Open your Bibles with me this
morning to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. And as you may
have picked up on it by now, the theme of our message this
morning is the amazing love of God for his people. I've entitled
the message, based on the first line of 1 John 3.1, Behold what
manner of love. Behold what manner of love. And
I'm just going to look at three verses this morning, if you'll
follow along in your Bibles. Look at verse one. It says, Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called, or named, or identified as 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, or
it is not yet made manifest, what we shall be. But we know
that when he shall appear, when Christ shall appear, we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that
hath this hope in him, in Christ, purifieth himself, even as Christ
is pure. And those three verses are just
so amazing in the truth that they communicate to our minds. Hopefully you see the glory of
them. But it's only by the grace of
God, which is an outcropping of the love of God, that any
of us see the reality of this love and this grace. So I want
to begin with this point. that God's love is amazing love. We sing about amazing grace and
that is amazing. But we also sing about amazing
love. We sang about it this morning
in two of the hymns that we sang. But look back first at verse
29 of chapter 2. Now he says here, if you know
that he, the he there is Christ. First John 2, 29. This is the
context of it now. If you know that Christ is righteous,
now we know Christ personally is righteous in himself, he never
broke the law, he never committed sin, and he never had sin in
him. The Bible teaches us that in
verse 5 of chapter 3, in him, in Christ is no sin. But that
he was nailed to the cross of Calvary for the sins of his people,
his sheep, his church, that the Father imputed or charged or
accounted to him. So that we can rightfully and
scripturally say that when Christ died on the cross, when he suffered
that punishment unto death, he was obedient unto death. And
that's just a marvelous way of stating it. Even in his death
for the sins of his people, he was obedient. He was obedient
unto death. That's in Philippians chapter
2. So his death was an obedience. Another place it calls his death
an accomplishment. And that's an amazing thing.
His death was the only accomplishment, the only death that could be
called an accomplishment. He finished the work that God
gave him to do. But that when he died on that
cross, he died for sins that were his own. But not because
he committed them, and not because he was contaminated by them,
but because they were laid to his charge. by an act of the
Father. The debt was reckoned to be his,
and he made them his own. And in the Psalms that speak
of that, Psalm 22, Psalm 69, he speaks of them as his own,
because they were his own as the Lord gave them to him, charged
them to him. But see, we know he is righteous
in himself, but we know he is righteous as the mediator, the
high priest, the substitute, and the surety, and the redeemer
of his people. For we have one who stands in
our place." If we know Christ now, if we're sinners saved by
the grace of God, we know Christ and we know that we have one
who stands before a holy God and stands there for us, and
he's righteous. Now, that's comforting. That's
a surety. For if he is not righteous, he would do us no good. One sinner
cannot stand for another sinner. That's a precedent in Scripture
from the very beginning. Genesis teaches that. One sinner
cannot be a substitute for another sinner. That's so. But we have one who is our advocate. He says in 1 John 2 and verse
1, who is Jesus Christ the righteous. So, if you know absolutely as
you are convinced in your mind and in your affections and in
your will and your heart and your conscience by the Holy Spirit
through the Word of God, that Christ is righteous, that He's
your substitute, your Savior, your Redeemer, then you know
by experience that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of
Him. He speaks of the new birth, born
of God, born of Christ. That's the new birth. Christ
said to Nicodemus in John 3, you must be born again. If you
don't experience The new birth, the spiritual birth, not the
fleshly birth, that which is born of flesh is flesh, that
which is born of spirit is spirit. You do not experience the new
birth, which is by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, and
you cannot, he said to Nicodemus, you cannot see the kingdom of
God, and by seeing he means understanding it, the kingdom of God, the kingdom
of salvation, and you cannot enter the kingdom of God, that
is, in your mind and in your heart. So that's necessary. But he says here, those who are
born of him doeth righteousness. And if anyone does righteousness,
then he is born of God. A person who's not born of God
cannot do righteousness. Well, last week I dealt with
that. What is it to do righteousness? Well, we're going to study that
a little bit more when we get past these three verses today.
