I use the phrase quite frequently,
well, it is as it is. You probably use that phrase
quite frequently too. It is as it is. Well, the Lord
Jesus Christ is as he is. And what you and I see and experience
of him has absolutely no bearing on His isness." Aren't you thankful
it's that way? He is as He is. He said, I am that I am. And I'm thankful it's that way.
But we're given a special promise in this passage of Scripture
in 1 John 3, verse 2. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But when we
know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as He is. And do you know the moment you
or I see Him as He is, we'll be perfectly conformed to His
image. That's the power of seeing Him
as He is. I've entitled this message, As
He Is. John says in verse 1, Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of
God." How astounding! That we. Who's the we? Well, I could say It's everybody
that God saves. Who's the us? Behold what manner
of love God has bestowed upon us. It's the same us of whom
it's said, if God be for us, who can be against us? It's every
believer. It's every Christian. It's all
of the elect of God. It's everybody for whom Christ
died. That's the us. Behold, what manner of love the
father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. Now here is what is most astounding
of all. When John says, behold, he's
speaking in utter amazement. The demographic represented by
the word us is sinners. I've talked about the elect.
I've talked about believers. I've talked about Christians,
but I like this. The us is sinners. Behold, what manner of love the
father had bestowed upon us who are sinners, that we should be
called the sons of God. Now I'm the son of Charles and
Sharon Nyberg. If the Lord tarries, His return
in a couple of generations, they'll be forgotten. Nobody will think
about them. Nobody will remember them. They
won't even be brought up by anybody. Nobody will think about them.
They're gone. You will not. What else? Me too. Nobody's going
to think about me. I'm not writing any books. I'm
not leaving a legacy. I'll be forgotten. Absolutely
forgotten. The son of Charles and Sharon
Nybert. But if I'm a son of God, I'm never forgotten. We're born, we live and we die,
but a son of God, with Christ not ashamed to call us brethren,
join heirs with Him, if I'm a son of God. This is what he's talking
about. There's nothing like this, actually
being a son of God. We're God, the living God, the
creator of the universe, the one who has all power, the one
who's gracious and merciful. He's my father. That's what it
is to be a son of God, is to have God as my father. Now, I
don't care how good your dad is, this is infinitely better,
to have God as your father. You know, the Lord said, when
you pray to your father, he didn't just say to our father, he said,
when you pray to your father, pray thusly, a son of God with God
as my father. Now look what he says next. Therefore
the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. Now, even though
I'm a son of God, the world doesn't say anything in me, but you know
what? They didn't say anything in him
either, did they? He was despised and rejected. a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from
him. He was despised, and listen to this, we esteemed him not. I don't know of any greater crime
than that. We esteemed him not. The world has no esteem for the
Lord Jesus Christ. The world doesn't have any esteem
for us either. Who are you? How many folks go to your church?
First question people ask, how many of them are you? Well, you
don't have any influence, you don't have any power, you all
don't even count, who are you? The world knows us not. But does
that bother you in the least? It knew him not. And if he knows
me, I'm not real concerned about anybody else knowing me. Verse
two. Beloved, now, Are we the sons
of God? Not tomorrow, but right now,
present tense, right now, are we the sons of God? Now, I like
this word now. There's therefore now, no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Right now, there's no condemnation
for me. Romans 5, 9 says, being now justified
by his blood. Right now, I'm justified. You
know what that means? It means I'm not guilty. It doesn't
simply mean I'm forgiven. It's good being forgiven. I love
being forgiven. I want my sins forgiven, but
this is better. I'm not guilty. I stand just before God right
now, having his righteousness right now. I'm justified by his
blood. Listen to this scripture. Hebrews
9 24 says, for Christ has not entered into the holy place made
with hands, which are figures of the true, but into heaven
itself now. to appear in the presence of
God for us. Right now, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, is appearing in the very presence of God for
us, his people. Beloved, now, not tomorrow, right
now, are we the sons of God, with all of those privileges,
having God as our Father. And next he says, it does not
yet appear what we shall be. I'm glad John says this. John's
writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He is literally,
what he's saying is God breathed. And yet when he speaks of what
we shall be, he says, we don't know. It doesn't appear. Can
you imagine, can you even, begin to imagine what it would be like
to be without sin. Can you imagine what it would
be like to have perfect motives, perfect love for God, no evil
thoughts, no vain imaginations. We can't even fantasize as to
what that would be like. I can't get a hold of that to
save my life, to think that I'll be just like the Lord Jesus Christ
without sin. I can't even imagine what all
that means. But John said, it doth not yet
appear what we shall be. John couldn't figure it out either.
