Everybody already knows this,
but Dawn and Maggie had a baby Monday night. Lynn and I are
not on social media, so we find out things, uh, later than everybody
else. So, um, and also Nancy Benton's
mother died, and they went to Kansas for that funeral, a member
of their family. I've entitled this message, We
Shall Be like him. 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. First John chapter three, verse
two. We shall be like him. Now this we does not include
every son of Adam. You know that. Not everybody's
gonna be just like him. Well, who is going to be just
like him? I can answer that in a whole
lot of different ways. I could say the elect. I could say those
who believe. I could say those for whom Christ
died. I could say those who have been born of the spirit. That's
true. But there is a particular person
that would appreciate being like him. That person who says from the
depths of their heart, Oh, wretched man that I am. That person only is the person
who can truly appreciate this thing of being made just like
him. Now in the body of this death
that Paul spoke of, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? In the body of this sin, we are
prevented from seeing him as he is. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians
13, we know in part. We see through a glass darkly. We're living in a sinful body
that causes us to be unable to see as we would. We always have sin and unbelief
breathing on us. And I understand why John said
it does not yet appear what we shall be. We can't quite get
a hold of that. Now, John was a teenager when
he was with the Lord. Isn't that glorious? He was a teenager. And he's writing
some 80 or 90 years later. He was the last apostle living,
and this was written somewhere around the turn of the first
century. And after walking with the Lord
all of those years, being a chosen apostle, being inspired by God
to write holy scripture, this special man yet says with regard
to being made like Christ, it does not yet appear what we shall
be. I do not understand what it's going to be like to be without
sin, to be holy, to be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ.
When I talk about that, I realize that I don't know what I'm talking
about is what John is saying. Can you imagine being without sin?
I can't even, I can't grasp that. Yet that
is the heritage of every child of God. We shall be like him,
perfectly conformed to his image. Now, we know that when he shall
appear, the purpose of predestination will be realized. Whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of His Son. That is going to be experienced
in its fullest. And we're going to be like Him,
and there's three reasons we're going to be like Him. Now this
is, like I said, the heritage of every believer. There are
three reasons why we're going to be like Him. I might be able
to give more, but these are the three that came to mind. First
of all, because of God's predestinating purpose. If God predestinated
something, it's gonna come past it. Without question, whom He
did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son. Here's a second reason. There's
not going to be any sin that's going to prevent us from seeing
Him. The sin question for every believer has been dealt with.
Christ dealt with it, and He put it away so that every believer
And one of these will experience perfect likeness to Christ, no
sin to cloud the view, and they'll be able to see Him as He is.
And here's the third reason, that every believer's going to
be just like Him, because we're going to see Him as He is. And
that sight, that glorious sight of seeing Him as He is, will
transform everyone who sees Him as He is into perfect likeness
to Christ. as He is. We shall see Him as
He is. You know, right now, as He is,
so are we. Turn to 1 John chapter 4, just
a page across, verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment Because as
he is, so are we in this world right now. Is he holy? So am I. Because as he is, we are in this
world. Is he perfect to the Father? Is he perfectly righteous? Is
he altogether lovely to the Father? As He is, so are we in this world
right now. But you know, we can only see
this by faith. We can't see it by sight, can we? I can't see
myself as altogether lovely to the Father. I can't see myself
as sinless before God. I can't see these things, but
I believe them. Because God's word says, as He
is, so are we in this world. We might not be able to see these
things, We believe them. We know these things by faith
and not by sight. You see, we see right now through
a glass, darkly. That word is where we get the
word enigma from. It's an enigma to me. We see,
we do see. But we see through a glass darkly,
but then face to face. We see partially now, but then
we'll see him in all of his fullness. We see distantly now, but then
in his very presence. This is the sure and certain
heritage of every child of God. We'll see him as he is. And in seeing him as he is, we
will be just like him. Now, back to our text in 1 John
3, verse 2. Beloved, every child of God, beloved by
God, beloved to each other, every child of God, beloved now, right
now, are we the sons of God? You know what that means? That means right now that God
is my Father, and I have all the privileges and the blessings
of sonship with Him. I have Him for me. If God be
for us, Who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him
freely give us all things? I have him as my father with
all the privileges of sonship. Where he is by adoption, adopted
children, what does the primary thought of adoption come to your
mind, that somebody's adopted. That means if you're adopted,
that means you were chosen to be somebody's child. That's what
adoption means. You were chosen by God to be
his child, but not only are we his children by adoption, we're
his children by birth. being born of the spirit of his
own will begat he us through the word of truth so that I have
if I'm born again if I'm born from above I have the very nature
of God in me Christ in you the hope of glory the new man the
inner man the holy nature I'm a child by adoption, God chose
me, and I'm a child by birth. He birthed me into the kingdom
of heaven. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. Believe that. By grace, right now, you're God's
child. You know what that means? He
loves you. I'm not talking about some kind
of generic love that he loves you and you might end up in hell
anyway. No, I'm not talking about a love like that. That love's
non-existent. I'm talking about a saving love, the love of his
grace. Beloved now are we the sons of
God. And he says next, it doth not
appear what we shall be. Now I love the way John makes
this statement. We have no idea what it means to be perfectly
conformed to his image. We have no idea what it would
mean to be sinless, to stand before God without fault, to
never worry, to have perfect faith, to have perfect peace,
to have perfect bliss. We don't know what that means.
