1 John 3. Susan told me that
there are several people who have not signed up to get their
pictures taken. And if you don't want to get your picture taken,
give one just so we can get some pictures of everybody for the
directory. I know some of you don't want
to, but it's free. 1 John 3. Let's read verse 3 again. I've entitled this message And every man, not most of them, every single
one of them without any exception. Every man that hath this hope
in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, this hope in him on the inside. Every man, no exceptions to this
rule, that hath this hope. Let me say a couple of things
about this hope, this hope he's speaking of. What is this hope
that every believer has? It's more than a feeling. Now,
hope is a feeling, and it's a good feeling, isn't it? It's a good
thing to have hope. It's a good thing to feel hope.
And we're thankful for that feeling. But you know, you can feel hope
and it might not be a good ground for that hope. So I'm talking
about somebody who actually possesses this hope. The same hope that
that one possessed who was in the house with the blood over
the door. What kind of hope did that person
have? Whether he felt it, I'm sure some felt real good about
it and some felt kind of iffy, no doubt. Some had complete assurance. Some were scared to death. But
everyone that was in the house with the blood over the door
had a 100% hope. Everybody that was in the house
with the blood over the door, God passed them by in mercy. He said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. And that's a glorious hope, isn't
it? It's a hope we possess, not just a hope we feel, but a hope
we possess, the hope of being in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this hope is a hope that's
in Him. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Paul said, I live yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Now, every man that hath this
hope in him, in the Lord Jesus Christ and in him, in his heart,
what does he do? The Scripture says he purifies
himself. Notice it doesn't say that the
Lord purifies him, though he does, but it says he purifies
himself. You see, if you have this hope,
it's going to affect your life every time. Every man that has
this hope, he's going to seek to clean himself up. Now, you
know that doesn't have anything to do with justification, doesn't
really have anything to do with sanctification. But I know this,
if you love Christ, you want your life to honor and glorify
Him. You want to be obedient to Him. You want to purify yourself.
Every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself even
as he is pure. Listen to the scripture. Having
2 Corinthians 7, 1, having these promises dearly beloved, having
therefore these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God. James said in James 4, verse
8, cleanse your hands, ye sinners. and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Peter says in 1 Peter 1, verse
22, seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit. You see, it's only by God the
Holy Spirit that we do this. It's only as He enables us, but
we are called upon to purify ourselves. Every man that has
this hope in him purifieth himself. Notice, it doesn't say he's already
purified himself. This is a continual thing, because
we're always dirty in and of ourselves. We always have a reason
to purify ourselves. Is there ever a time when you
don't have reason to clean yourself up? No, it's a continual thing. And notice he doesn't say every
man should purify himself. He says every man that has this
hope purifies. It's a continual thing that we're
going to be doing until we die. And we have this model. Every man that had this hope
in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Now, here is the goal. Here is
the objective. Perfect conformity to the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every man that hath this hope
in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Now, let's look
at what led John to make this statement. Look in verse 1. He
says, Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of
God? What manner of love? that we should be called the
sons of God. Now, who are these people who
are called sons of God? Now, there is no higher place
to be than to be a son of God. It doesn't get any better than
that, does it? It doesn't get any more exalted than that to
be a son of the living God. Who are these people who are
called the sons of God? They're sinners saved by grace. There are those who believe,
those for whom Christ died, those that were given to Him by the
Father in eternal election, those who have been called by the Holy
Spirit, sinners saved by grace. Would that describe you? A sinner.
A sinner. And all that the Bible means
by that word, save. by the free grace of God. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. What did it take for us to become
the sons of God? What manner of love? Listen to
this. He spared not his own son, but delivered him up. for us
all. That's the manner of love. He spared not his own son. Now,
I want you to think about this, every believer. God gave his
son for you. It wasn't generic. Everybody
he gave his son for, he had them on his heart. Your name. He loved you so much. that it can't even be described.