But basically, it begins with believing in and resting in Christ,
who is righteous. You see, you're not doing righteousness
as if what you do equals perfection. That's not it. But the one in
whom you trust, the one in whom you abide, the one in whom you
rest is righteous. And the Bible calls it doing
righteousness. It has to do with abiding in Him. John had just
mentioned here being born of Him. And he speaks in amazement
about this manner of love that makes us children of God. And
he talks about this doing righteousness. It's abiding in Christ. Looking
to Christ. Resting in His blood for the
forgiveness of all my sins. Resting in His righteousness
as my right standing before God. Not in myself, but in Him. And
here he comes to this point now. He says you're born of Him. Well now, what kind of people
are born of God? What kind of people does God
save? Now, if you understand the kind of people that God saves
and how He saves them by His grace, you're going to stand
back and you're going to be amazed at the love, the love of God. If you understand that now. And
that's what He starts with, God's amazing love. Behold what manner
of love. When He says behold, that means
He wants us to behold it. It means He wants us to look
at it, to study it intently. That's what it means. In other
words, this is more than just a glance. You know, you see things
and you glance at them. In other words, if you're watching
a television program and you're really interested in it, you
just probably either flip around or get up and leave when the
commercials come on. Well, this is not the commercial. This is what you who are born
again should be interested in. to gaze upon it. That's what
he's talking about. Consider it. Behold it. And he says, remember, all who
are born of God doeth righteousness, which is to believe in and rest
in Christ, abide in Him, walk by faith in Him, seek to follow
Him in obedience, not to be saved, for if you're doing those things
to be saved, you're not doing righteousness, but because you
already are. That's grace. In other words,
you start out in Christ, saved by the grace of God. Well, what
are you to behold? Well, what manner of love? Now,
this phrase, what manner, is interesting because what it's
referring to is something that's foreign. In other words, what
you're going to behold is not of this earth. It's not of this
world. It's not of human flesh. It's
not of human at all. It's not human at all. This love
that you're going to behold is not human love. This love that
He wants you to behold is divine love. It's a different love. Different than we've ever known.
In fact, we didn't know it until we were born again. And right
now, we only know it in part. And it's an amazing thing. That's
why we need to behold it. It's divine love. Now, what is
this divine love that is foreign to the world? Foreign to the
natural man? foreign to any who are not born
of God." Well, let me tell you about this love. It's free and
unconditional love. Look over at 1 John chapter 4.
Now, here's what he's saying. Now,
think about it. He says, if you're doing righteousness, you're born
of Him. You're sons of God. Later on, he says, now are we
the children of God. That we should be called the
sons of God. Well, consider who God made His sons. The kind of
people that God made his sons, now listen to me very carefully,
and I'm including myself in what I'm about to say. The kind of
people that God made his sons, his children, are the kind of
people that you and I would not even dream or consider making
our children. You believe that? I mean, it
wouldn't even enter our minds to bring a character like that
into our family. That's right. You just say, well,
that'd just be trouble from day one. And that's what he's talking
about here now. Who did God make his children, his sons? Sinners,
rebels, idolaters. That's who he made his sons.
So what does he tell us? Well, what does that tell us?
It tells us that God's love is free and unconditional. And God's
love, now this is how foreign it is to us by nature, foreign
to the world. God's love has nothing to do
with its object as far as causing it. In other words, God's love is
not based upon any lovability in the object of that love. Now
look at 1 John 4 and look at verse 9. He says, in this was manifested
the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten
Son into the world, that's Christ, that we might live through him.
Now herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved
us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved,
if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. In
other words, in the same way that God loved us, That foreign
way, that strange way, that's how we ought to love one another.
But how did God love us? Well, there was no consideration
of any deservedness or any earning power in the object. The ones
that God chose to love are the most unlovable people, according
to this standard of love. That's what he's teaching. God's
love has nothing to do with its object. God's love is not reactionary. In other words, it's not based
upon what God sees. It's not based upon anything
in the object. God doesn't react. God's love
is a source. It's the cause of salvation.