We don't know what It's going to be like sin, the
body of this death, death disables us right now. It does not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know. Even though it doesn't appear
what we shall be, even though we can't see this relationship
by sight, this thing of being as he is, We know. We know that when He shall appear
we shall be like Him. We know. Now this is one of the
unique things about our holy religion. We know. This is more
than I hope so. I hope so. We know. We no and the we is every believer
we know now we know because of the unction spoken of in first
john chapter 2 look in verse 21 or verse 20 but first john
chapter 2 verse 20 but you have an unction an anointing this
is speaking of every believer you have an unction an anointing
from the holy one and you know All things. Now obviously he's
not speaking of omniscience. Only God has omniscience. But
you know all things in the things of salvation. You know all things. Look in verse 26. These things
have I written unto you. Verse chapter two. These things
have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the
anointing which you've received, that's the same word translated
unction in verse 20. The anointing which you've received
of Him abideth in you. And you need not that any man
teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has been taught to
you, you shall abide in Him. Now, every believer, because
he's been born of God, knows all things intuitively. You might not have even heard
it, but you know it. And as soon as you hear the truth, you know
it's what you've already believed, don't you? You know all things. With this unction, we have it
before we even hear it. And upon hearing, we know the
truth, you know. Now this is something that's
unique to the gospel, this statement, we know, we know. Now let me
give you some scriptures with this language in it and see how
it hits you. For we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty
before God. How does that resonate with you?
Do you know this? Do you know that you have no excuses for
your sins? Do you know that you stand guilty
before God and cannot vindicate yourself in any way? Every believer
knows that. Don't have to be argued with.
If you say, I don't believe that, well, that's because you're not
a believer. Any believer knows that. Romans chapter 7, verse
14, Paul said, we know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal, fleshly, sold
under sin. And Paul's speaking as a believer
when he says that. We know that the law is spiritual. Listen to me, if you think you've
kept one commandment one time, you just don't understand the
law of God. If you understood the law of God, here's all you
could say. The law is spiritual, exceeding
high. I'm carnal soul under sin. Does that resonate with you?
What about this? Romans 7, verse 18. Paul said,
I know. I know that in me, that is, in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I know too, Paul. I know. What about this? And we know. Paul's speaking as the spokesman
of every believer when he says, we know. And we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are called according to his purpose. You see, that just lines
up with the God we know, doesn't it? He's in absolute control
of everything. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 12, that
we might know the things freely given us of God. Now, if you're
a believer, you know anything you have from God, He gave to
you freely. It wasn't in response to some
good work you performed that obligated Him to give it to you.
You know He did it freely by His grace. Galatians 2, verse
16, Paul says, knowing. I love this language, knowing,
there's no question marks here, knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Christ. Not by faith in Christ,
but by the faith of Christ. that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not
the works of the law. For by the works of the law,
there shall no man living be justified in his sight. You know, I have this confidence
that every believer I'm speaking to, when I speak of these, I
know from the scripture, they say, I know that too. I know
that too. 2 Corinthians 8, 9, you know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, rich in praise,
rich in righteousness, yet for your sakes he became poor. He became poverty stricken. He
lost everything that you through his poverty might be rich. I love this, Paul said in 1 Timothy
1, 8, 9, we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully. Knowing this, that the law was
not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and the disobedient.