To be without sin. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know. Now, I love that language. We know. Not we have some kind of vague
hope, but we know. You know, the gospel is made
of things we know. You know, the Lord said, you shall know
the truth. And that means a whole lot more
than having right information. When you know the truth, truly,
you love the truth, don't you? Because they received not the
love of the truth, that passage of scripture Paul just read.
To know is to love. It's not just a cognitive knowledge. It's a rejoicing. You shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free. I think of what
our Lord said. He said, we speak that which
we do know, and we testify that which we've seen. And I love
the way the Lord says we here. He doesn't say I speak what I
know, and I testify what I've seen, although he does. But he
speaks in the we. He's talking about every believer.
Everyone united to Him. We speak that which we do know,
and we testify that which we have seen. Romans 8.28 says, and we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose. We know it. Somebody
says, I don't know it. I do. I do. We speak that which
we do know. Paul said in Romans 7.18, for
I know that in me, that is in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing. And beloved, I know that. I know
it. This isn't just speculative knowledge.
This is the truth. I know it. We speak that which we do know.
Peter said in 1 Peter 1.18, For you know that you were not redeemed
with corruptible things such as silver and gold. You know
that. You were redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. Don't you know that? Your only
redemption is His precious blood. Romans 3.19 says, For we know
that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
stand guilty before God. We know that. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. I love the way he says that. You know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, Yet for your
sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be
rich." Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.18,
we know that the law is good. Don't you know that if a man
use it lawfully? I know whom I have believed,
Paul said, and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which
I've committed to him against that day. You see how the scriptures
use this language, we know. There's nothing wrong with being
dogmatic. You ought to be dogmatic regarding what you know. Now,
if you don't know, you can't be dogmatic about it. But if
you know, you know, don't you? We know. And look what he says.
Next in this passage of scripture 1st John chapter 3 verse 2 for
we know that when he shall appear now we know he's going to appear
don't we we know because he told us he would he said i'm coming
again he said i go and prepare a place for you and if i go and
prepare a place for you i'll come again and receive you to
myself that where i am there you may be also we know that
he told us that the thief knew that The thief had what we would
consider the smallest amount of knowledge, I suppose. I mean,
he just had Christ revealed to him, but he knew that Christ
was going to return in the kingdom. Lord, remember me when you come
in your kingdom. We know that when he shall appear.
Don't you know he's going to appear? He's coming again and
He's going to right all wrong. Oh, we look forward to His return.
Even so, come Lord Jesus. He's going to wipe this place
clean. He's going to save His people and He's going to burn
up everything else. Even so, come Lord Jesus. We
know that. We know that when He shall appear,
what's it say? We shall be like Him. And here's why. We shall see
him as he is. Now here's the promise. We. That's talking about every believer.
That's not talking about some kind of special group or subgroup
of believers. It's talking about every one
of God's people, every believer. We're going to be perfectly conformed
to His image. We're going to be like Him because
we're going to see Him as He is. We're not going to see Him
as He was. You know, that's the way people
like to see Him now. They like those nativity scenes
and see Him as a babe in a manger swaddling clothes. Everybody
loves that. A lot of folks love seeing Him hanging on that cross, man-made cross, they love seeing
that, you know, the crucifix, the cross. We're not going to
see him as he was. We're going to see him as he
is. We're not going to see him as
a young man in a carpenter shop. We're not going to see him being
weary, sitting on a well in a hot day, tired and thirsty in the
weakness of his flesh. We won't see him as he went about
doing good to those who hated him. We're not gonna see him
on a cross with a crown of thorns, but with a crown of glory. We'll not see him abased, but
glorified and exalted. We'll see the nail print, but
we won't see the nails. We won't see him as he was, despised
and rejected of men. but as the God of glory. We won't see him as a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief, but as he is the mighty conqueror,
we shall see him as he is. We won't see him as he was with
his father's awful frown upon him, his father having turned
his back on him. You think of when the Lord was
on the cross, you know what he, I, it scares me to even say this,
but I know what he dreaded most was isolation from his father.
