Let us look again at 1 John chapter
3 and the first three verses. What manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of
God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 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. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. What a wonderful passage of scripture
that we are looking at tonight. The first word calls for our
attention, behold. In the Bible, this word behold
is used in three different ways. It's used for demonstration. When John the Baptist pointed
out the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, behold, the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. It's also used for admiration
in the Lamentations. The prophet said, behold, and
see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. And third, it's
also used in rejoicing, as in Psalm 121 in verse four, behold,
he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Well, we may see it here in all
three of these ways. Behold, with admiration, the
love of the Father. Behold, with demonstration, the
love of the Father, and behold, with rejoicing, the love of the
Father that we should be called the sons of God. I want us to
look at the Father's love in these three ways. First of all,
behold the Father's love with admiration. Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, with admiration, the
Father's love with admiration. And there are two things that
I point out to us about His love that we may admire tonight. First
of all, the Father's love is eternal. The Father's love is
eternal. If you look over with me to Ephesians
chapter 1, and remember the text says, behold what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. Here in Ephesians chapter 1,
and beginning with verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him. Now notice,
in love, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. God's people, every one of God's
children, has been predestinated unto the adoption of children,
and we see that it was according to the good pleasure of His will. It was according to the good
pleasure of His will. I'm thinking of that scripture
in 1 Samuel, which says, it pleased the Lord. to make you His people
according to the good pleasure of His will. The Father's love,
behold what manner of love. And we admire this love because
it is eternal love. His love has no beginning and
it certainly will never have an end. In Jeremiah 31 in verse
three, God said, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. His love we know is eternal because
God doesn't change. He is immutable. And if he loves
you today, that means he has always loved you. And he will
always love you because God does not change. He cannot change. He said, behold, you children
of Jacob are not consumed because I am God. I change not. His love is eternal. In the Song of Solomon, we read
much about the love between the spouse and the bridegroom, the
bridegroom and the spouse. And in chapter eight, we read,
many waters cannot quench love. You read in 1 Corinthians 13,
what God says about love. Love never faileth. And we know
that love is speaking about the love of God. His love never faileth. Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it. Love cannot be drowned. It cannot
be quenched by many waters or by floods. And then we read,
if a man would give all the substance of his house. If you just took
everything that you have, all of your wealth in this world,
if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would
be utterly contemned. You can't buy love. You can't
purchase love. And that brings me to the second
thing about God's love that we admire. Not only is God's love
eternal, but God's love, number two, is free. It's free. In Hosea, the prophet Hosea,
the scripture says, God speaking, yea, I will love them freely. God bestowed his love, behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, bestowed,
given, God hath bestowed his love upon such unworthy objects
as you and I. What could there be in any sinful
son of Adam that would cause God to love that person? What could there be in any son
of Adam? I don't care how moral, I don't
care how good the world might say that person is, what could
cause the thrice holy God to love any fallen son of Adam? Nothing. God's love is free. I don't know about you, but I
think it's true of all of God's children. I can find many reasons
in myself why God would detest me, but I can't find any reason
why he would love me. Can you? Can you? I know you can if you're one
of God's children. Why would he bestow his love
upon us? And you know, God's children
often ask this. As a pastor, I've asked it. And I've had other people ask,
why would God love me? Why would God love me? And we're
baffled, aren't we? Because we cannot see any reason
why God would love us. And that's the best answer we
can ever find. Turn back with me to Deuteronomy
chapter 7. And this is what God said through
the prophet Moses concerning the nation of Israel, physical
Israel, which we know as a type or picture of spiritual Israel. And this is about as far back
as you can go. Why would God love me? Trace
it back, trace it back. Here you come to a brick wall.
You can't go any farther than this. Why would God love me? Why would God love you? Look what we read here in Deuteronomy
chapter 7, beginning with verse 6. For thou art an holy people
unto the Lord thy God. Why were they a holy people?