You know, every believer understands the right use of the law. All
it's given is to expose sin, and they know that a righteous
man needs no law. 2 Timothy 1, 12, I know whom
I have believed, Paul said. What's the proof, Paul? Here
it is. I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. Now listen to me right now. If
I've never done it before, I'm doing it right now. I'm committing
the entire salvation of my soul to him only. My hands are off. If he doesn't do it all, there's
no hope for me. That's the commitment I'm making. A belief in works in any way
is a failure to commit. First Peter 118, you know you
were not redeemed by corruptible things, but by the precious blood
of Christ. You know that, don't you? Your
redemption was by his precious blood. John says later on in
this book, in 1 John 5, verse 18, we know that whatsoever is
born of God sinneth not. Can something that's born of
God, that's birthed by God, that's brought about by Him, can that
sin? No. No, we know that. And then he
says in 1 John 5, verse 20, we know we are of God. and the whole world lieth in
wickedness. Now, I love the way this, and
there's a lot more of this thing of we know. And John says, we
know, we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is. We know that when he shall appear,
we shall be like him. Now, who's the we that shall
be like him? The we who knows. The we who knows. And we know
that's the we. The same we that shall see him
as he is, the we that this we that will be like him is not
everybody. I think of the Lord's words in John chapter 17, verse
nine. He said, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them that you've given me. Some will
cry when He comes for the mountains and the rocks to fall upon them
and to hide them from the face of Him that sits on the throne
and from the wrath of the Lamb. Some people aren't going to be
made like Him on His return. Well, who is the we? The we is
all of the elect. You know, I love saying that. I never get tired of election.
Love it. Glorifies God. The we is all
the elect. The we is all for whom Christ
died. The we is all that God the Holy
Spirit has given life to. But let me tell you how you can
tell whether you're included in that. You might think, well, how can
I know if I'm one of the elect? How can I know if Christ died
for me? How can I know if God the Holy Spirit has called me?
Let me show you. Turn to John chapter 6. After this message that he preached
in verse 66, after this message in John chapter 6, and you can
read it on your own, from that time, many of his disciples went
back. and walk no more with him. 5,000, he watched walk away. And one of the most sobering
things about that passage of scripture is he didn't ask them
to return. He didn't say, let me rephrase that. Maybe you didn't
understand it. Let me say it differently. No,
he watched them leave. He knew exactly why they were
leaving. And he didn't ask them to come back. But he looked at
the 12. who stayed, and he said, verse 67, will you also go away? You can if you want. You want
to leave with him? Here's your opportunity. Will
you also go away? Verse 68, then Simon Peter answered
him, Lord, To whom shall we go? It's not
like we have an option. Thou hast the words of eternal
life and we, here's the we, and we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ. The Son of the Living God. Now,
I'm not asking you if you believe you're a Christian, or if you
believe you're elect, or if you believe you're saved, or if you
believe Christ died for you, or if you believe you've been
born again. Just forget all that. I'm asking you this. Do you believe
He's the Christ? God's Christ? God's prophet? God's priest? God's king? The
Son of the Living God. Now, that's the way. That's the
way. They believe he's the Christ,
the son of the living God. Now John says, we shall be like
him. We shall be like him. This is something that's for
sure. We shall be like him. I love the I wills and you shalls
of the Bible. Psalm 133, thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. They shall all be taught of God
Every man, therefore, that hath heard and learned of the Father
cometh unto me. Other sheep I have that are not
of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. John chapter 10, verse 9, I am
the door, the door of entrance. He's it. He's it, it's not anything
you do. I'm the door, by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved. It's an absolute certainty. I give unto my sheep eternal
life and they shall never die. perish. Thou shalt call his name
Jesus for he shall. He shall. There's no doubt about
it. There's no way this can be miscarried
or messed up. He shall save his people from
their sins. He said to Peter. Upon this rock
is confession of me. I shall build my church. And the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not? What could
possibly prevent him? What can you do to mess this
up? How shall he not freely give us all things? We shall be like him. You don't feel much like him
now, do you? I sure don't. Somebody says, I feel like I'm
getting there. Well, I kind of have my doubts about you, to
be honest with you. But this is the promise to every
believer. We shall be like him. I will not have any sin. I'll know. Even As I know, I'll
have no unbelief. I'll never worry again about
anything. I'll have perfect joy, perfect
peace. I'll be perfectly conformed to
His image. Now this is the promise of every
child of God. What a thing to look forward to. We shall be
like Him. The problem with that statement
is, there's no problem with the statement, it's a glorious statement,
but I don't really know what that means because I haven't
seen him as he is yet. I like the way it sounds. I'll be like
