and I will give
you rest. Well, I don't need rest. I'm
not talking to you. Just talking to people who need rest. I'm
talking to people who need forgiveness. If you need forgiveness, come
by all means and welcome. Come. There's a vast supply. Come and behold the great love
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died. He didn't wait for
you to get better to die. He died while you were yet in
your sins. That, my friend, is a great love
that I have no understanding but by the grace of God. I can only enter in just a little
bit to that kind of love. Now, to all who have come, if
you have come to Jesus Christ, you've seen the manner of God's
love. You that have been born of God
and you know the great love of God, how far that Christ came
down, how far He had to humble Himself and become obedient unto
the death of the cross for you. You that know this, look at verse
2. You that know this in Christ,
this is for you. In verse 2, Beloved, Beloved,
those loved of God, listen to this. The Scripture says, now. Now.
Does everybody understand that word, now? How about now? You understand that word now?
How about now? You understand it? Now. Right
now. It means at this point in time.
Right now as I'm speaking. This very second. Now. Beloved,
now. Are we the sons of God? If you're
born of God, you are the sons of God. Now are we the sons of
God. Believer in Christ, God has from
the beginning loved you and predestinated you unto adoption of sons. And
Jesus Christ came and provided the ransom price for your sins. And in time you were born again.
But many times we are downcast because of our sin nature. We
still have that old man dragging us down and holding us down,
where we would love to sail the heights of God's love. The enemy
of our soul is our own flesh. And our sin drags us down and
we feel despair. And we say, how can I be a son
of God? How is it possible that I am
a son of God? Sin is so great. My lack of love
is so great. My lack of service is so great. Friends, praise God. Our sonship
is not dependent upon us. You being a son of God is not
dependent upon you. If you are born of the will of
God, if you are born of the Spirit of God, your righteousness is
not from you. It is from Jesus Christ. And it says, for us, even now
at this present moment, this frail and weak body, even though
we cannot see it, we are absolutely the sons of God. You, believer, are now the Son
of God, and you shall forever be the sons of God. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be. Isn't that right? Look in your heart and ask yourself,
does anything appear in your heart like it says in the Word of God. Is there any glory that we can
see in this body? I can't see any. I can't find
any. It does not yet appear what we
shall be. This flesh does not appear what
it shall be. God for that. This flesh is nothing
like it shall be. This present body has no outward
evidence of what God has purposed for us in glory. If each of us would dissect our
hearts, we would be humbled to find no
appearance of glory in this flesh. But praise God, it does not appear
what we shall be. For we are the sons of God and
God has said we shall be like Him. I was talking to a friend
just yesterday and he said, you know, have you ever felt a desire
just to die and be with Christ? You look around and everything
is just so tasteless. in this world. And Christ is
so beautiful. I want to be like Him. And I'll tell you, friends, the
more we grow in grace, the more we'll have that feeling. We'll
be like Paul who says, I want to depart and be with Christ,
which is far better. Why? Because when we depart,
my friends, we shall be like Him. And the more we see His
great love, to take us into the family of light from the family
of darkness. The more we would long for the
day when all of the holy perfections
of Christ are made real in us. That's going to happen. Believe
in this body, this world. Don't be downcast by it. Don't
look around and try to find glory here. The glory is in Christ,
and when we see Him, we shall be able to look at Him
face to face. Why? We'll be exactly like Him.
You'll be as holy as God is in all your being, in all your person,
body, soul, and spirit. Why? because God would love you. And
that's the only reason we should ever need. God set His love on me because
He would. And by His own blood, He cleansed
me from my sins. And I will one day stand before
Him perfect. Will you? Will you? Only if God has mercy on your
soul, and I pray He will. I pray that He will. I pray that
nobody in this building will ever, ever have to stand under
the judgment of God. But you would come now to Christ
and believe. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.