Amazing Grace

I'm speaking to you today on
the subject, Amazing Grace, and my text will be taken from the
book of 1 John, chapter 3, verse 1. 1 John 3, verse 1. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called sons
of God. You know, when the prophet Isaiah
wrote of the coming Redeemer, the coming Messiah in Isaiah
7.14, he said, Behold, the word is amazing, incredible, behold,
the Lord himself shall give you a sign, a virgin shall conceive
and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel. Then when the angels announced
the birth of this son, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into
the world, when the angels appeared to the shepherds on the Judean
hillsides that evening. They said, Behold, amazing, incredible,
we bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to
all people, unto you is born this day in the city of David
a Savior, Christ the Lord. Incredible, amazing, God in the
flesh, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Behold, amazing,
And then when John the Baptist had delivered his message of
repentance, and he had announced the coming of the Messiah, prepare
ye the way of the Lord, the kingdom of God is at hand. He pointed
to the carpenter from Nazareth, and he uttered that word himself. Behold, incredible, amazing. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. And then the scripture tells
us that one day, the clouds will roll back, and the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and the dead in Christ shall rise, and the Christ shall
be in that day. Behold, amazing, incredible,
he cometh, he cometh with clouds." Our text begins with the same
word, the same word that Isaiah used, amazing, incredible, The
Lord himself shall give you a sign, a virgin shall conceive." The
same word that the angels used in announcing the coming of Jesus
Christ. The same word that John the Baptist
used down there by the River Jordan when he pointed to Jesus
Christ and said, Behold, the Lamb of God. The same word that
shall be used when our Lord comes back to this earth again. Behold,
he cometh. That same word. Amazing, incredible,
unbelievable. Behold is used by John in the
text that I read a few moments ago. God-given announcements
are made with behold. And no less amazing is this announcement
right here, behold, what manner of love, what amazing, incredible,
unbelieving love that God has bestowed upon us, us, sinful
creatures, sons of Adam, fallen rebels, what manner of love that
God hath bestowed upon us, that we of all people should be called
the sons of God, children of God. Now there's a foolish dream
about in our day concerning the fatherhood of God, that is that
God is the father of all creation and all creatures, that all men
are the children of God. Now that's deceitful And that's
gross error. It's not according to the scripture.
And I can show you that in just two or three verses. Our Lord
said, if God were your father, you would love me. Our Lord encountered
those religious Pharisees who rebelled against his message
and against his ministry. And he said, you are of your
father, the devil. He said, God is not your father,
for if he were your father, you would believe me. And then in
another scripture, John 1, 11, the scripture says, he came to
his own, and his own received him not, but as many as received
him, to them gave he this privilege, this blessed privilege of becoming
sons of God, to them who were born of God. And then another
scripture, in 1 John 5, 2, by this we know that we are children
of God, if we love God and keep his commandments. Behold, what
manner of love, what amazing, incredible, unbelieving love,
that God hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children
of God. And this deserves a behold just
as much as any other announcement in the Scripture, because it
is amazing. John Newton wrote about it when he wrote Amazing
Grace. Amazing Grace. How sweet the that saved a wretch
like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. I was blind, but now I see."
I'd like for you to open your Bibles to that scripture that
I've just read. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
children of God. And I'd like to take these statements
one at a time in the first five or six verses of 1 John, that's
the epistle of John. Chapter 3, verse 1. Now look
at the first one. What manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us. Herein is love. Here is real
love. You know, when you ask someone
to define love, they say, well, a mother's love, or a father's
love, or a brother's love, or a sweetheart's love. But here
is love, God said. Here is the definition of love.
Here is an example of love. Here is an illustration of love.
Not that we loved him, but that he loved us. It was his love
that made Christ our surety in eternity past, before we were
ever born, before we ever sinned, before we ever fell. It was his
love for us, everlasting love. He said, I've drawn you with
an everlasting love. And then it was his love that
sent Christ into the world. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son. that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have everlasting life." God loved the world. The
world didn't love God. We love him because he first
loved us. What manner of love, what immutable
love, unchangeable love, everlasting love, infinite love, love that
gave his son, his only begotten well-beloved son, it was his
love that sent Christ into the world. It was his love that led
him to Calvary's cross to bear our sins in his body on the tree.
