We're going to read just the
first two verses, 1 John chapter 3. We'll read verse 1, and let it
serve as the introduction to our message. John says, Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Stop and
look at this, consider this, that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore, because we're the
sons of God, remember what Christ said, the world will hate you. They don't know me. They don't
know the Father. They'll hate you just like they've
hated me, because you're the sons of God. Therefore, the world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not. If the love of God could
be compared to a pinnacle, And that love is the apex of our
adoption into the family of God. Notice John didn't say, behold
what manner of love God had bestowed upon us. He says, behold, being
inspired by God's Holy Spirit, he writes, behold what manner
of love the Father, the Father had bestowed upon us that we
should be called the sons of God. The emphasis here is placed
upon the Father's love to his elect. You remember what our
Lord prayed in John 17? He said, In the glory which thou
gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as
we are one, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast
sent me, and has loved them, has loved them, as you have loved
me. My. Now don't let that go by
too quick. Christ praying to his God and
our God and his father and our father, he says, you've loved
them, my people, as you have loved me. That's amazing. That's amazing. The Father loves
us, every believer. He loves us as he loves his Son. All those that are in union with
his Son. What did Paul write? Who shall
separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus? They would first have to separate
Christ from his Father. Impossible. God loves us. Our Heavenly Father loves us
the same way that he loves his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he loved us, as Bobby just sang, with an everlasting love. He's
loved us as long as he's loved his Son. No wonder John introduces
this chapter with the word, Behold. Behold. This is some attraction. There is nothing greater to consider. Behold, if election is the great
fountain of grace, and it is. Election is the fountain of grace.
Every blessing can be traced back to God's electing love. Redemption is the greatest mercy
of grace. Oh, but here John is speaking
of adoption. adoption into the family of God,
and that's the greatest privilege of grace. John Gill put it better
than I can. He said, this is, that is adoption. This is a privilege which exceeds
all others. It is more to be a son than to
be a saint. It is more to be a child of God
than to be redeemed, pardoned, and justified. As great as those
are, adoption by God's everlasting love is the pinnacle. It is a
great grace to be redeemed from slavery, to pardon criminals,
and to justify the ungodly. But it is another and higher
act of grace to make them sons. Those other things could be done
without making them sons. Oh, but God goes beyond that.
and which makes them infinitely more honorable than to be the
sons and daughters of the greatest potentate upon the earth. Yea,
gives them an honor which Adam didn't have before he fell. Nor
the angels in heaven, who though are sons by creation, yet not
by adoption. Sons we are through God's election. who in Jesus Christ believe,
by eternal destination, sovereign grace we now receive. Every fallen
son by sinning merits everlasting pain, but thy love without beginning
has restored thy sons again. Paul's my soul," that's what
John says, behold, Paul's my soul, adore and wonder and ask,
ask, why such love for me? Grace has put me in the number
of the Savior's family. Now look at verse 2, which is
our text. Verse 2 here in 1 John chapter
3. Beloved, beloved, John has already
spoken of us being beloved by God the Father, the manner of
that love, that we should be called the sons of God. 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. That's our text and the title
of my message is, keeping every word of that in mind, the title
of my message is Enough for Now. Enough for Now. It speaks of
what we have now. Now are we the sons of God. It
speaks of what we don't have yet. It doth not yet appear what
we shall be. But then it speaks matter-of-factly
of what we shall be when Christ our Savior shall appear. First
of all, what we have now. Beloved, now are we what? Now are we what? Now, at this
moment, are we what? The sons of God. The sons of
God. The children of God. In civil
adoption. If you were to go and adopt a
child, a boy or a girl, you'll give them your name. And you
can give them your home. And you can give them all your
earthly possessions, but you can't give them your nature.
Louis, you can't give them your nature. Oh, but God does. God gives his sons, who are adopted
into his family, the very nature of Christ himself. Larry, is
that so? Turn, if you will, to 2 Peter.
