Well, last week we were thinking
about single-minded commitment. The verse in Luke's gospel chapter
15, was it? Or 16, there or thereabouts.
You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon. And it was single-minded commitment. And that chapter of Luke is full
of warnings about preparing for eternity. We must prepare for
eternity. We're mortal creatures. We're
going to die. And Jesus was giving warnings
to the Pharisees. Who are the Pharisees? That little
group of Jews in Jerusalem in the days of Jesus. No, no, no. There are Pharisees everywhere.
All around us today in 2015. Pharisees everywhere. Because
what are Pharisees? They are those who are rich in
their own righteousness. They're self-righteous. They
think because of their religion, and because of their traditions,
and because of their family connections, and because of what they are,
and because of their status and their reputation, they have standing
with God. And Jesus was saying to the Pharisees,
you have no standing whatsoever. No standing whatsoever. There's
only one place where you have the righteousness that God requires,
and that's in His Son. And if you are in His Son, You're
as righteous as he is in the reckoning of God. As righteous
as he is. Follow holiness, without which
no man shall see the Lord. Where is that? It's in Christ.
Trusting in Him. Resting in Him. For He imputes
and imparts His holiness and righteousness to His people,
so that we are counted the righteousness of God in Him. For He has borne
our sins in His own body. No, that chapter was full of
warnings about self-righteousness. Rich in self-righteousness. But
as far as eternity is concerned, utterly poverty stricken. And
it's followed by the parable of Abraham and Lazarus. The rich
man, whose name were not given, and Lazarus the poor man. And
in life, the rich man fared sumptuously, and Lazarus had nothing, but
Lazarus had Christ. And they die, and they go to
heaven. And it's a parable, and it's
a picture But it's very, very clear and stern in its warnings. There is Lazarus in Abraham's
bosom, in heaven, in Christ, rejoicing in everything that
Christ has done for him. And there is the rich man like
the Pharisees, and he's in pain and torment. And it's the only
place in the scripture where we see such a vivid picture of
the pain and torment of eternal suffering. In fact, it's really
quite Quite alarming to read it. You know, it's serious. This
is the Son of God who's saying these things. He's saying, take
heed, take heed. It's a real thing. It's appointed
to man to die once and then the judgment. Take heed. Flee to
Christ. Flee to Christ. You, mortal soul,
me. Flee to Christ. Flee to the city
of refuge. The city of refuge is where the
one who killed somebody accidentally could go. and find refuge and
find safety from the one who would come to exact what they
thought of as justice. He's the city of refuge. Sinner
flee to Christ. He's the hiding place. He's the
hiding place. We hide in Him. Hiding in Him. We hide in Him. In the shadow
of that great and mighty rock. He is the cleft in the rock where
God said, I will put you in that place for He is the rock that
was cleft, smitten, broken. for us, as we're going to remember
in the broken bread, and the wine poured out, his broken body,
and he shed blood. This is where God puts his people,
and there is that place of safety, that place of refuge. There are
stern, clear warnings of the dreadful consciousness of hell.
And this is serious. You know, I don't like saying
it, but the scriptures say it, I've got to say it to you. and
our filthy rags of righteousness will not get us into heaven.
Only Christ. What is my objective? Always,
always my objective is to persuade you to seek Christ wholeheartedly
until you find him. And his word says this, seek
and ye shall find. Seek and ye shall find. Now you can persuade people to
do things as they say, you know, if you want to persuade the donkey
to go, where you want it to go. There are two ways of doing it.
You can hit it with a stick from behind, or you can dangle a carrot
in front of its nose, because donkeys, they say, like carrots.
