1 John chapter 3 and verse 3. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever
committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the
transgression of the law. and ye know that he was manifested
to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth
in him sinneth not, whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither
known him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin because he is born of God. In this the children of God are
manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not
righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading also from his precious word. The love of God for his people
is a most wonderful theme. and one that John is eager for
us to consider. That's why in the opening verses
of this chapter that we considered last week, he reminds us that
we are to return and look at, behold often, the love of God
towards us. This is our glorious hope. The Father's love is eternal,
it is everlasting. It is immense for its height
and its depth and its breadth. It is immutable and unchangeable. It doesn't have a beginning and
it doesn't have an end and it will not ever alter. God loves
his people continuously. And we reminded ourselves last
week that it was particular, that it was personal, and that
it was distinguishing. John asks us to behold this love,
to ponder it, to reflect upon it, and to remember its unconditional
nature towards us. God doesn't love us because we're
good. He doesn't love us any less because
we're bad. He doesn't love us because we're
obedient. He loves us in Christ because
he loves us. And upon the basis of that love,
he has chosen us to salvation, and he has accomplished everything
needful for us in and through the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, his dearly beloved Son. And so this love, this love that
John calls us to behold, is a love that saves us. It's a covenant
love that motivates and provokes and bestows every blessed gift
of God, every grace from God that comes to his people. And
today, we could try to initiate a list of all these good gifts,
these precious blessings that the love of God gives to us. And it would be an endless list.
All the mercies of God that flow to us from God's love. So rather than trying to catalogue
a great big long list of mercies and blessings and gifts and goodnesses
that come from God. John simply encapsulates everything
that we have as a blessed inheritance from God in the simple phrase
and the beautiful title that we are called the sons of God. And that brings all of God's
goodness into one little easily rememberable phrase that everyone
can understand. We are sons of God, heirs and
joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. What good gift will the
father withhold from those who are the sons of God? Nothing, nothing will be withheld
from those who are the sons of God. What glorious blessings
and privileges will he bestow upon the sons of God? Everything Can we fully describe or quantify
this status that we have been brought into because of the love
of God towards us? No. We are told we have been
united with Christ, heirs together with him, joint heirs with the
Lord Jesus Christ of all God's glory. These things, our salvation,
which I take to be a great big umbrella term, which covers all
the good accomplishments of Christ for us, have been graciously
bestowed out of God's love towards us, and they are gloriously possessed
because of that love towards us. Last week, John left us with
two helpful and encouraging statements in those opening verses. The
first of them was this, that it doth not yet appear what we
shall be. And that reminded us that we
are still in our flesh and therefore we are still troubled and still
constrained, still hobbled as it were. by the flesh and by
the struggles that the flesh brings upon us and causes us
to experience in this battle between the old man and the new
man. John is telling us it doesn't
yet appear what we shall be and the second helpful and encouragement
statement that he left us with was this, that nevertheless when
the Lord Jesus Christ comes back to this earth for his church
and his people then we will see fully, then we will understand
fully, then we shall know completely and we shall be like him in all
of his grace, in all of his glory, in all of his perfections, in
all of his holiness because this old body will be done away with.
What God has for us, John is telling us, is wonderful and
amazing and glorious. It's all the superlatives, all
the best things that are to be had, God has for his church and
for his people in Christ. but we don't see them yet. We
don't possess them all yet because we're still in these bodies and
we still have to labour and we still have to fight and we still
have to wait patiently and we still have to struggle and we
still have to be tempted and tried and persecuted and endure
the hardships of this life because they all have a purpose in God's
overarching plan to lead us into a greater understanding of Christ
and greater worship of him. Indeed these trials are for our
good but there is nevertheless laid up for us spiritual glory
which though it doth not yet appear We can be confident that
when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, as he most surely will, we shall
be like him. We shall be holy, perfect and
unashamed. And that's our hope. That's the
hope that we have. It's a well-founded hope because
it is a hope that is based upon the fact that God is true and
that his promises will be fulfilled. It is a hope that is founded
with substance on the promises of God. So that when John says,
little children, as he often does in this lovely epistle,
when he says little children abide in him, he is simply repeating
what Paul was saying when he speaks about Christ in us. the hope of glory. Christ in
you, the hope of glory. Little children, abide in him,
as abide in him in this hope that we have of seeing him and
being like him in that day when he shall return. That is our
hope of glory and it speaks whether it's us abiding in him or him
abiding in us of this blessed covenant union that we have together
with him. That we are in Christ and in
Christ we have this glorious hope. And even though it doth
not yet appear We are not without evidence of God's grace for us
and to us. And as we look down these verses
today, we will see that the word manifest or manifestation or
manifested is used several times. That speaks about it being revealed. So that the sons of God are manifested
and the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God, It's a beautiful
title that our Saviour has, the Son of God. And we are called
the sons of God because we're made like Him. So the Son of
God was manifest and the sons of God are manifest. And while
it doth not yet fully appear what we shall be, yet there is
a manifestation in this life, in this world, of both the Son
of God in His coming into the world and in the sons of God. There is a revelation. And John
is here speaking to us of evidences that we can see by faith of the
things that God has done for the salvation of his people.
