Go with me, if you would, back
to 1 John chapter 3. We read three verses for our
scripture reading. We are only going to look at
the first one tonight. But every believer who knows
these verses loves these verses. Every believer who knows what
we just read a moment ago, loves what we just read a moment ago. I was imagining, I was thinking
about all this and imagining what it would be like to be in
glory, standing there in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
saying to each other, behold what manner of love the Father
has bestowed upon us. That we should be called the
sons of God. We can't imagine that. We cannot
imagine that, but it sure is nice trying. One day we are going to behold. We're going to behold. But the
amazing thing about this verse is this glorious news that it
declares applies to us right now. What it is saying applies
to us right now. Verse one starts with behold. Behold, that's an important word. That's a powerful word. That word deserves a silah right
after it. Behold, perceive this. Be in awe of this. When that word behold goes out,
it means be in awe of this. Throughout the scripture, the
word behold comes with some very important declarations. Some very amazing moments. Some amazing moments. Very awesome,
full of awe moments and declarations. Don't turn, but Isaiah 7 verse
14 says, behold. Think about this, all right?
Think about this. A virgin shall conceive, behold. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Behold, God is coming
to you. And when the time came, the angels
appeared. They appeared to some shepherds
that were abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock
by night. And this is what the angels cried.
Behold, we bring you good tidings of
great joy unto you is born this day. This is what they came and
declared. It's today. All right, this Savior that was promised,
this Savior that was promised He would come. Behold, a virgin
is going to conceive and bear a son and call His name Immanuel. Well, He was born today. In the city of David, That very
Savior, Christ Jesus the Lord. Those are both full of all moments. Full of all things to declare,
declarations. At God's appointed time, John
the Baptist was standing by a river one day, preaching to a group
of people, and this same Jesus walked up And John cried, Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Just
think about that statement. Behold God's substitute sacrifice. As a picture of what our Lord
would do for his people, he stayed where he was. He didn't go anywhere. When he heard that his dear friend
Lazarus was very sick, he just stayed right there so Lazarus
could die. And after he died, our Lord went
to his grave and stood there weeping. Now you talk about a
full of awe moment, standing there watching the God man weeping
over one of his own. All who saw it, this is what
they said, behold how he loved him. And he proved that he loved him
by crying, Lazarus, come forth. live, Lazarus live. And when
Lazarus came forth, our Lord said, loose him and let him go. And that's what he did for all
of his people. When he loosed them from their curse of sin,
he was made a curse for them. That's amazing. Behold, He was
made a curse for every single one of His people. And for every
soul that He did that for, He's coming back with clouds. The scripture says,
behold, every eye shall see Him. Even the very ones that pierced
Him. and all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him, even so, amen. Those are all full
of awe declarations. Our text tonight is no different.
This is a behold moment. Verse one, he said, behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should
be called the sons of God. Behold, be in awe of that fact,
that some sinful sons of Adam have been made to be sinless
sons of God. That's amazing. That's amazing. What did it take
for a sinful son of Adam to be made, to be called a son of God. What did it take? It took an indescribable love.
That's what it took. An indescribable love. Amazing love. Amazing love. He said in verse 1, behold what
manner. That's what He's wanting us to
perceive and be in awe of. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. When you look up that word manner,
we go into the concordance and there's a translation or a definition
of all of these words. And when you look that one up,
it has an interesting definition. It means from what country. That's what it means. Where it came from. It means
what sort or quality, and it means at what time, how long,
when. Now think about this. Behold where this love came from. Behold where it came from. From
what country? It came from God. This came from
God. We weren't made to be sons so
that God could love us. We were made to be sons because
God did love us. That's why we were made to be
sons. It came to us from God. This is love directly from God,
from heaven itself. Look over one chapter, 1 John
4 verse 9, it says, in this was manifested the love
of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son
into the world that we might live through him here in his
love. Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us. and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. That tells us not only where
it's from, but that also tells us what sort or quality it is. What did that love do? How deep
did it go? How effectual was it? How sincere
was it? You know that old saying, actions
speak louder than words. And that's the truth, isn't it?
Actions speak louder than words. Well, He gave us His words and
He gave us His actions. Greater love had no man than
this. He laid down His life for His
friends. And who were His friends? Who
did He love? Verse 10 right here says, Herein
is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us. and sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sins. He loved sinners. He loved sinners. Let's read
Romans five together. We go here a lot, but it's a
good thing to do. Romans 5 verse 1 says, Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into
this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory
of God, And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also,
knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience,
and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
which is given unto us, For when we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for
a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man
some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if,
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life,
the ungodly enemies. Behold, behold, amazing love,
how can it be that thou, my God, would die for me? Amazing love. Go with me back to 1 John 3. Behold where this love came from,
behold the quality, the effectual quality, and behold at what time,
behold how long, behold when the Father bestowed this love
upon us. He said, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. That's good news when you know
that you are unlovely. I love you from everlasting to
everlasting. This is one of my favorites.
Hold your place right here. We're gonna flip right back,
but go to John 13. We're gonna go to John a few
more times if you wanna put a marker there. John 13 verse 1 says, Now before
the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was
come, that He should depart out of the world unto the Father,
having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto
the end. He loved them all the way to
the end. Behold what manner of love! The
Father has bestowed upon us, sinners like us, but chosen of
God. Sinners like us, but chosen of
God, chosen to be His people, chosen to be given to Christ.