Certainly not in themselves. They were stiff-necked and rebellious
people. God tells them that many times,
doesn't he? A holy people, a sanctified,
a people set apart. For thou art an holy people unto
the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath not chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that
are upon the face of the earth. He did. He did choose you to
be a special people above all the people on the face of the
earth. But he didn't do it. This is what he says in the next
verse. He did not do it. The Lord did not set his love
upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than
any people. For you were the fewest of all
people. In other words, there was nothing
in you in the nation of Israel. Abraham, we know, was an idolater. That's what we read, isn't it,
in the book of Judges. He was an idolater. The book
of Joshua, I believe it is. He was an idolater. And God appeared
unto him and said, get thee out from among thy kinsmen. What
was different about him? What was different about Abraham? Did God see something in him
that provoked God or caused God to love him? Of course not. And
from that man, God has made this nation that he's speaking of
here. But because the Lord loved you
and because he would keep, no, back in verse seven, the Lord
did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were
more in number than any people. For you were the fewest of all
people. In other words, there was nothing
in you to cause God to choose you, to cause God to love you,
but, but, there it is, because the
Lord loved you. He loved you because he would
love you. That's his, that's his close,
to answering that question as you can ever come from the word
of God. Why would God love me? Why would
God love you? If you ask yourself that question,
because he would love you. And you'll never understand it. You'll never get over that. You'll never get over that. You
don't want to get over that. It's ugly. It causes a person to see. just
how much we owe, although like Robert Murray McShane said in
his hymn, let me see if I don't have that, yeah, how much I owe,
how much I owe. When this passing world is done,
when has sunk yon glaring sun, when we stand with Christ in
glory, looking o'er life's finished story, then Lord shall I fully
know Not till then, how much I owe. And there's a number of
verses to that song. Chosen not for good in me, wakened
up from wrath to flee, hidden in the Savior's side, by the
Spirit sanctified, teach me, Lord, on earth to show, by my
love, how much I owe. When I stand before the throne
dressed in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not till then, how much I owe. God's love, how we admire his
love. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. He loved you because he would
love you. The second thing, look at the
Father's love demonstrated. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon you. The Father's love is demonstrated
in its cost, its cost. In order, the verse says that
he has predestinated us unto the adoption of children, But
for Him to do that, He had to give His only begotten Son to
be our Redeemer. Look back with me to Galatians
chapter 4. The Father's love is demonstrated
in how costly, what it cost the Father to love us, to save us,
for us to be made sons of God, called sons of God. In Galatians
4, and verses four and five. But when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law. And
notice that we might receive the adoption of sons. Behold,
what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we
should be called the sons of God. He sent forth his son to
redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the
adoption of sons. For us, for you and I, for anyone
to be an adopted son of God, our sins had to be atoned. They
had to be expiated. And they had to be atoned by
someone with our nature, in our nature. Someone said Christ was to be
our brother before God would be our father. And to take a mother on earth
that we might have a father in heaven. Let me read that again. Christ was to be our brother
before God would be our father. And to take a mother, he took
a mother on earth that we might have a Father in heaven. And secondly, the Father's love
is demonstrated in the objects. Again, if you are here in 1 John,
look over to the last chapter of 1 John, chapter five and verse
19. And we know that we are of God,
Now notice, and the whole world lieth in wickedness, or lieth
in the wicked one. Are we not born part of this
world? Notice what he says, the whole
world. Were we not born part of this world? The whole world,
lieth in wickedness. How is it then if we were born
in wickedness, that now we are the sons of God. Did we make
ourselves to differ? Did we do something meritorious?
Something on our part that would cause us to become sons of God? Did we? How is it that we're
no longer part of the whole world, that life in the wicked one?
Remember Paul, who said in 1 Corinthians, who maketh thee to differ from
another? Who made the difference? Who
made the difference? God's love is demonstrated in
the objects that he loves. Let me read you these verses
in the Gospel of John chapter one. Who maketh thee to differ? verses 12 and 13, 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
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God. Born of God, not born of the
free will of man. That's what most religion is
telling people today, isn't it? Born of their own free will.
