Turn back to 1 John chapter 3. John chapter 3. He starts out
in this first verse and he says, it's like he's just taken up
or taken back with the love of God toward him and toward all
his children. And he says, Behold, that means
give great attention to this. Don't let this go over your head,
children. Do not let this just pass you
by. Behold what manner, what incredible,
astounding love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Give attention
to this. Meditate upon it. Think about
it. What love that God would take
a wretch like me, that God would take a sinner like me and make
him a son. Make me an heir of all that he
has and all that he is. Do you know love like that? That's astounding. That's astounding. Behold what manner of love God
the Father has bestowed upon us. Every child of God is born
first of love. There's a lot of children in
this world born of lust. Not love. It ended up as an act
of lust. But every child of God is born
of deep, deep divine love. Love. Intense love. God's love. Infinite love. Never a time that he did not
love me. Can you comprehend that? There
was a time that I did not love my wife. I didn't know her. You can't love someone you don't
know. There was never a time God has not known his children. And never a time that he has
not loved them. He said, I have loved you with
what? An everlasting love. From everlasting to everlasting.
Never a time I've not loved you, never will be a time that I will
not love you. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. It's divine love, it's infinite
love, it's everlasting love, it's redeeming love. Having loved
his own, he loved them to the end. And he hath bestowed it. We didn't merit it. We didn't
earn it. You know, you can earn respect
from someone, but not love. He loved us because he loved
us. And he bestowed it on us. He
poured it out on us. One day we'll see the fullness
of that and we'll worship him as we are. We bear his name. I'm not preaching to engineers.
I'm not preaching to teachers. I'm not preaching to people who
work in the plants or whatever. I'm preaching to the sons and
daughters of God. Regardless of where you're at
in society, that doesn't matter. In Christ we're what? One. There's no distinction. We are
one in Christ. And that's who I'm preaching
to this morning. The sons of God. We are sons of God by choice. Look over in Ephesians chapter
1. He chose us. Not born by accident. Born on purpose. God chose us. Blessed, it says in verse 3,
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children.
I heard someone say this, and this is good. We bear his name
by adoption. We bear His nature by birth. You see, by adoption we have
His name. By birth we have His nature.
Born of God. Born of God. Those who are born
of God are sons of God. And then we have been begotten
of Him. James says, of His own will beget
He us with the Word of truth. And we're His by His Spirit that
dwells in us. He that hath not the Spirit of
Christ is none of His. That's what it tells us over there in
Romans chapter 8. And we're His by understanding. The Son of
God has come and given us an understanding. Many, if not most
people, have no idea who Christ really is and what He really
did on the cross. They really don't understand
that. But God gives His children an understanding. The Son of
God has come and given us an understanding that we might know
Him. We might know Him. And listen
to what He says here. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called, because
we are, we are called what we are, the sons of God. Now, therefore, the world knows
us not because it didn't know him. When he came, they said,
we know you. You are the carpenter's son. They did not know him nor recognize
him as the son of God. He spoke to them. He performed
miracles in their midst, and they still did not recognize
him. They could not get past his flesh.
They could not get past what he looked like. And here he says,
the world knows us not because it can't get past who you are. I remember you when you were
just a kid. You can't get past that. I remember you when you were
born. I remember you when you were
growing up. I remember having you in school. Well, listen to
me. I'm a son of God, I've got something
to say to you. You're what? You've got to be
kidding me. They can't see past this flesh.
They can't see that new nature, that new man that's born of God,
that new creation. They can't see it. It's veiled
right now. It is veiled in this flesh. Just
like the Son of God, when He came, they could not see who
He really was because of the flesh that He robed Himself in. They couldn't see His glory because
of the flesh. You know, that tabernacle in
the wilderness, the Shekinah glory was in that place. But
standing on the outside, you couldn't see it. You couldn't
see it. It looked like a tent, looked
like the rest of it. Most of those tents, you know, all surrounded
it. Israel lived in tents. They're named Hebrews. That's
what it has to deal with, dwelling in tents. And the Son of God,
when He came, He tabernacled, He dwelt in a tent, a body just
like ours. Just like ours. And they knew
Him not. And the world does not know you
as the Son of God. It can't see it. All it can do
is remember you're growing up. They know all about you. A prophet
is not accepted except in his own country. I mean, he's accepted
everywhere else except his own country and among his own brethren.
Oh, I remember when you was a rascal. I know some things you did. Can't
get past that. They can't see. They cannot see
that glorious person that God has made you in Christ. That new creation, they can't
see it. Therefore the world knoweth us not." Beloved, even though the world
does not know us, does not recognize us as the sons and daughters
of God, now, now are we the sons of God. It starts here. It starts here. If it does not start here, you
won't be there. It starts here. Now are we the
sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know this. God has revealed this to us,
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. God so loved
his son that he purposed to populate heaven, that new heaven, that
new earth, to populate it with a people just like Him. That
does not mean that I'm going to look physically just like
Him. I'm going to look like me. You're going to look like you.