But look over at that passage that Brother Joe read in Romans
chapter five. And listen to what it says about
the love of God toward its objects. He speaks of peace with God through
Jesus Christ. He speaks of the hope of the
glory of God. That hope is the certain assurance
of salvation in Christ. And then he speaks of that hope
that makes us not ashamed and talks about the love of God shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.
That's when we experience that love and come into a knowledge
of that love when the Holy Spirit in the new birth shows us Christ. But look at verse 6 of Romans
5. He says, "...for when we were yet without strength, in due
time Christ died for the ungodly." Now, we already saw over in 1
John 4 that the love of God is manifested and expressed in a
propitiation. That's the death of Christ. We're
going to go back there in just a moment. But it wasn't a matter
of conditional salvation. In other words, it wasn't a matter
of God saying, now, I'll do my part if you'll do yours. It says
here, for when we were yet without strength, that means impotent.
That means without any strength to do anything. God's love doesn't
say, I'll do this if you'll do that. God's love doesn't say,
I'll come 99 and 44 100 percent of the way if you'll do the rest.
God's love, I heard a preacher describe it this way, that God's
love builds a bridge across the river and He comes just so far
and you've got to finish the rest of it. No, when we were
without strength to build any part of the bridge, God's love
comes all the way. He sent His Son all the way to
this earth. He didn't send Him up into the
clouds and say, now you jump the rest of the way. All of the
conditions of our salvation were put upon his son, none of them
upon us, for when we were yet without strength. You see that?
That's what grace is all about. That's what's so amazing about
this love. In fact, if you want to be real technical, not only
did we start out without any strength, we were in the negative
column. Because when you consider what we did deserve or what we
do deserve based upon our best efforts, we deserve condemnation. Let me show you that. Look on.
He says in verse 7, "...for scarcely for a righteous man will one
die." Now, if you could find somebody who's righteous, you
could understand somebody who would give their life for such
a one, such a person. And he says, "...yet peradventure
for a good man some would even dare to die." It wouldn't be
amazing to us, that's what he's saying, it wouldn't be amazing
if somebody gave their life for another person if that person
is worthy. righteous and good. But that's
not the kind of love that God wants us to behold here. The
kind of love He wants us to behold is in verse 8. Look at it. But
God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, unrighteous, not good, Christ died for us. Behold, what manner of love is
this? We don't know anything about
this love by nature. That's right, now. It's foreign.
It's alien love. It's divine love. So he says
in verse 9, "...much more than being now justified, that is,
made righteous by his blood through the death of Christ, we shall
be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies..."
Now, you hear that? What is a sinner? It's an enemy
of God. there, 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." Enemies,
that's the kind of love that God displays, it's towards enemies,
you see. Go back to 1 John 4. So God's love has nothing to
consider about the object, whether that object deserves it. Did
anybody who God loves, any human being that God loves, did they
deserve it? Absolutely not. They deserve
the opposite. You see that scripture in Romans
chapter 9 that talks about Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated? And people just are astounded
at that. But you know what the natural man mostly astounded
at? They say, how could he hate Esau? No, what we're astounded
at, how could he love Jacob? Behold what manner of love. That's
a love that I don't have by nature. And you don't either. This world
doesn't know anything about that love. Behold what manner. You
know that verse, what manner? You remember when Christ calmed
the storm? When they were on the ship and
the storm came up? And they asked the question, what manner of
man is this who can calm the storm? That's the same phrase.
Well, he's not of this world. What manner? Where did he come
from? He came from heaven. He didn't come from earth. He's
not like you and me. He didn't come from Adam, did
he? And then another place, in 2 Peter chapter 3, when he's
talking about believers following Christ, he makes this statement,
what manner of people ought you to be? What manner? Not of this world, but of God. We're the people of God. Well,
that's what he's saying here. Behold, what manner of love?
