Please turn with me to 1 John chapter 3. I feel like most anyone ought to be here in this
place at this hour but me. 1 John chapter 3, beginning in that first verse. 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." These words were written by the
Apostle John, and they were written to those who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. He often uses a term throughout
these epistles when he addresses believers. He calls them little
children. And he reminds them to remember
and to rejoice in and to be thankful for the love that God has bestowed
upon them, the love they have from God by His grace, not merited,
not earned, but bestowed upon them. They are by His grace the
children of God. And this was God's promise to
all His elect from old eternity. In Isaiah, He says, "'Even unto
them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and
a name better than of sons and daughters. I will give them an
everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." But since he uses this word,
behold, he evidently is calling us to
stop and to think about and to ponder over This love and grace
from God that is such that we are now called the children of
God. The word that is translated sons
here means offspring, children. We're the offspring, the children
of God. And the word that we have here
as called means named. Named as such and brought by
God to be such. We're named the children of God. And that means that we are the
children of God by the Father's choice, We are the children of
God by the Son's redeeming work, and we are the children of God
because the Spirit of God has given us new birth and has revealed
to us through His gospel that we are such and has enabled us
to believe this otherwise unbelievable truth. We read in our reading
there in Galatians 3, in verse 26, where Paul says, For ye are
all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Children of God. And though we
are to be faithful and obedient children, our faithfulness and our obedience
was not the cause of our being His children. And not only that,
Neither can it ever be the basis of maintaining this. We're the children of God by
faith in Jesus Christ. And when he uses this expression
and uses it so many times, we're to be made known and to look at this in terms
of it being a family relationship. I know that is an amazing thing
if we know anything about God. And if we know anything about
ourselves, what an amazing thing it is that anybody, but most
especially God Himself, would call us His children. And though this is a family relationship
that He speaks of, the flesh is naturally inclined to think. that favor is based on something
that we do or don't do. That's just the way flesh is. And sad it is in this day that
so many preachers, knowing this, often use this. They use this that is natural
to the flesh, and they tell the children of God things in order
to get them to do like they want them to do, behave like they
think they ought to behave. But when they do that, it just
brings these children under bondage. I know this. I know that the Scripture says,
and we'll look in a moment about what he says about the Spirit
of God, but one thing Paul tells us about the Spirit of God is
this. He says, now the Lord is that
Spirit And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Liberty. So anything that tends to bring
these children of God back under guilt or bondage, it cannot be
the Spirit of God. If you turn back with me to the
book of Romans, and look with me here in Romans chapter 8,
Paul again makes similar statements. And he reminds us of something. He reminds us, as the children
of God, of something that we ought never to forget and that
we ought never to let anybody steal from us. He says, beginning
in verse 1 of Romans 8, There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit." Now, there are those who try to make this
walking after the Spirit, walking in even greater obedience to
Christ, which we ought to do. But that's not what he's talking
about here. He's contrasting walking after
the flesh to walking after the Spirit as it pertains toward
our relationship and standing before God. We don't walk anymore after the
flesh. The flesh always sought to do
And to be in order to gain this favor, the children of God already
have it. And what men would make to be
the gold or the finishing line of the Lord's children, that
is really, in their experience, the starting line. God's people
start. at that point which religion
sets as the goal or the finishing line. God's people start perfect
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Made the righteousness of God
in Him. Already accepted in the Beloved. And that's what Paul is saying,
right now, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. The Spirit of God has led all
of those who are born of God to this experience and knowledge
of God's grace and brings us to know our complete acceptance
in Christ. He says, for the law of the Spirit
of life, what's that? It's the gospel. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death." Paul in Galatians was saying the same thing. Never
allow yourselves to be brought back under this bondage of a
legal principle for acceptance He says, "...for what the law
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, our flesh."
God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, condemns sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded, or
fleshly minded, is death." Why? Because those works done for
acceptance with God are those works that are fruit unto death. They can only be rewarded with
death because they are sin. He says, for the carnal mind,
natural mind, is enmity against God, for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Those who are born of
the Spirit of God, in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells, they
are each and every one in a completely different relationship to God
and the righteousness of the law, he says, has been fulfilled
in us by Christ, whose Spirit now indwells us. And the fact that we have been
given the Spirit of God. The fact that we have been given
God's Spirit who, he says, takes the things of Christ and shows
them unto us. That is the evidence of our being
the children of God. So look down at what Paul continues
in this 8th chapter when he says in verse 14, For as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the children of God. And the Spirit of God
always leads these children of God back again and again, always
to the Lord Jesus Christ and His glorious person and work
for everything. Everything. He says, "'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.'" The Spirit itself, or Himself, beareth witness with
our spirit that we are the children of God. And this has been God's
purpose, goal, and plan, and will from all eternity. And that is to bring a people
out of Adam's fallen race into his family and call them and
name them and make them the children of God. As a matter of fact, If you look
over in verses 29 and 30 of this 8th chapter of Romans, this is
what he says. Verse 29, he says, for whom? There are a lot of folks who
are willing to say, for what? But this has to do with individuals. He says, for whom? He did foreknow,
or forelove, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He, that is Christ, might be the firstborn
among many brethren." Many brethren. Not just many people, not just
many folks, not just many souls, but many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. Now, I know men get caught up
in an order in this verse. And they make that calling to
be the effectual calling, which all of God's people are, effectually
called. But in the order here, and using
the word that John used over in 1 John 3, the same word, I
believe it's named. Named. Moreover, whom He did
predestinate, them He also called or named, and whom He called
or named, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He
also glorified." This is God's purpose. And he expresses it
by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1 when he says this, in verse
5, "...having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will."
