Glad to see everybody. I want to thank John for letting
me go first. Would you want to go second?
That's a privilege. Thank you, sir. I appreciate
it. I heard a man say one time, he
said, there's no such thing as great gospel preachers, but there's
preachers with a great gospel. Amen. That's something. If you
will, be turned to Luke chapter 10. This won't be our text, but
I want us to look at something first. Luke chapter 10. I've been asked a few times in
my life, where we have service, if we preach the full gospel. Full gospel. And it's been my
experience most of the time, someone looking for a full gospel
has one or two aspects that they want to find. That's it. I've
had people ask me about if we have true worship. You pray in
the Spirit, read the Scriptures in the Spirit, do this and do
that, but there's one aspect or two that they're looking for.
But we can't truly worship in song unless we know who we're
singing to. We can't truly pray to the Lord
unless we know the Lord. We can't preach Him if we don't
know Him. Paul wrote, They're the church
of Coriath. And he said, though I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, have not
love, his love, I am become as a sounding brass and a tinkling
cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand
all the mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so
that I could remove mountains, there's some action to be able
to take, And have not charity, have not
love of God, I am nothing. There in Luke 10, there's some
men here that had walked this earth, the disciples of Christ,
that had some ability. Some of those things were given
to them. There in Luke 10, verse 17. And the seventy, those Christ
sent out to preach the gospel, returned again with joy, saying,
Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name." Well,
how would you feel? You'd have joy, wouldn't you?
It'd be so easy to have that gift bestowed on you by the Lord
and get puffed up, have our pride get swolled up, wouldn't it? Look there in verse 18, and He
said unto them, You think what you're doing is impressive? Something
to remark about? Something to lean on? To trust
in? I beheld Satan as lightning fall
from heaven. There was a time Satan was much
more beautiful than you and I. He was made and privileged, wasn't
he? He was lifted up, and he failed. He looked at those things he
had, thought he could do a better job, and he failed, didn't he?
He marveled at what he could do, and now look where he is,
and look how fast he got there. Fast as lightning. Verse 19,
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions,
and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any
means hurt you. And where I'm from, a lot of
people stand on that verse, and they do some silly things. And
they take silly trips to the hospital shortly after. But they
don't read the verse after, do they? Look there in verse 20.
Notwithstanding, in this, rejoice not. Don't have pride of grace
if the Lord gave you a gift or an ability. We don't have rejoicing
in those things. That the spirits are subject
unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written
in heaven. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said,
I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed
them unto babes. Even so, Father, for it seemed
good in Thy sight." It's His pleasure to reveal this unto
babes. Now our text this morning is going to be 1 John chapter
3. 1 John chapter 3. Here in Luke 10, our Master spoke
effectually to those saints that were there. He gave them instruction
and it worked. It sunk in. John heard the voice
of the Lord. Audibly, he heard Him. He saw
God Almighty in human flesh. He heard words come out of His
mouth. That's something. But in his heart, he heard the
Lord. He was moved by the Spirit. It
was put into his heart what to astonish at, what to be amazed
at, what we should be amazed at, what to rejoice in. 1 John
3 and verse 1 says, Behold, witness, watch what's worth considering.
It means look, if I got up here this morning, I did a lot of
instructing and spent a lot of time in front of large groups
trying to train them and teach them things, and I have all kinds
of tricks in my bag. If I were to get up here and
put on a show of emotionalism and say, look, look, get y'all
to look at something. Everybody turned. Even if you
had a crick in your neck from sleeping that night, you'd turn your whole
shoulders, wouldn't you? That's what John's telling us
here. Look, behold, behold, behold,
behold. 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 purifies himself, even
as He, as Christ, is pure." That's something worth beholding. After
all the miracles that John witnessed as he walked with Christ, he
saw Christ perform. John was given the apostolic
gifts. He spoke in tongues. He would
stand up, speak His language, and someone that didn't speak
that language would hear it in their language. He had many signs
and wonders He was able to perform. But He was most astonished at
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. That we
should be called the sons of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches
every one of His children to rejoice in Him. teaches them
to be astonished and to behold we were made sons. Why? How? That's what we astonish at. Verse
1 says, Behold, be aware, observe this remarkable thing, behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we
should be called the sons of God. This word, behold, I'm going
to spend most of our time in this verse this morning. But,
behold is recorded in the scriptures 664 times. It's used a bunch. There's a lot to behold, isn't
there? What are some of them that we're
reminded of often? Every December, we hear some
verses quoted so frequently. There are some people who get
mad at Christmas, and I understand it, but that's a special time
to me. They may not know who my Lord
is or know who they're celebrating, but the words of my Savior is
on someone's mouth. They say Christ was born. They
admit it. They may not believe it, but they have to admit it.
