God promises in his covenant,
I will make you a blessing. We tend too much to think about
the blessing we receive and too little about God making us a
blessing to others. We shouldn't neglect the one
at the expense of the other. Oh God, make me a blessing to
your people. Thank you, David. Distance has
a way of blunting the edge of things that are disagreeable.
It's hard for you and I in this country of such great peace historically. And historically we have, as
a nation, lived in great peace, great peace. Over 80% of the
world lives in constant war. You know that? Most boys your
age around the world wake up to gunfire every day. machetes, butchers, and we don't
know much about that. We see things on the news and
we read the accounts in the papers and we've seen old newsreels
and movies about war, but we can't really enter into the horrifying
thoughts that invade the minds of many women who deal with that
every day. because we've never smelt the
hot blood and felt exploding bodies' flesh on our
flesh. We just can't imagine it. Distance
blunts the age. If we heard tanks running down
our streets, and we had to run for shelter from bombs and we
stepped across dead bodies to get from one place to the other,
we would have a different idea concerning war. Most of our heroes,
have you ever noticed most of our heroes are warriors? That says a whole lot about humanity.
Most of our heroes are men with blood all over their hands. They're warriors and we honor
them and we rightly honor them, but part of that is the fact
that we really don't know what war is. And so distance blunts
the edge of our thoughts. I'm sure that if we were more
thoroughly aware of it, we would more thoroughly appreciate what
the horror of war is. As it is with war, so it is with
death. Most everybody likes to push
that in the distance. Let's not think about that. People
don't like to go to funerals or funeral homes. Well, they
do these days because funeral homes, we're going to have a
celebration of life. Folks go and throw a party. Let
me remind you of something. Next time you go to celebrate
life at a funeral, please tell somebody he's dead. He's dead. Not a celebration
of life. It's death. It's death. And the sooner you face it, the
better. I'm sure you saw the reports this week of Mr. Chavez. Big man. Man who terrified thousands. Big man. His last reported words
and I have no reason to suspect they're not true. I'm not ready to die. Please
don't let me die. You better be ready to die. Soon
you shall die. But we like to put it off. We
don't like to think about dying. Death may be very dear, but we
like to push it into the future, something some distance from
us. The same thing's true with regard to religion. I'm talking
now about true religion. The demands of Christ are disagreeable
to the flesh. So people try to put off dealing
with a stinging conscience. They try to put off dealing with
the demands of Christ the Lord. They try to put off dealing with
the reality of death and judgment and eternity and heaven and hell. Push it into the distance. Let's
not deal with that. But everybody hopes to be saved
in the end. They entertain the idea, well,
give me a little more time and I will, I'll make things right
in time. You don't make things right.
You can't make things right. So what about the dying thief?
He was saved at the last minute and folks keep clinging to that
God gave us record of one man in this entire book who was saved
just before he died that penitent thief That none may despair that
penitent thief was saved exactly at the time of God's appointing
Exactly at the best time for him for God's glory and for God's
people to learn from him But there's only one example, lest
any should presume. Soon we must die. Pleasant things
are different. Pleasant things we try to make
as present as possible. What child doesn't begin to get
excited about Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving dinner is over?
Excited about the gifts excited about all the things are going
on Christmas time What man having once set his heart on riches? Doesn't find great pleasure in
every thought of increased wealth He gets his retirement records
and boy, it's gonna it's gonna be good and and he sees his Stocks
increasing in wealth and he gets excited when we think of any
good things a happy event, a visiting friend, a planned vacation. We do everything we can to shorten
the space as quickly as possible. We want pleasant things right
now. When God's saints talk about
heaven, it seems that they always try to shorten the distance between
themselves and glory. I never heard a song about heaven
out yonder. Have you? Never have. I don't
think I've ever seen one written. It's always heaven right here,
right now, because we're anxious for heavenly glory. A few more
rolling suns at most will land me safe on Canaan's coast. Oh, there may be many years between
the child of grace and the glory awaiting him, but he still sings
with joy and anticipation. Someone said, the way may be
rough, but it cannot be long. So smooth it with hope and share
it with song. And I want to do what I can,
not only this morning, but particularly in this message and by the ministry
of the word in general, to shorten the distance between your soul
and heaven. To shorten the time frame in
your own mind between time and eternity. Oh, how I pray. How I pray. It is my daily prayer. My prayer throughout the day.