Carrots and sticks. What do you prefer? They're both
in the Word of God, but I prefer this morning. I'm going to turn
your attention to the carrot of the blessedness of God's believing
people, as we find it in 1 John, chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. where
we read about the love of God for his people. I want to put
a picture in your minds this morning of the state of those
who believe in Christ. Contrary to everything that this
world wants to do, the state, the blessed, the glorious, the
happy state of the people of God. in the loving kindness of
God. It says in Jeremiah, with loving
kindness he draws his people. He draws his people. With the
carrot of loving kindness, if I'm not being irreverent in saying
that, I want to draw you with that loving kindness, carrot
of the goodness and of the love of God. And what is the promise? Let's have a look at the promise.
Look back in chapter 2 of 1 John, verse 25. We're told, what is
the promise of God to his people? What is the promise of God? This
is the promise that he has promised us. God has promised a people
who are called the us here. Who is it? This is the promise
he has promised us. He means his people. And what
is it? Even eternal life. It's eternal life. Eternal life. What is hell? It's eternal death. It's not annihilation, it's eternal
death. What is eternal life? It's life
as it's described in Revelation 21 and 22. That glorious picture
of sinless bliss and holy happiness, which is heaven. No tears, no
crying, no pain. Eternal life is the promise of
God. Bliss without sin. Sonship. Sonship. I'm going to use the
word son a lot. Don't think I'm talking about
the male of the species only. All the children of God, male
or female, are called the sons of God in our Lord Jesus Christ.
All have the privileges. In Christ, in Christ, there are
differences of role in the church now, but in Christ, what does
it say in Galatians, there is neither male nor female, bond
nor free. All those human fleshly distinctions
are gone in Christ. In Christ, we are all, male and
female, who are His sons of God, in Christ, with all the privileges
of sonship. Verse 2 of chapter 3, Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. And it does not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, our Lord
Jesus Christ, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as
he is." Sons of God transformed into the likeness of Christ.
That's what he says. Sons of God, do you feel in the
likeness of Christ? No, in the flesh there's just
so much of sin and of the flesh to drag you down. But in Christ
were transformed into the likeness of Christ. Second Corinthians
3.18 says this, But we all, with open face beholding, as in a
glass, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image of him, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit
of the Lord. Oh, children of dust, I'm speaking
to myself as well. This is what we are. God said
to Adam, dust you are and to dust you shall return. Children
of dust, appointed to die once and then the judgment. Is that
a promise not most glorious? Transformed into the image of
the Son of God. Let's look at it. Let's look
at it, because this is what John tells us to do. Look at the first
word of chapter three. What is it? Behold. Behold. Behold. Stop and think with me
about that word for a moment. You're told to behold a wondrous
sight. You know, you look at something
in nature. Are you moved by the things that
you see? You know, are you? Are you moved
by the things that you see? You go out into nature and you
see, you know, I remember, let me tell you, the danger is that
I will be so taken up with illustrating this that we'll get not very
far. But let me just give you one illustration. I remember
one beautiful morning in Scotland in summer with a clear blue sky.
I know it doesn't happen very often but sometimes it does and
when it does it stays and it's lovely. and we were up near the
Kyle of Lochalsh, up near the Isle of Skye, and we came, we
were just driving through countryside, and we came round a corner, and
there all of a sudden was this gorgeous turquoise sea, with
little islands sticking like jewels out of the turquoise sea.
It was, I think we would say, we've seen some beautiful sights,
but I think we would say that was the most awe-inspiring sight
we've ever seen. We stood there, along with another
couple or two, who were just, chins down on our chest, we were
just so, what's the word, gobsmacked, isn't it really? You know, we
were just overcome. Behold the beauty of it. Behold. Stop. Take it in. Look at it. You can look through a telescope
into deep space, at the galaxies and at the nebulae and all these
things and you can be awestruck with them. Behold the beauty
of it. You can go into an art gallery
and see the works of some great artist and you can look and you
can behold it and be awestruck by it. What beauty is in it? You can look at a building, architecture
and You know that feeling, that feeling of being awestruck, and
you want to bottle the sensation. You want to take a photo of it.