So that building upon these opening couple of verses, with respect
and regard to the Father's love, to accomplish the Father's purpose
in election, Christ has come into the world to save his people,
to gather his people, and to set his people apart by faith. John is showing how the little
children and the sons of God are distinguished from the men
and women of this world. How we are told apart from them. And you'll see as we go on that
they are actually called not the sons of God, not the little
children of God, but rather the children of the devil. So it's these distinguishing
marks that we shall be considering today. And there's just two of
them that I want to have, and then a third point as well, which
is a little rider by way of application. So here's the first one that
we want to think about today, by which we see this manifestation
of the sons of God and the evidences that John speaks of. And the first one of these evidences
is that we have hope. We have hope in Christ. In fact, our hope is Christ,
and we can see that in verse three. Now, this reference to
hope in this little epistle of John is not an unusual use of
that word. And in fact, it is a very common
word in the Old Testament. It is used in the New Testament,
certainly, but it is a common word in the Old Testament with
reference to the Messiah. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
promised Messiah, is called the Hope of Israel. That is one of
the proper names of the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll remember
that we've often spoken about the great number and variety
of names that the Lord Jesus Christ takes in scripture. And
the hope of Israel is one. Now we can see that Israel is
the Old Testament people, no doubt, but really it's a reference
to the remnant in Israel or the spiritual Israel because the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was not the hope of those reprobate
children of Abraham but rather the children of faith and so
here the Lord Jesus Christ shows us this continuity between the
Old Testament and the New in that both the Old Testament saints
and New Testament saints look to one saviour who is Christ
the Lord who is the hope of his people. And faith and hope are
graces from God that go together. In fact, in the New Testament
particularly, faith and hope are often mentioned together. And both of these graces resemble
one another and support one another. In fact, it's often difficult
to tell them apart. We look, or both of those graces
look to God as their object. Faith looks to the Lord Jesus
Christ, it looks to God, and hope looks to the Lord Jesus
Christ and looks to God. both focus upon the rising of
the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, the resurrection of Christ.
And often in the New Testament, our faith and hope is spoken
of with reference to the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the
dead and ascended into heaven and is coming again. And in that
sense, it looks to the glory that the Lord Jesus Christ now
enjoys and our enjoyment with him in that glory as the heirs
and joint heirs together with him as the sons of God. So that
that union that John has been speaking of here is what he is
encapsulating in this word, hope. Because Christ lives, we have
hope that we will live too. Because He is risen from the
dead, we have hope that we will rise from the dead too. Because
He will appear again, we have hope that we will see Him and
be like Him. Because He is in heaven now in
glory with His Father, we have hope that we will be with Him
there in heaven. In fact, this word faith and
hope, they're often so alike that we can't tell them apart,
but equally we must be clear that they are not the same. For
example, let me give you one reference. In 1 Corinthians chapter
13 and verse 13, there the Apostle Paul is speaking
about love and he says with respect to faith, hope and charity or
faith, hope and love, these three but the greatest of these is
love and so there is an example of where faith and hope is distinguished. Faith, hope and charity, these
three remain and so hope is different from faith. though it is often
easier to speak of the similarities than it is to speak about the
differences between faith and hope. Let me give you one example
where perhaps we can distinguish between them nevertheless, and
it's a little verse in Romans chapter 5. 5 verse 2 and there
the Apostle Paul says, by whom also, it's by the Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. So here is an example where faith
and hope are seen together but contrasted. We have access by
faith into the grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. And so here is at least one distinction
that we can tease apart in these two words, faith and hope. Faith
is believing and trusting in the promises of our trustworthy
God, while hope, as it were, receives the settled enjoyment
and contentment of the status in which we are by faith discovered
and the blessings that we have that cause our hearts to rejoice. Our faith is a valid confidence
in what God has done and secured for the elect in Christ. While
hope says, having given us his son, God will with him freely
give us, give me all things. And so I think it's quite acceptable
for us to see this way in which these words, which are so often
alike, perhaps so often used interchangeably, nevertheless
can be distinguished to show that there is a faith in believing
and trusting and a hope in receiving and rejoicing in an understanding
of what God has done. So in verses three to five, this
reference to the sons of God having hope in Christ, hope in
him, speaks about us having faith in God's righteousness and justification
by that righteousness in such a way as it makes us holy and
purified and perfected in Christ. See, we can never make ourselves
pure, and that's not what these verses are speaking about. Certainly
we will not be pure as the sinless, spotless Son of God. but we are
made pure in Him because He has taken away our sin. Therefore
we rejoice in hope of that righteousness, that justification, that being
made righteous in Christ, although it does not yet appear what we
shall be. Although we yet see evidence
to the contrary in our own lives, in our own flesh, yet we rejoice
in hope, we have this hope in Him, that we have this purity,
this righteousness, which while we cannot see it in itself right
now, we believe by faith is what God gives to His people. It doesn't