It was his love. Christ loved his own, and having
loved his own, he loved them to the end, even to the death
of Calvary's cross. It was his love that led him
to that cross, and it was his love that kept us in his favor
and in his providence and under his protective hand, even while
we served other gods It was his love that kept Saul of Tarsus
even on his road of persecution and blasphemy. It was his love
that restrained you and kept you and protected you and provided
for you until God brought you to a knowledge of himself. It
was not your love for him, it was his love for you. It was
his love one day that awakened us from our dark state and from
our lost estate and awakened us from our rebellion and revealed
Christ to our hearts and brought us to cry, Lord, be merciful
to me, a sinner. Our love is in response to his.
His love is first. We seek him because he first
sought us. We call on God because God has
called on us. We love him because he first
loved us. It was his love for me that nailed
him to the tree to die in agony for all my sins. Was ever love
so strong? was ever crimed so wrong that
Jesus suffered long for all my sins." That's the way John opens
that third chapter. Behold, incredible, amazing! What manner of love, what infinite
love, what unexplainable love, what indescribable love that
God should make us his children, that God should so love us that
we should be called sons of God. Sons of God! With all our infirmities,
think of them. With all our iniquities, think
about them. With all our sins and our faults,
we are right now sons of God. That's what he's saying. It's
not some future promise or future work, but a pleasant possession.
He says, we are now the sons of God. Behold what manner of
love God hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God, verse 2. Beloved, now, right now, are
we the sons of God. We're the sons of God how? Well,
first of all, we're sons of God by divine adoption. In Ephesians
chapter 1, verse 5, the scripture says, having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his own will. It pleased God to make
you his people. It pleased God to make you his
children. Our God has come to the orphans
of sin and he has come with the legal papers of justification
and the parental rights purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ and
cleared through the courts of glory And he has adopted us into
his family. We are the sons of God by divine
adoption. God has chosen us. God has elected
us. God has made us his children
according to the good pleasure of his own will. Amazing. Incredible. God has visited this orphan's
home in this world and chose us to be his children. And then
we're the sons of God by regenerating power. In John 1, verse 12, it
says, "...to as many as received him. To them gave he the right,
the privilege, to become sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name, which were born, not of blood." See, we didn't
inherit this. We didn't receive this blessing
from our parents. The only thing we inherited from
our parents was sin. Adam begat a sinful son, and
on down the line. But we had been adopted by God
and brought into God's family and made sons, not by blood,
not by the will of the flesh, not because we volunteered, not
because of the will of man, but we were born of God. And not
only did God adopt us and make us his children by divine adoption,
but he made us his children by regenerating power. We were born
again. we were born the first time of
the flesh, and the second time of the Holy Spirit. Now, you
know, we can adopt children. I could go down to the orphan's
home, and if the courts would let me, I could adopt a son or
a daughter. But there's no way I could give
that son or daughter my nature. No way. Now, if I beget a child,
my wife gives birth to a child, that child will look like me,
he'll have some some habits like mine or personality traits or
characteristics or it will have my nature because it's my son
or daughter. But when you adopt a child, that's
somebody else's child that you've taken into your home, made your
own. What a blessed event, what a blessed, wonderful thing to
do. But God adopts his children and
also regenerates them and gives them his nature. He begats in
us a new nature. A new spirit. He gives us his
divine nature so that his children take on his personality and take
on his characteristics and take on his nature. Those that are
adopted. They're also regenerated. And
then we're sons of God by the indwelling spirit. Paul wrote
in Romans 8, as many as are led by the spirit of God are the
sons of God. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God are the sons of God, and you have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby you cry, My Father, My Father. Yes, now
are we sons of God. And being sons of God, being
children of God, then we are heirs of God. Now, your children
are your heirs, even your adopted children. All of them who are
born into your family or adopted into your family, they become
your heirs. And we, having been adopted into
the family of God and made children of God by Jesus Christ, we are
heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Read on. Behold what manner of love, what
amazing, incredible love, that we should be called sons of God.
And now are we sons of God. Right now we are heirs of God.
And beloved, he says in verse 2, it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. But when he shall appear, we
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. I don't need
to tell you this, for you already know it. But we're still in the
flesh. We're still humans, aren't we? We're still human beings. As
our Lord was in the flesh, even so we are in the flesh. And as the world did not know
him, They do not know us. That's what the scripture says.