him. I'll be perfect in God's sight. I'll not have any sin, but hard
to get hold of that. But God's purpose and predestination
will be realized. Whom he did predestinate, he
did so that they might be conformed to the image of his son. Now, here is why. Here's why
we'll be like him. We shall see him as he is. Now, every believer wants to
see the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a great desire every believer
has, and that's a scriptural desire. Moses wanted to see Him. He said, I beseech you, show
me your glory. David wanted to see Him. He said,
as for me, I will behold thy face. In righteousness, I'll
be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Job wanted to see
Him. He said, In my flesh, after worms
have destroyed this body, and after the resurrection has taken
place, in my flesh, I'll see God, whom mine eyes shall see,
and not another's. Now, in this thing of seeing
Him, I've seen Him in creation, a
little bit of it. You have to. The heavens declare
the glory of God. We see him in creation, he's
the creator. And we see him in creation, we
say something of his power and his goodness and so on. I've seen him in his word. I've seen the Lord Jesus Christ
in this book, in the word preached. I've seen him. I've seen him in you. You might not see him in you,
but I see him in you. I really do. I've seen him in
his people. I've seen him in his providence. How often have you seen the Lord's
providential workings for you? Now, let me remind you, don't
say that was providential. That's a denial of the meaning
of providence in the first place. Everything is providential. And
I've seen him in his providence. But like Paul said, we see through
a glass darkly. And all these things that I've
said we've seen, we see through a glass. darkly. Isn't that so? I love that scripture where it
says he covereth himself with light as with a garment. He takes a garment of radiant
sunlight and he covers himself to hide the splendor. That's
how glorious he is. And we have seen him through
a glass darkly. And you know we've all desired
to see him as he was. I've I love to think of him in
his pre-incarnate glory with the Father. I like to think of
what it must have been like when that babe lied in a manger. Wouldn't
you like to see that? I've often thought I'd like to
see what he was like when he was a little boy, working in the carpenter
shop, subject to his parents, knowing he was their God. That's
amazing, isn't it? I love to think of him in his
earthly ministry. Wouldn't you have loved to have
heard his voice? Seen the way his eyes looked?
Felt his embrace? Oh, how would you have liked
to have heard him say to the leper, I will be thou clean? How would you have loved to hear
him speak to that woman who was taken in adultery? Woman, where
are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? Neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. How would
you have loved to heard him speak to that woman at the well? When she said, I know the Messiah
comes. When he comes, he'll tell us all things. He said, I that
speak unto thee am he. Oh, we would love to see him
as he was. But you know what? We're not
going to. We're not going to. We're going to see Him as He
is. Crowned with glory and honor. The brightness of God's glory
and the express image of His person. We're going to see him
as the lion of the tribe of Judah, who is worthy to take the book
from him that sit on the throne. And we're going to see that same
lion is the lamb as it had been slain. Now, when that's talking
about him as a lamb having been slain, that means we're going
to see his scars. We're going to see those places where he
was wounded. And in this beautific vision,
when we see him as he is, we're not going to be conscious of
sin anymore. We won't remember ever being a sinner. We won't
remember any evil thing we've done. We won't remember any evil
thing done to us. All we're going to see is his
beauty and his glory. And we're going to know, as we
behold those scars, we're going to know the only reason we're
there is because of those scars. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. We'll see Him as the God-man sitting on the
throne. Sitting, not pacing back and
forth, worrying about what's taking place. Sitting in complete
control. Sitting, having finished the
work, nothing left to do. Sitting before His Father. sitting
in absolute sovereignty, sitting on a throne of mercy, sitting
on a throne of grace. We will see him as he is, and
one look, one glimpse of seeing him as he is will perfectly conform
us to his image. Now, you don't feel much like
him right now. I don't either. But I'm going to be just like
him. You know, if you were in debt
and you knew that your rich relative was going to soon die and leave
you millions of dollars, you wouldn't be much worried about
that debt, would you? Beloved, we're soon gonna be
just like Him. Seeing Him as He is, and back
to our text, this is what we'll consider next week in more detail. Verse three, and every man that hath this
hope, this hope of seeing him as he is. Every man that hath
this hope in him. Every man that hath this hope
in him. What's he gonna do? Every man
that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. We shall see him as he is. And when by his grace I shall
look on his face, that will be glory, be glory for me. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you for the
glorious things that you've made known in your
word, that we're going to be allowed
to see him as he is, and that that sight of him as he is will
perfectly conform us to his image so that we'll be just like him. Lord, our prayer is, as we hear
your son say, behold, I come quickly, even so, come Lord Jesus. Amen. God bless.