People don't realize that man's nature is sinful. Man's will
is not going to do something contrary to his nature. God has
to do something for us, something in us. He's done something for
us at the cross, and now he must do something in us. He must birth
us. He must give us a new birth. God the Holy Spirit must. All right, let's go back to the
text. Third, look at the Father's love with rejoicing, that we
should be called the sons of God. Now, when you read that,
you might just think, well, a lot of people are called a lot of
different things. Does it make them whatever they're
called? No, but in the scripture, many
times what a person is called is what he is. Just like concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, when the angel spoke to Mary, the angel
Gabriel spoke to Mary and told her that the Holy Ghost would
come upon her and the power of the highest would overshadow
her, therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee,
now notice, shall be called, shall be called the Son of God. Why is he called the Son of God?
Because he is the Son of God. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called, be
made the sons of God. This is what God's love has brought
to pass, that we should be called, that we should be made sons and
daughters of God. I saw this yesterday, I believe
it was, or Monday when I was preparing the message, but This
is, listen, this is what God's love has brought to pass. His love is the cause of our
redemption. Here in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. His love, here in His love. God's
love is the cause of our redemption. Secondly, God's love is the cause
of our regeneration, being born again, being born of the Spirit
of God. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us, made us alive, quickened
us together with Christ. And our text tonight says, His
love is the cause of our adoption, being made sons of God. God's love, the cause of our
redemption, God's love, the cause of our regeneration, and God's
love, the cause of our adoption, being made sons of God. What an honor. What an honor
to be a son or daughter of God. In the life of David, you remember
King Saul. David was a servant of Saul.
He went out and fought battles, and Saul tried to figure out
how he could get David killed in battle, remember? And so he
told him that he would give him his daughter to be David's wife. And David said this, he asked
this question to those men. He said, seemeth it to you a light thing
to be the king's son-in-law? Does that seem to you, he's asking
those men that followed him, is that something small, something
light, something little, to be the king's son-in-law? And we
know Saul was a wicked king, but my friends, think about this,
not to be a son-in-law, but to be a son, to be a daughter, not
of some feeble king like Saul, but of God Almighty. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. What an honor, what a privilege. And some of the manuscripts have
that we should be called the sons of God, and we are. And the New American Standard,
I like this translation of this verse. See how greater love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
children of God, and such we are. Listen to this comment here about
being a son or daughter of God. This is by John Gill. This is a privilege that exceeds
all others. It is more to be a son than to
be a saint. Angels are saints, but not sons. They're servants. It's more to
be a child of God than to be redeemed, pardoned, and justified. It is great grace to redeem from
slavery, to pardon criminals, and justify the ungodly, but
it is another and a higher act of grace to make them sons, and
which makes them infinitely more honorable than to be sons and
daughters of the greatest potentate upon earth. Yea, gives them an
honor, which Adam had not in innocence, nor the angels in
heaven, who those sons by creation, yet not by adoption. What an
honor to be made a son of God and all because of God's marvelous,
amazing love. And that's not an empty title.
To be a son of God, to be a daughter of God, that's not an empty title.