It has been my daily prayer throughout every day for 46 years. God set my heart on heaven. Set my heart on Christ Set my
heart on eternity and I pray he'll do that for you Open your
Bibles to first John chapter 3 First John chapter 3 the title
of my message this morning is now and then and You'll see the
reason immediately Now and then. Talk to you about the way things
are now and the way things are going to be then. 1 John chapter
3 verse 2. 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. The word now, it seems to me,
is strikingly prominent in this passage. Writing by divine inspiration,
John says, beloved, now are we the sons of God. Now, I'm a child
of God. Imagine that, me. Now, I'm a
child of God. That word now has got to be one
of the most delightful, sweetest words in all the Bible. You preachers,
I'll give you an outline. Listen to this. By the spirit
of God, by faith in Christ, we have now received the atonement. We are now justified by his blood. We are now delivered from the
law. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now is our salvation nearer than
when we believed. Now we live. Now we're the children
of promise. Now we are full. Now we are rich. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. We who are by nature. Children
of wrath even as others we who are by nature the sons and daughters
of Adam Being born again are now the children of God What
then now look at our text? Here are five things clearly
stated in the text. My outline is right in front
of you number one Beloved now are we the sons of God? number
two and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. Number three,
but we know that he shall appear. And we know that when he shall
appear, number four, we shall be like him. Number five, for
we shall see him as he is. Now I spend most of my time on
the first and second parts. our first and fifth part, but
let's look at this first thing. Here's a present reality. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. With those words, the Apostle
John writes by divine inspiration and declares that which is a
present reality of grace for every believing sinner. We are
now as fuller as ever we shall be. Fully as ever we can be we
are now the sons of God by divine choice in sovereign election
The Apostle tells us in Ephesians 1 that our adoption as the sons
of God was done from eternity We're the sons of God by divine
covenant God made with us a covenant of grace from everlasting. We
read about it in Jeremiah 31, in which God says, I will be
your father and you shall be my sons and daughters. We are
the sons of God by divine regeneration, being born again by the Holy
Spirit, born into the kingdom of God. Nicodemus came to the
Lord Jesus and said, what good things should I do, or what should
I do to inherit the kingdom of God? And Lord Jesus said, you
must be born again. You must be born again. And he
said, you cannot see the kingdom of God except you're born again.
You cannot enter into the kingdom of God except you're born again.
And by those things, the Master is telling us that salvation
is not a decision you make. Spiritual life is not something
that is sort of out there and you choose to get it. No, no,
no. In order to apprehend anything
spiritual, In order to live before God, you must be born from above,
born again, regenerated, given life by God Almighty. That's
how we're the sons of God. God stepped into our hearts.
God stepped into our lives. God saved us by his grace. And
we're the sons of God by divine call to which we gladly respond
with joy. We believe on him because he
called us to be his sons. We believe on him because he's
given us the right and the power as his by his spirit to call
him our father. And now we have the authority,
the power to walk before him as the sons of God. God, the
Holy Spirit tells us that this is what it means to be the sons
of God. We are made partakers of the
divine nature. Turn over to 1 Peter, 2 Peter,
I'm sorry, chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1. Look at what the apostle Peter
tells us here. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious
faith with us, to them that have obtained like precious faith. Bob Duff, if you have faith,
it's because you obtained it. God gave it to you. through the
righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. This faith
comes to us by God's gift of righteousness because Christ
bought it for us in his obedience in death. Grace and peace be
multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus
our Lord. Grace and peace multiply in the
experience of it. Grace and peace multiply in your
heart as you know God in Christ. The more fully you're acquainted
with God, the more fully you know God, the more fully you
know the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is, all that he is, all that
he's done, the more you grow in grace and in peace before
God. according as his divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. The life is God's gift and the
godliness is God's gift. All things pertaining to spiritual
life all things pertaining to true godliness God gives to all
his people through the knowledge of him that called us to glory
and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises. Now watch this, that by these
ye might be partakers of the divine nature. Wow! Partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. God's adoption differs in this
one specific way from all earthly adoption. I have a good many
friends who have adopted children. My friends have adopted them
for noble reasons. I know fellows who adopted them
for less than noble reasons. I know one situation where a
man and his wife adopted a little boy because they couldn't have
it, but one little boy, so they adopted one for their boy to have as
a playmate. And he knew it all his life. That's not much of
a reason to adopt one. But the best of adoptions, a
father and mother adopting a child, bring a child into their home,
and they give that child a home. And they give the child an education. They give the child their name.