Being separated from his father, being left to himself. That's
why he cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's what was going on on the
cross. My sin became his sin. He bore all the vileness and
the filthiness of my sin when he was made sin and he felt nothing
but the Father's awful frown. We won't see him like that. but
we'll see him with the Father's smile upon him. This is my beloved
son, in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him." Veiled in flesh, the Godhead
see, hailed incarnate deity, Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel, we, every believer. Now this is every believer's
heritage. This is sure. We should see him
as he is. You see, we see him by faith
now, then we'll see him by sight. We see through the glass darkly
now, but then face to face. We see partially now, but then
we will behold Him in the fullness of the Godhead in His body. We
see now with unbelief breathing on our neck, and we're aware
of it constantly. There's never a time when we're
not made to cry, I believe, Lord, help out my unbelief. Because
we always have an old nature that's unbelieving, that can't
do anything but that. But then that old nature will be put away,
and I'll not have to deal with unbelief anymore. Here we see
distantly, like the Gadarene demonic who saw the Lord Jesus,
the scripture says, afar off. and ran and worshipped Him. Isn't
that the way we see Him now? Far off. Oh, we see enough to
hit the dirt and bow and worship Him, but we don't see Him as
we one day will. We will see Him as He is, with
His wounds, looking at the scars. That's
always going to be before us. And what is so... I can't get
a hold of this, but at that time, I won't even remember what it's
like to be a sinner. I won't have any consciousness whatsoever
of sin. I won't have a vile thought.
I won't have a cold thought. I won't have a selfish thought.
I won't even remember what it's like to be there. If you could
remember it, it wouldn't be heaven, would it? No, we'll be utterly
without sin. And we will know beyond the shadow
of a doubt that the only reason we're there is because of those
wounds we see, those scars that are still there. We'll see him
as he is. He still has his scars. You know,
he's going to be the only one in heaven with scars. Everybody
else is going to have glorified bodies. They're going to be perfect.
They're going to be. But he will always bear his scars, his glory
as the savior of sinners. When we see him as he is. We'll
see that he is all together lovely. That's what we'll see. Now verse
three, we'll be like him for we shall
see him as he is. And every man that hath this
hope in him, in the Lord Jesus Christ. purifieth himself, even
as he is pure." Now, what is this hope that every man that's
a believer has? Well, here it is, verse 4. Whosoever
committed sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. Now, what's he talking about?
Breaking God's commandments. What is sin? It's breaking, there's
a lot of definitions, but here's the one John uses, breaking a
commandment, any commandment. Whosoever transgresses the law
commits sin for sin is the transgression of the law. And you know, verse
five, here's something we know. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. Did he do it? Now you think about that. Yes,
he did it. And in him. is no sin. And this is the hope
I have in Him. The hope I have in Him is that in Him is no sin. And everybody has this hope in
Him. And this is our boldness before
God. In Him is no sin. Everybody has this hope in Him.
Purifieth himself. He doesn't look at this as an
excuse for sin. He purifieth himself even as he is pure. As he is. Now turn over to 1
John chapter 4. Just turn the page. Verse 14, and we have seen and do testify
that the father sent the son to be the savior of the world. The Father didn't send the Son
to condemn the world. The world already was condemned.
He sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son that all believing in Him
should not perish, but have eternal life. Aren't you thankful the
Father sent Him to be the Savior? And I like this term, the Savior
of the world. I like that. He came to be the Savior of the
world. Verse 15, whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son
of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. Now, do you make that confession?