predestinated us unto the adoption of sons or children unto Himself
according to the good pleasure of His will. Turn over to Galatians chapter
4. Galatians chapter 4, and listen
to Paul in Galatians 4, beginning in verse 4, he says, "...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," not
in order to make you sons, not in order to make you His children.
We don't become His children when we first believe. We don't
become His children when we are first born. God's children, they've
always been His children. So He says, and because you are
sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Because you are sons. God has
sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, whereby,
by this Spirit, you cry, Abba, Father. So, if you think in light
of what the apostles have each been saying, look back in Romans
8 in verse 15. He says, "...for you have not
received the spirit of bondage again to fear, You have not received,
that is, received from God, received from the Holy Spirit. You have
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received
the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Now, he's not talking here about
that good and reverential fear of the Lord that the Scriptures
speak of. The fear of the Lord, that's
the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord that none
of the people of the devil ever have or ever will have in this
sense. this reverential fear, but he's
talking about a slavish fear that is born out of guilt. Guilt
which comes from our not being convinced in heart that Christ
has fully justified us before God through His blood and His
righteousness and His doing. Where did Paul begin in this
8th chapter? There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. But it seems like to me that
so much of our preaching in this day is always trying to bring
people back under some kind of guilt, back into some kind of
bondage, back under some kind of fear that is not the fear
of the Lord. John also writes in 1 John 4
and verse 17, he says this, "'Herein is our love made perfect, that
we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is,
so are we in this world.'" Then he says this, "'There is
no fear in love, But perfect love casteth out fear, because
fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. We love him because he first
loved us." Perfect love casts out fear. Now let me ask you
this. Have you ever perfectly loved
anybody? And most especially, would we
ever dare to imagine that we at any point ever perfectly loved
God? So whose love is he talking about?
He's talking about that perfect love of God which is in Christ
Jesus. He's talking about His love for
His children. And when we are brought to know
something of His love for us, that perfect love which was demonstrated
sacrificially in the fact that He loved us and gave Himself
for us, that's the perfect love that casts out fear. And when we're not in a full
or at least in some measure reminded of and thinking about and believing
on and remembering that love, then what else can we have but
guilt and fear and bondage? God's Spirit in the believer,
in that one who is born of God, is here called the Spirit of
Adoption. And by Him, we now look to God
in this relationship of a child to His Father. In other words,
He sends His Spirit into our hearts, and by Him, by what He
reveals, by what He teaches, by what He assures us of through
the gospel of Christ's perfect death and perfect love on our
behalf, We cry, Abba, Father. Turn over to Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Beginning at verse 8, listen
to what he says. The Lord is merciful, and gracious,
slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." You know, I've never
read that since the Lord began to teach me the truth. I've never
read that and expressions like that, and it caused me to think,
oh boy, I can sin all I want to. No. The Lord is merciful
and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will
not always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever. He
hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions
from us, and like as a father pitieth his children, so the
Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knows our frame, and He
remembers that we are dust. He knows our frame. He remembers
that we're dust. And like a father pities his
children, the Lord pities His people, but a million times more. A million times more. And it is as children that we
have We have reverence for our Father and we have that kind
of fear to face His chastening hand, but we do not fear that
our Father will cast us off, or disown us, or abandon us,
or treat us like His enemy. Absolutely not. Why? Because He's our Father, and
we're His children. Turn back over to Psalm 89. This
is a marvelous portion of Scripture. Psalm 89. And look at what it
says in verse 27. He says, "...also I will make
Him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth." Who
is he talking about? Christ. Now first point. My mercy will I keep for Him
forever, and my covenant shall stand fast with Him. His seed
also will I make to endure forever, and His throne as the days of
heaven. Now you listen to this. If His
children, forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if
they break my statues and keep not my commandments, then will
I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with
stripes." As my mama would say, he'll give
them a whipping. He'll chasten them. That's the
mark according to the book of Hebrews. If we be without chastisement,
then He said we're just spiritual illegitimates, not children. This is a mark of being His children. But look at that next word. Nevertheless. Nevertheless. My loving kindness. will I not utterly take from
him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not
break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips, Once
I have sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David, his
seed shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before
me. It shall be established forever
as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven." He said,
I'll not go back on my word. I'll not break my covenant pledge. I'll not turn aside from them,
I may chasten them, I'll bring the hand of my chastisement against
them in such a way that they will know without a doubt who
it is that chastens them, but I will not forsake them." And they'll never, they'll never
have to fear that I will ever abandon them. or cause them to
cease from being my children, not ever, ever, ever. Those of you who have children, I'm not going to ask you to say,
but just in your mind be honest, how many times have you said
to them, that's it? I'm through messing with you.