They give the child their wealth. They give the child all the benefits
of a loving home. They give the child a good environment
in which to live. They give the child their wealth
to give them a great inheritance when they die. But there's one
thing they can't give them. They can't give them. They can't
give that child their nature. They cannot give that child their
nature. That comes only by natural generation. Except here. God gives his children
his nature by supernatural regeneration. He makes his own to be partakers
of the divine nature. What does that mean? Does that
mean that he makes us to be God? No. Does that mean he makes us
to possess the attributes of divinity? Of course not. What
does it mean? He puts Christ in us. He puts Christ in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ is put in the believer
so that we're made new creatures in Jesus Christ the Lord. This
is the one thing God does for his own that no other father
can do for an adopted child. You see, those things that are
impossible with men are possible with God. God Almighty took this
fallen, depraved son of Adam this fatherless rebel, this cast-off
son, this wretched piece of humanity, and gave me his nature. Behold, now are we the sons of
God. Now let me tell you something
about God's work. all of God's work. None of it's pretend. None of it's pretend work. I have said, I've used language
like this, and I apologize for it. I shouldn't have. I was wrong
in doing so. And I'll probably use the same
language again, because I'm so accustomed to talking like this.
It is as though, no, Mark, that's not it. It is not as though you
were God's son, you are God's son. That's a huge difference. That's
a huge difference. He doesn't pretend that we're
his sons and and treat us as though we were his sons. He doesn't
just give us the name of his sons. He has really made us his
sons and daughters and deals with us as his sons and daughters,
making us partakers of the divine nature, possessors of his very
nature in Jesus Christ, our Lord. We are one with Christ. really and truly one with Christ. Paul writes in Ephesians 5 and
he talks about husbands loving their wives and wives being subjection
to their husbands and those things, good instruction, good instruction.
And people read that and they write books, volumes of books
written about Good family, good husband, good wife. And you men
love your wives. My soul love your wives. Ladies,
obey your husbands. Well, I ain't going to do that.
Go to hell if you want to. Obey your husbands. Obey your
husbands. That's what the scripture says.
That's what scripture says. But that's not the doctrine of
the text. That's not the doctrine of the
text. Paul said, I'm not, he said, for this cause shall a
man leave his father and his mother, and they too shall be one flesh.
But I'm not talking about a man and his wife. I'm not talking
about that. Don and Shelby have a great relationship. And bless her heart, she's been
married to me so long, she even thinks like I do sometimes. That's
sometimes good, but not always. But one flesh? No. It's never going to happen. That's
never going to happen. It's not possible for it to happen.
You can't join that body with this body. It's not going to
happen. Paul said, I'm not talking about a man and his wife. I'm
talking about Christ and his church. Now we're what? We're one. He took our nature
into union with Himself and became one of us and makes us one with
Him, giving us His nature in the new birth. So that we're
made partakers of the divine nature. This is that holiness
Paul speaks of in Hebrews 12, 14, without which no man shall
see the Lord. We are one with Christ. One with Him representatively.
One with him is our surety. One with him when he died in
our place at Calvary. I am crucified with Christ. Paul
writes in Galatians 2.20, quite literally, I have been crucified
with Christ. When he died, I died. Because
I was in him. One with him. And I am married
to him. And he, being married to me,
has come in and taken possession of me. Oh, blessed violence of
grace by which the Son of God invades the heart of chosen sinner
and causes that sinner to live by his grace. He comes in and
spoils the strong man's house. I've often spoken to you about
that silly picture of supposed to be Jesus knocking at the heart's
door. If he ever knocks at your door, he'll knock it down bolt
and bar, and you won't even know he's around until he's inside
sitting on the throne. You understand that? He comes
in by the holy violence of grace, and when he does, you're delighted
to have him. This is what it is to be partaker
of the divine nature. It is a reality, a reality. The word was really made flesh. He who knew no sin, did no sin,
could not sin. That holy, harmless, undefiled
one was made sin for us. He really was. He who is God,
infinite, eternal, incomprehensible God died at Calvary. Acts chapter 20 verse 28. God
redeemed the church with his own blood. Well, but God can't
die. No, he can't. But the God man
did. And that man, David, who is God,
died for us. Understand that? These things
are real. They're not pretend. It's not as though God died.