2 Peter chapter 1. This is exactly what we read
up here in 2 Peter 1. Paul in Galatians said, God has
sent forth the spirit of his son, the spirit of adoption into
our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, Father, Father. And Peter here
in 2 Peter 1 says, verse 2, verse 2, Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ our Lord,
according as his divine power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him
that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature. the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust. And when are we given this? John
says, now. Now are we the sons of God. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ this morning, If right now, sitting where you are, you
can say, I know by the grace of God, by the grace of God,
I've experienced that divine power of God, by which I made
a partaker of the divine nature. I've been made a new creature
in Christ Jesus. I know whom I have believed right
now. regardless of what's going on
in here or out there. Now are we the sons of God? And you may say, well, Larry,
I don't feel like it. I don't feel like it. I know
how you feel. I know how you feel. Because
most of the time, I don't either. I don't either. But I'm still
a son of God. And you may say, Larry, I don't
always act like it. Again. Again, I'm sorry. Not as sorry as I should be,
but still, still are we the sons of God. We may disown and adopt
a child, but God Almighty never will. Never. Never. No matter what. Remember, we have this now. I would rather be a son of God
than the son of any earthly king, wouldn't you? As we sometimes
sing, as the old hymn expresses it, praise God, praise God, I'm
a child of the king. That's exactly what John tells
us here. That's what we have right now.
And then John tells us something that we don't have now. We've
not experienced it yet. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet, just doth not yet appear what
we shall be. We are not now what we shall
be. But let me be careful here. When I say that, that's so. But this is also true. Thank
God we're not what we once were. You would hope, I would hope,
that it wouldn't even be necessary, as John puts it, to take this
rabbit's trail, to have this sidebar. But in light of this
religious nonsense that's all around us, I've got to remind
you Grace makes us to differ. Grace makes us to differ. The
Lord God said in Jeremiah, he asked this question. Behold,
I said, how shall I put you among my children? That's in Jeremiah
chapter 3. God says, how shall I put you
among my children? And he said, thou shalt call
me my father, and shall not turn away from me." But how shall
that be? How shall that be? And John tells
us in his gospel, chapter 1, that it's this way. It's not
by the will of the flesh. It's not by the will of man,
it's not by blood, but it's by the power of God Almighty. And that's all. That's all. That's
what we read a moment ago in 2 Peter chapter 1. Turn if you
will to Galatians. Galatians chapter 1. Paul here
repeats, I shouldn't say repeats, but says just about the exact
thing that John said in his gospel. In John chapter 1 verses 12 and
13. Here in Galatians chapter 1 verses 12 and 13. We read the
same thing. Giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us. Made us. I like that. Oh I like
that. I don't have an issue with that.
I don't have a problem with that. Do you? The religious world does. But I don't. I don't. I'm glad
that God made me. Otherwise I would never be so.
giving thanks unto the Father which hath not offered to, not
tried to, not attempted to, no, giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us, made us meet, fits, worthy is the word, to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light who have
delivered us from the power of darkness, and have translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son, being made partakers of
the divine nature by the power of God Almighty. And that makes
us to differ. Now, religion can't do that.
None, none, none of them or all of them together. Religion can't
do that. And churches can't do that. It can't give us the divine
nature of God Almighty. It can't perform the new births.
Saying the sinner's prayer won't do it. Signing a decision card
won't do it. Trotting up an aisle and shaking
some preacher's hand won't give you the divine nature. You're
not born again by that sort of nonsense. No, you're born again,
as our Lord told Nicodemus, that religious leader, that teacher
of teachers. You must be born again. And Nicodemus
didn't. He was clueless, wasn't he? That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. That's all it will ever
be. It can never rise above itself. But that which is born of the
Spirit from above, oh, that's of God. And that requires God's
divine power to make us a partaker of. Religion can't do it and
churches can't do it, whether they be a Baptist church or a
Catholic church or whatever. As Paul said in Galatians 2,
he said, don't you get tangled up with these legalizers. that
are telling you, touch not. Remember what Paul wrote in Galatians
2, he said, be careful. Why if you're free, free in Christ,
are you being made subject to the traditions of men? Our Lord
told the religious leaders in his day, you make void the word
of God. You would rather set aside God's
word that you might keep your traditions. You count your traditions,
your religious traditions, giving a higher honor to them and a
place at the expense of God's Word. Paul said, they're telling
you, touch not, taste not, handle not, and I might add, go not,
wear not, taste not, look not, and you remember what Paul called
all that stuff? Now people today call it holiness.
They call it progressive sanctification. They call it all kinds of things.