I took a photo, I was showing Joan the other day, I took a
photo of the sun setting over the beach in Cornwall last September
with some surfers and their silhouettes. And when I look at that picture,
I've got it as the background on my computer, and it just conjures
up in me the feeling and the sounds and the smells of the
sea and everything around it. I can just see it and feel it,
that sensation. Beautiful, beautiful. You want
to stop, and you want to think, and you want to take it in, and
you want to contemplate its varying aspects. Do you feel that? Behold,
behold. John is telling us, behold. Let's
have a look. Do you know there are those that
cannot see anything? I had a friend, I had a colleague
I worked with, first of all in Wellingarden City and then up
in Barrow-in-Furness. And I used to say to him when
he moved up there, I used to say, why don't you come up into
the lakes with us and have a look at some of the beautiful scenes?
And do you know, he didn't have an eye to see it. Do you know
what to him was a delight? Was spending all of his time
in some dingy working man's club, playing darts, drinking lager,
and playing snooker. That to him was everything, and
out there were things that You just look at some of those scenes
and it takes your breath away. He had no eyes to see it. He
had no sense to see it. Behold. Do you see what I'm saying
about this word behold? Now John says to us, behold what
manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. Oh, children
of dust, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed
upon us. Look at this wondrous sight John
is not bidding us to look with physical eyes, but with eyes
of faith. He's bidding us to look with
eyes that God gives, God the Holy Spirit gives sight, that
gift of faith to see which the natural man, we know this, the
scripture tells us, the natural man cannot receive the things
of the Spirit of God, they're foolishness to him, neither can
he know them. But he gives his people that
eye of faith, that eye of faith to see what his saints in all
ages have seen. Like when Abraham was visited
by God, by the pre-incarnate Christ, who is the Word of God,
who reveals the essence of God to his people. Where he came
to him, Genesis 15, and spoke with him, and Abraham saw these
things. Behold the glory, there he is,
talking with God. We were thinking about Jacob. Jacob in that place, Peniel.
I have seen God when he wrestled with Christ in the form of a
man. He wrestled with him and he'd seen him. Behold, this is
a glorious place. Look at this. Stop and take it
in. Moses when he saw the burning
bush. Behold, what is this? Look and take it in. Here is
God manifesting his presence and speaking. Isaiah went into
the temple in the year that King Isaiah died. And he went into
the temple, Isaiah 6 verse 1, and he saw the Lord. Who did
he see? John 12 tells us. It was Christ whom he saw. Christ
whom no man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son
who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. He has
manifested Him. He has declared Him. He has made
Him tangible and visible. Show us the Father and it suffices
us, says Philip. Philip, have I been so long with
you, and you have not known me? He who has seen me, said Jesus,
has seen the Father. Isaiah looked at Jesus in the
temple, his glory, his train filled the temple. Daniel was
struck as one dead before the sight, the glorious sight of
the Son of God, of Christ, when he met him by the river and God
revealed his purposes to him. And even the writer John of this
epistle. and of the revelation. In Revelation,
when he was on the Isle of Patmos in exile, and he had that revelation
from God of the whole of history in that one book, and in Revelation
1.13, he sees one like the one that Daniel saw, that glorious
sight. Behold! Behold! Look! Contemplate! Take it in! Think! Stop! Stop! Be still, says God. Be still and know that I am God. All of those visions were unexpected. They were unexpected. You cannot
put the ingredients into a pot and stir it and get what you
need. They were unexpected revelations from God, but stunning in their
effect on the one who's doing the beholding. And John says
to believers, to believers. This is what John says. He's
speaking to believers. The epistles are speaking to
believers. It's not telling the world how
to live to be believers. It's speaking to believers. He's
declaring the salvation of God to believers. Behold what manner
of love the Father has bestowed upon us. Stand and gaze in awe
at a marvelous sight. Can you see it? Can you see it? or do you prefer the dingy snooker
clubs of this world? Don't worry, I like snooker.
