1 John 3. We're going to look at the first six
verses. Let me read them to you first,
and I'll lead us in prayer, then we'll look at it. 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 yet 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. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law." He's a lawbreaker. He's a lawless person. For sin
is the transgression of the law. And you know that He was manifested
to take away our sins. And in Him, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. Our Father, bless Thy Word. Instruct us this morning by Thy
Spirit out of Thy Word. Enable me to rightly divide the
word of truth. Give me liberty of thought and
speech. Bless us with Thy presence. Bless
us with the spirit of worship. Enable us to give unto You the
glory due unto Your name this morning. And Father, we pray
for those here who are sick, those here who are under heavy
trials, whose hearts are heavy. We pray for them. We know that
all our afflictions come from Thy hand, that You have appointed
and ordained all these things for our good and Your glory.
We pray that You'd give us the grace to walk through whatever
You give us in such a way that our God is honored. In Christ's
name we pray, and amen. The title of this lesson is this. What incredible love the Father
has bestowed on us. Unspeakable. Indescribable. I cannot describe this kind of
love. It's beyond, the Scripture says,
it's beyond understanding. beyond understanding. I know
that God's love is holy. I know that God's love to his
people is everlasting. Never a time he did not love
us. I know this beyond understanding and he has bestowed it, poured it out on us, his love. Behold, give attention to this,
stand in awe. We ought to really stand in awe
of this, really. I know because of sin we're dull,
and it doesn't affect us like it ought to. But John says here
to the church that he's writing to, to us, stand in awe of this. Behold, what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. That's why the world doesn't
know us. See what incredible, that's what he's saying, what
incredible love the Father bestowed on us that we should be allowed
that sinners like us, rebels at one time, enemies of God at
one time. We were enemies of God at one
time in our minds. We were children of wrath by
nature, even as others at one time. But even now we are allowed
and really are the sons of God. I'm not just preaching to just
people. I'm not just preaching, I'm not
preaching to flesh. I'm preaching here to the sons of God. You're
sons of God. I'm a son of God. That ought
to absolutely astound us. It should, it should astound
us. And the reason the world does not know and recognize us
as the sons of God, you know, the scripture says that a prophet
is not without honor except in his own country and among his
own brethren. And why is that? For this reason,
I know you. I grew up with you guys. I remember
what we did when we were young. You see, they don't see you as
a son of God. They didn't see the Son of God
in the Son of God. They didn't see Christ in Christ.
And he says here, John says here that the reason they don't know
you and recognize you as a son of God is because they don't
know Him. When He came into the world, the world didn't recognize
Him. When the Creator, The God of
creation, this is how depraved and how dead this world is. When
the God of creation came into this world, the world didn't
recognize it. Look over in John chapter one,
the gospel of John. The gospel of John chapter one. In verse 10, He was in the world,
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Word of God, was in the world,
and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. They
didn't recognize Him. Isn't that amazing? Now, doesn't
that speak to our total depravity and spiritual death? That when
the Creator came, we didn't recognize Him? He came unto His own, His
own people, and His own received Him not. We will not have this
man, they said, to reign over us. And when He claimed to be
the Son of God, they got mad. They said, He's blasphemed, and
they wanted to kill Him. Oh, He said, the reason they
don't recognize you as the Son of God is because they didn't
recognize Him. They don't know Him. Beloved, now, in the present, are we the sons
of God? You know, every time I have to
say, every time I read that, when I read that, I think this
thought goes through my mind. Now are we the sons of God? John,
act like it. Walk like it. Live like it. You're a son of God. You're a
son of the King. Walk like you have some character. A son of God, representing Him.