He gave His only begotten and well-beloved Son. He gave His
Son to die. He took your sin and placed it
upon His Son. And He poured His wrath upon
His Son. And He took the righteousness
of His Son and placed it upon you. What manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. Who calls us sons of God? A lot of folks will call themselves
sons of God, but who calls us sons of God here? That's what
a name, what a glorious name to be called a son of God. Who
calls us sons of God? Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. The Lord Jesus Christ calls us
sons of God. He said to his disciples, I go
to my God and your God. I go to my father and your father. The Holy Spirit calls us sons
of God. He sends forth the spirit of
his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. The Spirit bears
witness with our spirit that we are children of God. This is who calls us sons of
God, the one who knows God the Father, God the Son, God the
Holy Spirit. This is not just some self-proclaimed
title. This is what God calls His people,
sons of God. Turn with me to John chapter
1 for a moment. John chapter 1. Verse 12, But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name, which were born, which were birthed,
not of blood, I'm not a son of God because my mom or dad were.
Not of the will of the flesh. Not because a bunch of guys got
together and started praying for revival and God responded
to that and gave me new birth because of that. Not because
of the will of man. Not because of an act of man's
will where he decided to become a son of God and he decided to
let God save him. No, no. They're born of God. Sons of God. Now, how? How can I actually
be a son of God? First, because Christ is the
Son of God. He's not a son of God, He's the
Son of God. He's God the Son. He said in
Hebrews chapter 2, we read this in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 11,
and it's a quotation from the Psalms, Psalms, both he that
sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one for
the which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. Because
I'm one with Christ, because he's a son, not a son. I don't because he's the son. I'm a son because I'm united
to him. That's how I made a true son
of God. Is he the son of God? Then I'm
a son of God because whatever he is. I am. We are sons by adoption. in love having predestinated
us unto the adoption of sons." We're sons by birth. You know,
I used to think about being unadopted. I remember when I was a kid.
because I didn't have any better sins, it's a blessing to be adopted.
But I thought how horrible it would be to be adopted. That
means your first mommy and daddy didn't love you. And I just think about
that and it would bother me, it would trouble me. I remember
I had some neighbors that were adopted and I just always felt
so sorry for them. No, this was a blessing to be
adopted. I'm an adopted son. Thank God
for adoption. If there wasn't an adoption,
I wouldn't be a son. But not only am I adopted son, I'm a
son by birth. As many as received Him, to them
gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them which
believe on His name, which were born, which were birthed, birthed
by the Spirit of God, which were born not of blood, not of the
will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. What a privilege. What'd I do
with my glasses? What a privilege to be a son
of God with the almighty eternal God as your father. Look what John says next in our
text. First John chapter three. Behold, what manner of love the
father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons
of God, therefore, The world knoweth us not. Now that word know means more
than just knowing the right stuff about us. The world, this world
that has no love for God, this world that has no love for the
gospel, this world that has no love for the Lord Jesus Christ,
it doesn't know us. It doesn't recognize us. It didn't
recognize Him. You know, the Lord's brothers
and sisters didn't know He was the Son of God. That's so amazing
to me. He grew up in that home, and
His brothers and sisters didn't get it. They didn't understand
who He was. You know, we think, and I understand
this desire, I want people to see Christ in me. And I understand
that. I want people to see Christ in
me. But let me tell you this. If the world sees Christ in you,
they're going to hate you for it. They hated Him. He was a
despised man, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. And if
the world sees Christ in me, the world's going to have no
love for me. Now the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. Verse two. Beloved. Beloved of God. Beloved of John. Beloved, I like that term, beloved,
to be beloved of God. And I'm looking at some people
who are beloved to me, as God is my witness. What a beautiful term for God's
people, beloved. Beloved now are we the sons of
God, a present religion. Now are we the sons of God? Now, while faith is a confident
expectation with regard to the future, faith is always in the
present and the present has an intimate connection with the
future. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. And because we are now, we will
be then. we will always be. Hold your finger there and turn
to Revelation 22. Verse 11. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. If I die unjust, I will spend
eternity unjust. And he which is filthy, let him
be filthy still. If I die filthy, I will stay
filthy throughout all eternity. And he that is righteous. This describes every believer
righteous, the very righteousness of God. He that is righteous,
let him be righteous still, righteous throughout eternity. And he that
is holy, every believer is holy, holy brethren, partakers of the
holy calling. He that is holy, let him be holy
still throughout all eternity. Beloved now are we the sons of
God and what we are now we shall be forever. There is therefore
now no condemnation right now right this second. There is no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus and there never
will be. Romans 5 9 says being now justified justified. Oh, I love that word justified,
not guilty without sin before God being now justified by his
blood. We shall be saved from wrath
through him. Hebrews 924, Christ is said to
be in heaven itself now. Now, while I'm speaking, there's
one in heaven representing my interest before the father. right
this moment. Justification is now. Not one of these days, but now. Sanctification Being holy before
God is now. This is a holiness that knows
no progress, knows no degrees. I'm as holy right now as I can
be. However holy the Lord Jesus Christ is, that's how holy I
am and what this proves to me. It proves to me how strong the
flesh is and how the flesh brings us down because when we say something
like that, we believe it, but we just can't get into it. I'm
as holy as I'll ever be. Yes. Yes, you can't get any more
holy than you are right now in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
your holiness. You really believe that? He's
made unto us sanctification. He's our holiness right now.