But we are going to be just like Him in nature, in righteousness,
in purity, holiness. You are going to be just like
His Son. And God loved His Son. The Father
loved His Son so much He said, I'm going to have a whole creation
just like you, just like you. Now, seeing that God is our father
and we are his children. Not everyone's his children.
Those who are brought to faith in Christ are his children. And
that's what I'm talking about, I'm talking to this morning. Seeing that God is our Father,
we are His children. We look to Him, just like our
children do. These children here, they look
to you, parents, to protect them. You know, when I was a child,
and I noticed this, especially now with my grandchildren, they
don't ask me if I lock the door when they go to bed. They just
know and believe Daddy's going to, or Grandpa, or Dad, whichever
one, is going to protect me. I never asked my parents if they,
when I was just a child, if they had shut the windows and locked
them and locked the door. I looked to them to protect me.
Who do you look to to protect you? Who do you look to to take
care of you? Our father. Is there anyone better? You think a gun under the pillow
will give you more protection than God on the throne? You think
a watchdog? This is amazing. Some people put more confidence
in a watchdog than God on the throne. That's amazing. God is
my protector. He's my protector. I showed you
in the Bible class this morning, we saw in the Bible class this
morning, how all of them had to come before Him to get permission
to do anything. We look to him for protection.
What else does a child look to his father for? Fellowship. Communion. Teaching. Instructions. And we look to him for this.
Lord, teach me. Teach me thy way. That's what
the psalmist said. Teach me thy way. And we look
to him to provide for us. as well as you. You've worked
and made money and tried to provide for the family, but now who really
provides? Who provides us with the opportunities?
Who provides us with the ability? Who provides us? God provides
us. Our Father provides us. You know right now this whole
world is blessed. I mean this whole ungodly world
is blessed because of you. Because of your presence. He's
going to let men be rich to provide jobs that you and I can work. Make some money. Make a living.
What we call make a living. We look to Him. He's our Father.
We look to Him for these things. And listen, it does not yet appear
what we shall be. Presently, we are veiled in this
flesh. And this is not it. Oh, this
is not it. This is not it. This is like,
when I look at you, you look at me, what you're looking at
is like the grain of corn that gets planted in the ground. And
then after it grows, it comes up out of the ground. You had
the fruit, you had the full glory of that little grain of corn
that was put in the ground. But when God plants us in the
ground, one day we'll be resurrected. And then we'll be what we shall
be. Then we'll be seen in our full
glory. But this is not the place for
the sons of God to be revealed in their full glory, is it? Who
would appreciate it? You think the believer is despised
now? Let God reveal him to be what
he really is. Then he'll really be despised
in this world. He said it in verse 13 in chapter
3. Marvel not, my brethren, if the
world hate you. And if you were to be revealed
right now for who you really are in Christ, if the full glory
was revealed, you'd be more hated. This present time is not the
time for our unveiling. It's not the time. And it does
not yet appear because we're still in this flesh what we shall
be because we're still in this flesh. Our master was not made
manifest here below for the most part. How many times did the
disciple who followed him not believe him? How many times did
they doubt? Oh, ye of little faith. How many
times did he say that to them? He's not saying it to them now
in glory. They got rid of this flesh. Our master, he was not
manifest here below. His deity was concealed in infirmity. He was called a man of sorrow
and acquainted with grief. That was his first appearing.
His power was hidden under sorrow and weakness. If you be the Son
of God, come down off that cross. Save yourself. You saved others.
Can't you save yourself? See, they couldn't see because
of this flesh. His riches were buried under
poverty and shame. Born in a barn. Lived with a
poor carpenter family. Poor. And we are not fit to appear
now. When do you pick fruit? When it's ready. When it's ripe. When you're ready When you're
ripe, that's when the Lord will take you. That's when he'll take
you. Not when you think you're ready,
not when you think you're ripe. We always think we're ripe. But when we are. When you're
ripe for the picking, that's when he'll take you. And that's
when you will appear in your full glory. That's when you appear
to be just like him. Just like him. The prince has
to serve as a soldier before he reaches the throne. Someone said this, we have an
evening before our morning, a night before our day, a schooling before
our college, and a tuning before the music is played. I'm glad
that piano's in tune, but every now and then we have to have
someone come in here and tune it. You're being tuned right now.
In order for you to sing with that heavenly host right now,
you've got to be tuned. And when you're tuned, when you're
ready, then he'll take you. And you will appear, you will
appear to be just like him. But we know here, we know here,
that when he shall appear, he's talking about he is appearing.
And this is when we're going to appear in real full glory. This is when we're going to have
our new body, when we will be joined to that.
We know that when he shall appear, we speak of our Lord's appearing
as certain, don't we? We know that if he appears, we
know this when he appears. We know this when he appears.
