All right, if you'd like to follow
along, I'm gonna be in the book of 1 John, chapter three. 1 John chapter three, gonna read
the first two verses. 1 John chapter three, verse one.
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. My title today is Behold the
Manner of Love. Behold the Manner of Love. Now,
first John, is a different epistle in one particular way. John writes
this wonderful epistle to give great assurance to believers,
to the people of God. And here's how. This is an epistle
full of knowledge and love, love. The knowledge and love of God
the Father and Christ the Son for his people and upon his people. I'll tell you something. Also, the love of the believer
for Christ and the Father is shown here. The word love in
1 John, five chapters, I don't think it is. It's a very small
book, but the word love is used 33 times. 33 times. And let me be clear,
the source of love is written up here, just in case you're
wondering. It's not you. The source of love is God. The
Father and the Son and the Spirit. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit is the source of all true love. But here John writes to tell
us the result of the Father's love. And he tells us in the
first word, behold. Behold, understand. And listen, when an apostle tells
you to behold something, you better behold something. You
better take a look. You better look closely and you
better pay attention to what you're looking at. See, perceive,
look at this. What manner of love. Behold, look, see the depth and
the height and the breadth of the love of God for his people. And here's the beautiful thing.
Believers can look. and see. The world doesn't see. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to the lost. What? Whose mind is blinded. That they cannot see. But it is given unto the believer
to see, to behold, look. And here he says it, and I love
this part. The Father has bestowed His love
upon His people. Bestowed it. Now, let's be clear. His love is in His Son. The love
of God is in Christ. The love of the Father is in
Christ. But it's been bestowed upon men. Upon men. Fallen men. Sinful men and women, I'm not
gonna leave you out. Ungodly men. Behold. I'm gonna tell you something,
folks. This is something worth looking at. This is something
worth looking at. Behold, the manner of love has
bestowed upon us. And I looked at that word bestow.
The love of God is a gift. That's what it means, given. God gave his love, wait a minute,
not only to us, not only for us, upon us, upon us, oh my. Oh, the love of God is granted,
not earned. The love of God is bestowed,
laid upon his people. Now, it's not abstract. The love
of God, God's love is not theology. God's love is fact. God's love
is fact. The love of God is real. And
the Father gives his love upon his people, and I'm gonna tell
you what that actually means. Believers have the love of God. You might not feel like it some
days. You might not remember it some days. But trust me, God
never forgets. God never forgets. It's real,
it's real. It's given, it's not deserved,
it's granted, it's not earned. Given, given, oh my. And it's given freely. in his
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And here it is. Behold the manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us, that, that we should be called
the sons of God. Now is that not something? You
understand? Walter said it this morning when
he got up here. Good morning, family of God. God calls us family. You understand? God has made us his family. Because you understand, this
is not John calling us the sons of God, this is the Father. that we should be called the
sons of God. Oh, an amazing, glorious statement. You understand, John's not ignorant
of the state of man. He knows all about sinfulness
and ungodliness and unrighteousness and that we have it all. Nevertheless, I like that word,
nevertheless, oh, we are called the sons and daughters of God
by God. I'm telling you something, folks,
that's good news. That's really good news. Believers, this is the manner of God's love. He calls us the sons of God. And here's some more. Believers
are called the family of God. We are called the bride of God. of Christ, the bride of Christ. We are called the body of Christ. And we are called his members.
Members in particular, members of his body. Oh my, and here's
the thing. Our father, the father, who art
in heaven, calls us sons and daughters of God. Oh my. Behold, what manner of love. Oh, that he is laid upon us,
bestowed upon us, given to us, and granted to us. Mm. Let me point out one little thing
here. I'm not gonna keep you too long. But let me point out
one little thing here. Because I looked at this, I haven't
done this for a while, it's time for a bit of an English lesson,
or actually a Greek lesson in a bit. The love the Father has
bestowed upon us, okay? And then you have, we should
be called the sons of God. Now, called the sons of God is
in the past tense. It's already happened. He's already
done it. And this was written 2,000 years
ago, folks, 2,000 years ago. But think about this, where it
says the love of the Father has been bestowed upon us, that is
in what is called the perfect tense. And this is good because
these are the words of God. They're perfect, they're perfect. You understand, we were called
the sons of God in the past by God, this is not anything new. But that word bestowed, being
in the perfect tense, means it happened in the past, but guess
what? It's still happening now. That's
what that tense means. God's love is perfect as he is. And if God has loved you, God
does love you, and God always shall love you. Oh, the perfect
tense is a wonderful thing in the scripture. Because here it
is, I looked it up. The perfect tense in the Greek
carries two ideas with it. Number one is completed action,
and number two, continuing results. I like that. And that's not only
just the love of God, that's the bestowing of the love of
God. You understand, God is continuing
right now to bestow his love upon his people. Never stops,
never stops. That's good, that's good. Bestowed,
given, granted this manner of love for us, to us, and upon
us. The love of the Father never
ends. Behold the manner of love. Now verse two says this, continuing
on. Beloved believers, believers,
now are we the sons of God, oh my. 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. Oh my. I love how John did this. Talking
about the past tense, we are called the sons of God, by God.