God died in our stead. He really has made us the righteousness
of God in him. And we really are the sons of
God, partakers of the divine nature. All right. Look at the
next line in our text. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. John tells us here that our future
is an unknown future. Now, wait a minute. That doesn't
mean that we don't know we're going to heaven. We don't know
anything about life and death and judgment and immortality
and eternity. Doesn't mean those things are
not known with certainty. It does not mean that a believer
cannot know for certain that he's a child of God. Those are
things we know. But there is much, much, much
that's unknown. It's unknown, Bobby, because
it's unthinkable in our current circumstances. It's unknown because
it is unknowable in our present state. When Paul had been translated
to the third heaven, he said, I saw and heard things that you
can't express with words. It's unknowable in this present
state. We know we must die. We know
that after death we'll meet God in judgment. We know heaven is
real. We know that hell is real. We
know that nothing sinful, corrupt, defiled, or defiling shall enter
into heaven. And we know that only Christ
can make us fit for heaven, both by his obedience and death as
our substitute and by his grace, giving us a new nature in the
new birth so that we have righteousness, not only as our record before
God, but righteousness as our nature in the new birth, making
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light. But John's primary meaning, I think, goes back to verse one.
There he tells us God called us his sons in eternal grace. He bestowed his grace upon us
in time, making us his sons. And John says, therefore, the
world knoweth us not. So here he's telling us the world,
which has no idea who and what we are, cannot comprehend God's
grace in us. or the objects of His grace laid
before us in eternity. The world knows religion. You can teach anybody. You can
teach anybody. Arminian religion, free will
religion, works religion, you can teach anybody. Calvinism,
reformed religion, it's not hard to learn. It makes perfectly
good sense. You can teach it to anybody.
You can take these children, teach them the catechism, and
I suggest that you do. So that they can recite true
doctrine back to you, and give you the scripture references,
and verify the doctrine. You can teach anybody religion. Any form of religion. Jewish,
Christian, Pagan, Catholic, Hindu, Muslim. You can teach anybody
religion. And the world knows that and
understands it. Understand it. The world knows what it approves
of and what it calls righteousness. And except for extreme things
out on the outskirts of it, all the religions of the world call
the same thing righteousness. All of them do. Now, Muslims
will have some extremes, and Hindus will have some extremes,
and fundamentalists will have some extremes, but All the world
thinks that righteousness comes by you doing good, by you dressing
right, by you talking right, by you praying a lot. And the
world knows that. The world knows that. But it's
never appeared to the world what grace is. It's never appeared to the world
who God's elect are. The world doesn't have a clue
who they are. The world can't see it. Brother
Tim James used to say, folks, I want them to see Jesus in me.
And he'd say, the world didn't see Jesus in Jesus. They're not
going to see him in you. That's not going to happen. The
world doesn't know him. The world doesn't know him. And
they don't know you, not if you're his. And the world hasn't a clue
what awaits us at present. We're veiled and we travel through
the world incognito, just like our master did. His glory was
veiled in flesh. His Godhead was veiled in infirmity. His power was hidden in weakness
under sorrow. His riches were buried under
poverty and shame. The world knew him not, though
he was made flesh. And this present world is not
the place for the fullness of God's grace upon us to be known. Yes, all fullness is in Christ
and all the fullness of Christ is ours and we're complete in
him. But this is not the place of our unveiling. This is not
the place where we shall be known. That's around the corner. But
Oscar Sue, Ephesians 2, 7 says, God's going to stand Oscar Bailey
and Don Fortner with all the host of his elect and say, look
here what my grace has done. Before wandering demons in hell
and before all the reprobate in the world, God says, these
are mine. And they're virgins. And they're
holy. and they're clean, and they're
white. But that's not going to be seen
here. That's not going to be seen here.
You see, real time is not the place and time for accolades.
That comes afterwards. Winter is not a time you expect
to go out and see flowers blooming in the flower garden. That comes
in the spring. And soon, we who carries the
Savior's cross here, will wear his crown in glory. And we in whom he has planted
his grace will bud forth in the fullness of life in glory. To everything there's a season.