I represent Him. Now are we the sons of God. And
it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know this, we
know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. we shall
see Him as He is. Even now, while in this world,
in this body of flesh, in this body of sin, even now we are
the children of God. I do not have to wait till I
die to become a son of God. If I'm not a son of God now,
I won't be when I die. I can assure you that. Now, he
says, now are we the sons of God. And let's not judge what
we shall be by what we are now in the flesh. Don't judge. That's why, don't judge what
we're gonna be by what I am now. There's no comparison. I mean,
there's really no comparison to what we're gonna be. We still
have sin in us. I have as much sin in me now
as I've ever had. It's still there. It's still there. We are
surrounded on every side by trouble. And this, listen, this is not
it. This is not the final result
of salvation. We've not yet experienced the
final result. But when we see Him, then we
are going to be made like Him. Soon we shall be like Him, for
we shall see Him as He is in all His glory. And we are going
to share in that glory. And this is what we ought to
have our minds set on daily. That's why Paul says, set your
heart, your mind, your affection on things above, where Christ
sits at God's right hand. Let that be your thought. Let
that be the tenor of your thought. Let that be your life. Right
now we look through a glass, Paul said, dimly, darkly. We
only know in part, but in that day, in that day, we shall know
even as we are known. I want you to turn over to 1
Corinthians chapter 15. Let's take a glimpse into the
future here. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. In verse... 45, verse 45. And so it is written, the first
man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam, and that word
was made is an italics, it was added, the last Adam a quickening
spirit, a life-giving spirit. First Adam couldn't do that.
I received death through him. But the second Adam, the Lord
Jesus Christ, I have received life, the life of God through
him. How be it that was not first, which is spiritual, but that
which is natural, and afterward, that which is spiritual. You
see, God is a God of order. Everything God does, He does
in order. The first man is of the earth, earthy, and that's
all he'll ever be. That's why this body is gonna
go back to the dust. It was made from the dust. It
was made from this earth. It's gonna go back to the earth.
This whole body is. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. As is the earthy, such are they
also that are earthy. You know, if you, last time I
was, With my dad, it was at a funeral, and one of the ladies that was
known was a distant family relative, came up to me and dad. I was
standing there, and she said, you look just like your daddy.
She looked at my dad and said, you can't deny him. You can't
deny him. I said, I've got the earthly. And I look like him. The older
I get, the more I look like him. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly." Someday, someday we are going
to literally be the spitting image of the Lord Jesus Christ
in every way, character. We'll have a glorified body like
His. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall
also bear the image of the heavenly. We're gonna be like him. Now
this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, we shall
not all... That's not a play on words. Because the believer does not
die. The Scripture teaches us that.
Christ said we shall not all sleep. But we shall all be changed. We'll be changed in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye. What you see now is not what
it's going to be. At the last trump, for the trump shall sound
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be
changed. Gonna be changed. For this corruptible
must put on incorruption. And this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. You know, I'm dying daily. You're
dying daily. But one day that death that we're
dying right now physically, now the physically, it's gonna be
swallowed up. It's gonna be swallowed up in
victory. It's not gonna be swallowed up in a grave. He says it's gonna
be swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where's thy sting?
What do we have to be afraid of? If you believe the gospel,
what do we have to be afraid of? It's carnation day. It's crowning day. It's victory
day. It is. Death, where's thy sting?
O grave, where's thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, which gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, we're gonna be changed. That's
what he said, we're gonna be changed in the twinkling of an
eye. What you see now is not what's
coming. So there's no comparison to the
glory that's going to be revealed in us when Christ comes. We're
going to be like Him. And every man that has this hope,
this hope of being like Jesus Christ, this hope of being conformed
completely, perfectly to the image of Christ, every man that
has this hope in him purifies himself. This hope, this hope of the gospel,
has a purifying effect. It has, as one old writer said,
it has a sanctifying effect on us. A sanctifying effect. Where this hope of being like
Christ exists, that person, that sinner, will be moved and motivated
by real love for the Lord Jesus Christ to be like Him. To be like Him. I thought so
much of my dad growing up. I can remember this so clear
when I was just a little boy. I thought so much of him. I wanted
to be like him when I grew up. Well, multiply that infinitely.
We want to be like our Lord, don't we? I want to, and I want
you to, to mature in Christ until one day, like any who walked
with God, and he was not, for God took him. The believers desire, he desires
to love as the Lord loved. Don't you desire to do that?