Right now, I'm glorified because if Christ is glorified, I am
too. And the scripture says that we
are seated together in the heavenlies in Him. Paul said in Romans 13, 11, now
is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Back to our,
well we're still there, 1 John chapter 3 verse 2. Beloved, now
are we the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be." Now, this is John. This is the beloved disciple.
This is the one who laid his head upon the breast of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He seems to have had some kind
of special relationship with Christ over and above any of
the rest of them did. John. I mean, this is somebody. This is John writing under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He said, I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day. He was totally writing under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when he made this statement.
And yet he says, it doth not yet appear what we shall be. We don't have any idea. what
it's like to be without sin in our experience. It doth not yet
appear what we shall be when we're finally perfectly conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ. That's the goal. That's what
we desire. But as far as the experience
of it, John, even writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
says, it doth not yet appear what we shall be. Can you imagine
what it would be to be without sin? I can't. I can't even fantasize about
it. To be without sin, without a sinful thought, without a sinful
motive. Everything I do is sin. Everything. Oh, to be free from that. But
I can't imagine what it would be like. Can you imagine having
a perfectly pure, holy thought with no sin in it? And that would
be the way you'd be all the time. It does not yet appear what we
shall be. We can't understand that. But we know that, we know, I love the language
of this, we know this is not something we're just guessing
about. We know that when he shall appear, don't you look forward to his
appearance? Him coming in the clouds, everybody's gonna know
who he is. All of His enemies will be made
to bow and confess that He is Lord. All of His children will
bow willingly and confess that He is Lord. Can you imagine His
appearance? And John says, we know that when
He shall appear, we, us sons of God, us sinners saved by grace,
those of us who have this hope, This blessed hope, a hope of
being accepted by God. We know that when He shall appear,
we shall be like Him. We shall be perfectly conformed
to His image. We're not going to be imitations. We're going to be like Him. We're not going to be copies
We're going to be like Him. And here's why. We shall see Him as He is. We won't see Him as He was. We
won't see Him as He was a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes
in a manger. We won't see him as he was, a
perfect youth growing up in subjection to his parents. We won't see
him as he was, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We
won't see him as he was, nailed to a cross in pain, indescribable,
forsaken by his father, All alone. We won't see him as he was. We'll
see him as he is. As the lamb that was slain, but
he lives. He liveth. That Lamb who was
slain will see to be the Lion of the tribe of Judah. We'll
see Him as the Almighty God, God over all, blessed forever,
the only begotten of the Father, the Lord of lords and the King
of kings. We shall see Him as He is. is, and everybody who sees Him
as He is, that sight will cause them to be just like Him. Verse 3, Now every man that hath This
hope. This hope. This hope of, I've
got a hope that when I stand before God, I'm going to be without
sin. I'm going to be accepted. I've
a hope that I'm going to hear Him say to me, well done thou
good and faithful servant. Because if Christ did well, I
did well. I really believe that. I'm united
to Him. Whatever Christ did, I did. I have a hope that when
my name is called, justified, not guilty, enter thou into the
joy of thy Lord." This hope. This hope in Him. It's not a
hope in me. It's not a hope in you. It's
a hope in Him. I really believe that in Him
is all righteousness. Surely in the Lord have I righteousness. Tom read that in the back in
Isaiah 45, 22. Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness
and strength. That's what every believer will
confess. Everyone that hath this hope, this particular hope, in
Him. Everybody that has this hope
in Him, Christ in you, the hope of glory. I think it means both. It's the hope in Him and it's
the hope in Him. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Paul said, I live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Everybody that has this hope
in Him purifies himself. This hope doesn't puff up. It
doesn't fill one with pride. But everyone that has this hope
in him purifies himself. This hope does not in any way
give license to sin. Faith, having this hope in him,
causes one to purify himself. And if you're a believer, this
is what you want. You would be without sin, wouldn't
you? you would be perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
And if you have this hope in Him, it doesn't just mean you
know you ought to purify. You seek to honor Him. Continually seeks to purify Himself. Continually. He seeks to purify
Himself in all areas. He doesn't leave anything alone.