Paul called it will-worship. It's will-worship. Honoring the
flesh. And our Lord told those who were
doing that very thing in his day, the religious leaders, you
make a man two-fold more by your tradition. You place a burden
upon him and you make him two-fold more a child of hell than you
are yourself. What did he mean by that? They're
not only lost, but they're religiously lost. They don't know it. They're
trusting a false hope. And none of those things, none
of those things can ever make a man a new creation. Oh, but Christ can. Christ can
and he does. And he does so, when he does
so, he's successful in every case. I would, as I heard Brother Henry,
I think, say this, I wish that I just half believed that. I
wish that I just half believed that. That God Almighty's arm
is not shortened that it cannot save. That God's grace is truly
amazing. that it can open blind eyes,
unstop deaf ears, that he who said I'm the resurrection and
the life still has power to speak to dead sinners, and every time
he does, they're going to arise to walk in newness of life. They'll never be the same again.
They will never be the same again. I was talking to a relative years
ago. She'd made a profession of faith.
And that's all it was, didn't amount to nothing. And she was
telling me one time, I was asking her about it, and she said, well,
you know, Larry, I've kind of let that go, and I've not missed
it. She said, I've not missed it.
I said, well, you didn't meet Jesus Christ then. You didn't
have an encounter with the king and kings. Because otherwise,
it's impossible, if you did, to walk away and not miss it. No, he never fails. He has a
100% success rate. That's exactly what Paul said
in 2 Corinthians 5 and 17. If any man If any man be in the church,
no. If any man be at the altar, no.
If any man's in the confessional booth saying, Father, forgive
me because of blah, blah, blah, no. But if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creation. That's the word, creation. Creation. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things become In every case. Remember what we read in 2 Peter
1 a moment ago? Partakers of the divine nature. That's what makes us sons of
God. How? Not by decision, but according
to His, that is God's divine power. And He shall not fail. That's what God said concerning
his servant. The Lord Jesus Christ, 700 years
before he came into this world, he said by the prophet Isaiah,
My righteous servant, in whom my soul delighteth, he shall
not fail. End of all questions. It should
be. That should put an end of all
these questions. statements about Jesus trying
and Jesus wanting to and Jesus if you only let him. No, no,
no. If that's your Jesus, you're
trusting an imposter. I'm telling you that as lovingly
as I can. If the Jesus you profess to serve,
if the Jesus you claim has saved your soul, did it with your help
and couldn't do it otherwise, he's an imposter. He's an imposter. No, He's not King Jesus if He
needs your help. No, the Jesus that is the Christ,
God's Son in whom He is well pleased, God said He, He shall
not fail. Now these other imposters, These
figments of men's imagination, these deceivers, they all fail.
They'll tell you they fail. They'll tell you. They'll admit
it. He fails. Why put my trust in someone that
fails? Oh, but concerning the Son of
God, his righteous servant, God says he shall not fail ever,
ever, never. And John goes on to say here
in verse 2, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. simply because it hasn't taken
place yet. This is not the time or place. You don't look for flowers to
grow in the dead of winter. And we don't look to be made
perfectly whole, body, soul, and spirit, like Christ, until
he shall appear. Paul said, behold, I'll show
you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, all God's
family, all God's children, all his sons and daughters. They
shall not all die. They shall all not go the way
of the grave. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. We'll still be changed nonetheless,
because the trump of God shall sound. Jesus Christ shall be
seen, we shall see him as he is, and in that moment we'll
be transformed like him and be caught up with him to be forever
with the Lord. And John says very matter-of-factly,
we know. We know. that though that is
not yet, we know when he shall appear we shall be like him."
John says, we know that that's so. Read John's epistle. When you have a quiet time, a
quiet hour, make it. Sit down and read John's epistle
and notice how many times he says, we know, we know, we know. It begins that way and it ends
that way. We know. John says, we know that this
is so. I like his dogmatism. Thank God
for dogmatism. Throughout this epistle, he uses
that expression over and over. And that's not presumption, but
faith. That's just believing God, John.
Like Paul told them that night on that ship being tossed about
when they all thought they were going to drown when he was a
prisoner on that ship going to Rome, he said, everybody just
calm down. Everybody just calm down. He
said, God's told me that I'm going to be delivered before
Caesar in Rome. And he's going to give me everybody
on this ship that's sailing with me. He said, I believe God. I
believe God. He said, eat you something. Eat
you something. Quit your fasting. Eat. Eat.