This is not the time of glory for us. It doth not yet appear
what we shall be. Here's the third thing. But we
know that he shall appear. We know he shall appear. We generally talk about the second
coming of Christ. That's not the common way spoken
of in scripture. It's not commonly spoken of as
his second coming. It's commonly spoken of as his
appearance. John says in Revelation 1, 7, Behold, he cometh. As if to say, no, not as if to
say, there I go again. He really is saying, he's coming. Now, wait a minute. John said
that 2000 years ago. He said, behold, he's coming.
Watch your steps. He's running this way. Behold,
he cometh. How can that be? Ever since he
went to glory, he's been coming back for us. and soon he shall
appear. Every event of providence, every
day of time is his coming. So that we stand, if we stand
rightly in this world, on the tiptoe of faith. I think I see
him. I believe I feel the mist. Behold,
he cometh! But brother Don, How can we be
expected to live in the immediate prospect of His coming when John
and Paul and Peter were themselves expecting Him to come while they
lived and He didn't show up? Where is the promise of His coming?
Behold, He cometh. He cometh. Shelby and I are going to get
on the plane tomorrow, the Lord willing. And I've already made plans of
what I'm going to do Friday. Already got plans, man. Already
determined if I've got the strength and I get back here to do it,
what I'm gonna do in the office Friday night. Already planning on it.
But, man, that's a long ways off to make plans. It's not before
days. I'll be gone Monday back Friday.
It's four days. There's no time. The Savior,
well, He's just been gone three days. No, He hasn't. He's just been
gone two days. Just two days, and he's coming
back, and soon he shall appear. We know that he shall appear,
appear in his glory. Now, watch this sweet assurance. We shall be like him. Soon, oh
blessed, blessed hope, soon we shall be like him. Then shall
I be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. Having a body like
his body, sinless, incorruptible, painless, spiritual, clothed
with beauty and power and immortality, yet a real human body. Raised a spiritual body, but
still a real human body, just like Moses and Elijah had when
Peter, James, and John saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration. I'll have a soul like his soul,
perfect, instructed, developed, strengthened, delivered from
temptation, from conflict, suffering, and evil and I'll possess all
the dignities and glories he possesses as a man. We are with
Christ kings and priests unto God and he says you shall judge
the world so that we shall be like him. Then in that great
day all my noblest ambitions and desires will be fulfilled. I started to say I don't want
much, but that's not so. You who want the world don't
want much. You who want wealth don't want
much. You who want security don't want
much. You who want to prepare for your
grandchildren's futures don't want much. I want a lot. I want complete, perfect, uninterrupted
communion with my Redeemer. I want complete, absolute consecration
to Him. Nothing between my soul and my
Savior. I want complete conformity to
Him. I want to be like Him. I want
to be like Him. I want to think like He thinks.
I want to see things the way He sees them. I want to behave
as He behaved on this earth as a man, doing the will of God. I want to feel things as He feels
them. I want to be like Him. And I shall be. You too, my brother. You too, my sister. Now watch
this. For we shall see him as he is. Oh, what a ravishing vision. What a ravishing vision. We read in Revelation 22, verse
4, of this consummate apex of heavenly glory. They shall see His face. There are lots, lots, lots of
things going to happen when God takes us to glory. We will see
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and sit down with them in our Father's
kingdom. We will see the apostles and prophets who've given us
the word of God. We will speak with Gabriel and
Seraphim and Cherubim. We'll speak with angels. We will see Our loved ones who've gone before
us, our brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, mothers and
fathers, with Christ in glory. We'll see those dear companions
with whom we've labored in this world for God's glory. And those
things, I wouldn't discount those for anything. I wouldn't discount
those for anything. I've got some people I'm anxious
to see. I've got some folks I'm anxious to see. Things that bother
us about them here won't bother us then. I get notes all the
time from folks asking me about Dr. Gill. And sometimes he and
I differ a little bit. If you want to know where, I
won't tell you. But they'll ask us, ask me, well, what about
what Gill said about that? And my response is, I say, Michael,
if that still bothers me when I see him, I'll ask him about
it. I make it just so that matter from whom I've learned so much. That all fades to nothing. Soon,
I'm going to see His face. Face to face with Christ my Savior. Face to face, what will it be? When with rapture I behold Him,
Jesus Christ who died for me. I don't have a clue what that
shall be except this, that vision will have an indescribably magnificent
transforming effect upon God's elect when we see him. We shall be like him for we shall
see him as he is. Now, we've got some difficulties.
Then, amen.