yet appear in the flesh, but it is what we shall be when he
returns and we see him as he is. And here in these verses,
John gives us perhaps one of the best definitions of sin that
we are likely to find in the whole Bible. Simply, John says,
sin is transgressing God's law and it is a willful rebellion
against God. And he goes on to tell us that
this sin originates with the devil and it is common to all
men and women and boys and girls. It is universal. But he tells
us, though we all have this sin, it is our sin. It is the sin
of the little children. It is the sin of the sons of
God. It is the sin of the heirs and
joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who have been adopted
into the family of God that the Lord Jesus Christ was manifested
to remove. and the God-man being who he
is, the mighty God, the Lord, the Messiah, has succeeded in
accomplishing that which he came to do. John's showing us that
we are sinners by nature. He is agreeing with Paul in this
matter, that all have sinned. Yet he says in verse eight, of
chapter one. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Nevertheless,
there has been a change made here because in Christ is no
sin. Christ never sinned. Christ was
perfect. He was that holy child. He could
not be accused of any wrongdoing, either in word and thought or
in deed. Nevertheless, as our substitute,
He became sin for us. He took our sin. He bore our
sin in His body. He carried our sin. He carried
our guilt. He suffered our penalty. And
that simple fact, that simple fact that God God himself became
man and took our sin is the ground of the hope that we have of eternal
life and eternal glory. The fact that that happened.
In Christ, sins are taken away. And then John says, if our hope
is in Christ, then we have this hope that our sins have been
taken away and we are perfect as Christ is perfect. So John
says, and this is the second point, let us abide in Christ. Because he says in verse six,
whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. Now, John has been very
clear, he's not telling us that we are without sin. And yet here
he is saying that if we abide in him, we do not sin. What is there, how do we reconcile
what might appear at a first glance to be a contradiction
here? Simply in this, we know that
that doesn't mean we are without sin. but it rather calls us to
be always looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is without
sin, for all cleansing and pardon and restoration and righteousness. That as soon as we have sinned,
we know where our cleansing is to be found. And indeed, the
Apostle Paul speaks to us about this when he says that sin is
not imputed to us, that it is rather laid immediately upon
the Lord Jesus Christ's account. And in that sense, in Christ,
in the sinless one, in the one who has taken away our sin, we
are created new in him. So abiding in Christ, which is
what John is now directing us to do, we who hope in him, abide
in him, it means remaining upon that ground, settling down upon
that foundation, dwelling under that knowledge of the covering
by the blood of Jesus Christ. standing upon the ground of his
atoning blood, relying upon the foundation of his redemptive
work, trusting God's gospel promises as they are found in the successful
achievement of Jesus Christ's work upon the cross. When Christ
said it is finished, he meant it. And that is the ground of
our hope. That is the good hope that we
have. That is where we find grace in
believing. Psalm 32 verses one and two are
a lovely picture of how the Old Testament saints understood this
principle also and had their hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. The writer there says, blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. So what did John say about sin? Sin is a transgression of the
law of God, but that transgression is forgiven. Our past sins are
forgiven. Our present sins are forgiven. wonder of wonders, even our future
sins are forgiven already before they are committed, before they
are perpetrated. There is no guilt, there is no
sin imputed to us in Christ. because there is a blessedness,
a happiness, a joyfulness falls upon such a one whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. Paul picks this up in Romans
chapter four, verse six, and he says that there is a blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. And do you know what we're being
told here in John? Is that having learned these
things, having received this gospel truth, having heard what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done, having seen the promises there
in the word of God and in the gospel, we have the right to
say, I hope that's for me. I hope that's for me. Faith hears and believes that
gospel and hope embraces and holds on and abides in that gospel. And that's what's doing righteousness. That is the very definition of
doing righteousness. It is having faith and hope and
abiding in Christ. And those three are the evidence
of righteousness in a believer. Abiding in Christ is doing righteously. Trusting and believing in Christ
is righteousness. And that righteousness is God's
gift that is imputed to us. A righteousness without works,
a righteousness that is divine in itself. Christ's righteousness,
God's righteousness freely given such that it becomes all our
righteousness. Now I said at the beginning that
John explains how the little children that he so often speaks
about and the sons of God are distinguished or are told apart,
are identifiable, if you like, in this world from those whom
John calls the children of the devil. Well, here it is. And
as we come to the end of this little passage before us today,
we find John speaking about this distinction between the sons
of God and the children of the devil. The sons of God believe
in Christ. The sons of God hope in Christ. The sons of God abide in Christ. Now we might ask, who is able
to do such a thing? To have faith and believe, to
hope and abide? And John tells us, all who are
born in him, in whom his seed remaineth. And this is the distinction,
this is the separation that there is between those who are of the
world, worldly, those who are of their father, the devil, and
those who are the sons of God and who are the people, the seed
of Christ. 1 John chapter 3 verse 9 and
10 says this, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. How is it that they don't commit
sin? Because they believe in Christ. Because they hope in
Christ. Because they abide in Christ.