That's a precious time. The Lord may use that someday for somebody.
But Isaiah used this word when he said, Therefore the Lord Himself
shall give you a sign. Behold! A virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel." God with
us. That's something to behold. He
was prophesying Christ's birth. The Lord coming to this earth.
Turn over to Luke chapter 1 real quick. Luke chapter 1. Many years later,
after Isaiah prophesied our Savior's birth, Gabriel came to Mary. He told her, he said, fear not.
Isn't that always something? Almost every time the angels
come or the cross appears to someone, we're afraid. First
thing he said, fear not. Don't be afraid. Luke chapter
1 verse 31, Gabriel came to Mary and said, behold, Thou shalt
conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his
name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall
be no end." That's something to behold. Our Savior is coming.
Turn over just a few pages there to Luke chapter 2. Our Lord's
conception was prophesied there by Isaiah. It was announced to
the one who would give birth to Him. Gabriel came to Mary. And those that believe on Christ
are made to see. They are made to know Him. To
behold Him. They beheld His coming. Look
there in Luke 2 verse 8. And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in a field keeping watch over their flock
by night. Way out in the country, here's
some poor old shepherds watching some sheep on a hillside. Verse
9, And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory
of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,
Fear not. Four, because, here's why you
shouldn't fear. Behold, I bring you good tidings
of great joys which shall come to all people. For unto you this
day in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord. Preach to them. Our Master grew. And as he was getting his ministry
on this earth, John the Baptist told some people what to behold.
He was the forerunner. He was the last prophet of the
Old Testament. He was crying in the wilderness,
living off that honey and locusts, and gird his loins up with camel's
hair. And he told those Pharisees and
Sadducees, those well-clothed, educated men that came by, that
the Messiah was coming. And he said, you repent. and
look to Him. Turn from yourself and turn to
Him. Turn from what you think is right,
turn to the One who is right. Then our Master came to those
same waters the next day, out there in the country, way out
in the middle of nowhere, not in a big town, where that remnant
we read of this morning is. We're out here in the country,
ain't we? Out here in the wilderness, just
a few of us. And our Master went out there
to be baptized, and John 1 says, The next day, John, seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. Here He is. He was prophesied,
and now He's here. He's here with us. And the day
will come when every person will behold Christ. It'll happen. They'll know Him. We will be
made aware and we will see this great, important thing and we'll
behold Him at the end. It says, every knee will bow
and every tongue confess that He's Lord. To confess that, you
have to know it. Revelation 1-7 says, Behold,
He cometh with clouds and every eye shall see Him and they also
which pierce Him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because
of Him. Even so, Amen. And I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end, saith the Lord, which is and which
was and which is to come, the Almighty. We will behold Him
one day. I pray the Lord to let us behold
Him this morning before that day comes. I'm back in our text
there in 1 John 3. 1 John 3, 1. Behold! Watch it now. What manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God? He's saying, pay attention, here's
something incredible. God became a man for sinners. That's a truly amazing miracle. God Almighty became a man just
like I am. He walked this earth just like
I walked. He felt the infirmities that I felt. He knows us. But just as miraculous, follow
me now, just as miraculous as God Almighty becoming a man,
is that sinners are made to be the Son of God. That's truly
something to behold. How could He become a man? I don't know. How can I be made
like Christ? How can I be made the Son of
God? John writes there, what manner of love? It's going to
take an act of love, ain't it? What manner of love? That means
what kind of love? What type of love? What manner of love
is this that's bestowed upon us? First off, it's a freely
given love. There's no merit in us. The children
of God were loved when we would not, did not, and could not love
Him. We were enemies against Him.
There was nothing in us that made God love us. Some will say,
well, everyone's a child of God. Everybody on earth is His children.
God loves everybody, all His children. He wants to save them,
He's trying to save them. He can't because you won't let
Him. They say these blasphemous things. That's not so. Not everyone's a child of God.
The cross said that's not the case. Remember those Pharisees
told our Master they were children of Abraham. And they said, if
Abraham was your father, you would do the works of Abraham.
What's the works of Abraham? Believing on Christ. And they
said, well, we have one father, God. God's our father, just like
everybody else. Christ told them, if God were
your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God, neither came I of myself, but He sent me. Why do you not
understand my speech? Do you think he wondered? He
knew the answer, didn't he? Yes, then. Why do you not understand
my speech? Because you cannot hear my word.