Don't ask me for anything. I told you. I warned you. I did all these things. I sacrificed
for you. I'm done." Have you ever thought
things like that? Said things like that? Let me
ask you this. Were you done? No. Why? Because they're your children. Because of this relationship. Because of this love. And that's
only on the natural plane. What about the love of God for
His children? And yet we have been toward Him
Many, many more times disobedient than any of our children have
to us. Sometimes I think in my own children
I'm looking and God is showing me a reflection of my own self. But you're never, you're never
really done. So John is saying more than that. Much more than that. What manner
of love! What amazing love the Father
has bestowed upon us to make us the children of God. And we know that we displease
Him, disobey Him, and are so unlike
his children by nature, but in all our failure, in all our sins,
with all our inward wickedness, we do not fear being lost, but
rather cry unto him as his child, Abba, Father." Now listen. He says, God has sent forth the
Spirit of His Son into our hearts whereby we cry, Abba, Father. As I understand it, that word
Abba is something more in the original like Papa. It's not
just some statistical word used to express that we are numbered
among God's children. No, it has to do with this intimate
family relationship whereby we cry, Abba Father, just like Christ. Listen in Mark 14, it says, Who's that? The Lord Jesus Christ. And He said, Abba, Father. You mean to say that we can approach
God and speak to God in Christ just like He does? And He said,
Abba, Father. All things are possible unto
Thee. Take away this cup from me, nevertheless,
not what I will, but what Thou wilt." Not what I will, but what Thou
wilt. And that's why when the Lord's
people call upon Him and pray to Him, in some kind of formal way. Look
back over in Romans chapter 8 again. Verse 26, Likewise the Spirit,
the Spirit of His Son, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ,
the Spirit of Truth, Likewise, the Spirit also helps our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray, for as we ought, we don't. But the Spirit Himself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And
He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God." Now, we've taken that next verse, lifted it out
of its context many times, and to great benefit. But that next
verse comes right after this statement. And we know. that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose." We know that the Spirit of God, He knows our
infirmities, our weakness, our ignorance, our fleshly inclinations
and desires. Therefore makes intercession
for us according to the will of God. And we know. Since that's the
case. And we know as His children.
We know as those who cry out, Abba, Father. We know as those
who the Spirit of God makes intercession for according to the will of
God. We know that all things, all
things that God works, which is all things, they work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose, to them who are the named according to His purpose. So he says, when you pray, enter
into your closet, and when you shut the door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret shall
reward you openly. He said unto them, when you pray,
say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven. He says in verse 9 of Romans
8, If we have not the Spirit of
God dwelling in us, The Spirit of Christ. We're none of His. But look at verse 17. He said,
The Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we're the
children of God. And if children, not if good children, or if bad
children, or fairly good children, obedient children, no. If children,
my children are my children. Somebody said you can pick your
friends, but you're stuck with your family. 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. Turn back over to where
we began in 1 John 3. That second verse he says, "'Beloved,
now are we the children of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know when he shall appear We shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is. It does not yet appear what we
will be. But it will. As a matter of fact, In verse 19 of Romans 8 it says,
that the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the manifestation of the children of God. The whole
creation, he says, waits for the manifestation of the children
of God. That word manifestation there
means, it's actually the word that we get that word apocalypse
from. Apocalypsis. It means revelation. You hear all this talk about
The apocalypse. Apocalyptic. Well, that's the
revelation. But what was it the revelation
of? The end times? The beast? No. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. It means the laying bare. The
uncovering. The disclosure of truth. That's what John was saying in
that second verse. It's coming a day. We'll not only know Him as He
is, see Him as He is, but all of creation will not only see
Him as He is also, but His children as they are. Beloved, now are
we the children of God. Just spend all the time you want
thinking about, being amazed by the love of God which He bestowed
on us and made us His children. How humbling that is. but how
wonderful that is. I call this the children loved
and unafraid. Father, this day we thank you. We are amazed to be able to call
you our Father. As such disobedient and weak
and frail children, But nevertheless, your children, by grace, join
heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ, having all in Him and with Him
and by Him, missing nothing of all that puts us in the highest
favor with your Holy Self. We thank you this day for your
grace and love in Him, We pray for grace that we might be obedient,
that we might walk in that way of obedience, knowing that it's
not our obedience that makes us or keeps us as your children. We pray and ask all things in
the name of your Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.