Because they've nowhere else to go. They don't have anywhere
else to go. Peter says, where else shall
we go? You have the words of eternal life. In what else might
I ever have any hope but in the completed work of the Lord Jesus
Christ? And that is not committing sin. For his seed remaineth in him,
and he cannot sin. It's not just that we don't sin,
it's that we cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the
children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Now John, remember, is the writer
in his gospel who brought us Jesus' teaching regarding the
new birth. Remember how in John chapter
three, the Lord speaks to Nicodemus about the new birth, you must
be born again. And in John chapter three, verse
six, John writes there, that which is born of the flesh is
flesh, This flesh is never going to be any different. It's just
flesh. It always will be flesh. It's
not going to be purified flesh. It's not going to be sanctified
flesh. It's not going to be righteous
flesh. It only ever will be corrupt flesh. It can't be made any better
than it is. By nature it is flesh and flesh
it will remain. But that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. and that's the new birth from
above. Christ's seed are spiritual people
whose spirits are created holy, pure, blameless before God, who
have his pardon, who are justified in Christ. And this Bible principle
of the new birth and the two natures of those in whom Christ
dwells, it resonates with all in whom the flesh and the spirit
have this continuing and continuous battle. Do you have that battle? Do you feel that battle? the
doubts and the weakness? Do you feel the challenges to
your faith? Are you like Abraham and Sarah? Do you find yourself saying,
you know what, I believe the Bible, I believe God's promises,
but yet I'm going to devise my own way and try my best and work
things out for myself because I don't know whether I can really
trust them or not. I don't know whether my faith
is going to hold. And we have this continuing conflict
in our own hearts, in our own breasts, in our own minds, in
our own spirits. The body of flesh remains the
same in the Adam nature of its fallen state. It is corrupt. It is sinful. It is always tending
to sin. It always will sin. And it always
resists spiritual desires. And we can confirm John's words
when he says, it doth not yet appear right now in this world,
in this flesh age, what we shall be. But we hope for better things.
We hope for better things. believing that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him. Then we'll see things clearly.
Then we won't need faith anymore. Then we won't need hope anymore.
Faith will be done away with. Hope will be done away with.
Love won't be done away with. Faith, hope and love, then remaineth
these three. But the greatest of these is
love. Love will continue. We will love the Lord Jesus Christ
for eternity, but faith and hope will be no longer required because
we will see him as he is. At that last day when the Lord
Jesus Christ shall appear, we shall arise with a glorified
body, and though that body was sown in dishonour at death, in
the flesh and inhabited our grave in corruption, it will be raised
in glory at the resurrection. That spiritual part of every
child of God, all the little children and all the sons of
God, we are born again of God from that Adam nature. created
a new in holiness in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that new man
cannot sin because it is born of God and it is Christ's seed
that remains in us. It has hope in the promises of
God and it abides in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1 verse
23 says, It is born, nor of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, which
liveth and abideth forever. Friends, brothers and sisters
in the Lord, you who are weary and tried, you who feel the challenges
against your faith, who have doubts and worries and concerns
and anxieties about your standing in faith because of this battle
which goes on in your soul day by day, you worriers, you people
who are fretful and full of anxiety, Our faith is not merely historical
or intellectual or theoretical. It's lively and it's passionate
and it's hopeful. We can say, I hope it will be. It may not appear now what we
shall be, but when he appears we will be like him. I hope so. We have this hope in us. And full of hope. We might even
say we can have confidence because our hope is in Christ and he
is able. His power, his purpose, his accomplishments
are the grounds of our hope. His abilities, not ours. His
strength, not ours. His success, not our failures. His holiness, not our sin. We
abide in Christ because we are born again and his seed abides
and dwells in us. This is the good hope that distinguishes
us from the children of the devil. They have no hope of eternal
life. This is the good hope that makes
the difference and it is an evidence of grace, just as much as faith
and assurances in some people, even those of us who can only
hope that it's for us, have an evidence from God because Faith
is a grace and hope is a grace and none of us have grace from
God except he is pleased to show us that effectual grace which
comes only through the Lord Jesus Christ. And if right now for
you and for me who hope in him it doth not yet appear what we
shall be, we know that when he shall appear we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. Amen.