You need your strength. He said, I believe God that it's
going to be exactly like God Almighty told me. I wish I had
believed that. John says, Amen to that, Brother
Paul. We know that when he shall appear,
we shall be like him. Oh, that's what the second coming
is all about, isn't it? I hate to keep referring to the
religious nonsense that's all around us, but people, all my
life I've heard them talk about signs, signs, signs. Talking about signs and never
mention the sun. Talk about what, and how, and
where, and when. Books have been written, books
that could fill this room about the second coming. Prophecy. We have preachers who are prophecy
experts. You know, you've got doctors
that are specialists. Sometimes your family doctor,
your medical doctor will send you to a specialist. Well, we
have preachers who claim to be specialists in prophecy. Who,
what, when, where. They're experts and never say
anything about who. My soul, there's something bad
wrong with that picture. Something bad wrong about that
picture. The scripture says that He shall
appear. As Brother Don says, God give
us grace to always be standing on the tiptoes of faith, looking
for His glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ. We shall be like Him. That's enough for now, isn't
it? Is that enough for now? We shall be like Him. Oh, do we want more than that?
Like Him. God has made Him the firstborn
of many brethren. Turn, if you will, to Romans
chapter 8. Now, I know we all could probably recite these few
verses by heart, but look what Paul says. I want you to notice
something. Here in Romans 8 verse 28, Paul, like John, like all the
apostles, he says, and we know, verse 28, we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
decalled according to his purpose. And then in verse 29, he tells
us why we know that so. why we know that all these things
must be working together for good, our everlasting good. Because
by those very things, verse 29, for whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son that
we might be the firstborn among many brethren. That's what God's
doing. Jeremiah, go down to the potter's
house. And Jeremiah said he went down
to the potter's house and behold, he wrought a work upon the wheel. God works all things. The sorrow, the heartache. I don't know how he does it.
He's the potter and I'm the clay. But he's working all these things
together for our everlasting good. conforming us to the image
of his own son." Wow. Behold, John said. Octavius Winslow
wrote, Behold, one of the many mysteries of our most holy faith
is that God takes our nature, that he may descend to us, and
he gives us his nature that we may ascend to him. Hmm. Isn't that something? For we
shall see him as he is. We shall see. And oh, what a
transforming look that will be. We shall see him. Every son and
daughter of God. Every child of the king shall
see him. And oh, what a transformation
will take place in that twinkling of an eye. as at the first. What I mean when we first, by
the grace of God, He removed the scales from our eyes and
said, look unto me and be ye saved. You remember? Do you remember? Like the blind
men John talked about this morning. Do you remember that look? Do
you remember the change that took place? Look unto me and
be ye saved. Look! Look! Look, Larry, look! You've been looking to preachers,
altars, churches, prayers, repentance, giving up this and giving up
that, touch not, taste not, handle not, go not. Larry, look! And I looked, and I saw the Son
of God. By faith, I saw Him. And my soul,
I said, if you will, you can make me clean. And wonder of wonders, miracle
of miracles, he said, I will be thy clean. Thy sins, which
are many, are all forgiven thee. John says, we shall be changed
in that moment when we see him as he is. We shall see. We. Everyone chosen. Everyone redeemed. Everyone called
shall. That's a matter of fact. There's
no doubt about it. Shall see. Oh, child of God. How we shall see in that day.
how we shall comprehend, how we shall perceive that which
we just cannot do now. We'll see how our Lord has led
us along. Oh, suffering brother, hurting
sister, we'll no longer look through a glass darkly, but we'll
see and perceive and understand why perfectly clearly. We'll see how graciously, how
wisely, how lovingly he led his dear children along. And as old
brother Scott said, when we do, we'll look back and say, I wouldn't
have changed a thing. Wouldn't change a thing. Let me read you a couple comments
by a few, one or two preachers of the past. John Calvin said,
he wrote, seeing that a pilot steers the ship in which we sail,
who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks.
There's no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear
and overcome with weariness. And old John Newton said this,
if the Lord be with us, we have no cause to fear. His eye is
upon us, his arm over us, his ear open to our prayer, his grace
sufficient, his promise unchangeable. We shall see him. him. Oh, I know John didn't add
Selah at the end of that, but it certainly merits one, does
it not? Selah, as the psalmist would
say. Stop. Pause. Turn off that cell phone. Turn
off that TV. Get along with God. and read
this, we shall see him. Think about it. Jesus Christ
himself, we read a moment ago or earlier in our reading in
Revelation 22, they shall see his face, they, they. I thought a lot about that the
last few days and I thought they shall see his face and I thought,
You could read that and not be among the they, could you? It's
like you're on the outside looking in. You remember that, Roger?