Well, the scripture says here, God is love in verse 8 of 1 John
4. God is love. That's his nature,
to love. In other words, the love of God,
again, it's not a reaction. God doesn't love in reaction
to anything. It's His nature to love. God
is love. It's not just that God loves,
He does, but it's His nature. His love is the only source and
cause of the salvation of His people, sinners, enemies. And
the love of the Father, which He has bestowed upon us, it says,
look here, look back at 1 John 3 just a moment. Verse 1, Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Bestow
means to freely give. In other words, it's not earned,
it's not deserved, but it's given. But now jump back over to 1 John
4. Now this love of God is also, it's a holy love. Now how can
it be a holy love and still love sinners, still love enemies?
It's a righteous love. How can it be a righteous love
when he still loves sinners and enemies? Well, it is. Well, look at it. It says in
verse 10, now look at this. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. You see, here's the case. Here's
the manner of love now. If God's love were to come to
us, and say, now, I'll love you if you will keep the law. Where
would that leave us? That wouldn't be amazing love.
That would be conditional love. Or, I'll love you if you'll do
your part. But that's not the way God's
love was bestowed. It was bestowed freely, but still
righteously. Now, somebody had to keep the
law. Sins had to be paid for. God
cannot love apart from holiness and righteousness. If He's going
to manifest love, it's got to be holy, it's got to be just,
it's got to be righteous. Same way with His grace and mercy.
Well, how is it possible then that God could love someone like
me? Or like you? Well, the Bible teaches us that
God's love did not require you to meet the conditions. God's
love appointed and sent His Son to fulfill all the conditions.
That's the manner of love that God loves with. Behold. In other
words, God's love provides everything that God's holy law and justice
requires in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
right. This is what he means. He sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sins. That word, propitiation,
what is that? It means a reconciliation. It
means a satisfaction. It means that two parties that
were at odds, that were at war, have now been brought together.
But in order to have a propitiation, you had to have, number one,
a high priest, a representative. It's taught way back in the Old
Testament. You had to have one whom God
appointed and equipped to stand as your representative. And that's
what the high priest of Israel typified. Well, Christ is our
great high priest. He's my representative. He's
the one whom God appointed, and he's equipped because of who
he is. How did God equip him? He said, a body hast thou prepared
me. He's God and man in one person. He's God who can represent God
to sinners. And he's man that he can represent
sinners to God. He's our high priest. That's
the first thing you had to have for propitiation. Somebody who's
not appointed and somebody who's not equipped couldn't do it.
And if you ever read the Old Testament, you might see sometimes
where somebody tried to take that task upon themselves and
go into the Holy of Holies. It didn't work, did it? It was
only one whom God appointed and one who was equipped. Well, Christ
is the only great, eternal High Priest. There's one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Now, if
you seek acceptance from God, or if you seek the love of God
without Christ, you're just beating the air. It has nothing to do
with how you feel. You may feel good. You may feel
good about it. It doesn't matter. It's what
this Word says. Here's the second thing you needed
to have a propitiation. There had to be a substitute
sacrifice. Now, why is that required? Because
without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sin.
Sin demands death. It had to be one who was willing
and able to stand in our place and take our punishment. That
was typified in the Old Testament in the sacrifices, the lamb and
the goat and the bullock. Well, they are all typifying
and foreshadowing this one sacrifice of Christ, who is the eternal
Lamb of God. And he gave himself to be a propitiation
for our sins. He not only was our high priest
to represent us, he was our sacrifice to take our punishment for us.
And he had this innocent blood. Here's the truth that was taught
throughout the whole Old Testament and all the rivers of blood.
That innocent blood had to be shed for the sins of the people.
And that's what Christ did when he went to the cross. That's
the love of God. And he died for the ungodly. He died for enemies, Romans chapter
5 says. He didn't look down here. God
didn't look down through a telescope of time and foresee what you
would do and say, well, he's going to believe, so I'll die
for him. No. That's not amazing love. That's earthly love. This
is divine love. And then thirdly, to have a propitiation,
you had to have an altar. That was typified by the brazen
altar in the tabernacle. First piece of furniture they
saw when they went in. And that typified the place of
God's judgment, where the judgment of God fell upon the sacrifice. Well, Christ is our altar. And
then fourthly, you had to have satisfaction. That's what propitiation
means. Satisfaction. In other words,
that sacrifice had to get the job done. Christ didn't come
into this world to try to save anybody. That's the false gospel
that's popularized today. He didn't come here to try to
save anybody. His name shall be called Jesus, for He what?