You are of your father, the devil. Well, if you're of the father
of the devil, you ain't the father of God. Not everyone's His child. He
doesn't want for things. The children of God have been
bestowed a freely given, distinguishing love for people. And this love,
it's a divine love. This isn't this love that you
and I know of. It's not this feeble and frail
and flimsy love that humans talk about. Our love comes and goes. It's fleeting. The Lord's love
is not careless. It was planned. It was executed
by Him. John tells us later on in 1 John
chapter 4, He said, Herein is love, not that we love God, but
that He loved us. He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Be that mercy seat. That
satisfactory satisfies, all atoning. It's a holy love from God that
was acted on. It's one thing if I say I love
somebody and I never do nothing for them. If you love somebody, you can't
keep from doing something for them, can you? Our Master acted
on it. How long did He do it? Did He
love us just enough to get us started? Did He give us a nudge? It was an everlasting love. Remember
what was written in Jeremiah? Jeremiah 31 says, The Lord hath
appeared unto me of old, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Therefore, therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. He acted on that everlasting
love. Behold, If that don't melt you,
nothing will. Behold. This is the manner. This is the
kind of love that He bestowed upon us. Who's us? We just saw
not everybody's is. He doesn't love everybody. If
He loved everybody, everybody would be alright. We ain't. Who's
the us? Those that were given to Christ
before the world was made. Those elect. Those blood-bought
children. Those who think Christ is righteous. Those who are born of God. Look
over there in 1 John 2 verse 29. Now John was reminding the folks
there in San Diego. We've been working through 1
John and from chapter 2 verse 18 to chapter 3 verse 20, John
doesn't change. Those chapters change, but his
message doesn't change. What he's talking about doesn't
change. He's comparing and contrasting and showing us the difference
between those that are against Christ Those are anti-Christ
and those that are His. Those that are for Him. The child
of God and those that aren't the child of God. That's what
He's showing us. But there in 1 John 2, verse 29, He says,
For ye know that He is righteous. If you know that He is righteous,
you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him.
I've labored this a lot and I'll try to keep it at home. I'll
try to keep it short for you. Doing righteousness is believing
on Christ. And Christ told us to do Him
truth. That's believing Him. Believing on Him. Now the us
John is speaking of here in chapter 3 and verse 1 is the children
of God. That's who he's talking about.
How are we made to be a child? How do we become sons of God? How are we made those legitimate
heirs? We are born, Scriptures tell
us, born of the Spirit. We're adopted. All the human
race is physically born. So somebody said, are you alive? I said, prove it. I'm standing
here, I don't know what to tell you. I was born, you were born.
We're all here. We're all born, all were made
alive, physically. But some have parents through
adoption, don't they? We have this given, wrought by
God sonship. It says we're born of Him and
adopted of Him. But when Paul was writing to Ephesus, he was
declaring that doctrine of election. Christ. And to make it more understandable
for us, he said in Ephesians 1.5, "...having predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
It says, "...according to the good pleasure of His will." He
chose us. Adopted us. He went and picked
us for His glory. Not for ours. Not for something
in us. For His glory. For His purpose. The same way
our children are made ours. Sons and daughters are born to
us or they're adopted by us. They were put in us by God the
Father just as we were put in Christ. They're adopted by us
just as we were chosen by the Father before the foundation
of the earth. But there's a lot of similarities between the birth
and the adoption. We're children. We're legitimate
heirs. How do we know that? We're loved
the same. We're provided for the same. They have the same
name, given the same name. We have the same mother, same
father. We look to them, have the same names for them. Made
children. But we're born because of that
redemptive grace of Christ, through that regenerative grace of the
Holy Spirit, and we're adopted in that electing grace of the
Father. That doesn't have anything to do with us, does it? Just
like our natural birth. I was there, I don't remember
it, and I had nothing to do with it. That's something to behold that
we're made sons. Something astonishing. It's remarkable. Almighty God
became a man. He lived on this earth. He went
to that cross. Became Kevin Thacker. Became
His people. What I am. That's something to behold. And
then He made me like Him. Made me His righteousness. sanctifying
us and presents us unblameable and faultless before the Father,
before the God that we offended. Behold what manner of love. That's
active love, isn't it? That knits a true child of God
to another. We're family. We have the same
Father. We have the same Father that
loves us the same. And we're saved by that same
love and grace without causing ourselves And we each are loved
by someone we could not love and would not love. We have some
stuff in common. We're family. But what knits
us together is the same thing that separates us from the rest
of the world. The world does not love the saints
of Christ because it does not love their master. Look there
in verse 1. 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. The world in a physical sense
knows us. There's people that they call
my name and I turn my head and look at them. They know who I
am. They have my phone number. I work with people. I have family
members. They know me. But they don't know me the way
God knows me. Those friends and families do
not love me the way that Christ loves me. All those that care
for you in this world, that love you, start telling them about
your God. Tell them about the God of this
Bible. Tell them about His sovereignty in all things. He controls the
elements floating in this air right now. Tell them about His
total power, about Him choosing the people. Making them holy. Keeping them forever. Christ
being our wisdom. How'd you get to know what you
know? Christ is my wisdom. Our righteousness. Our sanctification. I gotta make myself holy. Are
you working hard to make yourself holy? Christ is my sanctification. Tell Him He's our redemption.