Chosen to believe. Think about that. Chosen to believe. Sometimes we become lifted up
with pride thinking, well, at least I believe. They don't even
believe. We were chosen to believe. Chosen to believe, not only in
Him, but on Him. And flip back to our text. 1
John 3 verse 1 says, Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of
God. That's what we've been made to
be. Sons of God. How were we made to be sons of
God? Now I enjoyed this. All right,
I enjoyed this. How were we made to be sons of
God? Look back at John chapter one. John 1 verse 10 says, He was
in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew
Him not. He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. But as many as received Him,
it does not say accepted. It just said that His own didn't
want to have anything to do with Him. But thank God His gift and
His work of grace was irresistible. And His people received it in
spite of the fact that they wanted nothing to do with Him. All of
His people received it. Verse 12 says, But as many as
received Him, to them gave He power, that means the right or
the privilege, to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name." And how did they become sons? Verse 13
says, they were born. Which were born, not of blood,
not by a family tree or a family name. You're not saved because
you're born into this congregation. Verse 13 says, nor of the will
of the flesh, not by any decision that any person made on his own. Verse 13 says, nor of the will
of man, not by any decision or work from any other sinful man
or woman. Verse 13 says it was of God.
It was of God. All of God's people are made
to be children. They're made to be sons by birth,
by creation. They're all born of God. A new
life is given. A new creation directly from
the Spirit of God. Blessed assurance, the Lord Jesus
is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. Heir of salvation. Purchase of God, born of His
Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story. This is my
song. All of God's people can say,
I was born here. I belong here. I'm a child by
birth. That's not the only way we were
made to be sons. Look at Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 verse 14 says, For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. For you have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Not only are we
sons of God by birth, we're sons of God by adoption. What that
means is a covenant was made and a payment was made, a promise
has been given to us. Ephesians 1 says, by Jesus Christ
to Himself. That means that He says to His
people, this is what He says to His people, you're mine. You're mine by birth and by adoption. There's no way that it can be
said you're not mine. You're mine by birth and by adoption. That's what He says to His people.
Alright, now I have an illustration of that. It's been a long time
since I've told this illustration. I put them aside and let it go
by a little while and then bring it. It's been a long, I think
it's been years. I put this one aside for a long time. But this
is what he's saying, all right? This is what he's saying. Years
ago, Brother Walter Groover told the story of a little boy in
Mexico who desperately, desperately wanted a kite. All right, he
was a little boy. And he wanted a kite so badly.
And he told his dad, I'd love to have a kite. And his father
felt terrible because he could not afford to buy his son a kite.
They were so poor. They work all day. They make
nothing. And finally, the father said, I tell you what, son, how
about let's make a kite? And the son got so excited, and
he said, yeah, that sounds good, let's make a kite. So they got
some real lightweight cloth, and they got some small sticks,
twined them all together into a frame, and they sewed that
cloth onto that frame, and they put a tail on it, and put a string
on it, and threw it up and started flying. And that boy was so excited. And they started letting that
kite out and there it went. The kite got higher and higher
and higher and he was so excited until the string broke. And the kite blew over the trees. And the little boy was just heartbroken
and the father was heartbroken for him and they lost their kite. A few days later, that little
boy was walking in the village, walking down the main road of
the village. And he looked over in a store and sitting on the
shelf was his kite. And he ran into that store and
he said, mister, that's my kite. And the store owner said, no
son, that's my kite. And he said, but mister, my father
and I made that kite. And he said, well, I found that
kite a few days ago in the weeds and it's mine now. And if you
want that kite, it's going to cost you two pesos. So that little
boy ran home and he told his dad, he said, father, I found
our kite. It's in a store in the village.
And the man said, if I want to get that kite, it's going to
cost me two pesos. So his dad reached into his pocket,
pulled out two pesos, gave them to his son. That little boy ran
back into town, laid his money on the counter and said, two
pesos. Store owner grabbed that kite
and handed it to the little boy. And that little boy hugged that
kite Oh, he was so happy, he hugged that kite. And the store
owner heard him say as he was walking out the door, he said,
you're mine. You're mine. He said, you're twice mine. I made you. And I bought you. And that's what he's saying.
You're twice mine. I made you. and I bought you. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God,
sons by creation and adoption, sons by birth and by payment. Right here in Romans 8 verse
16 says, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that
we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Go with me over to Galatians
4. Galatians 4 verse 1, it says, Now I say that the heir,
as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though
he be Lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the
time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children,
were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are
sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son 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. Behold what manner of love. Behold
the love. I want to read this, this to
you. This is a hymn writer wrote this a long time ago, and this
is just so, so good. And it's so true. This is one
of the verses in his song. He said, could we with ink the
ocean fill? And were the skies of parchment
made? Were every stalk on earth a quill? And every man a scribe by trade
to write the love of God above? would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain
the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. Behold, what manner
of love! Behold, what manner of love!
Go back to our text and we're done. 1 John 3 verse 1, it 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. This is life eternal,
that men and women might know him. And this world naturally
does not know him. But to all of his children, he
reveals himself. No man knows the Son but the
Father, and no man knows the Father but the Son, and He to
whomever the Son will reveal Him. And this is that precious
assurance that He gives to all His people that they are His
children. He reveals Himself. He reveals who He is, and what
He did, and who He did it for, and why He did it for them. He
reveals all of it to them. And he said in a few different
places, and we were going to turn, but we're not. He said,
you know him. You've seen him. Philip said,
show us the Father. He said, you've seen him. If
you see me, you've seen him. In John 17, he said, Father,
I've manifested thy name to them. They know you. And they're in
you, and I'm in them. In Christ, we know and we see
God. We see everything He's done for
us. all of it to be in Him. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not because it knew Him not. And what that ultimately means
is, as He is, so are we in this world. That's another behold.
That's a behold. All right, let's all stand together.