Shall save His people from their sins. Is He able to do it? Well,
His name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God
with us. That's the love of God. commands His people to behold.
He's the propitiation for our sins. He got the job done. Isn't
that right? He finished the work. And His
love is holy because His love provided Christ who is our holiness. His love is righteous because
He provided Christ for us who is our righteousness. His love
is accompanied with infinite power and wisdom. Think about
this. Think about how secure and how
sure the objects of our love would be if our love was accompanied
with infinite perfect wisdom and power. Now if you had, you
don't have it and I don't have it, but God does, but now if
you had infinite wisdom and perfect knowledge and unstoppable power
Is there anything that you wouldn't do for the objects of your love? Well, you'd be crazy to say no.
You'd do anything for them. Anything for their good. And
that's the way God's love is. Infinite wisdom. His love provides
every means possible to bring His children into His family
and into glory. And His love removes every obstacle. How did He do that? Through Christ
and Him crucified. Sin barred our way to God. His
love sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The law of God
requires perfection, perfect righteousness. We don't have
it. God's love provided His Son and He produced it. He's our
advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. That's the amazing love of God.
God's love is eternal. It's unchangeable and unstoppable.
It never varies. Think about that. God's love
never varies. It doesn't matter, you know, I pray for warmer weather,
but if it's zero today, God still loves me in Christ. It didn't
change, one iota. He just knows better than I do
that I need zero weather than I do 70 degrees. I don't understand
that, and I don't see how that's even possible, but God does.
He knows what I need better than I know what I need. Just like
you parents, you've got little children, you know what's best
for them, don't you? They don't know what's best for
them. Well, that's the way we are with God. We're children
of God. And in that sense, we're totally dependent upon God, and
He knows what we need better than we do. And just like your
children, when they want something, you know they don't need it,
and shouldn't have it, and it's bad for them, but they don't get
it, and they get angry. We do the same thing, don't we? I just don't understand why God
won't answer that prayer with a yes. Well, I can tell you why. You don't need it, and it's not
going to be good for you. And it won't glorify Him. That's
the way it is. Look over at Romans chapter 8.
Here's the kind of love that God wants us to behold, commands
us to behold. Look at verse 35. It's a love
which will not let its object go. It won't turn loose. And here's what I'm saying. Now,
get hold of this. all the objects of God's love
shall be saved." Look at this, verse 35. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, that's trouble.
Distress, you know what that is, that's like anxiety. Persecution,
that's from the world. famine, nakedness, peril, or
sword. Shall any of those things separate
a believer from the love of God? He says in verse 36, as it is
written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are
counted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in fact, God's love puts
us through those things in a way that glorifies Him. And then
he says in verse 37, Nay, in all these things we are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us. You see, it's God's
love for us. that keeps us from being destroyed
by those things. He says, For I am persuaded that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, nor any other thing in creation,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Not even hell itself. Because
all who are objects of God's love will experience the glory
of salvation. Now, look back at 1 John 3. Now,
there's a positive result of this love. There's a positive
and a negative. Here's the positive. Look at
it again, verse 1. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. Here's the positive. That we,
who, sinners, should be called the sons of God. That's the positive. By nature, we're not sons of
God. We're children of the devil,
the scripture says. But God in his love has made us children
of God. Now, how did he do that? Well,
he did it first by divine electing grace in Christ. God chose us.
Scripture says, before the foundation of the world. Some people don't like to hear
that, but that's what the Bible teaches. And then secondly, by
redemption. Christ redeemed us by his blood. He paid our debt to God's law
and justice. He established righteousness
that qualifies us and makes us fit for the family and the kingdom
of God. Thirdly, by adoption. It's the
adoption of grace. And that's what I was talking
about earlier. If you go to adopt someone, a child, are you going
to pick out the worst rebel in the bunch? No. You're going to look for the
best one. But that's not the way God's love is. Behold what
manner of love. He adopted us into his family.