I like watching, I like those things. Don't worry, I'm not
saying anything moral about, but you know what I mean? The
sight of that dingy interior used to be smoke-filled, I think
the law stops them doing that now, compared with that glorious
feeling when you're out on a mountaintop in the Alps, seven or 8,000 feet
up, looking at those snow-covered peaks. It's beautiful, it's awe-inspiring. Do you see it? Do you see it?
Well, this love of God is a marvelous sight to the eye of faith. Look
at the kind of love it is. Look at the channel through which
it's seen. Look at the way it's experienced
by mortal people like you and me. Let's do that. Love, behold
here, love bestowed by God the Father. Behold what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. Back in the 1970s, there was
an American police series on the television called Kojak that
was very popular. He used to suck lollipops. And
he had a phrase, and I remembered it when I was preparing this,
and his phrase was, who loves you? Who loves you? You know,
don't worry, Kojak loves you. sinful, fallen, limited man. What's this saying? Child of
God, what's this saying? Who loves you? Who loves you?
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.
What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. This is
God the Father. This is the Creator. This is
the sustainer. This is the first source of everything. And because it's from Him, this
love is from Him, from the Father. What manner of love the Father
has bestowed upon us. Look at it. It's self-originating
from God, who is love. Look at 1 John 4 verse 8. 1 John 4 verse 8. He that loveth
knoweth not God, for God is love. God is love. It's self-sustaining
love. What manner of love? Look at
it. Look at it. Contemplate it. Take it in. Behold what manner
of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. You know, you look at some great
rivers. I saw this illustration. I thought
it was quite good. You go to Europe, there are three
great, there are many rivers, but there are three great rivers
in Europe. There's the River Rhine that
flows into the North Sea. There's the River Rhone that
flows into the Mediterranean Sea, and there's the river Danube
that flows into the Black Sea. And they all emanate from the
Alps. That's where they come from.
And you stand there and look at them, and other rivers, you
might look at our little river, Mimran, in Welin. And, you know,
in very dry summers, it dries up. And when it's been pouring
with rain for a few weeks, there's a bit of water in it. But, you
know, you always get the feeling that its resources are limited.
But you look at those great rivers of Rhine and Rhone and Danube,
And it seems to be that they're just inexhaustible in their capacity. Mind-boggling capacity. Well,
this is the love that flows from God. What manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons
of God. Stand and look and behold with
the eye of faith. It's eternal love. What manner
of love? It's eternal love. Jeremiah 31
verse 3, the Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying, yea, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love. Look, behold, child of
God, behold what manner of love the Father's bestowed upon you.
Did he start loving you when you started to get religious
and come to church? No. When did he start loving
you? If you're his, you know this.
He loved me with an everlasting love. And why did he draw you?
Why is it that now you believe him? With loving kindness I have
drawn you. It's unlike human fickle love. And what does it produce in the
child of God? A question. Why me? Why me? What did he see in me? He saw
no goodness in me. He saw nothing to recommend me.
But just because of His grace and mercy, He loved me with an
eternal love. He loved me with an infinite
love. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon
us. His love is infinite. How high can it reach? How big
can it embrace? How small can it be concerned
about? You know as God is all wise,
you know as God is all powerful, he's not limited in those aspects
of his character. In creation, you know, where is the boundary
of God's wisdom regarding creation? Look down in the tiniest, you
know, the tiniest aspect of the nucleus. So tiny that they have
built these big hadron colliders to try and explore what's in
there. So tiny it's beyond our comprehension
to understand how tight, is the wisdom of God there? Yes. What
about the galaxies? How many light years do they
appear to be away? Is God there? Yes. Where can
I go from his presence? He's infinite. In those capacities,
he's infinite. He's infinite in power. Is there
anything the Lord cannot do? No. He's infinite. And so his
love is infinite. What manner? Behold. Stop. Look at this scene with me. Look
at this scene of the love of the Father that calls us the
sons of God. This self-originating love, this
eternal love, this infinite love. You cannot reach the boundary
of the love of God for his people. You know, you go to the border
of a country and you cross that border and it stops being that
country and it starts being another country. Isn't that right? That's
what happens. Where is the boundary? Where
is the border of the love of God? You cannot find it. It's
infinite. You can never reach the limit
of the love of God. Who shall separate us, says Paul,
Romans 8.35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Where's
the boundary that's going to cut us off from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, troubles,
distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword? The
answer is obvious. Nothing. Nothing. It's inexhaustible
love. Like those great rivers of Europe
appear. Like the sun appears. You know,
those that know about the mechanisms of the sun and its nuclear reactions,
they will tell you that yes, its fuel will all be burned up
in about five billion years or however long it is. As far as
we're concerned now, it's inexhaustible. It just goes on exactly the same.