You remember you telling me that? When God Almighty had brought
you down and you said, Dad, I want to know him. I'm tired of being
on the outside looking in. I want to know him. And John says, we. Not they,
we. We shall see Him. We shall be included with they
that shall see His face. We shall see without a single
thing to distract, without or within. I've told you about just
a few days after I graduated from high school, I went up to
New Jersey. I had a lot of friends up there
that told me I could come up and just have the time of my
life, get a job on the boardwalk. Wildwood, New Jersey, and I did.
I got a job on the boardwalk. Had the time of my life. Almost
starved to death, right? But boy, we We were all working
in this boardwalk, and you try to get folks' attention as they
walk by. Hey, hey, come in here, break a buck, break a buck and
try your luck. I don't use that word. I did
then, but not now. Oh, come on, don't walk by, give
it a try. That reminds me of church. Hey,
hey, come in here, look what we got. Whatever you want, whatever
you need, whatever will keep you happy, just come on in. We
got it. Nothing compares to this. Nothing compares to this. We
shall see His face without a distraction. Without a distraction, without
anything barking at us, step aside, look at this, look what
I've got, oh no, we're going to see only Him with blinders
on and we won't want to look at anything else. No distractions
without or within. John James wrote, I can conceive
of no higher heaven, no more perfect paradise than being in
the presence of Him. who died for me upon the cross. We shall see him. Let me close. Let me wrap this
up. You remember, we have the record
of it in 1 Kings chapter 10. We won't turn there. You're familiar
with it. The queen of Sheba had heard about Solomon. Solomon
was king. And the rumors kept filtering
back to her about Solomon. the greatness, the glory of his
kingdom, his wealth, his riches. I mean, he drank from a gold
goblet. I mean, steps going up through
his throne was gold. His throne, everything, gold,
gold. Heard about his wisdom. And she thought, no way. There's just no way. I'm going
to go see for myself. And she went, we read in 1 Kings
that she had an interview with Solomon. And she told him all
her heart. She tried Solomon with many hard
questions, we read. And Solomon answered them all.
And then before she left, she said, I heard, I'd heard about
you when I was somewhere else. But now, now, my eyes have seen
for themselves. Remember what she said? And the
half, Louis, the half, the half was not told me. I thought at
first it was an exaggeration, but they understated the case.
The half was not told me. Behold, a greater than Solomon
is here. That's what Christ said. Solomon
was wise, but Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. Only he can
answer this question. How can a man be just with God? Jesus Christ solved that dilemma. God making him to be sin for
us solved the dilemma of how God Almighty can be just and
yet justify the ungodly. Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, there mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness
and peace have kissed one another. Solomon was wealthy. But behold,
a greater than Solomon is here. Our king is rich in grace. Rich in grace. We've obtained
an inheritance according to the riches of his grace. Can money
buy a pardon? Can money give anyone peace with
God? We remember Simon, the sorcerer,
offered Peter money that he might have the power of God. And Peter
said, man, your money's going to perish with you. You think
the gift of God can be purchased with money? Oh, no. Children of God, we're joint
heirs with Jesus Christ. His righteousness, his righteousness
is my righteousness. How rich is that? What's that
worth? His acceptance by God is my acceptance
by God. His grace, mercy, and great salvation
are mine too. His Father and His God is my
Father and my God. Let me close by reading you a
few verses from Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 60. Isaiah chapter
60, verse 19. Isaiah 60 verse 19. The sun shall
no more be thy light by day, neither for brightness shall
the moon give light unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee
an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. The sun shall
no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for
the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning
shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all
righteous, and they shall inherit the land forever, the branch
of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified
there, there, in heaven's everlasting glory. That eternal day there,
like streams that feed the garden, pleasures without end shall flow.
For the Lord your faith rewarding, all his bounty shall bestow.
Still undisturbed possession, peace and righteousness shall
reign. Never shall you feel oppression or hear the voice of war again. Ye no more your sons descending,
waning moons no more shall see. But your griefs forever ending,
find eternal noon in me. God shall rise and shining o'er
you, change to day the gloom of night. He, the Lord, shall
be your glory. God, your everlasting light. And in that day, we're going
to say, man, the hat was not told me. God bless you. Thank
you for your attention.