And then, fourthly, by new births. We're born into his family by
spiritual birth. And we're identified and stamped
as sons of God. And he says, who calls us the
children of God? Well, the Father does. Second
Corinthians 6.18, he says, I will be a father to you and you shall
be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. The Son of
God. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter
2 and verse 11, he's not ashamed to call us brethren. Isn't that
amazing? You ever had anybody in your
family you're ashamed to call them brother or sister? Well, God has no one in his family
he's ashamed to call his brethren. Even when we act like idiots.
Isn't that right? Even when we act like selfish
brats. You know, sometimes a child can
be a brat. You know what a brat is, don't you? Sure. But God's love, behold what manner
of love. He loves even a brat. And then
the Spirit calls us the children of God. The Spirit Himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. But
then there's a negative result. Now look at verse 1 again. He
says, Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. The world will not recognize
children of God. Now they have an idea in their
own way. What is a Christian to the world?
Somebody who's made a profession, somebody who's gotten baptized,
somebody who goes to church, somebody who's doing their best.
Well, that's not what a Christian is in the Bible. Now, should
a Christian do all those things? Sure. That's not the issue. What is a Christian? He's one
who rests in Christ for his whole salvation. He's one who follows
the Lord, loves Christ. That's what a Christian is. But
see, the world won't know that. The world won't recognize. Why
not? Because it knew Christ not. It didn't recognize Him. We,
in the world, we cried crucifying. That's what we did. We called
him a malefactor. That's a criminal. He was the
perfect son of God who never committed any crime, and yet
we hung him on that cross as a malefactor, as a criminal. He came unto his own, and his
own rejected him. They knew him not, the scripture
says. Christ said to his disciples,
marvel not if the world hates you, for it hated me before it
hated you. Look over at verse 13 of chapter
3. He says, marvel not, my brethren,
if the world hates you. He said, we know that we've passed
from death unto life because we love the brethren. And he
that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Behold what manner
of love. And then look at verse 2. Now
here's our glorious destiny. Now listen to this very carefully.
Here's our glorious death. Here's the children of God now.
He says, beloved, beloved of God. Somebody said, how do I
know if God loves me? Are you resting in Christ as
your whole salvation? Or are you looking elsewhere?
You see, the only way the love of God can be known and experienced
within us is as we see the glory of God in Christ. There's no
love of God for sinners outside of Christ. Did you know that?
Absolutely not. You say, well, God hates? Somebody
listen to me now. When you speak of God hating,
and the Bible does. I know preachers don't, but the
Bible does. Don't think of it as the hatred that we have. The
hatred we have is sinful because it's selfish. It's a personal
thing, you know. It's a personal front to us,
you know. It's proud. But God's hatred is just an extension
of His justice. God must punish sin. Why? Because
He's God. He's holy. His hatred is not
emotional. His hatred is not unfair. His
hatred is not sinful. It's justice. So if God loves
any sinner, it must be through Christ who fulfilled His justice.
And no other way. So he says, Beloved, now, he
says, now are we the sons of God. Not later. Not sometime
in the future. This is not something you work
for. This is not something to be attained. It's something we
have right now in Christ. We are the sons of God. But now
here's something that we haven't experienced yet. He says, and
it does not yet appear or is not made manifest what we shall
be. What's he talking about? Well,
look on. He says, but we know that when he shall appear, that's
the second coming of Christ, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is. Right now, we're children of
God. Right now, we're redeemed, justified sinners. Born-again
people. And we are right now, that's
set in stone. If the Son has made you free,
you're free indeed. You're a child of God, you're
a son of God, you cannot be thrown out of the family. That's what
the scripture teaches. But there's something you haven't
experienced yet, and that is final glory in Christ. That's later. And it does not
yet appear what we shall be. Now, I know some people are going
around talking about this perfection within. If that were true, then
this statement here in verse 2 would not be true. It does
not yet appear what we shall be. It's not yet been made manifest. I have not yet been made perfect
in myself. I have perfection. I have holiness. I have righteousness in Christ
right now. I'm a son of God. But within
myself, my own mind, my own affections, my own will, I'm not yet what
I shall be. But, here's what I do know, being
a son of God right now, by the grace of God in Christ, I know
that when He's going to come again, when He shall appear,
I'll be like Him. And I'll see Him as He is. In
other words, there won't be anything. Right now, I see through a glass
darkly, the Scripture says, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. But when He appears,
when He comes again, and I'm changed, I'll see perfectly.