The world does not know us. It did not know him. Why, they
saw him and they said, well, who does he think he is? Well,
we know him. He's from Nazareth. We know his
mother. Is not this Jesus, the son of
Joseph? Is not this the carpenter? Who
does he think he is, claiming to be God's son? Why, he's not
God's son. He's Joseph's son, and Mary's
son, and Joseph's brother, and Judah's brother, and we know
his sister. Who does he think he is? Well, we know who he is. He's the carpenter. We know his
family. What does he mean he's the son
of God? The world didn't know him. And the world does not know
us. And with all of our infirmities
and our failures and our faults, we don't look very much like
sons of God. And sometimes we don't act much
like sons of God. And unfortunately, sometimes
we don't feel much like children of God do. Sometimes we doubt
still our own minds. And we see so much in us that's
not God-like. Isn't that right? And we don't
sometimes feel that we are sons of God. But you know, some of
the great children of God of past days have felt that way.
David mourned God's absence. He mourned when the heavens seemed
to be brass and God didn't seem to hear. Old John Newton wrote
a hymn, "'Tis a point I long to know, and oft it gives me
anxious thoughts." Do I love the Lord or no? Am I his or am
I not? When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild, with so much unbelief and so much
sin, can I really call myself God's child? Yes, by faith in
Christ, not by works, not by human righteousness, not by my
merit, not by personal inheritance. But by the death of Christ, by
the blood of Christ, by the mercy of Christ, by the grace of Christ,
by the mediatorial work of Christ, by the power of God's Spirit,
now are we the sons of God. And no, it does not yet appear
what we shall be. Not yet. You can't look at a
believer now and tell what he will be. You can't look at a
believer now and tell what he's going to be. But when he shall
appear, oh, when he comes back again, when Christ returns to
this earth, He's going to raise our vile bodies. That's what
he says over in Philippians 3, verse 21. He shall change our
vile bodies, and they are, they're vile, they're flesh. And that's
all they are, from the sole of the feet to the top of the head,
they're flesh. And he's going to change these vile bodies.
They're going to be sown in corruption, but he's going to raise them
in incorruption. They're going to be sown in weakness, and he'll
raise them in power. They're going to be sown or buried
in shame, and he's going to raise them in glory, and he's going
to make our bodies like unto his glorious body. It doesn't now appear what we
shall be, but when he shall appear, we're going to be like him, like
him in mind. Yes, I know in part. I don't
feel like I know very much. But then I shall know as I have
also been known and am known. We're going to be like him in
body. We're going to be free from all infirmities and all
weaknesses and all sickness and all pain and all disease and
all death, and we're going to be like him in soul. We're going
to be holy as he is holy. When he shall appear, we're going
to be like him. And someone asked blind Fanny
Crosby one time. You know, she was blind all of
her life, never saw anything. She was always blind. Wrote thousands
of great gospel hymns. And someone asked her one time,
how are you going to know Christ when he appears at the resurrection
morning? How are you going to know him?
You've always been in darkness and you've never seen the light.
How are you going to know Christ? And she wrote these words. When
my life's work is ended and I cross the narrow tide, when that bright
and glorious morning I shall see, I shall know my Redeemer
when I reach the other side and hear smiles will be the first
to welcome me. I shall know him, I shall know
him, as redeemed by his side I shall stand. I shall know him,
I shall know him by the print of the nails in his hand. When he shall appear, we are
going to be like him." Now, verse 3 says, And every man that hath
this hope in him, purifies himself as Christ is pure. Every man
that has this hope, this hope. Now, my friends, I want you to
listen to me a moment. Redemption and salvation is a
whole lot more than just association or affiliation with a religious
organization. Salvation and redemption is a
whole lot more than just believing some doctrines and keeping the
rules of religion and going to church on Sunday and paying your
This thing of salvation is a living union with a living Lord. That's
what salvation is. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. You're brought into a living
relationship with Christ. He's not just a historical character. He's not just a God down in a
building or reigning in a denomination. He's not just a myth or a fable
or a fact of theology. He's a person. And he dwells
in us. We're brought into a vine-branch
relationship with him, a head-body relationship, a sheep-and-shepherd
relationship. He walks with us. He lives within
us. That's what salvation is. And
salvation is also to walk in newness of life in submission
to a living Lord. Christ's word becomes our word,
his commandments our commandments, his will our desire. And this
thing of salvation is to have a blessed hope of someday being
like Christ. He that has this hope that someday
he's going to be like Christ. It's a living hope. It's a life-changing
hope. It's a blessed hope. It's a true
hope. We're going to be like Christ.