Do you confess? Now, you only confess, you only
truly confess what you believe. If you believe in your heart
that Jesus Christ is God the Son, the eternal uncreated Son
of God, you'll confess it, won't you? If you believe that, you'll
confess. Do you confess that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? Every believer does just like
that, that eunuch. What hinders me from being baptized?
If you believe with all your heart, you may. I believe that
Jesus Christ is the son of God. What he believed in his heart,
he confessed out loud, didn't he? He confessed this. Now, whoso,
whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the son of God, God
dwelleth in him and he in God. Verse 16. And we have known and
believed the love that God hath to us. Now, I used to have a
hard time with that verse of scripture because I didn't understand
it. Because I wasn't always sure
that God loved me. And so I couldn't enter into this thing if we've
known and believed that God loved, you know, the love that God hath
to us. Because I thought, well, how do I know that? But you know,
this word believe, Yes, you believe it, but it means more than that.
And I like the way some of the other versions translate this.
I think it really clears up what it really means. We have known
and relied upon the love that God has to us. We have known
and relied upon. Now, what do you mean by that?
Well, what kind of love does God have to us? Behold, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Nothing shall separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now that's
the love I'm relying on. I'm relying on the Lord loving
His Son and me being in His Son united to Him. Therefore, the
Lord loves me. That's what I'm relying on. We
have known and relied upon the love that God hath to us. Verse 16, God is love. And he that dwelleth in love
dwelleth in God and God in him. Now herein is our love made perfect,
mature. complete, that we may have boldness
in the day of judgment. Now I want you to think of that
concept. Standing before a thrice holy
God and being bold and confident, not being afraid. Being bold,
bold shall I stand in that great day, for who ought to my charge
to lay, fully absolved from these I am, from sin's tremendous curse
and shame. Now you can't, and I can't get
a hold of that right now because we just don't feel that way.
But on judgment day, we'll have it. And here's why. We ought
to have it right now, here's why. Maybe we do have it right
now, here's why. Verse 17, herein is our love
made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as he is, so not will we be at that time, but as he
is, so are we in this world right now. As he is, as he is, why
is he? He's righteous. God the Father looks at him and
there's no sin. He's perfectly kept God's holy
law. He's altogether righteous. There's no sin in him. As he
is, so are we in this world right now. He's holy. He's perfectly accepted by His
Father. His Father looks upon Him and
He's well pleased with Him. He looks at Him and He's delighted
with Him. He says, there's no spot in thee. Thou art all fair,
my love, thou art all fair. That's how He sees His blessed
Son. Right now, as He is. So are we in this world right
now, united to Him. You know, He saved. You know,
we pray all the time. How many times? How often have
I prayed, Lord, save me? Aren't you already saved? Well,
I still pray all the time. I pray it all the time. Lord,
save me. Save me. Save me. Save me from my sins.
Save me out of this mess. Save me. Save me. Well, the Lord
saved. He said, save me for the waters
are coming to my soul. And the Lord saved him. How saved
is the Lord? How saved is the Lord? That's
how saved every believer is because as he is, so are we in this world. He's sanctified without spot,
unblameable, unreprovable. So are we in this world. As he is, so are we in the world
now. If that's so, and I shouldn't
even say if that's so, it is so, it is so. God's word said
it. God's word said it. What about judgment do you have
to fear? Is there anything that keeps
you from being bold? That's so. As he is right now, so are we
in this world. But you know what? As he is right
now, here's another way he is. He's despised by this world,
isn't he? So are we. He's unrecognized
by this world. So are we. He's despised by the religious.
So are we. But listen to this. Right now,
he's the friend of sinners. Isn't he? He's the friend of
sinners. And so are we. We identify with them. So are we. Boldness on the day
of judgment. Perfectly conformed to his image,
we shall see him as he is. And as he is, so are we in this
world right now. Oh, how glorious. that he is as he is. And isn't it wonderful to know
that he is as he is and to have this blessed hope. I'm going
to see him as he is. And when I see him as he is,
such as that sight to see him as he is, because we can't see
him as he is right now. But when I see him as he is, I'll be perfectly
conformed to his image. And because of that, I can have
boldness on judgment day because as he is, so are we in this world. Glorious gospel. Let's pray.