Seriously. When you like to love like He loved. When you like
to love your neighbor like He did. Love your enemies as He
did. I was an enemy at one time. You
were enemies. Look at us now. Look what He's
done for us. Look what His love has done for
us. It chased us down and got us, didn't it? It's called fetching
grace. Fetching grace. I'd love to be gracious as He's
gracious, kind as He's kind. You want to forgive as He forgave? to be able to do that. I want
to be like that now. Now. Now. Someday we will. Someday we will
be like this perfectly. Perfectly. Now John gives here a cause for
alarm in verse four. Whosoever Commit a sin, transgresses
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. It
doesn't matter who the person is. And here's what he's saying,
if that person practices, enjoys, is what he's saying, enjoys,
follows after the lust of the flesh, whatever that may be,
is nothing more than a lawless hypocrite and lost. That's not wanting to be like
Christ. That is a total opposite of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not a bunch of lawless
people, antinomials. We don't keep the law in order
to be saved. I don't do that. You don't do
that. I don't do anything in order to be saved. We are saved
by grace. But a believer, the tenor of
a believer's life is to walk after godliness, isn't it? It
is. It's to walk after godliness. It's to be like his Lord. No believer desires to live a
sinful life. No believer desires that. I wish
I wouldn't sin. I wish, you do too. I wish I
could have good thoughts all the time. I wish my, shut my
mouth. I wish I could do that. No believer desires to live a
sinful life, whether it be openly or secretly. Because you and I live with a
real consciousness of God's presence. Was it Hagar said, thou God seest
me. It doesn't matter whether you're
looking at me or not, God does. I'm always before the Lord. I'm
always before Him. Always. The grace of God, the
scripture says, the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness. That's what the grace of God,
if it's shed abroad in the heart, if the love of God is shed abroad
in the heart, it teaches us, it instructs us to deny ungodliness,
to deny this flesh, to deny ourselves. And you know, it said in verse
five, and you know that He, the Lord Jesus Christ was manifested,
He was revealed to take away our sins. This is why He came. This is why God was manifested
in the flesh. This is why the Word of God was
made flesh, is that He might take away our sins. And in Him,
there is no sin. In Christ, there is no sin. He put it away. I have no sin
in Christ. I know, I know that in me, I
have as much sin as ever. I know, and this is our confidence
now, I know that in my Lord, all my sins are taken away. And
that's how God can be a just God and have anything to do with
me. That's how He can do it. You know that He appeared for
the purpose of putting away sins. And that being so, why would
I even desire? Why would I even have a desire
to sin? Although I know we do. I know we do. Whosoever abideth, walks in Him,
sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth, hath not seen
Him, neither known Him." No one, I'm going to close. No one who abides in Christ,
No one who knows, by experience now, by new birth, no one who
knows and abides in the Lord Jesus Christ, who lives in Christ,
will live, John says, in a willful, sinful state. It won't do it. Sin makes the
believer miserable. If it doesn't make me miserable,
there's something wrong. There's something wrong. We don't live like that. We don't
want to live like that. We want to be like our Lord. That person,
that person who can live like that, John says, has never known
God, has never been born of God. But he that knows God, he that
abides in Christ, his desire, his desire is to be like his
Lord, to love like him, to walk like him, to believe God like
he believed God, is to be like him. to be like the Lord Jesus
Christ. John said, what love, behold
what love, what manner, what incredible love. Don't ever get
over that. Don't ever get over the amazing love of God to us
in Christ. And right now, even though it
does not look like it, I know you're looking at me. I do not
look like a son of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
into the world, when they saw him, they said, we know you. You are the carpenter's son.
You look like that carpenter. You're his son. We know your
brothers and your sisters. No, they didn't. Christ said,
you don't know me. You're my father. Now are we the sons of God. I
may not look like it, And this, what you're looking at right
now, is not what it's gonna be. It's gonna be a whole lot better
than now. Gonna be a whole lot better. And he's telling us that
believers have a new life, they have a new walk, they have a
new talk, they have a new attitude. Why? For this reason. They have been born of God. You're children of God. You're
not children of the devil. You're not children of darkness.
You're children of light. That's good news, isn't it? Let's never get over this. Now
are you the sons of God. And the reason, God loves you. Don't ever get over that.