Did you choose Him? Did you accept Him as your personal Savior?
Christ is my redemption. Quickly, that conversation will
turn or be avoided. Sweet old grandpa may start to
distance himself. Why? The world does not know,
the world does not love, and the world is not made one with
Christ. Can the servant be above his
master? If we're persecuted and despised, we should expect that. Our master was persecuted and
despised, wasn't he? These things must come. Scripture
tells us trials must come, persecution must come, heresies must come. Has to. If I was down in San Diego and
I preached every week, thought I was preaching, and I didn't
have anyone upset with me, I never had a cross word with nobody.
Everybody just loved me to death and hugged my neck when I walked
in the room. And we kept growing a little bit and growing a little
bit and everybody's happy all the time. There is some concern
that needs to take place in my ministry and what I'm preaching.
That ain't how it works. There's going to be an offense
if you preach the gospel. Knowing this, Knowing that the
world doesn't love us, knowing that trials are going to come,
they don't know our Savior, we have a great and wonderful confidence. We have a great confidence. We
have a current confidence. Catch this. Here in 1 John 3.1,
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. Then John tells us in verse 2,
Behold. We just got told what to behold,
right? Behold, now are we the sons of
God. Right now. I wish I could behold that. Those that doeth righteousness,
those that believe on Christ, those that love Him and despise
ourselves, those that love the children that Christ died for,
we love Him, love our brethren. It's a message that John's telling
us. Right now, we are the sons of God. That word was used some
other places too. Paul wrote to the church at Rome
and said, therefore, there is now no condemnation. Right now. No condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. That's something I wish I could
behold every day. I wish I could wake up in the
morning, behold Him. Behold His love. What manner
of love He loved me with. Knowing it ain't going to go
away. It ain't going to change. I wish I could walk throughout
the earth all day like that. That'd be something, wouldn't it? I
think I'd be a better citizen. I think I'd be a better father.
Oh, if I could get a hold of it. But we have it right now. Not later. Not for a season. Not for just a short period of
time. Not after I do something. It's not a possibility down the
road. Right now, we are the sons of God. As John showed us previously
in this epistle, In the first chapter there, we know we are
His. We're given that knowledge to
know Him. To know Him. And we will know Him. And we'll
know that He'll keep us forever. And He'll keep us no matter what. And we shall see Him as He is.
Be made like Him. Look there in verse 2. Beloved,
now we are the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be. But we know. We know that. When He shall appear, we shall
be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. I think often about
what glory will be like. We were talking the other night
there at dinner. I wonder what it's going to be like. Many people
think that. But we don't have a clue what's
in store. Don't have a clue. We only see
our Master in part now, but someday we'll know Him as we are known,
as He knows us. We'll see Him face to face and
be like Him. We'll be without sin, be made
holy and unreprovable in His sight. We can't enter into that
now. Other than the Scriptures telling
us that, how do we know for sure? It says there, because we shall
see Him as He is. To enter into God's presence,
you must be holy as He is holy. We must be 100% pure. Not a spot,
not a blemish. Only one's ever lived that way.
Christ. We have to be like Him. We have
to be conformed to His image. So many people make graven images
of Christ as He was. Now he was a baby in a manger.
Yes. That happened. But now he's on the right hand
of God. He did walk this earth as the
God-man in human form. Yes. But now he's in the heavens.
He came here without comeliness and beauty. And we wouldn't want
to look upon him. Not now. Not now. He was on a cross. Yes. So many people have that portrayed
and him suffering. He's risen. He was that. We don't need to see him as he
was, we need to see him as he is. Many people feel sorry for the
Lord. We need to quit feeling sorry for him and start feeling
sorry for ourselves. We need to stop worrying about what our
attempts can be, what our works can be, and see what he's already
accomplished. That's what we need to be made
aware of. It says there in 1 John 3, 3, And every man that hath
this hope in him, already in him, purifieth himself, even
as Christ is pure. Everyone that has this hope,
what hope? That we were made sons, that we were loved with
a divine love, that we know the Father, We are known of Him,
that we believe on His Son, we love Him, we honor Him, love
those that He died for, and that we will be made like Christ.
That's a hope. Everyone that has that hope purifies himself. How? Believing on Christ. That
doesn't change throughout this theme, does it? Believing God
as Christ believed Him, being made pure even as He is pure. I pray that believers can be
ever reminded that we are children of God right now and forevermore. I pray we can wake up every day
and have our pure minds stirred up, as Paul said, that we are
loved with a holy love that does not and will not fail, and that
we can look to Him for all things. That'd be something to behold,
wouldn't it? I pray we can continue to behold
Him today. Thank you.