You know, sometimes probably reading, you've read some prince
or duke or even a king and you find out that over in Europe
some of those Royal families, they were deposed and, you know,
they haven't, no one in their family's been on the throne for
years, but they still use those titles. They're empty titles,
that's all they are. This is not an empty title, to
be a son, to be a daughter of God. We might ask, what are the
privileges? What are the benefits then to
be a daughter, to be a son of God? Let's divide them into two
parts, present benefits and future benefits. First of all, what's
the benefit today, tonight, of you being a son or a daughter
of God? Look back in Galatians 4. The first benefit that we would
mention, and it's present. It's not pie in the sky. It's
present. Galatians chapter four, verse six. And because you are
sons, now notice, here's the first benefit. God has sent forth
the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. The Holy Spirit, I'd say that's
the first benefit, right? Of being a son, the Holy Spirit
is sent into our hearts because we are sons, the scripture here
says. He has sent forth his spirit
into our hearts. God, the Holy Spirit lives in
us. He resides, our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit,
the apostle Paul tells us. And He is in us to guide us and
to guide us with His Word to comfort us. Remember the Lord
Jesus Christ called Him a Comforter, another Comforter to take His
place. He's also called a Helper, the
Holy Spirit. How many times, how many times? We don't know this. We just think,
and we marvel, how many times has God the Holy Spirit helped
us? We've got ourselves in a jam,
didn't see any way out, and God helped us, didn't he? What a
helper is God the Holy Spirit. Present benefits. He helps us
meet the difficulties of life. And every child of God knows
difficulties in this life. This world is in the wicked one,
as we saw just a few minutes ago. And every child of God is
going to have problems in this world that crucified our Lord. We're all part, you know, Paul
said, the spirit is saved, but the body is dead. We're still
in this body that's going to die. It's going to, and so we
have problems. We get sick, and we have financial
problems, and it just go on, you know. Go on and on, but God, the Holy
Spirit, he lives in us to help us, and he helps us to pray,
doesn't he? In Romans 8, the apostles, we
know not what we should pray for as we ought. We're baffled, many times. We don't know how we should pray,
but He helps us. He helps our infirmities. And
don't you like to think of the truth, the truth that here we
have God the Holy Spirit living in us, making intercession for
us, and we have God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ at the
Father's right hand, making intercession for us. That's one of the present benefits,
the gift of the Holy Spirit. Another one, a second one, the
promise that he will supply our needs. The Lord Jesus told his
disciples, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat
or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall
put on. Is not the life more than meat
and the body than raiment? Wherefore, if God so clothe the
grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into
the oven, shall he not much more clothe you? He has promised to
meet our needs as we go through this world. Someone said, you
would think that a person monstrously cruel, you'd think a person a
monster that would feed his dogs and starve his children. that
cannot without blasphemy be imagined of our gracious heavenly father. He's going to meet the needs
of his children. Someone said, if God be your
father, you can want nothing that is good, but he, or rather,
but the determination of what is good must be left to his wisdom. For we are not so fit to judge
of it and to discern our own good, and therefore must commit
all to his fatherly care and wise providence. I had a friend,
he's since gone to be with the Lord, but many times I've heard
him say something like this. He said, God would rather starve
the angel Gabriel than not take care of me as one of God's children. And we've proved that over the
years, haven't we? He takes care of his own. He
does. He's promised that. And we get
anxious and fretful. Be anxious for nothing. Be fretful
for nothing, the Apostle Paul said. But in all things, with
prayer and thanksgiving, make your requests known unto the
Lord. All right, future benefits, and I'll close with this. Future
benefits. What's a benefit to be a child
of God? God the Holy Spirit lives in
us. God provides for us. Present. Future. Eternal blessedness
in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the text again,
verse two. 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. We shall be like him in body.
Remember when he came out of the tomb, he came out in a glorified
body. We have a body, Paul, called
a vile body, this vile body of our humiliation. But when Christ
comes again, He said, for our conversation is in heaven from
whence we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
change our vile body and give us that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is
able to subdue all things unto himself. We are going to receive
a glorified body, a body like his body. When you think of his
body, for instance, on the Mount of Transfiguration, how glorious
was that body? When we see him, we're going
to receive a body like his glorified body. Not only like him in body,
but like him in soul. Our soul as well as our body. I thought about that, like him
in soul. What does that mean? What does that mean? John Gill
said, which likeness will lie in perfect knowledge of divine
things and complete holiness. Like him in soul, complete holiness
and divine knowledge of all things. Isn't that something to look
forward to? Something wonderful? Divine knowledge in all things. What will that be? There's so
much we don't know, isn't there? I'm thankful for what we do now.
Thankful for what God has taught us. But when we're talking about
the infinite being of God, There's so much we don't know. We'll
have all eternity to learn, like him, to be like him. I pray that
the Lord will bless these thoughts. What a wonderful, blessed verse
of scripture, isn't it? Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. Can you say that and change that
word me? I mean us to me. Behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon me, that I, that
I, with all my faults, all my sins, all my failures, that I should be called a son
of God. Amen. Let's sing a hymn and we'll
be dismissed.