Now, how does one go about purifying themselves? That's a big question,
isn't it? How? When I see in my own experience
I drink iniquity like water, what is this thing about me purifying
myself? How does one go about purifying
themselves? Let me give you two or three
scriptures. First turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. But we all talking about every
believer, all of God's elect second Corinthians chapter three,
verse 18. But we all. With open face. Beholding as in a glass. The glory of the Lord, and that's
how we see the glory of the Lord, isn't it? As a glass we see through
a glass. Darkly, Paul said. We all, as
with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by
the Spirit of the Lord. Now, beholding as a glass the
glory of the Lord is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what that's talking about. Beholding as in a glass the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You look to Christ. If I look
to Christ, You know, I can't look at myself
in a self-righteous way when I look to Him. Can't do it. Can't do it. When I saw Him,
my comeliness turned to corruption. When I look to Christ, I can't
look down my nose at you. I can't be unmerciful toward
you. If I look to Christ, now if I'm
not looking to Christ, I will. But if I look to Christ, I'm
changed into His image. Looking to Him, you become like
Him. Now, that's how one purifies
himself, by looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, by faith. Turn
with me to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. Verse 22, seeing you have purified your
souls, there's that word, in obeying the truth through the
Spirit. Now here's how I purify myself
in obeying the truth. What is it to obey the truth?
It's to believe the truth. It's to believe the truth concerning
God and His character as it's revealed in this book. It's to
believe what this book says about you. It's to believe the gospel. You've purified your souls in
obedience to the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren. See that you love one another
with a pure heart, fervently, white hot." Turn to James chapter 4. James chapter 4. Verse 6, But he giveth more grace. Isn't
that great? He giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves,
therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he'll flee
from you. Draw nigh to God, and he'll draw nigh to you. Cleanse
your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned
to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves
in the sight of the Lord." Now, that's how I purify my soul.
humbling myself in the sight of the Lord, that he shall lift
you up in due time." And you know, in this thing of purifying
ourself, that's a big order, isn't it? You can only do it
through the Spirit of God. But in this thing of purifying
ourselves, we only have one model. One example to follow. Do you
know anytime you follow a man, it's going to be bad. You'll
just follow the bad things about him. You'll just try to imitate
him. And it's no good. You're following a copy. You're following an imitation.
Following the Lord Jesus Christ. Imitating Him by His grace. Oh, that the Lord would enable
me, enable you to purify. ourselves. One last scripture,
turn to second Corinthians chapter seven. Verse one. Having therefore these promises. Dearly beloved. What promises? Well, hold your finger there
and turn back. Second Corinthians one. I love this passage of scripture.
Verse 17. When I therefore was thus minded,
did I use lightness? Or the things that I purposed
to do, do I purpose according to the flesh? That with me there
should be yea, yea, and nay, nay, yes and no to the same thing? But as God is true, our word
toward you was not yea and nay, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and
Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea, for all the
promises of God in Him are yes. Not yes and no. Not yes, if. There, yay. If he promised it,
it's already come to pass. It's altogether true. You know,
most preaching is what I call yay-nay preaching. Is salvation
by grace? Yes, salvation is by grace. But
no, if you don't do your part, it won't work. That's yay-nay
preaching. All the promises of God in him
are Yes, and amen. So be it unto the glory of God. Now, having these promises, dearly
beloved, chapter 7, verse 1, let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in
the fear of God. Having this hope in us. Every man has this hope in him.
Yes, it's a hope of being in Christ, but it's also a hope
on the inside. Having this hope in us. Now, there are certain people that
if you're around them, You conduct yourself very carefully, don't
you? You don't want to offend them. You have much respect for
them. And you don't want to be offensive in any way to them.
And you conduct yourself carefully. Having this hope in us, the Lord Jesus in me, I don't
want to grieve him. I don't want to offend him. Oh,
may the Lord cause us to be very careful of offending this glorious
one in our hearts. Every man that has this hope
in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Let's pray.