It's the same today for all practical purposes, exactly the same as
it was 5,000 years ago or 2,000 years ago. And however long God
wants to keep us here. It's unchanging love. Behold
what manner of love. Do you love somebody? Do you
always love them exactly the same? I know you don't. I know
you can't. However much you love somebody,
you fluctuate in that love because you're human and you're fallen
and you have a fleshly nature and self rises up and affects
that. But the love of God is unchanging. It never ever changes. I am the
Lord, Malachi 3, 6. I am the Lord, I change not. And the result of that, therefore,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Because of the God of love, who's
loved his people with an everlasting love, doesn't change. You sons
of Jacob, you're not consumed. James 1, 17. Things that come
down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness. No variableness. There's things
that I'm determined to do today and I can almost guarantee I'll
have changed my mind. by the end of this next week
about some of them. But with God, there is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning. Our love is changeable. His love
is not. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us. But how do we experience this
love? It's love which is experienced
through Christ alone. Through Christ alone. 1 John
4, verse 9. How is the love of God manifested?
John tells us. In this was manifested the love
of God towards us. You know, you ask the question
and he answers it, doesn't he? In this was manifested, was made
known the love of God to us. How do I know? You know, people
say, oh God loves you and has a wonderful plan. How do you
know God loves you? In this was manifested the love
of God towards us. Because that God sent his only
begotten son into the world that we might live through him. This
is why communion is so sweet to the believer. The bread and
the wine do this in remembrance of me. Remember, God sent his
son into the world that we might live through him. That his body
might be broken, his blood might be shed to pay redemption's price,
to satisfy justice. For God who cannot look upon
sin to be able to say, my justice is satisfied, I can look on these
who are in Christ, I count them righteous in Him. They are indeed
made the righteousness of God in Him. Made the righteousness. He's made it to be so. Made the righteousness of God
in Him. And it's in Christ, and in Christ
alone. In creation all around, There's
providence. In a way, God does love everybody. In a way. In the sense that he
provides the necessities of life. to people all across the planet.
He provides the necessities of life. But in Christ, in Christ,
he loves his people with this everlasting special love of a
father to his children. John 17, 23 and 26 say this. This is Jesus praying to his
father before he goes to the cross. And he says this, I in
them, our Lord Jesus Christ in his people, and thou the Father,
in me, in Christ, that they, the people, may be made perfect
in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me,
and hast loved them, that the world might know that you have
loved this people, as thou hast loved me. How does God love his
people? As he loves his Son. God loves
his people. Are you one of his people? How
do you know? You believe him. How do you know? sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. He loves you, if you're
one of his people. He loves you like he loves his
only beloved son. I've declared unto them thy name,
and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou, the Father,
hast loved me, the Lord Jesus Christ, may be in them, his people,
and I in them. Do you see how clear it is? Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God. Hiding in Christ, God loves
his people as he loves his son. And how does he love his son?