And the person whose heart beats in this direction, whose mind
is turned in this direction, whose soul is desirous of this
hope, this revelation and this manifestation, He endeavors to
walk with Christ. He hungers and thirsts for righteousness.
He loves the law of God. He loves the people of God. He
loves the fellowship of God. It's his life. It's not just
an empty religious profession, it's his life. Now watch the
next verse. And sons of God not only know Christ, but they know
what sin is. It says in verse 4, sin is the
transgression of the law. Now, sons of God know what sin
is. I know the average person. About all the average person
thinks about sin is this. It's an offense against their
fellow man. That's what sin is. Sin is doing somebody wrong.
Sin is a crime against society. Sin is a violation of a church
rule or a church law. But sons of God know that sin
is a transgression of God's law. David said, against thee and
thee only have I sinned. Sin has to do with God. Very
few people have confessed their sins. They might have talked
to a human about another human, or something they did to the
third human, or against the fourth human. But to confess sin is
to realize that sin is a transgression of God's law. It's an offense
against God. It's a violation of the perfect
mind and perfect will and perfect glory of a perfect God. It has
to do with God. It doesn't have to do with violations
of human rights. It has to do with violation of
divine rights, and that's the reason some church members think
they live without sin, is because they don't offend a human being.
But sin is against God. And you haven't repented of sin
until you've repented toward God. You haven't mourned over
sin until you've mourned apart, not with somebody, but mourned
apart, personally, individually, for your transgression of the
law of God. This knowledge of what sin is,
it's a transgression of God's law. His perfect law, the law
of the heart, the law of the soul, the law of the mind, the
law of the thoughts, the law of the motive, this is the knowledge
that made Isaiah to cry, I am a man of unclean lips. It was
this knowledge that made Paul to cry, O wretched man that I
am. It was this knowledge that made the righteous Daniel to
say, my comeliness, my beauty has melted into corruption. It
was this knowledge that made Job, of whom God himself said
he's an upright man, to cry, I hate myself, I repent and sacrifice. No matter what my relation is
to the society or to people or to government, I violated God's
law. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength, and we don't
do it. Thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself, and we don't do it. God Almighty demands a perfect
thought and a perfect imagination and a perfect motive, and our
motives are not perfect, they are most imperfect. The child
of God knows what sin is. And not only that, but look at
the next verse. Sons of God know who Christ is, and they know
what he did and they know why he did it. It says in verse 5,
and you know. Now, sin is a transgression of
God's law, and you know that he was manifested to take away
our sin. In that good news, talk about,
Behold, what manner of love God hath bestowed upon us, that we
of all people should be called sons of God. Now are we the sons
of God? Oh, it does not appear what we
shall be, but when he shall appear, when he comes, it's going to
appear, because we're going to be like him, we're going to see
him like he is. Now, we know what seeing is,
and we know what we've done. We've transgressed God's law.
But we also know this, that Jesus Christ was manifested. He was
incarnate. He was God in the flesh. He came
down here to this earth to take away sin, our sin. He was manifested,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am
chief. He was manifested to take away sin. He took away sin. He
put it away. He cast it into the depths of
the sea. He blotted out our transgressions. He put them away by the sacrifice
of himself. Now watch this. And in him there
is no sin. You who are in Christ have no
sin. Paul wrote in Colossians 1.22,
he reconciled us in the body of his flesh, through death,
to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable, not in the sight
of men, but in God's sight. He was manifested to take away
sin, and in him there is no sin, if you are in Christ. Now this
message is on cassette tape. Two messages available on each
tape. If you'd like to have them to
play for your friends or family or give to someone, write to
me. They're available at three dollars for two messages. Until
next week, I bid you a very pleasant good day.

Amazing Grace

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Amazing Grace

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book