He will be manifested to us. We will see Him. We will see
Him without sin. The second time He will come,
it says, without sin, because He's already dealt with that
issue. He put that issue to rest. It's dealt with. He will be manifested
in perfect happiness. He came the first time, a man
of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He will not come that way again.
He will not come that way again. He will be manifest as the King
of Kings the first time he came. He came as the Lamb of God was
taken away, the sin of the world. The next time he comes, when
he appears, he will appear as the sovereign potentate, the
King of Kings, and we shall see him as such." What a glorious
sight that will be. He will appear, and when he appears,
That will be the day of our manifesting. That will be the day that we
shall appear to be who we really are, His, to be just like Him. We shall be, He says here, when
He shall appear, we shall be like Him. Is this not the desire
of all believers? They've said, I'll be satisfied
when I wake with thy likeness. When He shall appear, we shall
be like Him. It shall be clearly manifested
that we are the sons of God. Now, tell someone out there you're
a son of God, and they're going to laugh at you. If they don't,
they're going to think there's something wrong with you anyway.
They may not say it, but one day it will be clearly manifested
who you are, who you belong to. God. God. Sons of God. You'll have a body like His body,
glorified body, sinless body, incorruptible, painless, spiritual,
clothed with majesty, clothed with honor and glory, power. That's the kind of body we'll
have. Like His. We shall be like Him. We'll have a soul that's perfect. We'll
have a soul that's holy, that's taught of God, that's mature,
fully developed. You know, we may be fully developed
here physically as we grow older, but I tell you what, spiritually
we're not. A lot of maturing yet to be done.
But when He shall appear, we shall appear fully mature spiritually. We'll have that new body done
away with sin. It'll be gone. We won't have
to deal with it anymore by the dignity and the glory that we
shall wear. It'll be the same that He wears. Kings, priests, conquerors, judges,
sons of God, as He is, so are we. This ought to excite us, if we can just get past this
flesh. And we shall see Him as, listen now, He is. You're thinking, most of our
way of thinking is like we're going to see him like he was. That poor carpenter. That man
of sorrows acquainted with grief. We're not going to see him like
he was. We're not going to see him as he was. We're going to
see him as he is. When you think of him, most of
the time, of course most people, like I said last week, they think
of that picture hanging on the wall. And that's not him. That's
not him. He is glorified. You know that
when he came back, listen now, the disciples didn't even recognize
him. They thought, Mary Magdalene
they thought he was what? The gardener. They didn't recognize
him. Until he opened their eyes. Turn over to Song of Solomon
and let us see, is this the way we see him? See, we think of
him as this, like I said, as that poor carpenter. Song of Solomon, chapter 5. Listen, look in verse 9. And then verse 8, I charge you,
O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell him
I'm lovesick. I'm lovesick. What is thy beloved? They ask her, what is thy beloved
more than another beloved? What's about, what is there about
him that's so special? What is there about him that
makes him better than anybody else's beloved? O thou fairest
among women, what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that
thou dost charge us? Tell us about him." Now, is this
the way you would describe him? My beloved is white and ruddy,
the cheapest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine
gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are
as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and
fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices. As sweet flowers, his lips like
lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold
rings set with the barrel. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble
set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet, yea,
he's altogether lovely." Is that the way you would describe him
right now? If you had to describe, most people, if they had to describe
him, would talk about someone about maybe 5'7 or 6'0 or whatever,
and they would talk about this Roe V. Ward, they wouldn't describe
him as the fairest among 10,000. No. No. This is who we're going to see.
We saw the lamb the first time. This is who we're going to see
the second time. And we're going to be just like Him. We're not going to be frail.
We're not going to be old. We're not going to be wrinkled.
We're not going to have pain. We're not going to have sorrow.
We are going to be just like Him. Now are you the sons of
God. Now it does not yet appear what
we shall be. Don't think it's like this. Oh,
don't think that low. However high you can imagine
it, it's going to be a lot higher. We shall be like Him. The sight will be ravishing.
It will be transforming. And it will be abiding. It will never change. This one's
going to change, and I'm glad it is. But that one, no. Because it's
perfect. It doesn't need to change. It's
perfect. Here's what John is saying. Behold
what manner of love, behold what glory is going to come out of
being the sons of God. Listen. I read this by somebody. I don't remember who I read it
from. God showed power in making us creatures. but love in making us sons. He
demonstrated his power when he created all things, but he demonstrated
his love when he made us sons. Plato gave God thanks that he
had made him a man, not a beast. How much more should we adore
God's love who has made us sons? I'll close with this. when he was dying, at the point
of dying, a friend came to him and said, You're going to be
with Jesus and to see him as he is, said a friend of Rowland
Hill's on his deathbed. Yes, replied Mr. Hill, with emphasis, and I shall
be like him. That is the crowning point. We shall be like Him. We have
had loved ones who have gone on. And we, I know, we imagine
them as we knew them. Apparently, it's far greater
than that. It's far greater than that. They
are now like Him. And soon, we too shall be like
Him.