But now here, he says, you are. Beloved, now we are the sons
of God. That might be why we were called
the sons of God, is because we are the sons of God. Beloved
believers, behold the manner. We are now, right now, believers
are the sons and daughters of God. The family of God. Oh, in his son. John tells us, and that's the thing. Right now,
we are sons of God. Right now, we are the bride of
Christ. We are the body of Christ, and
we are members of his body, right now. Of course, this is in the present
tense. How is this possible? How is this true? Well, just
for a minute here, let's look at verse five. First John three
and verse five. And ye know that he was manifested
to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Oh, I like that. Behold the manner
of love. Behold the manner of love. Believers
are the sons of God and we have no sin in Christ, in Christ. Oh my, we have no sin. Because
Jesus Christ, the perfect substitute and sacrifice for sin, lifted
away our sins. That's what that means. Lifted
away our sins, he carried up our sins. And I got a question for you. How did Jesus Christ take away
our sins? Now, I'm not looking for a big,
deep theological answer, because I don't need one. There's a very
simple one-word answer. How did Jesus Christ take away
our sins? Let me tell you, perfectly. That's the word I'm looking for,
perfectly. Oh, my. Perfectly, because I'm
gonna tell you something, folks. because of our Lord Jesus Christ,
because of his death, substitutionary death, because of his sacrifice
and offering for sin to the Father, our sins are gone. That's what the word redemption
means. That's what the word reconciliation means. They're gone, perfectly. That's what the scripture tells
us. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins. To take
away our sins. Behold the manner of love. He was manifested to take away
our sins. Our sins. What's it say? took our sins in his body on
the tree. What else does it say? It says
he bore our sins in his body on the tree. Let's also say he
was made to be sin who knew no sin. And here it tells us in John,
and in him is. No sin. Oh my. He came, past tense, manifested,
shown forth to take our way, our sins, and he did. And that's also in the past tense. And where did they go? Away. You understand? That's the word,
to tell us that. paid in full. There's no more punishment for
our sins. He bore it all in his body, on the tree, shed his blood
willingly. And with that shedding of blood,
there is remission. What? Freedom from sin. Why? He took them away. And you
understand, he didn't take them into himself and keep them. In
him, what does it say? In him is no sin. They're gone, folks. They're
paid. The debt is no longer owed. God the Father is satisfied. And how can we know that? Behold
the manner of love he has bestowed upon us that we are called the
sons of God. You understand, if our sins hadn't
been taken away, he couldn't call us the sons of God. If he had not taken away our
sins and disposed of them, paid the debt in full, and now we
are the sons and daughters of God. Behold the manner of love. Our sins are gone. Our sin, we
don't owe a thing. Not because of us, not because
we're good, not because we've quit sinning. No, they've been
taken away. They've been lifted up and carried
away. What is it? As far as the East is from the
West. I will remember your sins no
more. Why? Because he was manifested
to take away our sins. Jesus Christ the righteous. And
we are now the sons of God. Isn't that great? I'm gonna tell you something
folks, that's the gospel. And ye know that he was manifested
to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Now the other day, My wife was
watching a documentary, and I wish I'd gotten the name of it. I'm
going to have to hunt this thing up. I caught part of it. It was about
a bunch of different religions and different people saying,
I am God. That's exactly what they were
saying, folks. Now, some of them broke it down a little more and
said, I'm a little god. But I'm gonna tell you, you wouldn't
think, you understand, they were reading out of a Catholic catechism,
those very words. And then of course they also
quoted Jim Jones from Guyana, and Benny Hinn, and Kenneth Copeland,
and Paul Crouch, the guy that run TBN. They're keeping good
company with Jim Jones and Guyana. This is what we're surrounded
with, folks. It's out there. Now, I don't know the numbers.
I don't want to know the numbers. But there's too many of them.
Matter of fact, while I was looking this up, I was looking for that
documentary on Google. I found a question somebody wrote
and said to a bulletin board, said, my pastor says he is God,
how should I deal with that? Somebody did write back and answer
how I wrote this down. I'd suggest finding another church
and declining any offers of Kool-Aid in the meantime. Understand this
is the problem with the world. the religious world in particular,
being a child of God is not enough for these people. It's not enough. Being a son or daughter of God
is not enough. Being a member of the body of
Christ is not enough. I'm gonna tell you something,
folks, that's the definition of depravity. When being called a son of God
is not enough, when being a son of God is not enough. What's it say in verse one? Therefore
the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. And that's what
they're showing. But we have the Apostle John's
writing to believers, only believers, and of believers. Behold, the
manner of love bestowed upon us, bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God. Beloved, now are we the
sons of God. He's not done. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall
be like him, what, for, We shall see him as he is. Oh my. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us. This is first John four and nine. Because that God sent his only
begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Not of ourselves. Not of each
other, through him. And now we are the sons and daughters
of God. We live through him, we live. And we love him because he first
loved us. Behold the manner of love, oh. The Father has bestowed and the
Father is bestowing upon us. So after all this, what do I
have to tell sinners? Come to Christ. Come to Christ. Behold the manner of love. It's
in Christ, it's in his Son. Where's forgiveness? It's in
Christ. Where's love? It's in Christ,
where's life? It's in Christ. Understand, he
gives, and he gives willingly. And he says, come unto me, all
that you that labor, and I will give you rest. And it's not just
rest from your labor, it's rest for your soul. Rest for your
soul, oh my. Behold the manner of love. Joseph
Hart wrote it this way, come ye weary, heavy laden, lost and
ruined by the fall. If you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all. Not the righteous, sinners Jesus
came to call. I like that. Sinners Jesus came
to call. That's who are called the sons
of God. That's who, now we, are we the
sons of God? Who? Sinners. Sinners. Behold, the manner of love. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this time and this place. Lord, be with Paul as
he stands to preach your word. Be with Walter as he's gonna
come forth here to preach your word. But be with us, Lord, as
we hear. Give us ears to hear, eyes to
see, and a heart to understand your word, your way in this world. For we're surrounded by nonsense
and lies and garbage. but your word is a light to our
path, a lamp under our feet. Your word is true and it's truth. And thank you, Lord, for all
that you've given us in Christ our Lord, amen.