Mark 1 11, there are many other references. Thou, the voice from
heaven, on the Lord Jesus Christ, thou art my beloved son, in whom
I am well pleased. He loves his son. Beloved. Read
Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 to 7 with me. Just read these verses
now. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us." God who is rich
in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us. That's the love.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that
we should be called the sons of God. His great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, even then, hath
quickened us together with Christ by grace are ye saved, and hath
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. Look where we are. Look where
we are. That in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. What manner, what manner of love. And this is love that makes mortal
sinners into the sons of God. Mortal sinners offenders against
the justice of God, offenders against the law and nature and
person of God, whom God cannot look upon. He's a purer eyes
than to behold iniquity. Yet this love in Christ makes
mortal sinners, deserving of his condemnation in their flesh,
makes them the sons of God. Love bestowed. What manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. How does he make his people conscious
of their sonship. How does he do it? By his spirit.
He comes, he tells us, Ephesians 2.1, that we're dead in trespasses
and sins. He brings that sense of sin that
only the true children of God experience and know anything
of. Most people in this world, they go through life having no
true sense at all All they do is compare themselves with other
people. But the true child of God knows this, as Job did. Job,
the one who God points out, as men are concerned, as flesh is
concerned, there's been nobody more righteous. And yet when
Job saw what he was like against the justice and holiness and
righteousness of God, I am vile. I abhor myself. I repent in dust
and ashes. The Holy Spirit comes. Those
who are dead in trespasses and sins, He quickens. He makes alive. He regenerates. You must be born
again, said Jesus to Nicodemus. He gives them the new birth.
He gives them that new man. This Holy Spirit regeneration
comes and you cannot resist it because it's irresistible regeneration. You cannot tell him no. He will
come and he will have you. Jesus came into the world to
save his people from their sins. Do you think he's going to let
one of them go and not be with him in glory as the sons of God? Is any one of them going to miss
out on that inheritance with which they're joint heirs with
Christ? Not at all. No. He gives his people this
sense of sin. He regenerates. He shows them.
He shows them the justice of God's condemnation. He shows
them how that justice has been satisfied perfectly in what Christ
bore in the place of his people as the substitute and as the
surety. That crushing burden that we
remember when we break bread. And we share wine, what it cost,
what it cost. Teach me, teach me what it cost
me. That's that hymn, isn't it? Teach
me what it cost to save a soul, to redeem a soul. He gives the
gift of repentance, for that's the gift of God. Like faith,
repentance is the gift of God. He gives faith in Christ. And
love was the driving force of it all. From the beginning of
time, before the beginning of time, love was the driving force
of it all. Redemption, that which Christ
did. in his body being broken, and
his blood being shed, that was the price of, here's a long word,
propitiation. Do you know what that word means?
It means the turning away of anger. God who is angry with
the wicked every day because Christ went to the cross for
his people, the Holy One went to the cross and bore the sins
of his people in his own body on that tree, the anger of God
is turned away. The anger of God has fallen and
done all that it needed to do so that he says it is finished,
it is enough. And he brings the child of God
to see what Christ has accomplished, how cursed is everyone that continues
not in all things in the book of the law to do them, but Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. He's born it in the place of his people. And he brings
us to see that. He brings us to see what manner
of love. God commends his love. Romans
5, 8. God commends his love toward us. In that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. You know that? Not when he saw
some good in us, but while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. And God's love? for his elect,
brings the blessings of sonship on them. Adoption. This is the
blessing that we should be called the sons of God. Galatians 4,
5 to 7, you know where it says, when the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his son into the world, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem those who are under the
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. What manner
of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. And because ye are sons, God
hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying."
What do you cry? Daddy, Father, the God who is
a consuming fire, child of God, you call him Daddy, Father. Wherefore,
thou art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an
heir, an heir of God through Christ. Adoption, this is the
blessing of sonship. Adoption, you're adopted into
the family of God, the God with whom we must have to do. He gives
you the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins. Oh,
what a blessing. What a blessing. Thou hast forgiven.