Then I'll be perfect within myself. I'll be holy within myself. This
old vile body will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. I'll
have a spiritual body like His. I'll be made like Him because
I'll see Him as He is. I'll see Him perfectly in all
the effulgence of His glory without any hindrance of the flesh. without
any hindrance from the world, without any hindrance from selfishness
and remaining sin. I'll see him as he is. Now, look
at chapter 4 and verse 17. Now, right now, I'm like him,
perfectly in him. That's what he means over here
in verse 17 of chapter 4. He says, Herein is our love made
perfect. That is, our love is matured
and completed. that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world."
Now, what that's saying is, as Christ is, I am right now in
this world in the sense that in Him I'm righteous, in Him
I'm holy, in Him I'm perfect. That'll never change. But in
myself, I've got a long way to go. You do too. When He shall
appear, you say, well, I wish it happened just like that. Well,
it'll happen quicker than that if He comes back today. In the
twinkling of eyes, scripture says, and we'll be changed then. That's what Paul wrote in Philippians
chapter three. He said, I've not yet attained
that glory, but when he appears, I'll see him as he is. We'll
be like him. Then look at verse three. Here's our motive and our goal. He says, and every man that hath
this hope in him. Now, if you have this hope in
Christ, if you're resting in Him, if your faith is in Him,
and what He accomplished on Calvary, if He's the author and finisher
of your faith, in other words, if He is your salvation, if He's
all your wisdom, all your righteousness, all your sanctification and your
redemption, if you have the certain assurance of being like Him because
of what He accomplished, Then every man that hath this hope
in him, that hope that's implanted by the Holy Spirit in the Word
of God, he says he purifies himself even as he is pure. What's he
talking about? Our motive is grace. That's the
hope we have in Christ. Our goal is sinless perfection,
and we're to strive for it because our desire is to be like him,
purify himself even as Christ is pure. In other words, he's
not saying that our efforts to be like Christ purifies, but
he's saying it's our goal to be like him. It's our desire
to be like him. David said it in the Psalms,
he said, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.
It's to be pure. If we've beheld God's love for
us in Christ, then the Holy Spirit has implanted within our minds,
our affections, our wills, our heart, our conscience, A true,
genuine desire to be like Him, to follow Him. I want to love
as He loved. I want to obey as He obeyed.
I can't do it right now because of the flesh, because of sin
remaining. But I have a desire, and I'm
to work for that desire. Not to be saved, but because
I'm already saved by the grace of God. Not to earn God's love,
but because of the manner of love. that he's bestowed upon
me. Not to become a child of God,
but because he's already made me a child of God. You know the
difference between a slave and a child? A slave, back then,
a servant, you might say. Christ taught this in John chapter
8. A slave had no permanent abiding
position or standing in the household of the Master, and he had no
inheritance. His position and standing in
the household of the Master was always conditioned on his doing
the work of a servant. And that's why Christ made this
statement. He said, if the Son therefore make you free, you
shall be free indeed. You see, a son of the Father
has a permanent, abiding, standing, and position in the household
of the Father, and he has an inheritance. Now, if God has
brought you into his family, you're a son of God. You have
a permanent, abiding, position, and standing in the household
of the Father in Christ, who made you free. And you have an
inheritance that's undefiled, incorruptible, and eternal. And
you can never lose it. Now having experienced that love,
seek to be like Him. Having experienced that grace,
seek to be like Him. Seek to follow Him. Not because
you have to, but because you want to. Not because you want
to earn your inheritance, but because you already have one.
It's reserved for you in heaven, Peter said. Not in order to gain,
but because you already have all things freely given in Christ.
That's the motive of grace and gratitude and love. All right.
Let's sing hymn number 229 as our closing hymn. Tell me the
old, old story. 229.