Psalm 85 verse 2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. God will not charge his people
with sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Psalm 32 verse 1. Blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. We have
forgiveness of sin as sons. We have, now, you know, you children,
you know where mum and dad live? When you're playing out in the
garden, do you have to knock at the door before you can come
in? You come in. It's your house, isn't it? You
come in. You're allowed there, aren't
you? It's your house. You can come in. You can sit down at
the table and eat the food with the family. You're a member of
the family. Is that not right? Children of
God. The sons of God. Because of the
love that the Father's bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God, you have access into the Father's house. Access. There was a story told of the
person that needed to get to Abraham Lincoln. And he was wondering
how he could do it, and he met a little boy, and the little
boy said, oh, I'll take you. And he went with him, and all
the guards said, oh, fine, if he's with you, you can go in
and let this little boy in, because why? The little boy was the son
of Abraham Lincoln. If you know the son, you can
go into the father's house. We know the son. Children of
God, we know the son of God. We can go into the father's house.
We're accepted there. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of his
wing. We have a seat at his table. He gives us bread. What's the
food that you have? You have your favorite food,
don't you? The food that you like, the food that nourishes.
He gives us bread from heaven. As He gave manna to the children
of Israel in the wilderness, He gives bread from heaven. His
bread is His Word, which speaks of Him. It speaks of His flesh,
it speaks of His blood. It's our spiritual food, all
spiritual blessings. He gives to us in and through
our Lord Jesus Christ. And the communion that we'll
celebrate after this message is the communion in Christ's
flesh and blood. that he gave for his people.
Proverbs 9 verse 5 says, Come, eat of my bread, drink of the
wine which I have mingled. Oh, that's what we're going to
do. Come, eat of the bread of God and of the wine which he's
mingled. Remembering, remembering the
things that were done that our inheritance might be purchased
because we have an inheritance. Look at verse 2. We are the sons
of God. It doesn't yet appear what we
shall be because we're here. There's things in heaven that
we just cannot describe, that's why they're described in visions.
But we know that what? When He shall appear, when our
Lord Jesus Christ shall appear to take His people to be with
Him, we shall be like Him. What a glorious prospect. Christ-like
in glory. For we shall see Him as He is.
We'll be like Him. Joint heirs with Christ. Romans
8, 17. Children, joint heirs with Christ. This is a love that makes a distinction
from the world. This is my final point, I'll
be quick. Look at the end of verse one. Therefore, the world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not. The world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. The world, the unbelieving world,
the world that knows nothing of the things of God and of Christ,
the world is ignorant of the blessings of God's sons. And
why? Because it knew not Him. It didn't
know God. Because of the ignorance of God,
they don't know Him. It doesn't know anything about
the people of God. Expect, children of God, sons
of God, expect misunderstanding in this world from the world.
Expect it. Expect misunderstanding. You
will have as the children of God, new desires which are not
the same desires as the desires of the world around. Oh yes,
you do everything you can to cause no offense other than the
offense of the gospel. You do everything you can to
live at peace with all men as gospel precepts exhort us. But
be in no doubt The world has different desires. You find that
the things the world likes, the places the world likes, you don't
like anymore. You don't want to be there. They
have perplexity at our eternal hope. They think that there's
nothing. They think that the end of life,
the likes are just switched off and that's it. But we have a
hope and they're perplexed at it. And if it comes down to it,
and you tell them the basis of that hope, If they ask you the
reason for the hope that's in you, you'll find that there's
indignation at your doctrine of the sovereign grace and the
particular redemption of a sovereign God who is sovereign over all,
and even hatred Look at 1 John 3 verse 13 of the same chapter. Marvel not, my brethren, if the
world hate you. Jesus said in John's Gospel the
same thing. Why? Because it hated him first.
It hated him without a cause first. But you who believe, you
who believe, you who believe the Lord Jesus Christ, behold,
what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we
should be called the sons of God.